July 18 – 24

A roundup of the week's main stories

România Internațional, 23.07.2016, 13:13

One Romanian citizen is among the victims of the Nice attack on July 14th

A Romanian was killed in the attack in Nice on July 14th the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday, after receiving confirmation from the French authorities. President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos have expressed their regret at the tragedy that hit an entire family, as the wife and child of the deceased sustained injuries in the attack and are now in a hospital in Nice. Bucharest authorities have announced they are in permanent contact with the French medical services to make sure the Romanians who are hospitalized there benefit from the best care possible. Another two Romanians were also wounded in the Nice attack.

Romania reacts to the situation in Turkey, following the attempted coup

Turkey is a key partner to Romania and the EU and therefore stability is a must in that country, the Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has stated. He has said that after the shock caused by the attempted coup, Turkey must revert to constitutional order, to observing the rule of law and human rights. These are values that we all share in the EU and we are convinced that Turkey shares them too, given its relations with the Union, the Romanian PM has also said.

Romanias National Anti-corruption Strategy for the next five years is now under public debate.

Romanias National Anti-Corruption Strategy for the 2016-2020 period is under public debate as of Tuesday. The Justice Minister Raluca Pruna says that this strategy wants to change the paradigm and focus more on prevention and education. Attending the launch event, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said that corruption associated with indifference could kill. He drew attention to the fact that the measures taken by the state institutions were not enough, citizens must also change their attitude. Otherwise, no decision made at government level is very likely to produce the desired effects. The sectors that are most effected by corruption are education and health-care, both extremely important for Romanian society. The Prime Minister also talked about the integrity of the business environment and about implementing a new management style. The national strategy stays under public debate until July 29th and is to be adopted at the Government meeting on August 10th.

Local officials special pension are once again declared unconstitutional

Romanias Constitutional Court has again ruled, for the second time this year, that the law regarding special pensions for the local officials is unconstitutional. The magistrates have accepted a second government notification on this issue, because, among other things, Parliament has again failed to clearly mention the financing sources, the Courts President Valer Dorneanu has explained:

Valer Dorneanu: “From the very beginning, Parliament did not follow the right path, because we had declared the law fully unconstitutional, therefore the right parliamentary procedures had to be followed from the start. Also, our previous ruling, under which the lawmaker and the initiators of the law had to clearly state the financing sources for these indemnities, was not taken into consideration.

The President of the Constitutional Court has also stated that, if Parliament decides to resume this initiative, it should not discriminate against the various categories of local officials. According to the Romanian Government, the budgetary impact should this law come into effect would stand at some 90 million Euros per year.

Romania attends the meeting of the US-led coalition against ISIS.

In 2016, Romania will contribute to the efforts made by the US-led coalition against ISIS with 50 soldiers at the most. The announcement was made by the Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc, who attended in Washington the meeting of the representatives of the US-led coalition against ISIS. Motoc has reiterated Romanias support for the actions undertaken by the international community, aimed at ensuring Iraqs integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders.

One of the most prominent figures of Romanian film and theatre Radu Beligan dies aged 97

Romania has lost one of its greatest actors, Radu Beligan, who died on Wednesday, aged 97. Beligan had an extremely fulfilling career in theatre, cinema, TV and radio. He played many parts in famous Romanian and international plays. Romanias president Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and Princess Margareta, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown, have conveyed messages of condolences. In 2013, Radu Beligan entered the Guinness Book of Records as the actor with the longest career in theatre. In 2002 he became the first Romanian actor to be granted the title of Officer of the French League of Honour.