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RADOR: News from Romania, 99-03-11
March 11, 1999
CONTENTS
[01] Joint Session of the Permanent Bureaux in the Romanian Senate and
House of Deputies;
[02] Meeting of the Judicial Commission in the Senate;
[03] Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica on Lifting Senator Corneliu Vadim
Tudor's Immunity;
[04] General Assembly of Romanian Cities' Federation;
[05] Meeting at Cotroceni Palace;
[06] PNTCD Is Considering Proposals Aimed at Amending Election Law.
[01] Joint Session of the Permanent Bureaux in the Romanian Senate and
House of Deputies
After attending the joint session of the Paermanent Bureaux in the Romanian
Senate and House of Deputies on Wednesday, Senate speaker Petre Roman said
the participants agreed upon a solution designed to step up the adoption of
the emrgency ordinance amending the Education Law. The texts under dispute
will be subject to further debates in the Senate and, if differences remain,
renewed discussions are planned. The vicepresident of the Christian
Democrat National Peasant Party (PNTCD), Vasile Lupu, criticised the
solution because, in his opinion, the double mediation could damage the
legislative process in future. The meeting has also adopted the agenda of
the next joint session of the Chambres on Thursday. The list of the
candidates for the Audit Court is one of the main topics to be discussed.
The list will be subject to a secret voting. The presidency of the Audit
Court is still to be agreed. RADOR
[02] Meeting of the Judicial Commission in the Senate
At its meeting on Wednesday, the Judicial Commission in the Senate has
reviewed the Emergency Ordinance 27/1998 allowing the state to take over
the domestic debt owed by the Supreme Court of Justice to BANCOREX for the
expropriated building on 25, Batistei Street. The commissioners have agreed
to maintain the initial decision as stipulated in its former report and
recommend the Senate to pass the draft law as formulated by the government.
RADOR
[03] Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica on lifting senator Corneliu Vadim
Tudor's immunity
Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica appreciated as positive the Senate's
decision to delay the debates over the request to lift the immunity of
senator Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of Gretaer Romania Party (PRM). He
said that, as the main opposition party, the Party of Social democracy in
Romania (PDSR) did not express its full support of the request, the safest
way to suspend the PRM president was an amendment the Senate's regulations
and make them allow a simple majority vote to lift the immunity of a MP.
Valeriu Stoica said the Senate should first adopt a decision simplifying
the immunity lifting procedure. He expressed the regret that the Opposition
was not as wise as it proved when it accepted to lift the immunity of PDSR
deputy Gabriel Bivolaru. RADOR
[04] General Assembly of Romanian Cities' Federation
Romanian President Emil Constantinescu has attended the opening session of
the General Assembly of the Romanian Cities' Federation. In his opening
speech, the Romanian president pointed out that the reform of the Romanian
society was about to descentralise the decision-making to allow quick
results. "In Romania, the civil society was rather succesful in changing
the mentalities, but now the change should be made in the way the society
needs are felt", President Constantinescu said. He admitted there were some
differences between local and central initiatives, but he insisted that the
central authorities should not fear the local authonomy. At the meeting in
Bucharest, President Constantinescu along with the US ambassador to Romania,
James Rosapepe, have attended the signing ceremony of two agreements
between the Federation of Romanian Cities, the US Development Agency and
the British Programme for the institutional development of the cities.
RADOR
[05] Meeting at Cotroceni Palace
While at Cotroceni Palace on Wednesday, Romanian President Emil
Constantinescu met representatives of the Alliance for Romania's Revival
through Education, a national programme under the auspices of the Romanian
head of state. The participants reviewed the initiatives in the programme
designed to promote and ecourage educational, social and professional
activities in the country. RADOR
[06] PNTCD is considering proposals aimed at amending Election Law
At the Parliament Palace on Wednesday, the PNTCD MP group in the House of
Deputies met to consider proposals aimed at amending the Election Law.
According to PNTCD vicepresident Remus Opris, the participants have
considered a possible raise in the election threshold at 5%. In the case of
coalition parties, one or more points may be added while an amendment may
allow the distribution of the remaining votes at constituency level using
the Hont system. All the proposals are to be reconsidered by the party's Co-
ordination and Control Bureau (BCCC) at a meeting next week. RADOR
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