The Romanian Parliament on Wednesday adopted the new statute of MPs. On Tuesday, the amendments required by the Constitutional Court were made in the two chambers’ judicial commissions. In the beginning, the MPs of the ruling coalition proposed that the MPs whose duties are incompatible with their capacity as owners, shareholders or managers of companies and businesses be banned to attend the plenary sessions for 30 days. The proposal was declared unconstitutional by the Court. The main provision of the statute is a 10% cut in the allowance for MPs in a conflict of interest. The sanction is to be applied for 3 months at the most, with the endorsement of the Permanent Bureau of the Chamber the respective MP belongs to.

Romania got 72 million Euros by selling on the stock market 15% of the shares of the state-owned gas transport company Transgaz, Minister Delegate for Energy, Constantin Nita has announced today. The sale is part of the commitments made by the Romanian authorities to international lenders, that is to the IMF and the EU, that demanded the privatization of the big state-owned companies in the field of energy and transport. Other such companies are Nuclearelectrica, gas producer Romgaz, the Oltenia energy complex and energy producer Hidroelectrica.

The funeral of former British conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher took place in London on Wednesday. Lady Thatcher died, aged 87, on April 8th. The religious service took place in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London with over 2,000 guests attending, including Queen Elisabeth 2nd. The Romanian government was represented by Minister of Economy Varujan Vosganian. Dubbed the “Iron Lady”, Margaret Thatcher was the only lady prime minister and leader of a major political party in the history of the Kingdom. Between 1979 and 1990, she had three terms in office. Margaret Thatcher played a major role in the reform of the UK on the basis of the market economy and in the Western countries’ winning the Cold War.