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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-03-18
March 18, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Emergency Ordinance on local public administration rejected
[02] Romanian president had talks with PDSR leaders
[03] The Government has adopted the 1998 Budget law
[04] House of Deputies proceedings
[05] PNL-PD meeting
[06] PDSR motion
[07] "PDSR will not vote for the Budget", Ion Iliescu says
[08] Renewed PL plea for Liberal unification
[09] Virgil Magureanu's reply to Ion Ratiu's remarks
[10] PS conference
[11] PRM will take the finance minister to court
[12] First press conference of Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu
[13] A British official delegation on a visit to Bucharest
[01] Emergency Ordinance on local public administration rejected
The Romanian Senate has rejected the Ordinance 22 amending the local public
administration law. As the ordinance is becoming null and void, the former
local public administration law is now in force again. The law clearly
stipulates the incompatibility between the position of mayor and that of
prime minister. Senate Speaker Petre RoSan, but also PNTCD (ed.n. governing
Christian Democrat National Peasant Party) Senator Corneliu Turianu say
Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea should immediately express his option for one
of the two jobs. The Senate speaker, senators Corneliu Turianu, Ion
Predescu, Cazimir Ionescu and other jurists believe that, once rejected,
the ordinance cannot be subject to futher debates in the House of Deputies.
UDMR (ed.n. Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania) Senator
Kozsokar Gabor is the only one who insists that, if not debated by deputies,
Ordinance 69 is still in force. Remus Opris, the PNTCD minister responsible
for the local public administration Department, said that "as the draft law
on approving the emergecy ordinance was rejected, the Senate should draw up
another draft law on rejecting it. The draft law should then be presented
to the House of Deputies for debates". RADOR, March 18
[02] Romanian president had talks with PDSR leaders
On Tuesday evening at Cotroceni Palace,SRomanian President Emil
Constantinescu met a PDSR (ed.n. opposition Party of Social Democracy in
Romania) delegation headed by Ion Iliescu. The talks focused on ways of
strengthening the role of the parliament and issues concerning the lack of
communication between the Executive and the Legislative. As the Romanian
president said before the meeting, it was a political discussion which was
not expected to exclude negotiations concerning the Budget. Emil
Constantinescu has welcomed the initiatives the main opposition party has
presented such as the amendments to the general elections law. PDSR leader
Ion Iliescu has expressed his discontent with the current Government as it
has reacted arrogantly to all PDSR intiatives and acted through emergency
ordinancies in its attempt to avoid Parliament. Mr Iliescu said the talks
were hold in period of crisis and he told the president that dicussions
should also focus on the "disastrous" economic and social situation of the
people. According tS his sources in the territory, the people believe that
only early elections could end the crisis, he said. RADOR, March 18
[03] The Government has adopted the 1998 Budget law
At a press conference at Victoria Palace on Tuesday, Romanian Finance
Minister Daniel Daianu has announced that the Government adopted the 1998
Budget law. The minister said that recent amendments to raise the budget in
some ministries, such as the Agriculture and Health Ministries, were not
very significant. Mr Daianu expressed the hope that the draft Budget and a
Finance Ministry report explianing its structure would be subject to
debates in the parliamentary special commissions early next week. He hopes
tha Budget will be accepted as the economy badly needed it. RADOR, March
18
[04] House of Deputies proceedings
Following the request of Romanian President Emil Constantinescu, with 147
for and 95 against, the deputies have rejected the proposed ten-day delay
in the debates concerning the law on salaries for pSople elected or
designated and other categories of public workers. The House of Deputies
Speaker Ion Diaconescu has asked for a delay to allow the Government to
draw up a single law on salaries of all public worker categories.RADOR,
March 18
[05] PNL-PD meeting
A meeting between the leaders of the governing Democratic Party (PD) and
National Liberal Party (PNL) was hosted by the Senate on Tuesday. Talks
have focused on solutions aimed at ending the crisis and continuing reform.
The PNL leader Mircea Ionescu Quintus said the meeting was useful as it
clarified the recent policies the two parties adopted. The PNL president
stressed that the Democrats were sill part of the governing coalition and,
if a new government had to be created, the PD should be part of it. In his
turn, PD leader Petre Roman said the two sides discussed the solutions the
two parties had in order to end the political crisis. Following discussions,
the PD position concerning the prime minister and the Budget Semained
unchanged. No decision was made at the end of the meeting, the same source
reported. RADOR, March 18
[06] PDSR motion
On Tuesday at the Romanian Senate, PDSR senators have presented a motion on
telecommunications. The senators claim that the privatisation process of
the National Telecommunications Company could badly affect the public
integrity of the state, the public and social interest and, last but not
least, the state security if legal and constitutional stipulations were not
observed. Consequently, the motion says that, among other things, the
Government should present the Senate with its strategy and privatisation
programmes for telecommunications as well as the ROMTELECOM estate. RADOR,
March 18
[07] "PDSR will not vote for the Budget", Ion Iliescu says
As any of its objections concerning the Budget was not taken into account,
the PDSR will not vote for it. At a press conference on Tuesday, PDSR
leader Ion Iliescu said that the dismissal of Prime Minister Victor CiSrbea
was a politcal decision and the political forces supporting him were the
only ones to decide it. Ion Iliescu informed that a PDSR delegation was to
meet President Constantinescu on Tuesday, and the party was pleading for
consultaions with all parliamentary parties in order to "find an acceptable
economic and social programme for the year 1998 able to prevent political
and, above all, the social tensions throughout the country". RADOR, March
18
[08] Renewed PL plea for Liberal unification
The Liberal Federation is urging the PNL Permanent Bureau to start
negotiations aimed at achieving the complete Liberal unification in a
single party. At a press conference on Tuesday, the President of the
Liberal Party, Nicolae Cerveni, said the unification could be achieved
through fusing, merging or fusing through absorption. On the other hand, Mr
Cerveni has replied that any information concerning the alleged
relationship between his party and Romanian National Party (PNR) were only
specSulations. He has announced that the programme and the statute of the
Liberal Party was to be presented within a special meeting of the PL
Executive Committee at the weekend. RADOR, March 18
[09] Virgil Magureanu's reply to Ion Ratiu's remarks
In an open letter, PNR Secretary General Virgil Magureanu says that, in his
opinion, no one can decide an embargo on the name of party only because his
ancestors were founders or members of that party. Issued by ROMPRES news
agency, the letter is a reaction to the remarks some PNTCD leaders made on
Monday concerning the setting up of the Romanian National Party. Virgil
Magureanu insists that the reaction of the PNTCD leader has no legal
support. He says the PNR was founded in 1990 under this name, and it had
attended the sessions of the former CPUN (ed.n. Provisional Council of
National Unity). Mr Magureanu says the PNTCD present such claims to the
founders of PNR in 1990. RADOR, March 18
[10] PS conference
The Socialist Party (PS) has urged Shose in power to concentrate on an
economic and social development plan able to ensure the prosperity and the
dignity of all citizens. At the same time, the PS says the Government
should renegotiate the IMF and World Bank agreements concerning Romania's
trade and international financial relations, RADIO ROMANIA ACTUALITATI
reports. RADOR, March 18
[11] PRM will take the finance minister to court
In an open letter to Finance Minister Daniel Daianu, the chief commissioner
for education in the House of Deputies Anghel Stanciu says Mr Daianu should
observe art. 169 in the education law stipulating that the education budget
should not be lower than 4% of the GDP. The education budget this year is
expected to be only 3.56% of the GDP, a budget completely unable to meet
the demands of a modern educational system. The deputy representing the
Greater Romania Party (PRM) says the finance minister and the Government
should ensure a budget of at least 5% of the GDP. For these reasons, the
PRS MPs will take Finance Minister Daianu to court for the violation of
art. 169 in the education law stipulating that the budget should be 4% of
the GDP. RADOR, March 18
[12] First press conference of Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu
On March 17, Mr Andrei Plesu has held his first press conference as foreign
minister. Referring to the basic Romanian-Russian political draft treaty,
Mr Plesu informed that the Russian ambassador to Bucharest presented a
Moscow version in January and the Romanian side accepted it. The draft text
is divided into two chapters: moral compensations and material
compensations. "As far as the moral compensations are concerned, it is not
absolutely necessary to insist on mentioning the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact in
the text", the foreign minister said. Concerning the material compensations,
the Romanian side claims the text should express both countries' commitment
to clarify the treasury dispute. The Romanian side believes the Romanian-
Russian basic Treaty could be Sompleted by this autumn. As faras the treaty
with Moldova is concerned, 22 of the 29 articles in the document are
already accepted. A future round of negotiations is expected in May.
Referring to the crisis in Kosovo, Mr Plesu said: "As we are involved in
all these negotiations, we shall obey the decisions made by the Contact
Group". RADOR, March 18
[13] A British official delegation on a visit to Bucharest
The visit of Michael Rider, head of Defence Policy Department with the
British Foreign Office, and Steven Polard, the head of the Central and East-
European Department with the British Ministry of Defence, is part of a
programme already agreed between Romania and Britain in order to prepare
Romania's accession to NATO, chief of NATO Directorate with the Romanian
Foreign Ministry Viorel Ardelean said. Mr Ardelean stressed that the
Romanian - British military cooperation programme was one of the major
British projects in a Central or East-European country. "Britain has a
large eSperience in issues concerning the approximation to NATO standards,
and we rely on the British experience in the field because Romanian armed
forces should meet the NATO standards as soon as possible. We should be
able to gain a better position in future, on the occasion of the NATO
summit next year when NATO apllications would be re-examined", the chief of
NATO Directorate said. RADOR, March 18
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