|
RRI newsletter subcription
(e-mail address):
|
| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 11-17/08/08 |
| (2008-08-15) |
| Last updated: 2008-08-19 15:41 EET |
Scorching weather has been announced for the weekend in 15 counties in the east, south and west of Romania as well as in Bucharest. Temperatures reached 38 degrees C, with a thermal comfort index exceeding the critical threshold of 80 units. Consequently both authorities and employers have taken special measures. The very high temperatures have disturbed railway traffic in the south east of Romania where speed restrictions have been imposed.
This week the government in Bucharest has looked into ways of granding relief aid to the people affected by the recent floods that hit the regions of Moldavia in the east of the country and Maramures in the north. As many as 6 thousand households were damaged; over 1500 of them have to be rebuilt while 230 need consolidation works. Also more than 1200 kms of roads have to be rebuilt. For the purchase of construction materials the government decided to supplement the funds by another 31.5 million lei, almost 9 million euro. The sum allotted initially was 6 million euro. The materials will be distributed by September 15th for the new houses to be ready before winter.
Romania will send humanitarian aid to Georgia, consisting in medicines and sanitary products. The decision was made at the meeting of the Romanian Higher Defence Council, that was convened to look into the situation in the Caucasus. Bucharest has expressed concern for the region’s security and reiterated the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. Also Romania will join in the EU’s and NATO’s effort, contributing its expertise to promoting a negotiated solution that should bring stability to the Balkans.
The parliamentary parties, called for consultations by President Traian Basescu, have assumed a target: namely to take Romania out of the European Commission’s monitoring of the justice system by July 2009. According to Romania’s president, for this target to be reached, efforts should focus on fighting high level corruption and corruption in the administration, providing the transparency of the Higher Council of the Magistrates and the good functioning of the National Agency for Integrity. Talks were held after, last month, a report was issued on the Romania justice. The report referred to the activity of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and the setting up of the National Agency for Integrity in charge of controlling dignitaries’ wealth. However, the document pointed to various shortcomings such as the lack of verdicts in the cases of high level corruption, which made the European Commission decide to continue monitoring the Romanian justice system. Consultations took place one day after justice minister, Catalin Predoiu, decided to replace the head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Daniel Morar, who is now holding an interim position. With Moraru at the helm of the Anti-Corruption Directorate, investigations were started in the case of 8 former and current ministers. These investigations brought Morar criticism from the opposition and the ruling National Liberal Party, who blamed him for “politicizing justice”.
Convening in an extraordinary session, Romanian MPs rejected the request of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate regarding the prosecution of former Social Democrat PM Adrian Nastase and his party colleague Miron Mitrea, who was minister of transport. The two Social Democrat MPs are being investigated for acts of corruption committed during the previous government. The extraordinary session of the Chamber of Deputies was summoned by President Traian Basescu after, in late June, the vote of the Romanian MPs regarding the prosecution of Nastase and Mitrea was invalidated due to the lack of quorum. After finding out the result of the vote, Miron Mitrea announced he would resign from the Chamber of Deputies as he wanted to prove his innocence before the court. In the Senate, the Juridical Committee has approved, by unanimity of votes, the prosecution of labour minister, Paul Pacuraru, and of former minister of the economy, Codrut Seres. The former is being investigated for bribe taking and peddling in influence, while the latter in the file of strategic privatisations in the energy filed opened in November 2006. According to the president of the Judicial Commission in the Senate, Norica Nicolai, the senators who are also legal advisors will call, early next week, for an extraordinary session of the Senate; senators are expected to vote for the start of legal proceedings in the respective cases.
|
|
| |
WMA |
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
MP3 |
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
AAC+ |
|
|
48kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
 Historical mascot of
RRI |
2025-04-05
Print
Listen again