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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW (22-28.10.2007) |
| (2007-10-26) |
| Last updated: 2007-10-29 14:03 EET |
Friday the 26th of February saw the start of the election campaign for the first European election in Romania, at the same time as the start of the campaign for the referendum on the introduction of the uninominal voting system. Both of them will be held on November the 25th. 13 political parties and one independent candidate are running for the 35 seats Romania is entitled to in the European Parliament. Generally, the parties have not put their most prominent members on the candidate lists, something which can be explained by the fact that the mandate to the European Parliament is a short one - only 1 and a half year. As for the issue of the uninominal system, voters will have two options. The first, promoted by the head of state and the former leader of the pro-presidential Democratic Party, is based on the two-round majority voting system used to elect the mayors, which resembles the American election system. The second proposal, supported by the government made up of the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, is a mixed electoral system similar to that used by a number of European states. Under this system, half of the seats in Parliament would be occupied by the winners in uninominal constituencies, while the rest would be distributed among parties depending on electoral results at national level. Things are still very unclear, all the more so as one day after the President had issued a decree calling for a referendum, the Government announced it would assume responsibility for its own election law before Parliament.
Three quarters of Romania’s counties and the capital Bucharest have been facing extreme weather this week, including heavy rain, snow and powerful storms. Thousands of people have remained isolated, dozens of households have been flooded, and more than a hundred localities don’t have electricity. Road, sea and river traffic has been upset by snow, thick fog and gale force winds. No casualties have been reported, but the material damage is considerable. Motorists and car owners have also had a hard time, with cars damaged by fallen trees and long traffic jams in the big cities and the capital.
Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu has made public this week the preliminary conclusions of a national health evaluation programme launched in Romania in July. The results don’t look very promising. Almost a quarter of the 2.5 million Romanians who have already done their tests are at risk of developing diabetes. The following most common diseases are heart disorders, kidney problems, and cancer, especially cervical cancer. Doctors say they were expecting diabetes to be the most common health problem in Romania, since this is also the general tendency in most European countries. While Minister Nicolaescu believes the programme is essential for the creation of a database on the state of health of the population, the president of the Federative Chamber of Physicians in Romania, Dr Dan Perieteanu, says the programme is a complete waste of money.
The Romanian and Italian authorities have been trying to find ways to ease the tensions sparked by mounting violent acts committed by Romanian nationals in Italy, many of whom are of Rroma origin. Following talks in Bucharest and Rome, the two countries’ officials have agreed to consolidate their collaboration to prevent and combat crime. Italy’s Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said programmes would be worked out to prevent the Rroma from leaving their countries of origin. His Romanian counterpart Cristian David, said Bucharest would increase the number of Romanian police troops deployed to Italy to help apprehend Romanian criminals. Earlier, in Bucharest, Italian deputy foreign minister Famiano Crucianelli said that his government would pass new laws providing for the expulsion of EU nationals if they were believed to pose a danger to Italian society.
Against the background of growing tension at the border between Turkey and Iraq following a mounting number of attacks from the Kurdish separatists, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has paid a visit to Romania this week. After talks with Erdogan, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said that Bucharest understood Turkey’s legitimate security concerns and condemned any kind of terrorist attacks. Tariceanu added that Romania hailed the dialogue between Ankara and Baghdad over the situation of the Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
Romanian football is in mourning. Nicolae Dobrin, one of Romania’s most gifted and popular football players died on Friday aged 60 at a hospital in Pitesti, in the south of the country, after a long illness. He was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago. Dobrin is considered a legend of Romanian football, a player with fascinating dribbling skills and a real exponent of fair-play. His close friends say he had only one big regret in his life, that he never made it onto the pitch in the 1970 World Cup.
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