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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW (29.10-4.11.2007) |
| (2007-11-02) |
| Last updated: 2007-11-05 18:45 EET |
The Tariceanu cabinet has assumed responsibility before Parliament for a variant of the law on the uninominal voting system, modified with 24 amendments submitted by political parties, aimed at making politicians more accountable to voters. The Prime Minister is proposing a mixed voting system used by a number of European states, in which half of the seats in Parliament will be occupied by the winners of uninominal constituencies and the other half are distributed among parties based on the principle of proportional representation. This proposal is different from that backed by President Traian Basescu, who has called for a referendum on the issue, a referendum which will take place at the same time with the first European elections in Romania. The President is advocating a majority uninominal system in two rounds, similar to that used for the election of mayors and similar to the American system. Also, the President said he had no intention of promulgating the law proposed by the Government as long as Romanian voters hadn’t had their say in a referendum. The elections for the European Parliament and the referendum on the introduction of the uninominal voting system are scheduled for November the 25th, but will follow different procedures. In fact, there will also be different central and county electoral offices and different polling stations and election committees.
Ukrainian president Viktor Yuschenko was in Bucharest this week for talks with Romanian authorities on the thorny issues between Romania and Ukraine, most of which date back to their communist past. Talks dealt mainly with the status of ethnic minorities, the delimitation of the continental shelf rich in hydrocarbons and the Bastroe deep-sea navigable canal built by the Ukrainian side in the Danube Delta, which lies, for its most part, on Romanian territory. Bastroe is a sovereign Ukrainian territory, said the leader in Kiev, adding that Ukraine would comply with all its international obligations as far as environmental protection is concerned. President Traian Basescu said Romania does not want to continue investing in the steel factory in the Krivoy Rog. Bucharest actually wants to recover the money invested by the communist government in Bucharest in the then Soviet Ukraine: about 1 billion US dollars.
“We are keen for the solutions found by the Ukrainian state to the Krivoy Rog problem to follow consultations with the Romanian side and allow us to recover the 1 billion dollars invested by Romania.”
Following recent macro-economic developments, the National Bank of Romania has decided to increase the monetary interest rate from 7 to 7.5%. The yearly inflation rate plummeted to 6.03% in September, the rate of economic growth slowed down and credit expansion has continued, especially foreign currency credit, while this year's drought has had a negative impact both on food stuffs prices and on the GDP. Analysts say that the decision will have minimal effects on inflation, but that on the short run, the increase could lead to the appreciation of the national currency against the euro.
Romania will solve the problems related to the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture in due time, in order to avoid losing a quarter of the EU subsidies for farmers. Prime minister Tariceanu has given assurances that the Agency will become operational in a week at the most. He explained that extra efforts need to be made quickly, due to factors such as the number of plots in Romania and delays in the purchase of equipment. We recall that, on October 10th, Brussels summoned Bucharest to resolve problems in the agriculture payment system within a month.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu has decided to urgently dispatch an expert team to Rome to back the Italian authorities in combating criminal acts perpetrated by Romanian nationals. Tariceanu talked with his Italian counterpart Romano Prodi by phone, and voiced his regrets regarding the crime perpetrated by a Romanian man involving a 47-year Italian woman. The incident is the latest in a series of crimes committed by Romanian citizens in Italy, which determined the government in Rome to urgently adopt a law on the expulsion of EU nationals who perpetrate crimes on Italy's soil.
(Corina Cristea)
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2025-04-03
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