The Parliament of Romania endorses the statute of MPs

A bone of contention between the Social Liberals in power and Liberal Democrats in opposition, the statute of MPs has been endorsed by the Parliament of Romania. The document includes a controversial article under which an MP that the National Integrity Agency has found in breach of incompatibility rules may challenge the decision in 45 days, as opposed to 15 days in the old statute. President Traian Băsescu had sent the bill back to Parliament, arguing that, among other things, incompatibility, conflict of interests and parliamentary immunity provisions in the document come against the recommendations in the recent report on the Romanian judiciary published by the European Commission. The opposition says the new law gives excessive immunity to the MPs, and has taken the matter to the Constitutional Court.

A Parliament committee is established to draft amendments to the Constitution

This week the Parliament of Romania has approved the membership of a special committee that will coordinate the revision of the Constitution. A referendum on this topic is planned to take place this autumn. The structure of the government, the statute of parliamentarians, and clarifications on the powers of the President of Romania are some of the key areas of parliamentary debates, which will also involve the academic circles and civil society. The Social Liberal Union, whose two-thirds majority in Parliament guarantees the endorsement of any bill, pleads for a two-chamber parliament. In exchange, the Liberal Democrats, in opposition, call for compliance with the referendum of 2009, when people voted for a single-chamber parliament with 300 seats at most.

The Romanian Foreign Minister, Titus Corlatean, discusses with his Dutch counterpart, Frans Timmermans, about Romania’s Schengen accession

Romania’s accession to the border-free Schengen area was one of the topics discussed at the Hague by the Romanian foreign minister Titus Corlatean with his Dutch counterpart Frans Timmermans. Titus Corlatean welcomed the current Dutch government’s decision to eliminate a provision in its governing programme that blocked the Schengen accession process for Romania. Corlatean also called for Netherlands’ support for a favourable decision on this matter during the Justice and Home Affairs Council of March 7-8. He emphasised that Romanian authorities are reliable in fulfilling their role at the EU’s eastern border, and the accession criteria defined by the Schengen rules, and this was also confirmed by the European Commission. In turn, Frans Timmermans said the Dutch government is cautious about the possibility of making a decision in this respect in March. The Netherlands has so far opposed Romania’s Schengen accession, on grounds of insufficient progress in the country’s anti-corruption efforts.

Romania not guilty in the horsemeat scandal

An investigation carried out by the French authorities reveals the innocence of the Romanian supplier whose name was implicated in the scandal over the selling of horsemeat labelled as beef. The French government blames a French company for improperly labelling the horsemeat originating from Romania. The authorities in Bucharest have inspected the two Romanian slaughterhouses that exported the horsemeat and found no irregularities. Over 4.5 million products made out of 750 tonnes of wrongly labelled horsemeat have been sold in 13 European countries. The minced horsemeat sold as beef had a complicated journey, transiting several countries before being packaged and marketed. The European crime-fighting organisation Europol will start its own investigation into the case.

Court rulings on the release from prison of prominent Romanian politicians and trade union leaders

Romanian judges accepted on Tuesday the application for early release from prison of Romania’s former Social Democrat Prime Minister between 2000 and 2004, Adrian Nastase, but the ruling is not final. Adrian Nastase is the highest ranking official to serve time in prison for corruption in post-communist Romania. The MP and businessman George Becali has been handed down a 3-year suspended sentence for unlawful holding of people. Following the court’s rulings, he announced his resignation from the ruling National Liberal Party. The former trade union leader Marius Petcu will serve a 7-year prison sentence for corruption. He received 1.4 million euros from a company manager in exchange for winning a contract.

Romania’s economy grew at the end of 2012

Romania avoided going into technical recession at the end of 2012 according to the National Institute for Statistics. The Gross Domestic Product increased by 0.2% in the last 3 months compared to the third quarter of 2012 and by 0.1% compared to the same period in 2011. The representatives of the International Monetary Fund recently estimated that Romania would again see a 1.5% economic growth rate this year. According to the European Statistical Office Eurostat, recession deepened in the euro zone in the fourth quarter of 2012, with all big euro zone economies, namely Germany, France, Italy and Spain, shrinking at the end of 2012.

The Romanian football sides Steaua Bucharest and CFR Cluj lose their first leg games in the Europa League round of 32

The Romanian football sides Steaua Bucharest and CFR Cluj lost their away games in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32. Steaua lost 2-nil to the Dutch team Ajax Amsterdam, while CFR were defeated, also 2-nil, in Milan, by Internazionale. The return games in Romania are scheduled for the 21st of February.