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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-06-30
June 30, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Senate Proceedings;
[02] House of Deputies Proceedings;
[03] Deputies' Request to SRI;
[04] Legal Proposal on Reorganising a Hungarian Language Teaching State
University in Cluj Napoca;
[05] CSAT Requests Information Concerning Its Members' Alleged Relationship
with Former Securitate;
[06] Government Expected to Issue Emergency Ordinance for Solving Economic
Problems;
[07] PNTCD Press Conference;
[08] Romanian Army Restructuring;
[09] President Constantinescu on a Visit to Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Armenia;
[10] Georgian President Believes Romanian President's Visit Is Very
Important;
[11] Regional Conference on Fighting Illegal Drug Traffiking and Consuming;
[12] Open Doors Day in "Floare de Colt" Military Training Exercise.
[01] Senate proceedins
At its session on Monday, the Romanian Senate has adopted the draft law on
cooperation between Romanian authorities and the International Court for
war crimes and human rights abuses in former Yugoslavia since 1391.
According to the same source, the Senate has also adopte the draft law
ratifying the memorandum and the cooperation agreement signed between
Romania and Holland in the Hague, on March 5, 1998. In his opening speach
on Monday, the Spealer of the Romanian Senate, Petre Roman, has announced
that the Senate's extraordinary session would open on July 6. The session
is expected to close by July 9. Debates will focus on draft laws concerning
regional cooperation, public property rights and their legal framework, and
local public finances. The draft law on setting up the National Electricity
Company following RENEL's restructuring will be also subject to denates
during the Senate's extraordinary session. According to the same source,
some draft laws under debate are to be adopted at a joint session of the
two Chambres in the Romanian Parliament. RADOR
[02] House of Deputies proceedings
The Romanian deputies have answered on Monday the Romanian president's
request to allow the particip3tion of Romanian military subunits in joint
training exercise with similar units abroad. The Romanian troops are
expected to participate in several training exercises this year as part of
NATO's Partnership for Peace programme as well as separate exercises along
with their counterparts in Hungary, Italy, France and Egypt. The deputies
have ended debates over articles in the Penal Code and the Code of Penal
Procedures and participated in the secret voting concerning the appointment
of a new member in the National Audio-Videobroadcasting Council. Following
a first round of voting, none of the seven candidates got the majority of
the votes requested. A second round of voting is to be organised in the
very next future. RADOR
[03] Deputies' request to SRI
Following a proposal by Sorin Lepsa, a deputy representing the ruling
Christian Democrat National Peasant Party (PNTCD), the Romanian deputies
have decided on Monday to ask the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) to
draw up a report c3ncerning their alleged membership or cooperation with
the former Securitate services. The report should be completed within two
weeks. With a majority of votes, the deputies have adopted Mr Lepsa's
proposal requesting the SRI to unvail their Securitate files in order to
see if former Securitate informers or agents were now members in the
Chamber. Miron Mitrea, a deputy representing the opposition Party of Social
Democracy in Romania (PDSR) has accused PNTCD deputy Vasile Lupu, the
Deputy Speaker of the Lower House, of being a Securitate informer. In his
turn, Deputy Vasile Lupu has denied the accusation. RADOR
[04] Legal proposal on reorganising a Hungarian language teaching state
university in Cluj Napoca
Varga Attila, the leader of the MP group representing the Democratic Union
of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), has subitted to the House of
Deputies' Permanent Bureau a legal project on reorganising a Hungarian
language teaching state university in the Trasylvanian town of Clu3 Napoca.
"Reorganising a Hungarian university in Cluj is an essential element for
preserving and developing the Hungarian language, culture and national
identity of people belonging to the Hungarian minority in Romania", Mr
Varga's project says. According to the project, the National Education
Ministry (MEN) is to provide the financial and material basis for the
setting up of a Hungarian language teaching state university starting with
the 1999-2000 school year. RADOR
[05] CSAT requests information concerning its members' alleged relationship
with former Securitate
At the end of its extraordinary session on Monday, the Supreme Council for
the Country's Defence (CSAT) says its members welcome the Senate's decision
to adopt the draft law stipulating the complete disclosure of the former
Securitate as political police and express the hope that the House of
Deputies will adopt the document as soon as possible. The Council has
examined the recent progress in reforming defence and natio3al security
institutions according to conditions imposed by Romania's strategy for its
European and Euro-Atlantic integration. The communique says that, in the
attempt to increase the confidence of the the people in the defence and
national security institutions, the Council has asked the MApN, Interior
Ministry (MI), SRI and SIE (ed.n. Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service) to
provide all information they had concerning the CSAT councilors. The
councilors include the Romanian president, the prime minister, the
ministers of state, the national defence minister, the foreign minister,
the interior minister, the industry and trade minister, the state secretary
joint chief of Staff, the SRI and SIE directors, the presidential
counsellor for defence and national security affairs. The move is aimed at
ensuring that the Romanian high-ranking officials had no relation with the
former Securitate services and did not act as Securitate agents, undercover
agents, informers etc. In case such a3legations are proved, the official
involved is to renounce all his public positions. CSAT believes that
Romania's process of moral purification should be achieved in full respect
of the truth, the communique concludes. RADOR
[06] Government expected to issue emergency ordinance for solving economic
problems
The Romanian Government is forced to issue emergency ordinances in its
attempt to solbe economic problems of major importance. The Romanian prime
minister believes that such "problems" include the restructuring of RENEL
and ROMGAZ (ed.n. Romanian national gas and energy suppliers). Prime
Minister Rqadu Vasile has announced that important laws were to be adopted
through emergency ordinances because differences between coalition parties
were extended to the MPs, and the legal projects the government promoted
were blocked in parliament. RADOR
[07] PNTCD press conference
PNTCD leader Ion Diaconescu told a press conference on Monday that the
party praised the political declaration m3de by the leadership of the UDMR.
He said that only the cooperation between parties in the governing
coalition could answer the UDMR claims. "I am sure that, through dialogue,
we can find the solutions to meet both the justified claims issued by the
UDMR and the unity of the Romanian state. There are 1,000 years of
relations between Romanians and Hungarians that cannot be left behind. The
change in mentality requests time", the PNTCD leader added. Mr Diaconescu
said he shared the government's decision to issue ordinances for emergency
situations requesting laws of major importance. In case such ordinances do
not respond to opinions expressed by the majority in parliament, then they
should be amended or rejected, Mr Diaconescu pointed out. RADOR
[08] Romanian army restructuring
Romanian National Defence Minister Victor Babiuc said that, starting from
June 15, 150 structures belonging to the Romanian Army were to be closed
down, transformed or restructured. He mentioned that the Roma3ian
Government's restructuring programme included mainly the loss-making
departments. Some 2000 army workers are to be included in the restructuring
programme (780 officers under contract and 1,156 civilians). 98 billion lei
are to be provided for the social protection of the future unemployed. 62
billion lei are to be provided for the second stage of restructuring in the
next six months. Mr Babiuc said that 6,000 military have expressed their
wish to become reservists according to stipulations in Ordinance 7/1998.
The move is expected to request 202 billion lei while the military budget
provisions for this year allowed only 160 billion lei for such projects.
The reduction in army personnel is also part of the conditions Romania has
to meet for its future NATO integration. In case Romania will not become a
NATO member in the very next future, the army personnel should however
include only 150,000 people. The Romanian minister added that the quick
reaction and peace-keeping forces 3ere not included in the restructuring
programme. RADOR
[09] President Constantinescu on a visit to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia
Romanian President Emil Constatinescu has left Bucharest on Monday for a
visiting tour including Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. As the RRA reports,
the Romanian delegation includes representatives of Romania's Chamber for
Commerce. Presidential adviser Dan Capatana, also coordinator of the
"Romania at Crossroad" Forum, said that, in the year 2000, oil production
around the Caspian Sea might become of major importance, but decisions
concerning its transport routes could be made by the end of the year. He
pointed out that Romania had some proposals to make in this respect. While
leaving for the Azeri capital of Baku, the Romanian president said his tour
showed that the "regional cooperation in the extremely important area
linking the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea was becoming one of Romania's top
priorities". He mentioned that the Romanian delegation 3lso included
officials representing the Administration of the Romanian port of
Constantza. RADOR
[10] Georgian president believes Romanian president's visit is very
important
In a statement made in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Monday, President
Eduard Shevarnadze said the three-day visit to Georgia (July 1-3) by
Romanian President Emil Constantinescu was expected to decisively stimulate
and extend the cooperation between the two countries. He mentioned that the
talks would focus on Romania and Georgia's participation in retsoring the
so-called "silk route" and the major opportunities the two countries had in
developing infrastructure projects for an Euro-Asian transport corridor.
The Romanian president is also expected to visit the Georgian ports of Poti
and Batoumi which played an important role in the oil transport around the
Caspian Sea. RADOR
[11] Regional conference on fighting illegal drug traffiking and consuming
A regional conference on fighting illegal drug traffiking an3 consuming
opened at Snagov Palace on Monday. The conference is hosted by the Interior
Ministry and the Directorate General of Customs following a Romanian
Presidency's initiative. The two-day conference is expected to include
talks between representatives of Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Ukraine,
the Republic of Moldova as well as officials representing the International
Organisation of Criminal Police and the US Justice Department's Agency for
fight against illegal drug traffiking and consuming. In his message to
participants, Romanian President Emil Constantinescu said, among other
things, that Romania was opened to any sort of cooperation aimed at
reducing drug addiction around the world and fighting crossborder
criminality. According to the same source, Interior Minister Gavril Dejeu
said that growing drug smuggling and consumption in recent years might
become a threat for the South-East-European countries' integration into the
international security structures. RADOR
[12] Open Doors Day in "Floare de Colt" military training exercise
The "Floare de Colt" military training exercise is under way in the
Transylvanian city of Miercurea Ciuc. The event is organised by the
National Defence Ministry's (MApN) Psychological Action Department. The
Staff of the operations settled down in Pasul Vlahita on Monday, near the
two Gloria broadcasting radio stations. On the occasion of the Open Doors
Day, journalists representing the local and central media, the Hungarian
DUNA TV correspondent included, had the opportunity to get further details
about the event, in full transparency. The second 4,000 issues of
"Sentinels and Peaks" newspaper has also appeared on Monday. Its
distribution was free. RADOR
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