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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW |
| (2009-04-17) |
| Last updated: 2009-04-22 16:14 EET |
President Traian Basescu reacted to accusations brought by his Moldovan counterpart, Vladimir Voronin, who claimed that Romania was behind the recent protests against the authorities in Kishinev. Addressing Parliament in Bucharest, Basescu clearly rejected the accusations. He said that, in spite of measures taken by the authorities in Kishinev to reintroduce obligatory visas for Romanian citizens and banning two Romanian diplomats, Bucharest would not retaliate. Romania will continue to support its neighboring state in its efforts to integrate into Europe:
“Our moral duty is to not abandon the ones that speak our language, the ones that claim the same history as us, the ones that want to have a common future with Romania in Europe, no matter what ethnicity they have, be it Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, or any other one. Romania does not want to claim anything over territories that it has lost in the past, Romania does not wish to dispute Moldova’s borders or sovereignty”.
Romanian foreign minister Cristian Diaconescu had a different reaction while in Brussels, attending a meeting of the European Parliament committee for foreign affairs dedicated to the events in Kishinev. He said that the authorities in Kishinev pushed the boundaries, violating the right to freedom of movement when it reintroduced visas and kicked out all Romanian journalists. However, said Diaconescu he is not going to feed communist rhetoric and will not react in kind to those measures. EP president Hans Gert Pottering expressed his solidarity with Romania regarding the Kishinev situation, and announced that a European Parliament mission will go to the Republic of Moldova and will evaluate the situation from a European values perspective.
Romanian president Traian Basescu on Wednesday and Thursday visited Lebanon to consolidate bilateral relations, especially with Middle Eastern states. During his meeting with his counterpart, Michel Sleima, Basescu said that both Europe and the US have significant roles in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The head of state said that Romania supports the right of Palestine to self-determination and Israel’s right to security. Sleiman insisted that Romania, as an EU member, should support the quest for a peaceful solution in the Middle East. Basescu also said he regretted the fact that, in the past 20 years, Bucharest focused almost exclusively on the European market, sending exports there in disfavor of Arab states and Russia. According to Basescu, Lebanon is Romania’s third commercial partner in the region, after Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He spoke to Lebanese businessmen about opportunities in Romania and said that the food industry and agro-tourism were areas that are still good for investing into in the context of the present world crisis.
Romanian prime minister Emil Boc called on parliament to pass as soon as possible the executive order that, aside from imposing measures to impose compliance with IMF rules, introduces the budget adjustment for this year. He explained that signing the accord means pursuing four commitments made by the Romanian authorities: budget adjustment, introducing the laws for a single salary rate in the state system and for fiscal responsibility, as well as the reform in the pension system. Finance minister Gheorghe Pogea explained that he budget adjustment was justified by a worsening macro-economic environment: reduced budget revenues in the first quarter with over 6%, industrial output that went down 14%, reduced exports, by as much as 15%, and 25% lower imports. As part of the adjustment, the budget deficit was upgraded from 2 to 4.6%, and the budget was built on an assumption of 4.3 lei per Euro, as opposed to 4 lei per Euro, average inflation of 5.8%, up 0.8%. The most disputed measure that was introduced was the lump tax for companies, which the Liberal opposition deemed ‘fiscal genocide’. Employers’ unions believe that this will stifle SMEs, which will lead to a significantly higher unemployment rate.
Three football referees and one federal observer in Romania have been indicted in the corruption case involving premier league team FC Arges owner, Cornel Penescu, and former president of the Central Referee Commission, Gheorghe Constantin. The four are suspected of having received 100 thousand Euro from Penescu to throw games. Constantin and penescu have been arrested on charges of bribery. Romanian football is under investigation in two more cases: one on allegedly illegal player transactions, and one on corruption, involving millionaire Gigi Becali, who owns Steaua Bucharest.
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