12 February 2020, UPDATE

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 12.02.2020, 20:15

Assessment.
A European Commission expert team continued in Bucharest its evaluation of the
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The experts had fresh talks with the
acting justice minister Catalin Predoiu about a timetable for the amendment of
the justice laws and the harmonisation of the criminal codes with the rulings
of the Constitutional Court. On the previous day, Predoiu presented the European
Commission experts with the bill on the dismantling of the special department
for investigating magistrates and the stage of discussions on this topic. In its
latest report on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, the European Commission
had criticised the creation and the activity of this department, describing it
as an instrument of political pressure. In October 2019, the European Commission
proposed maintaining the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, saying that
Romania had taken steps back in the fight against corruption and the
independence of the judiciary.

Infringement. The
European Commission on Wednesday sent a letter to Romania urging it to properly
implement the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), which prevents timber companies from
placing on the EU market products obtained from illegal logging. This letter is
in effect tantamount to a formal opening of the infringement procedure. The
national authorities have been unable to effectively check the operators and
apply appropriate sanctions. Inconsistencies in the national legislation do not
allow Romanian authorities to check large amounts of illegally harvested timber,
the letter also reads. The European Commission gives Bucharest one month to
take the necessary measures. Romania’s acting environment minister Costel Alexe
said Brussels waited three years for Romania to take measures and criticized
the previous governments. He is having an official meeting with the European
environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius on Friday, presenting him with
the solutions envisaged. Also on Wednesday, the European Commission sent a
letter of formal notice to Romania for not implementing the European Anti-Money
Laundering Directive and for not adopting a national air pollution control
programme. Other EU states also received similar notices, all being given two
months to address the situation.

NATO. NATO defence ministers are having talks in Brussels mainly about the
Alliance’s modernization and adjustment to the regional and international
security challenges. The agenda of the two days of meetings, where Romania is
represented by its defence minister Nicolae Ciuca, includes the allied
operations, with focus on the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to
the Romanian defence ministry, other topics include the cooperation between
NATO and the European Union to ensure European and transatlantic security and reconfirm
the unity of the Alliance. In the opening of the talks, NATO secretary general
Jens Stoltenberg called on the Taliban to demonstrate their commitment to
solving the conflict in Afghanistan and the cessation of violence, one day
after a deadly attack in Kabul.

Cooperation.
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday met in Bucharest the foreign
minister of Saudi Arabia, Adel Bin Ahmed
Al-Jubeir. Iohannis hailed the good ties existing between the two countries,
against the backdrop of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations. The need was also emphasised to develop these ties, both
in the economic area and in areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, IT,
renewable energy, tourism, defence and security. The Saudi minister hailed
Romania’s position on important international issues such as the Middle East
peace process, Syria and Yemen, underlining the similarity of the positions
held by the two states vis-à-vis these issues.

Ruling.
The Constitutional Court of Romania ruled on Wednesday that there is no legal
conflict of a constitutional nature between the government and Parliament with
respect to the budget and social security bills. A complaint in this regard had
been filed by the speakers of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies after the
Liberal government sought to pass these bills through the government
responsibility procedure. Also on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court judges
rejected a complaint from the Ombudsman referring to the provisions of an emergency
order on the administrative code. The Court did, admit, however, an objection
raised by the Social Democratic Party about the government’s assuming
responsibility for a bill amending a controversial order relating to fiscal and
budgetary measures. As a result, state employees will continue to be able to
receive and a pension and a salary at the same time.

Flu.
Two more men have died because of the seasonal flu in Romania, raising the
death toll to 31 people. The latest victims, aged 46 and 68, had not been
vaccinated against the flu. A flu epidemic was officially declared in Romania
last Thursday. Classes in schools have been suspended in some cases. Experts
say the rising trend will be maintained in the next few weeks, given the low
vaccination rate among the population.

Eurovision. Roxen will represent
Romania at the 2020 Eurovision singing contest in Rotterdam. Several songs have
been written for her, and the five best will be publicly presented on February
21st, to then get into the national selection stage on March 1st.
Roxen rose to fame last summer thanks to the song You Don’t Love Me, which
was played in France, Mexico, the US, Russia, Spain, Greece, Switzerland,
Turkey, Kazkhstan and Estonia. At the Eurovision, Roxen will compete on May 12th,
in the first semi-final. The final of the Rotterdam contest will be held on May
16th. The best Eurovision results obtained by Romania were third place
in 2005 and 2010.