Tuesday, April 10th

The four candidates for the post of Romanian attorney general passed the interview stage during the appointment procedure

The four candidates for the post of general prosecutor of Romania have today passed the stage of the interview, during the appointment procedure, and the Justice Minister’s proposal could be presented even today, as Tudorel Toader specified today. The DIICOT prosecutor, Marian Drilea, former DIICOT chief Daniel Horodniceanu, the current general prosecutor, Augustin Lazar, whose mandate expires at the end of this month, and Gabriela Scutea, prosecutor at the Prosecutor’s Office of the Brasov Court of Appeal, came in front of the commission. Each one had half an hour to present the arguments on which their candidacies were based and responded to questions from the Secretary of State and Commission Secretaries. The interviews were broadcasted live on the Justice Ministry website and the recordings are posted on the just.ro site. According to the law, the proposal is to be sent to the Superior Council of Magistracy, where the Prosecutor’s Section gives an advisory opinion, and then reaches the President of Romania, who appoints the General Prsecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice./opopescu

The Romanian Senate speaker, Călin Popescu-Tariceanu, met the US Vice President Mike Pence

The Romanian Senate speaker Călin Popescu-Tariceanu met yesterday, in Wahington, the US Vice President Mike Pence and his national security adviser Keith Kellogg. Călin Popescu-Tariceanu invited Mike Pence to visit Romania, in order to find out about the realities and the topicality of the issues discussed, according to a Senate statement. The Romanian dignitary also emphasized the important role that our country has in adapting and implementing the defensive and detterance measures on NATO’s Eastern flank. He pleaded for increased economic and strategic participation of the United States on Romania’s territory through important economic projects as well as by establishing a permanent military presence. Regional impact issues such as the Russian aggression in the Black Sea Basin, the consequences of Brexit and the new valencies that the Strategic Partnership Romania-the United States has acquired in the new post-Brexit context, have also been reviewed.

The citizen”s initiative „No criminals in public functions”, initiated by USR, is constitutional, decided the Constitutional Court

The citizen’s initiative „No criminals in public functions”, initiated by USR, is constitutional and can follow the parliamentary adoption procedure – the Constitutional Court decided yesterday. The initiative proposes that Article 37 of the Constitution, which regulates the right to be elected, be complemented by a new paragraph stipulating that they can not be elected in the local public administration, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the office of President of Romania citizens who are finally convicted at detention. The Liberals have expressed their support for the initiative and have appreciated that, in the shortest possible time, Parliament must adopt the revision of the fundamental law. On the other hand, ther deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the social-democrat Eugen Nicolicea, mentioned that the initiative is „liar”, because it speaks only about functions occupied after elections.

Ovidiu Popescu, RADOR