Romanian Border Police Day
The Romanian Border Police was established on July 1, 1999 following a merger between the country’s National Border Guard Command and the Border Police Directorate. The event was celebrated as the Border Guards’ Day since July 24, 1864 when Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza united the border guard units on both sides of the Prut river between today’s Romania and the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. The Romanian Border Police Day was established on July 27, 2001. Events on the occasion will include a parade of border guard boats allowing audiences to go sailing on speed boats and rescue boats on the Herăstrău Lake on Saturday.
The Fiscal Code under further debates
The Romanian senators are supposed to attend an extraordinary session on August 15 for renewed debates concerning Romania’s Fiscal Code, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said on Thursday in a televised address. The announcement comes after Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sent back to parliament a proposal for massive tax cuts last Friday, warning such cuts would baloon the fiscal deficit and leave the country defenceless against financial shocks. „The issue may be first addressed on August 15 in the Senate as it is the upper house in parliament, and then in the House of Deputies. Obviously, we are expected to support the Fiscal Code and show that some while ago we didn’t lose our senses and vote for the code only to reject it three weeks later”, Mr. Ponta pointed out. The prime minister said he expected the Fiscal Code to be adopted by September 1.
BNR governor still reluctant about Fiscal Code
„There is no problem with the Fiscal Code as far as I see. But the duties and tax cuts are economically and financially out of question. In short, I cannot see how such measures could be enforced as there are six such measures to be imposed all at once. I wonder how such measures of major importance could be adopted without previous negociations with our partners. I don’t believe the effect will be beneficial to growth. We already have a growth of 4 percent”. The statement on Friday belongs to Mugur Isărescu, governor of Romania’s National Bank. Both President Klaus Iohannis and Mr. Isărescu are unhappy with Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s tax relaxation. Mr. Isărescu said he still believed the Fiscal Code should be subject to further debates in parliament.
20-year prison term for a Romanian former labour camp commander
Alexandru Vişinescu, who ran a labour camp under the Communist regime, was sentenced to 20 years of jail on Friday. Vişinescu, who is 89, had been on trial since September on charges of crimes against humanity in the first such case since the fall of the country’s Communist regime in December 1989. However, the ruling is not final as it could be appealed at Romania’s Supreme Court. Vişinescu ran the Râmnicu Sărat prison in an impoverished part of eastern Romania from 1956 to 1963. Prosecutors have accused him of subjecting prisoners to beatings, denying them food and medical treatment, and exposing them to cold temperatures. He insisted that he was following orders.
Alexandru Danga
