Press Review - April 27, 2018

04.27.2018 By Oana Gavrila

President Says PM Paid "Unauthorized" Visit To Israel

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday criticized the visit Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and ruling party leader Liviu Dragnea paid to Israel and said Dancila didn’t have a mandate to meet with Israeli officials.

Iohannis said Dancila had talks “strictly in the name of the Government and not on behalf of Romania” and he said he was rather “concerned” about the circumstances in which the visit was announced.

The head of state also said that it was discovered Liviu Dragnea was in Israel as well only after he actually arrived there and added that he hopes the social democrat leader will explain his visit once he returns.

Prime Minister Dancila and Lower Chamber speaker Liviu Dragnea paid a visit to Israel on Wednesday and Thursday. They met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed, among others, the relocation of the Romanian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Dragnea announced last week Romania’s plans to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, yet President Klaus Iohannis said he was neither informed nor consulted concerning the relocation decision and stressed the arrangement is not based on “solid and thorough evaluations”.

APADOR-CH Calls for Transparency in Amending National Security Laws

Civil rights organization APADOR-CH calls on Parliament to ensure transparency in debates on national security laws.

The organization said the country's national security laws need to be updated but the process got off on the wrong foot as the first meeting of the commission in charge of amendments was classified and the press was denied access.

All debates on draft laws in Parliament should be public, the organization said.

President Iohannis Criticizes House Arrest Bill

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday criticized a recently adopted bill that introduces house arrest and part-time arrest, saying it needs clarification.

“Some of the lawmakers who voted are thinking it's best they be placed under house arrest than go to jail. The measure doesn't have to be scrapped, there are similar systems in Europe, but it needs to be clarified. As a general rule, I don't think it's a good initiative,” said Iohannis.

The Parliament’s Lower Chamber passed the bill on Wednesday as decision-making forum. Under the bill, defendants can benefit from house arrest, arrest on Saturdays and Sundays in a specially established facility, or from a number of equivalent days of community service instead of a regular sentence they would serve in a penitentiary.

Repeat offenders, those found guilty of corruption offenses and of violent crimes are exempt from the bill.

Defendants can also serve a mixed sentence of weekend arrest and community service.

Opposition parties PNL and USR said they would challenge the bill at the Constitutional Court. Romania’s Supreme Court on Thursday challenged the constitutionality of the bill.

Vintu Gets 10-Year Jail Sentence for Defrauding Petrom Employees' Association

The Bucharest Court of Appeals sentenced Sorin Ovidiu Vintu to ten years in prison for money laundering and defrauding the SNP Petrom Employees' Association of over EUR12 million. The ruling is final.

This is Vintu's fifth conviction for various fraud offenses.

For a decade, Vintu was one of the most influential figures in Romania, controlling a wide range of businesses and influencing local politics through his media group, which included several TV channels (including Realitatea TV), radio stations, newspapers, and a news agency.