Romanian deputies Raluca Turcan and Cristian Boureanu, two of the youngest members of the governing National Liberal Party-PNL, have been expelled from the group, it was announced last weekend. The two have been a target for possible expulsion following differences of opinion with the leadership of the party, which they have criticized repeatedly.
The two said they did not regret the expulsion, which they called “anti-Liberal”.
They had been sanctioned with a public warning in July this year and lost the political support of the group in early autumn due to their criticism of a series of Liberal decisions, including moves to contain a group of senior members who took stand against the party leadership.
The PNL leaders also decided to sanction Liberal businessman Dinu Patriciu, the head of the Rompetrol oil group, with a public warning this weekend following reports that he had sponsored the then-in-power PSD party in the 2004 electoral campaign, eventually won by an alliance of Liberals and Democrats.
HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Liberals expel two deputies
PM Tariceanu and President Basescu in renewed conflict
Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu took stand against President Traian Basescu once again last weekend, criticizing him for not consulting with the Liberal partners in the governing coalition when he nominated a representative of the opposition to head the Romanian Intelligence Service -SRI.
“Basescu has become a player in the camp of the Social Democrats [PSD - the party that led the country in 2000-04, now in opposition]”, Tariceanu accused, referring to the nomination of PSD member George Maior to run the SRI.
President Basescu is linked to the Democratic Party-PD, a group shares the government with the Liberals but has clashed with the latter on numerous occasions.
Tariceanu said that by consulting only the PSD before making the nomination, President Basescu was no longer a referee of the political scene as it became a PSD player, which is a big problem for the Presidency.
The Liberals decided Friday night to vote against Maior’s candidacy for the SRI job in Parliament.
HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006
Controversial final statement at Francophone Summit
La Sommet de la Francophonie, the Bucharest-hosted reunion of leaders from French-speaking countries, concluded on Friday with a resolution focused on the Lebanese conflict. The issue sparked hot debates between participants during the day, forcing them to negotiate heavily behind closed doors for over the final version of the text.
The controversy was produced by an Egypt-proposed amendment that was countered by Canada PM Stephen Harper. But the initial version of the text was received with discontent by several other delegations as well. The late arrival of a Lebanese delegation to Bucharest made things even more difficult.
The Egyptian amendment supported a final version of the summit declaration that showed the Francophone countries regret the tragedy in Lebanon and the consequences on the Lebanese population. But Canada proved hostile towards the formula, as PM Harper said the summit participants could not recognize the victims of Lebanon without mentioning those of Israel.
At the final press-conference between departure, the summit leader could not announce a decision on the adoption of the resolution.
That forced talks last longer to establish a final form of the statement, which regrets the “tragedy in Lebanon and the dramatic consequences for the overall civilian population” and calls for “a complete end to hostilities and a return to calm in Lebanon”.
HotNews.ro, Sep 29, 2006
Fate of Romanian workers in Hungary to be decided after accession
Hungary will decide whether to allow free access for Romanian workers on its labour market only after Romania and Bulgaria join the European Union on January 1, 2007, Hungarian Foreign minister Kinga Goncz has announced.
“A decision was not yet taken in this regard. We will have to consider various aspects, including the difficult terms of the labour market in Eastern hungary and the interest of ethnic Hungarians in Romania”, Goncz said, quoted by Hungarian press agency MTI.
He said possible temporary or partial restrictions were considered.
Some 2 million ethnic Hungarians live in Romania, many interested in finding work abroad, and Hungary is the only EU member state with a common border with the country. The unemployment rate in Hungary rose to 7.4% in June-August this year, 0.1 percentage points up from the May-July, while Romania kept a rae of 5.1% in August, the lowest in the past 14 years.
HotNews.ro, Sep 29, 2006
Potential Intelligence head speaks up
Romanian President Traian Basescu’s decision to push a member of the opposition for the top job in the Romanian Intelligence Service-SRI continues to spark hot debates in political circles.
In an interview for HotNews.ro, George Maior, the Social-Democrat who was nominated as future SRI head, says his nomination is not the result of secret deals and that he received the proposal from President Basescu the same day it was made public.
In his interview, George Maior explains that the President chose to pick a representative of the opposition to run the Intelligence Service because of “a principle” that such services in Romania must adapt to the course of democracy.
George Maior was known for a series of legislative proposals, some of them failed, for the reform of the intelligence services. He made the proposals as head of Parliament’s Defense Commission.
HotNews.ro, Sep 29, 2006
Abdou Diouf re-elected head of La Francophonie
Abdou Diouf was re-elected secretary general of La Francophonie, the organization of French-speaking countries, on Friday in the second and last day of a summit of the organization hosted by Romanian capital Bucharest. It is the first palpable result of the event, organized for the first time in a European country other than France.
A former Senegal President from 1981-2000, Diouf was the sole candidate for the seat. He was first elected as secretary general of the organization in 2002, two years after losing elections in his home country, which prompted him to move to France.
A plenary session of leaders from French-speaking countries is also due today. On Thursday, the only visible results of talks and speeches from participants were a call for a stronger role of French-speaking countries in the European Union and announced plans for a Francophone university in Bucharest.
HotNews.ro, Sep 29, 2006
Credit growth pace slows down
Non-governmental credit reached some 81 billion Romanian lei in August this year, up 3.5% compared to the previous month, the National Bank has announced. The pace of growth was slower, however, as in July the boost upped 3.9% to 79.4 billion lei.
According to National Bank data, non-governmental credit advanced by 56.9% by the end of August 2006 compared to August 31 last year, with a 104.9% boost for its RON component and 24.1% growth of its currency component.
HotNews.ro, Sep 29, 2006