December 19, 2013
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Leyla Cheamil, 19.12.2013, 12:00
Relatives of the heroes of the anti-communist revolution in Timisoara in 1989 have today started off on a pilgrimage to Bucharest, with the intention of laying wreaths of flowers at the University Square in Bucharest, a symbol of the anti-communist resistance. 24 years ago on December 19th, thousands took to the streets of Timisoara, in Western Romania, in a protest against the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. The following day on December the 20th, Timisoara was declared the first city free of communism in Romania. The events in Timisoara, that began as early as December the 16th, were the ignition point of the anti-communist revolution in Romania, which gained momentum a couple of days later and brought down the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu.
The Romanian authorities have taken notice of the measures announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron on restricting the EU citizens’ rights to unemployment benefits in Britain. The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest says that London’s decision is being assessed by the European Commission, which has the prerogatives to assess any moves that might run counter community rights. Under the new measures, EU citizens seeking jobs in Britain do not have the right to unemployment benefits in the first three months of their stay. The decision, which is also targeting the British citizens, is due to come into effect on January the 1st, when the restrictions to the Romanian workers are to be lifted.
The US Senate has adopted the draft budget for the following two years putting an end to disputes, which caused a partial freeze in state institutions’ activity. In order to offset government expenditures and keep deficit at bay, a new tax has been introduced on airports and pensions, the latter being levied on employers. According to France Press, the most important reforms in the US’ social field as well as the programmes targeting the pensions, healthcare, social and fiscal aid sectors have been put on hold for an indefinite period of time.
The US Senate has adopted the draft budget for the following two years putting an end to disputes, which caused a partial freeze in state institutions’ activity. In order to offset government expenditures and keep deficit at bay, a new tax has been introduced on airports and pensions, the latter being levied on employers. According to France Press, the most important reforms in the US’ social field as well as the programmes targeting the pensions, healthcare, social and fiscal aid sectors have been put on hold for an indefinite period of time.
A court in Bucharest is today ruling on the appeal made by the lawyers of Romania’s former Social-Democrat Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who is being tried for blackmail. The sentence is definitive, and unless acquitted the former Prime Minister runs the risk of going back to jail. Nastase and his wife had previously got a three-year suspended jail sentence for blackmail and were
acquitted on bribe-taking counts. In the spring of this year, the former Prime Minister was released on parole after spending nine months out of a two-year jail sentence he got in a corruption case. Nastase was indicted in a case concerning a fund-raising campaign for the 2004 elections when he was running for president for the Social-Democrats.
Iurie Leanca, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet Romanian-speaking country, will pay a working visit to Bucharest for talks with his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta. Prime Minister Ponta told his Moldovan counterpart that the Romanian government would grant 20 million euros for the development of the pre-schooling education in the Republic of Moldova, in token of solidarity and support for this country.
