The Week in Review 8-14 June

Prime Minister Victor Ponta retains parliamentary imunity

Although accused of conflict of interests while in office, the Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta has managed to retain his parliamentary immunity. His colleagues in the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday rejected the request of the National Anticorruption Directorate for his prosecution. However, the National Anticorruption Directorate is already prosecuting the PM for another three crimes he allegedly committed as a lawyer.

The Ponta Government and the censure motion

The National Liberal Party, the main opposition party, has introduced a censure motion in Parliament. Quite predicibly, the motion did not pass.  The themes of the motion were the organizational disaster at polls abroad, at the presidential election last November, which disallowed thousands to vote, as well as the failure to pass the law on postal voting, which could have prevented the said situations. The Ponta Government is still in power, but one of its ministers, Ioan Rus, has resigned following his offensive statements, in a TV interview, regarding the Romanians working abroad.

Romania’s Defense Strategy

“A strong Romania in Europe and the world” is the subtitle of Romania’s national defence strategy, which the country’s Supreme Defence Council will send to Parliament for approval. At the end of the council’s meeting on Tuesday, president Klaus Iohannis said that the strategy entailed a new concept, that of ‘extended security’. National security is not only about defence; it also has to do with public order, the economy, infrastructure, education, healthcare, the environment and culture, all of which have an impact on national security, the president said. The new strategy reaffirms the importance of Romania’s strategic partnership with the US and its NATO and European Union membership as pillars of the country’s foreign and security policy.

Positive Economic Forecasts for Romania

The World Bank has revised upwards to 3% its economic growth forecast for Romania this year, as compared to the 2.8% world average. Moreover, Romania is likely to register a 3.2% growth rate in 2016, and 3.5% in 2017, which would be lower by 0.4%, though, than what the international financial institution had forecast in winter.  Romania’s economic performance, alongside that of the Czech Republic, has also been confirmed by the Statistical Office of the European Union – Eurostat- according to which in the first quarter of this year the two countries had the highest economic growth in the EU: 4.2%.

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