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RADOR: News from Romania, 99-02-15
February 15, 1999
CONTENTS
[01] Budget Debates in Romanian Parliament;
[02] The Finance Minister Is Not Allowed to Collect the Debts, PNL
Vicepresident Says;
[03] Miercurea-Niraj: the Third Hungarian Minority Forum;
[04] Greece Is Supporting Romania's Efforts to Join NATO and the EU;
[05] No Self-Ruling for the Hungarian Romanians in the Next Four Years;
[06] The Romanian-Chinese Bilateral Relations as Seen by the Chinese
Ambassador to Romania;
[07] Welcoming the future visit of the pope to Romania...
[01] Budget debates in Romanian Parliament
Debates on the 1999 draft Budget have continued on Sunday in the Romanian
Senate and House of Deputies. The MPs have adopted the chapters in the
additional document #3 on industry, agriculture and transports. The MPs
representing the governing coalition have rejected all the amendments the
Opposition proposed while adopting the government versions. As the
coalition MPs persistently rejected the Opposition's 200 amendments, the
leader of the Romanians' National Unity Party (PUNR), Valeriu Tabara, told
the press his party was expected to leave the room when the MPs would vote
the Budget in full. The main opposition party, the Party of Social
Democracy in Romania (PDSR) has previously announced a similar move. The
debates are expected to resume on Monday at 9 AM when, according to the
Seante's speaker, Mr Petre Roman, the 1999 Budget and the state insurance
budget are supposed to pass. RADOR
[02] The finance minister is not allowed to collect the debts, PNL
vicepresident says
While attending the launching festivity of the book on "The Romanian
Capitalism" in Sibiu on Sunday, the vicepresident of the National Liberal
Party (PNL), Horia Rusu, said Romanian Finance Minister Decebal Traian
Remes was not allowed to collect the debts. In suppport of his statement,
the PNL leader has mentioned the fraud at the metal processing plant in
Galati where certain groups launched a campaign against the finance
minister in order to defend their interests. Mr Rusu said that "next week,
the parliament is expected to discuss the PNL proposal of a 16% cut in the
tax on profit and the annulment of all fiscal facilities granted to certain
interest groups in the last nine years. The PNL leader said that the
"liberalism is against any kind of facilities as liberalism means equal
chances for all". RADOR
[03] Miercurea-Niraj: the third Hungarian minority forum
Following an initiative by bishop Laszlo Tokes, the honorary president of
the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), the third
Forum of the Romanian Hungarians has been taking place in Miercurea-Niraj,
Mures County, on Saturday. UDMR deputy Laszlo Borbely, also a state
secretary, told the press he did not attend the meeting in Miercurea Niraj.
RADOR
[04] Greece is supporting Romania's efforts to join NATO and the EU
At the end of the meeting between the Greek and Romanian foreign ministers,
the Greek ambassador to Romania, His Excellency Stelios Malikurtis, said in
an interview that his country was supporting Romania's efforts to join NATO
and the EU because, as he put it, "it was Greece's strategic interest to
see Romania join the Euro-Atlantic structures". Referring to Romania's
efforts to join the EU, Mr Malikurtis said the country should make further
steps to restore its economy ands achieve the restructuring as the tasks
were crucial for Romania's rating and international evaluation. RADOR
[05] No self-ruling for the Hungarian Romanians in the next four years
Participants in the meeting aimed at setting up the self-ruling of all
ethnic Romanians in Hungary have failed to reach the quorum requested and,
consequently, the move could not be legalised. Unlike the ethnic Romanians
living in Budapest who actually are non-Romanians, the ethnic Romanians in
eastern Hungary have attended the meeting in Budapest. According to Mrs
Maria Beren, the president of the Cultural Association of the Romanians
Living in Budapest, the genuine Romanians would like to set up their own
union free of any foreign interference. The head of the Hungarian
Government's Department for Minority Affairs, Toso Doncev, has promised
that, irrespective of what the results of the meeting could be, he was soon
expected to announce the Hungarian Government's position on the Hungarian
Romanian community matter. RADOR
[06] The Romanian-Chinese bilateral relations as seen by the Chinese
ambassador to Romania
In an interview with the Romanian media, the Chinese ambassador to Romania,
Mr Liu Guchang said his country's relations with Romania were among the
best relations China ever had with other countries. He said that, last year,
the relations of friendship and co-operation between the two countries
entered a new era. Mr Liu has praised the Romanian Broadcasting Corporation
(SRR) for "its contribution to promoting, enforcing and developing the
relations between the two nations". According to Mr Liu, the SRR was
further developing the exchange and contacts with China's both National and
International Radios. RADOR
[07] Welcoming the future visit of the pope to Romania...
PUNR
The PUNR welcomes the historic agreement reached by the Christian Orthodox
Church and the Vatican concerning the visit to Romania by His Holiness Pope
John Paul II. According to the PUNR, it is the first time when the
relations between the two Churches are getting close, and the move may lead
to the reconciliation between the Christian Orthodox and the Greek Catholic
believers. A communique signed by PUNR leader Valeriu Tabara says that the
party reiterates the national political support of the Romanian Christian
Orthodox Church and its priests, but the party is also supporting the
freedom of conscience and the rights that any other religion should have.
RADOR
Civic Alliance
In full hope and gratitude, the Civic Alliance in Romania (AC) welcomes
Patriarch Teoctist's decision to invite His Holiness Pope John Paul II to
come and visit Romania. "Seen as a crucial moment after a millenium a
disputes, the visit of the pope to a mainly Christian Orthodox country may
be a spiritual bridge between the two sister Churches. The AC communique
says that the visit may be an opportunity to achieve the meeting between
the West and the East on a crossroad land dominated by christianity and
European civilisation. RADOR
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