Press Review - November 23, 2017

11.23.2017 By Oana Gavrila

Romanian President Doesn't Fear Impeachment

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday the ruling coalition has no grounds to impeach him and he doesn't fear any such action.

The ruling coalition might seek to impeach the president to pass a series of controversial bills on justice in the interim. Should the president be suspended from office, the Senate chairman would serve as acting president. Romania's Senate chairman is Calin Tariceanu, head of the ruling coalition junior member ALDE.

Ruling coalition members have of late launched accusations that Iohannis was leading a “parallel and illegitimate state”, seeking to seize the coalition's election-earned power. Iohannis deemed the parallel state rhetoric a bad joke.

Government faces No-Confidence Motion Thursday

The Romanian Parliament on Thursday debates and votes on the no-confidence motion pushed by the opposition against the Tudose Cabinet.

The Hungarian minority party UDMR has already said it will abstain from voting. The ruling coalition has a comfortable majority in Parliament and the motion requires the votes of half plus one the number of lawmakers to pass.

Calin Popescu Tariceanu, leader of the ruling coalition’s junior party ALDE, said the motion stands no chance of passing and deemed the opposition’s efforts as “useless”.

The opposition Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union party on November 17 submitted a no-confidence motion against the government led by Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, following the government's hasty adoption of an emergency decree that overhauls the country’s tax system.

Justice Watchdog Notified Over Senate Chairman’s Attacks on Anticorruption Directorate

Romania’s chief anticorruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi on Wednesday notified the Superior Council of Magistracy, the country’s top justice watchdog, over Senate chairman Calin Popescu Tariceanu’s statements against the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).

Kovesi notified the Council after Tariceanu said in Parliament that the Directorate has become a “pathetic political instrument”.

“It is clear as daylight that everything that the National Anticorruption Directorate has been recently making is selective justice. DNA has become a pathetic political instrument. Increasingly more Romanians see this issue and it is very serious because it leads to a loss of confidence in the fundamental institution of justice. DNA does a lot of harm to the image that we try to project abroad,” Tariceanu said.

A press release from the Directorate reads that “the seriousness of Calin Popescu Tariceanu’s attacks grows every day” and that his statements can potentially damage the image of an institution “with a constitutional statute, whose attributions are to investigate high level corruption, being the only legal authority to investigate corruption offenses committed, among others, by senators, deputies, Romanian members of the European Parliament, Government members, state secretaries or undersecretaries of state and assimilated offices, ministers’ advisers.”

EC Urges Romania To Correct Budget Gap

The European Commission established Romania has not taken action to reduce its 2017 budget deficit and that the necessary annual adjustment needs to be at least 0.8% of the gross domestic product.

“On the back of developments since and following the lack of effective action by Romania to correct its significant deviation, the Commission now proposes a revised recommendation of an annual structural adjustment of at least 0.8% of GDP in 2018,” the EC said Wednesday.

In June, the European Council issued a recommendation for an annual structural adjustment of 0.5% of GDP to Romania under the Significant Deviation Procedure (SDP) but the EC established Romania has taken no effective action in response to the European Council's recommendation. The EC warned Romania at the time and urged the government to take action to avoid the opening of an excessive deficit procedure.

Early November, the EC raised its economic growth projection for Romania to 5.7% from  4.3% forecast in May but warned that the government's policy uncertainties could hamper growth.

Central Bank Official Says Flat Tax Boosted Corruption, Calls for Progressive Taxation

Romania's central bank deputy governor Florin Georgescu said Wednesday the introduction of the flat tax in 2005 heightened corruption by doing away with globalized income and called for a progressive tax system instead.

Georgescu called for a due diligence process for the country and suggested Romania should switch to a progressive tax system.