February 4, 2015 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 04.02.2015, 12:15
Judge Toni Grebla on Wednesday resigned his position from Romania’s Constitutional Court given his ongoing investigation for serious corruption deeds. Prosecutors have asked the approval of the Senate for Grebla’s preventive detention. Also on Wednesday the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, forwarded to the justice minister the request for the prosecution of the former economy minister, Liberal Democrat Adriean Videanu, who has been arrested in another file involving abuse of office. In another development, the Bucharest Court took the measure of house arrest for 2 former employees of the Tourism Ministry, investigated in a file in which politicians Elena Udrea, former tourism minister, currently an MP, and Ion Ariton, former economy minister, are accused of corruption. The National Anti-Corruption Directorate on Wednesday asked the approval of the Chamber of Deputies for the arrest of Elena Udrea, after the legal committee of the Chamber of Deputies had approved the start of her prosecution. Also the Bucharest Court of Appeal decided the preventive detention for 30 days of media mogul Adrian Sarbu accused of tax evasion. The founder of a popular private TV station in the 1990s, Sarbu is accused of instigation to tax evasion, money laundering and instigation to embezzlement.
The EU has expressed solidarity with Jordan after the killing of one of its military pilots by the Islamic State, praising the role of Amman in fighting the terrorist group and receiving refugees from Syria and Iraq. In a communiqué quoted by Reuters, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, criticized, however, the retaliatory execution of 2 Jihadists, reminding that the European stand on the death penalty remained unchanged and that it could not be used as a means of discouragement. After the killing of the Jordanian pilot, Jordan hanged a failed female suicide bomber and a high-ranking Al Qaida leader, both Iraqis. In Bucharest, the Romanian Foreign Ministry firmly condemned the execution of the Jordanian pilot and pointed out that the terrorist acts perpetrated by the Islamic State organization were unjustified, and that the masterminds had to be taken to court.
The Greek PM Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday called on France to be the guarantor of economic growth in Europe, of creating jobs and ensuring social cohesion. Fresh from a meeting in Paris with the French President Francois Hollande, Alexis Tsipras gave assurances that Greece was not a threat to Europe. Previously in Brussels the Greek PM had shown optimism over finding a viable solution for Greece. The leftist Greek PM started a diplomatic tour of the big European capitals in an attempt to find support for renegotiating Greece’s external debt and relaxing the austerity programs. The international lenders granted Greece 240 billion euros worth of aid, asking in exchange for radical economic reforms. Greece’s public debt currently stands at more than 300 billion euros.
Romania’s National Bank revised downward the inflation forecast for the end of 2015 from 3 to 2.1%, with an estimated inflation rate of 2.4% for the end of 2016. Also on Wednesday the central bank operated a new reduction of the monetary policy interest rate from 2,5% to 2.25% per year. The central bank has maintained the level of minimum mandatory reserves for the bank’s national and foreign currency liabilities at 14% and 10% respectively. The National Bank of Romania also decided to adequately manage the baking system liquidities. On January 7th the central bank reduced the monetary policy interest rate by 0.25%, to reach 2.5% per year.
