The Week in Review: January 8-12

A roundup of the week's main stories

România Internațional, 13.01.2018, 11:16

The Romanian police is faced with a paedophilia scandal

The case of a Romanian traffic policeman who sexually abused two minors in Bucharest has caused a huge scandal in Romania and has shaken the police and the interior ministry. The interior minister Carmen Dan has accused the management of the police of lack of reaction and insufficient public explanations. She called for the resignation of several police heads after it was confirmed that the abuser had been working for the police since 2010, having passed in the meantime all psychological tests. Carmen Dan says the police must be reformed and that all employees in the public safety sector must undergo thorough psychological evaluations. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has opposed the measures taken by the interior minister and more or less directly called for her resignation. The policeman accused of child sexual aggression is in temporary 30-day custody. The case has been taken over by the General Prosecutor’s Office, which says it is also investigating other similar cases involving the same policeman, cases going back to 2009. Outraged, sections of the public believe his superiors may have covered up the case.

Divisions within the government

The scandal of the paedophile policeman has created divisions within the centre-left government in Bucharest. The prime minister says he would like a replacement for the interior minister Carmen Dan, whom he accuses of lying to him. Carmen Dan has rejected the accusation. As for her resignation, she says this is a political government and its ministers are nominated and approved by the leadership bodies of the coalition parties, which also decide whether they go or not. The conflict between the prime minister and the interior minister, who enjoys the support of the Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea, has fuelled speculations about tensions at the top of the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner of the ruling coalition in Bucharest. Denied by those involved, these tensions have also transpired from the lack of support from the Social Democratic leader for the idea of a government restructuring recently proposed by the prime minister. A decision in this respect may be taken at the end of the month at a meeting of the party’s Executive Committee.

Monetary Policy Measures announced by the National Bank of Romania

Romania’s Central Bank increased from 1.75 to 2% the monetary policy interest rate used for its main operations on the market, after almost 3 years, a period during which it was kept at the same level. The central bank made the decision after taking into account the accelerated growth of inflation and the fact that Romania reported a very high economic growth rate, mainly caused by consumption. The central bank governor, Mugur Isărescu, pointed out that an increase in the key interest rate did not entail an increase in the ROBOR index. The index used as a reference value for the calculation of interest rates for most credits in the national currency. Mugur Isărescu:

“This rise in the interest rate does not mean an automatic increase in the ROBOR index. However, the effect on the market might be a little different. Anyway, we’ll not have ample variations of interest rates.”

The central bank also decided to maintain the current levels of the interest rates of the obligatory minimum reserves applicable to the national currency and hard currency liabilities of the lending institutions. In another development, Mugur Isărescu announced that, in spring, the central bank could take certain measures to restrict lending to the population. At the end of November 2017, Romanians had 5.46 billion lei (1.17 billion Euros) worth of arrears on their loans in the national currency and 6.25 billion lei (1.34 billion Euros) worth of arrears on the loans in hard currency.

Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu visited Ukraine

The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu and his Ukrainian counterpart, Pavlo Klimkin, agreed on Thursday in Cernăuţi (western Ukraine) on starting negotiations for the conclusion of a protocol on the implementation of the new education law in Ukraine, which should guarantee the right of the members of the Romanian community to education in their mother tongue. Minister Meleşcanu:

“We have agreed to start and complete negotiations as soon as possible for the drafting of a joint cooperation document, a protocol on the implementation of the education law and especially on the subsequent development of secondary legislation. Also a program is to be elaborated and presented by the education ministries from Ukraine and Romania and which should have very clear provisions related to the mutual guaranteeing of linguistic rights of cognate national minorities on the territories of the two states.”

Minister Meleşcanu said that Bucharest would continue to be concerned until a realistic solution is worked out, given that the law has a negative impact on the right to education of the Romanian minority in Ukraine. On the occasion of the visit, the Romanian Foreign Minister met with the representatives of the national minority in the region of Cernăuţi, participated in the inauguration of a school with tuition in Romanian in Iordăneşti and visited a high school with tuition in Romanian. He also announced that the Romanian government intended to grant scholarships to the Romanian students in Ukraine with outstanding results in school, and teachers would have the opportunity to re-train in Romania, and Bucharest is going to take the first steps in this regard. Meleşcanu also said that this year two new border-crossing points would be opened between Romania and Ukraine.