Press Review - December 7, 2018

12.07.2018 By Oana Gavrila

PM Dancila Calls on EC to Lift Justice Monitoring System

Prime minister Viorica Dancila said Thursday in Parliament she has told EC president Jean-Claude Juncker the EU should lift the verification mechanism in the judiciary, citing discrimination of Romania and Bulgaria.

She said the mechanism should be lifted already after 11 years of monitoring.

The European Commission's latest report on Romania's judicial system was highly critical of the massive overhaul of the country's justice system via laws pushed by the ruling coalition.

Senators Won't Vote on Chairman Immunity in Current Parliament Session

Members of the Romanian Senate want to delay the vote on a request made by anticorruption prosecutors to lift the immunity of chairman Calin Popescu Tariceanu so he can be indicted in a case where he is suspected of taking bribes, political sources told MEDIAFAX.

They said a vote is unlikely during the current parliamentary session, which ends in two weeks.  The Senate’s judicial committee has already postponed voting a review on the request twice.

The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) requested the Senate on November 8 to lift parliamentary immunity for Tariceanu, whom it seeks to indict under the accusation of receiving an $800,000 bribe for a state contract signed during his stint as prime minister.

Subway Workers' Wage Hikes to Raise Ticket Prices

Outgoing transport minister Lucian Sova accused the subway workers’ union of blackmailing subway company Metrorex to gain wage increases by threatening with a strike, adding that the obtained raises will have to be paid from an increase of ticket prices.

Subway workers will receive a 20% raise after Metrorex and the union agreed on a new collective labor agreement for the year. This ended weeks of labor conflict between the parties, with union leaders threatening with a general strike last month.