The Week in Review: January 23-27

A look at the main stories in Romania this week.

Roxana Vasile, 28.01.2017, 14:03

A new CVM report for Romania.

The Cooperation
and Verification Mechanism (CVM) monitoring reform of the judiciary and the
fight against corruption remains in place this year. Released on Wednesday, the
European Commission report highlights the positive trends and the irreversible
character of the measures taken so far in this respect. In the past 10 years of
EU membership, despite the slowdowns, Romania has reported major progress in
the field of the judiciary, the report reads. The European Commission has made
however a series of country-specific recommendations, which Bucharest must
implement in order to see the CVM lifted. These include the implementation of a
robust and independent system for appointing top-level prosecutors, the
inclusion of clear provisions in the Code of Conduct for parliamentarians,
which is currently being developed, including with regard to the mutual respect
among institutions and making clear that parliamentarians should respect the
independence of the judiciary. The Commission also recommends the full
implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. President Klaus
Iohannis has hailed the fact that the Commission report acknowledges Romania’s
progress and has warned against the concerns the report mentions with respect
to the two draft emergency ordinances on collective pardon and amending the
Criminal Code, which the government wants to pass.

The collective pardon ordinance and the
referendum

The Government’s
plans to adopt two emergency ordinances on granting collective pardon and
amending the Criminal Code have prompted President Klaus Iohannis to launch
procedures this week with respect to holding a referendum, whereby citizens can
vote in favour or against continuing the fight against corruption and securing
the integrity of public office. The Social-Democratic Party, the largest party
in the current ruling coalition, claims the president’s decision is but a
political ruse aimed at regaining popular support after opposition parties lost
the legislative elections. The National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union
have voiced their support for the President’s initiative. On Sunday, Klaus
Iohannis took part in a large-scale protest held in Bucharest against the
Government’s planned measures. Protests were also staged in other cities across
the country. The government is suspected of trying to use these emergency
ordinances to help corrupt people avoid prison sentences or partially
decriminalise abuse of office. Instead, the Government claims the ordinances
are needed to ease overcrowding in prisons and to harmonise the criminal law
with Constitutional Court rulings.

President Iohannis travels to Strasbourg

Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis this week paid an official two-day visit to
Strasbourg, where he discussed, among other things, about pardoning and amnesty
with the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Guido Raimondi. The
President told an ensuing press conference that no pressure or threats were
made to hand Romania an 80-million-dollar fine with regard to overcrowding in
Romania’s prisons. A pilot decision of the Court will be made public within the
first half of 2017 and is expected to highlight the problems and set a deadline
allowing Romania to come up with a solution. Pardoning, the president argues,
is but one possible solution to this problem. On the other hand, according to a
European Court of Human Rights report, Romania ranks 3rd, after
Russia and Turkey, in terms of the highest number of convictions issued by the
European Court of Human Rights, most of which refer to inadequate confinement
conditions. The president of the European Court of Human Rights, Guido
Raimondi, said these problems are recurrent and require complex measures.

The Romanian Intelligence Service and
parliamentary control

The Romanian
Intelligence Service (SRI) will adopt a code of professional conduct for its
employees, which is to be published in the Official Journal over the next few
days, the Romanian Intelligence Service chief Eduard Hellvig has announced. At
the end of seven-hour-long hearings before Parliament’s Committee on the
control of the SRI’s activity, Hellvig said the document would shed light on
cases of incompatibilities affecting the relationship between intelligence
officers and various politicians, public servants and business people. The
Romanian Intelligence chief added that the institution he runs has been the
target of unprecedented attacks this past week, but it would not be involved in
power plays. The decision comes in the wake of a major scandal involving
General Florian Coldea, who has served as Deputy First director of the Romanian
Intelligence Service for 12 years. Former MP Sebastian Ghita, currently a
fugitive wanted in a criminal investigation, made serious accusations against
Coldea. Following an internal investigation, General Coldea was found innocent
but he still decided to resign his position. SRI Chief Eduard Hellvig called on
the President to placed him in the reserve.

Romanian producer gets Oscar nomination

Ada Solomon has
this week become the first Romanian film producer ever nominated for the
Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category, for the feature Toni Erdmann directed by Maren Ade of
Germany. Shot in Romania for the most part, the feature is the only film of
2016 to be included by BBC Culture among the 100 greatest films of the 21st
century. Toni Erdmann premiered this
year in Cannes, where it scooped the FIPRESCI International Film Critics’ award
in the main competition.