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| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 21-27/01/2008 |
| (2008-01-25) |
| Last updated: 2008-01-25 19:16 EET |
After Monday’s dramatic drop in stock exchange quotations across the world, and also in Romania, markets have started to gradually recover during the week, especially after the American Central Bank’s decision to cut down on the monetary policy interest. The effect was also felt in Bucharest where the capitalization of the stock exchange market dropped in one single day by almost one billion euro, deepening the decline reported at the beginning of the year. PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu has not expressed concern for this situation, though:
“Romania is not an isolated country, it is part of a global economy, therefore certain effects cannot fail to be felt in Romania as well. As usual the most sensitive element is the stock exchange which was the first to react. But it will recover when this world crisis has been overcome”.
Unfortunately the national currency has continued to depreciate. The reference exchange rate for the leu, calculated by the National Bank of Romania, exceeded the psychological threshold of 3.7 lei for one euro, reaching the highest level over the past three years. The communication director of the National Bank of Romania, Adrian Vasilescu, said the central bank is neither happy nor concerned about the leu-euro exchange rate, explaining that the depreciation reported over the past months was caused by excessive spending reported at the end of last year and the high turbulence on international markets.
Romania’s PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Thursday notified the Constitutional Court over President Traian Basescu’s refusal to accept the appointment as justice minister of his party colleague, Liberal senator Norica Nicolai. The decision was made after an exchange of letters between the two palaces, public declarations and two meetings following which both the prime minister and the President expressed their standpoints. Tariceanu claims that the election of ministers is the exclusive prerogative of the prime minister while the President contends that Norica Nicolai does not live up to the respective position morally and professionally.
The justice minister position has remained vacant after the resignation, in December, of former Liberal minister of justice, Tudor Chiuariu, searched by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate for abuse of office. At present, Liberal Teodor Melescanu, has been appointed interim justice minister. He managed to cause the President’s discontent after refusing to forward to the certified institutions the documents provided by the head of state with a view to starting the prosecution of 8 former and acting ministers. After one week of verbal and procedural disputes, Melescanu has eventually forwarded the documents.
In 2008 Romanians celebrated 149 years since the Union of Romanian Principalities. On January 24th 1859 Alexandru Ioan Cuza- ruler of Moldavia- was voted unanimously, also by the Electors’ Assembly in Bucharest, as sovereign ruler of Wallachia and was proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. Through the radical reforms promoted at the time, Cuza’s rule set the foundation for modern Romania. The union of 1859 was followed in 1877 by the proclamation of state independence from the Ottoman Empire, and in 1918 by the completion of the process of creating the unitary nation state, following Romania’s union with all provinces inhabited by a majority Romanian population, territories that had been part of the Czarist and Austro-Hungarian multinational empires. President Traian Basescu, PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu and other political leaders participated this year in the events organized in Iasi, the historical capital of Moldavia, where they spoke about history, unity and the reform of modern Romania’s institutions.
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin went on a visit to Moscow on Monday and Tuesday, against the backdrop of tense relations between this former Soviet republic with neighboring Romania and also with Russia. The Moldovan leader was granted an award by Russian Patriarch Alekseii the 2nd for his stand on the decision of the Romanian Patriarchate to reactivate several episcopates on the Moldovan territory. The two leaders have accused Bucharest of “expansionist, aggressive tendencies”. Chisinau, which favors the second important local Orthodox Church- namely Moldova’s Metropolitan Bishopric- has recently expelled, under different pretexts, several priests with Romanian citizenship who belong to the Metropolitan Bishopric of Bessarabia, that is canonically subordinated to the Romanian Patriarchate. The Metropolitan Bishopric of Bessarabia was reactivated in 1992 , being recognized by the Moldavan state only after an international trial.
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