It looks like the warm weather had the final word in Romanian politics. After months of quarrels, politicians act as if there's nothing left to do than wait for the summer holiday. Only the Social Democrat Opposition has some unfinished business and prepares to expel two top members.
The main headlines on Thursday mainly refer to the miners' invasion of Bucharest in 1990, when over 1,100 people were arrested and beaten by the Police and "popular forces", in order to break the anti-Communist demonstration in the University Plaza.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu declared for the Antena 3 TV station that he discussed with the European Commission head, Jose Manuel Barroso, whom he assured that he respects the independence of state institutions.
PM Tariceanu claims that Barroso agreed that the Justice may be independent but shouldn't avoid all contacts with other state institutions, according to Evenimentul Zilei
Also in the European Commission, the Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini warned that the anonymous sources quoted in the Dick Marty report can't be considered as credible sources.
The Marty report points at Romania and Poland as hosts of the secret CIA prisons used to torture witnesses and suspects. President George W. Bush admitted such facilities existed, but refused to unveil any clear location, Jurnalul National reads.
Back to Romania, the main Opposition party, Social Democrats (PSD) face a scandal within the party. The Bucharest branch unanimously decided to suggest the expelling of Victor Ponta, head of the PSD youth branch, and Vasile Dincu, one of the party leaders, for "expressing points of view, others than the official party position", Cotidianul informs.
"Instead of putting up polls that would make PSD look good, Dincu became a spokesman for the Democrats", one of the Bucharest branch leaders declared for the newspaper.
In such a delicate interior situation, PSD also faces a serious loss of popularity, reaching an all-time minimum of 12% of the electors.
Under the circumstances, a group of supporters tries to bring back former PM Nastase as head of the party, despite the fact that Nastase is subject in two criminal files at the Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office (DNA), Evenimentul Zilei reads.
Another PSD leader, Dan Ioan Popescu, extremely influential in the economic environment during the past 17 years, was proved to be a former manager of Ceausescu's foreign trade companies.
After buying for less that nothing a company he managed before 1989, he became Economy Minister and fueled his own company with 320 million dollars worth of contracts, same Evenimentul Zilei unveils.
To end in an even less optimistic tone: Romania proves to be a critical point on the human trafficking map, according to the annual report of the US Department of State.
According to the report, Romania either provides or hosts for transit victims of human trafficking from Moldova, Ukraine and Russia towards Italy, Spain, Germany and other countries, Romania Libera found out.
HotNews.ro, Jun 14, 2007
0 comments:
Post a Comment