The Week in Review: December 17-23, 2017

Click here for an overview of the headline grabbing events this past week

Corina Cristea, 25.12.2017, 19:03

28 years since the anti-Communist Revolution

Commemorative events are being held these days across Romania to honour the martyrs of the December 1989 anti-Communist revolution, such as symposiums, exhibitions, round table and concerts. Also, religious masses have been held in cemeteries and at monuments devoted to the Revolutions heroes. Timisoara, too, has honoured its martyr heroes. 28 years ago, they started the rebellion that spread across the entire country and triggered the fall of Nicolae Ceausescus dictatorial regime. So these days, people have laid flowers and recalled the events in some of the most symbolic places in the city, and sirens were sounded to mark victory day. In Bucharest, the Senate and Chamber of Deputies held on Thursday a solemn session to mark 28 years since the anti-Communist Revolution.

In a message to Romanians, President Klaus Iohannis stated that the investigation of the Revolution Case File must be finalized and the crimes and abuses perpetrated in 1989 punished. Upholding the ideals of the anti-Communist Revolution means defending the rule of law, freedom and democracy and respect for citizens, the president also said. After four days of protests, which started in Timisoara on December 16th 1989, during which dozens of dead and wounded were reported, the army joined the population and revolutionaries developed the first democratic platform. Started as a protest staged by citizens of Timisoara against an abusive measure taken by the local officials, the revolution spread rapidly across the country, culminating on December 22nd with the presidential couples attempt to flee. More than 1,000 people died and some 3,400 were wounded between the 16th and the 25th of December 1989. Romania was the only country in the Eastern Bloc where the change of the regime was done violently and its communist leaders were executed by a firing squad.

Changes in the Justice Laws

Fiercely criticised by the right-wing opposition in Bucharest and sections of public opinion, the controversial changes to the judicial system initiated by the ruling coalition are very close to becoming a reality, following the Senates approval this week. Hundreds of magistrates staged protests outside courts in Bucharest and other cities in Romania to denounce the whole process, which they see as lacking transparency.

This view is shared by ordinary Romanians who have been protesting every day for almost a year in front of the government building. The changes in question refer to three pieces of legislation regulating the status of magistrates, judicial organisation and how the Superior Council of Magistracy works. The ruling parties explain the haste with which the three laws were passed saying they hadnt been reviewed in the last 13 years, giving rise to anomalies related to magistrates careers and abuse by prosecutors and judges, who, sheltered by impunity, have given verdicts that were later overturned by the European Court of Human Rights and obliging the state to pay huge damages.

Those who oppose the laws denounce the haste in which they were passed, the lack of transparency with which they were drafted and the absence of comprehensive debates given how important these laws are. President Klaus Iohannis has warned of the consequences for Romanias relationship with the European Union.

In a joint statement, the Bucharest embassies of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden say Romania has made significant progress in the last decade on building a path and apply credible reforms in the judiciary. “However, our conviction is that the recently approved laws on the reforms of the judiciary, in their current form, as well as the recent amendments proposed for the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code risk putting this progress in danger, the statement also reads.

The 2018 state budget

On Thursday, the 2018 state and social security budget bill reached Parliament for the final voting. The 2018 budget was built on an estimated 5.5% economic growth rate, an average exchange rate of 4.55 lei for one Euro and an average monthly salary of some 565 Euro. The budget deficit is estimated at 2.97% of the GDP, with a budget deficit target below 3%. Most of the budgets earmarked for the public institutions and the main credit authorizing entities were endorsed in the form proposed by the government, with just slight changes in the amounts allocated.

The ministries of culture, transportation, agriculture and energy are some of the credit authorising entities that will receive more money next year. The Government claims that the 2018 budget is generous, centred on education, health and infrastructure, though the opposition has termed it as an “austerity budget. The opposition has filed more than 4,000 amendments, mostly for the development of the road and rail infrastructure, the building of kindergartens and hospitals, and supporting education in general, but they have not been accepted. (Translated by M. Ignatescu and C. Mateescu)