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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-03-23
March 23, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] PD makes demands on prime minister
[02] PD believes that Victor Ciorbea is a hesitant prime minister
[03] "Amendments to privatisation law are ill-timed and anti-economic", the
privatisation minister says
[04] Senator Nicolae Vacaroiu says the 1998 draft Budget cannot be passed
[05] Chief commissioner for education in the House of Deputies about
disputed articles in education law
[06] PNTCD Vicepresident Ulm Spineanu believes that early elections will be
a disastrous solution for the country
[07] "The Government may not be able to survive this spring", Varujan
Vosganian says
[08] PNL president statement on the situation within the PL
[09] German economy minister on a visit to Romania
[10] "Hungarian foreign priorities will remain unchanged after elections in
May", says an embassy official in Bucharest
[11] UDMR expresses its solidarity with Albanians in Kosovo
[12] Fire in the Radio broadcasting station building
[13] Tiraspol authorities have stopped citizens from right bank of Nistru
to go to vote
[01] PD makes demands on prime minister
The House of Deputies parliamentary group of the ruling Democratic Party
(PD) has asked Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea to define his position
concerning the Emergency Ordinance on raising accise duties for petrol and
diesel oil. In a letter to the prime minister. PD Deputy Alexandru Sassu
warns that the ordinance raises a series of doubts if implemented as such,
because, as it already happened before, it was only when the ordinance took
effect that the prime minister proved to be hesitant and made last minute
calculations to see how the petrol and diesel oil prices could be cut only
when the ordinance took effect. This is why, the PD MPs warn that the
Government should dfine its position in order to prevent legislators from
new embarrassments, the letter concludes. RADOR, March 23
[02] PD believes that Victor Ciorbea is a hesitant prime minister
The PD Vicepresident Cristian Dumitrescu has made some remarks conSerning
the Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea's promise to the opposition Party of
Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR). Mr Ciorbea has promised he would take
into account the PDSR initiatives on amending the privatisation law while
the PD vicepresident said the move was a "major compromise the prime
minister made only to save the chair, with an obvious disregard for law and
current adoption procedures. The move is a serious proof of indecision and
unwillingness on behalf of the Government", Mr Dumitrescu added. RADOR,
March 23
[03] "Amendments to privatisation law are ill-timed and anti-economic", the
privatisation minister says
The Romanian Privatisation Minister Valentin Ionescu said that, after a
meeting on Saturday, the prime minister was persuaded that the amendments
to the privatisation law were ill-timed and anti-economic. "If the
privatisation law is now to be amended, then the Parliament could bring
other amendments to the law, and that would be a trap", Mr Ionescu said.
TheSminister added that "PDSR demands were unreasonable as they were not
aimed at developing or improving technologies, but further financing the
loss-making state enterprises, and this would mean to resume the old policy
of 1992-1996 with the results we all knew". He stressed that none of the
ministers in the economic field did share the idea of a vote, on Tuesday,
for an emergency ordinance to change the destination of funds resulted from
privatisation. RADOR, March 23
[04] Senator Nicolae Vacaroiu says the 1998 draft Budget cannot be passed
PDSR Senator Nicolae Vacaroiu has expressed his discontent with the 1998
Budget and said the Parliament could not vote for it. The former prime
minister added he was also displeased with the Government's attitude
towards the PDSR solutions for budget revenues. RADOR, March 23
[05] Chief commissioner for education in the House of Deputies about
disputed articles in education law
"There are 13 ethnic minorities in Parliament. 13 parallel education
Ssystems would be a nonsense resulting in xenophobia, racism and ethnic
division", Chief Commissioner for education Deputy Anghel Stanciu said in
an interview. He said the exlusion of Senator George Pruteanu from the
ruling Christian Democrat National Peasant Party (PNTCD) was a "serious
lesson for Senator Pruteanu but much more serious for the nine PNTCD
members of the commission. The warning is clear: you vote the articles in
the law as stipulated by the Democratic Union of Ethic Hungarians in
Romania (UDMR) or you shall share the fate of Mr Pruteanu". Anghel Stanciu
has expressed the hope that the amendments of Academic Sandulescu, a PNTCD
member and former president of Romanian Academy, would be also passed as
"Mr Sandulescu succeeded in surpassing ideological barriers and presented
three amendments allowing education in the language of national minorities
in integrating units and multilanguage departments and groups, and not in
ethic faculties and universities". In his opinion, She vote in the House of
Deputies for "the last minute solution of the so-called confessional
education would persuade the religious cults to demand the immediate return
of over 2,000 schools". RADOR, March 23
[06] PNTCD Vicepresident Ulm Spineanu believes that early elections will be
a disastrous solution for the country
While in Craiova on Sunday, PNTCD Senator Ulm Spineanu has warned that the
early elections would be a disastrous solution for the country because the
reform process would be ignored and its few achievements would be
compromised. The PNTCD vicepresident said the Budget had only 50% chances
to be adopted by Parliament. RADOR, March 23
[07] "The Government may not be able to survive this spring", Varujan
Vosganian says
The leadwer of Romania's Alternative Party (PAR), Senator Varujan Vosganian
has warned that the lack of the Budget resulted in many obstacles, and
there were signs that many building enterprises and research institutes
faced bankruptcy as thay did noS receive any money for months. The senator
believes that lack of the Budget is blocking any new investment and
threatens further investments already made. "Despite its economnic
programme, this government may not have the time to implement it. The
Government may not be able to survive this spring or this summer anyway",
Mr Vosganian said. In his opinion, if the coalition wishes to insure the
efficiency of its constitutional mandate, then it should agree with a
governing strategy mainly focused on economic development. Mr Vosganian has
expressed his belief that the Budget would be passed, but he did not expect
the "Government to gain credibility". RADOR, March 23
[08] PNL president statement on the situation within the PL
"Even if somewhat close to us, what is happening to the Liberal Party (PL)
concerns only the party itself, and it is really unfair that another party
interfere", the President of the ruling National Liberal Party (PNL) Mircea
Ionescu Quintus said. "I did not consuSt my colleagues, but I personally
think that we should not allow ourselves any appreciation concernig these
internal matters, already confused enough. In my opinion, an appreciation
would be inadmissible and very unliberal". RADOR, March 23
[09] German economy minister on a visit to Romania
The German Economy Minister Guenter Rextrodt began his official visit to
Romania on Sunday along with 60 representatives of German companies. The
German Minister said that Germany saw Romania as an important cooperation
partner in the region. He said that the businessmen delegation was the
largest coming to Romania during the last few years. "These businessmen
expect to find political stability, they expect to find good conditions for
investments, a good administration that works and a legal system helping
the investor; they expect clear customs and payment discount regulations,
they expect a legal system that works. They want commercial laws and a
civil rights system as in the foreign countriesS - Mr. Rextrodt said. One
of the joint projects is the cooperation between ROMGAZ and the German
company RUHRGAS. RADOR, March 23
[10] "Hungarian foreign priorities will remain unchanged after elections in
May", says an embassy official in Bucharest
"There are three priorities in Hungarian foreign policy, and it is sure
that they will remain the same after the elections in May this year. The
three priorities include: good neighbourhood relations, support for the
genuine demands of the Hungarian minority and Euro-Atlantic integration",
Adam Balazs, cultural and press adviser with the Hungarian embassy in
Bucharest said. Mr Balazs said the Hungarian Government was pleased to see
that representatives of the Hungarian minority in Romania were members of
the Romanian Government and their positions concerned all sorts of issues.
When asked if Romanian interethnic relations could be influenced by the
recent rejection in Hungarian Parliament of the law concerning the right of
ethnic minoriSies in Hungary to be represented in Parliament, the Hungarian
diplomat expressed the hope that the matter would be immediately solved
after the elections in May. Mr Balazs has mentioned that 1997 was an
extremely good year in the history of Hungarian-Romanian relations, with
both cultural and political good results. RADOR, March 23
[11] UDMR expresses its solidarity with Albanians in Kosovo
On Saturday, UDMR has issued a statement on the situation of the Albanian
minority in Kosovo. UDMR expresses its solidarity with the fight of the
Albanian minority and believes that autonomy is the best political solution
to achieve the stability and integrity of Yugoslavia as part of Europe.
RADOR, March 23
[12] Fire in the Radio broadcasting station building
On Saturday afternoon in Radio building at the 6th floor Computers Section
a fire broke out but firemen's rapid intervention put fire out. Romanian
Radio Corporation's spokesman deputy general manager Gheorghe Verman has
specified: "OS Saturday round 14:00 o'clock a fire broke out in one of
offices belonging to Radio Romania Review Editorial office. Very soon it
was put out by institution's firemen together with military firemen to whom
a help was asked cautiously. Adequate measures were taken in order to find
out fire's causes. Damages were estimated to an amount of 50 millions lei.
RADOR, March 23
[13] Tiraspol authorities have stopped citizens from right bank of Nistru
to go to vote
In Transnistria authorities have not only ignored legislative elections
from Republic of Moldova organized on Sunday but they have stopped citizens
from right bank of Nistru to go to vote in the 13 special polling sections.
These disorders will be registered by 700 local and international
observers' reports. Among these there are Romania parliament members and
students from Bucharest. RADOR, March 23
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