Press Review - August 1, 2018

08.01.2018 By Oana Gavrila

PM Dancila Takes Vacation on Aug 6-13

Romania's prime minister Viorica Dancila will be on vacation between August 6 and August 13 and her attribution will be taken over by deputy prime minister Paul Stanescu during this time.

A decision of the prime minister was published Tuesday in Romania's Official Journal appointing Stanescu, deputy PM and minister of regional development, as acting prime minister during this period.

President Challenges Administration Code Bill At Constitutional Court

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has challenged at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday a bill which amends the country’s Administration Code, according to the Presidential Administration.

The president said the bill contains unclear and uncorrelated dispositions, which contradict both the Romanian Constitution and existing legal provisions.

“A modern public administration, in a state which is governed by the rule of law, democratic and social, before everything else must be a transparent public administration, transparency which is inconceivable in the absence of clear, unitary and accessible regulations. From analyzing the law we see that it has unclear regulations, legal parallelisms and dispositions both uncorrelated between them, and with other legal dispositions,” the Romanian chief of state claims in his challenge.

Iohannis said the bill would restrict liability for a member of the Government in the case of a conflict of interest and would allow him to take actions benefiting relatives, friends or business partners, while also excluding non-material benefits from his own liability.

The president also criticized a provision which allows local authorities and public institutions to decide whether they will officially use the language of national minorities in areas where the latter do not meet requirements for doing so. He claims that this directly contradicts the Constitution which states that minority languages in administration can be used in areas with significant minority populations.

Romania’s Lower Chamber passed on July 10, as a deciding body, a bill amending the country’s Administration Code.

The new code allows local elected officials to be self-employed or “individuals who exploit a personal or family enterprise”.

It also adds a new provision which stipulates that special pensions received by local elected officials since 1992 after the end of their terms will be paid from the national budget.

Opposition MP Barna Says Police Was Abusive in Lifting Custom Plates

MP Dan Barna, head of the opposition USR party, said police were abusive in lifting custom license plates registered in Sweden and the act constitutes a blow to freedom of speech.

Sweden’s Transportation Agency has decided to annul the controversial custom license plate issued for a Romanian national, which contained a derogatory remark towards the country’s Social Democratic Party.

Romania’s traffic police opened criminal procedures on Monday morning in the publicized case of a citizen who drove throughout the country with anti-ruling party license plates registered in Sweden, confiscating the plates and suspending his driver's license.

Razvan S., 45, was pulled over by traffic police in Bucharest on Monday on suspicion of driving with invalid license plates. Police confiscated his driver’s permit and his car’s license plates.

The driver created a stir in the last couple of weeks after images of the car’s license plates – made entirely out of letters forming a derogatory remark against the ruling Social Democrat Party – went viral on social media, with the car being seen throughout the country.

Romania Opens 29 km of Highway to Traffic

Sections 3 and 4 of the Sebes-Turda highway in central Romania were opened to traffic Monday evening, Romania's road company said.

The two newly completed highway sections total 29 kilometers and cost nearly RON900 million, net of VAT.