Venice Commission expected to learn of Romania’s official view on current judicial reforms
Romania will send its official view about judicial reforms underway before the Venice Commission’s official assessment expected later this year, Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said in a statement on Monday. The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, last Friday recommended that Romania should reconsider justice bills related to the appointment of high-ranking prosecutors, including by revising its Constitution. The controversial legislation has been submitted to its assessment by the Romanian president and the monitoring committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council or Europe. The Commission said in a statement that measures contained improvements from previous drafts but were still problematic. From their „cumulative effect”, some „instruments could result in inordinate pressure on judges and prosecutors. Brussels, which keeps Romania’s justice system under special monitoring since Romania joined the bloc in 2007, is especially concerned that the judicial overhaul will reverse progress in fighting high-level graft. Romania’s tussle with its European Union partners comes after Hungary and Poland also clashed with Brussels over judicial reforms. The proposed changes in the three former Communist states have widened a gap between the EU’s eastern and western wings.
Romania’s health minister hopes to start building at least two regional hospitals in 2019
Construction of at least two of the three planned county hospitals could start by the end of 2019, Romanian Helath Minister Sorina Pintea said on Monday. The project includes new hospitals in the cities of Iassy, Cluj-Napoca and Craiova. „I hope at least two of the three projects would start by the end of 2019. Funds are partially granted by the European Commission (€ 159 million) with the rest expected from state budget or other sources”, Ms. Pintea said. „Allong with officials of the European Investment Bank (EIB), we already launched the project in Iassy. Application schedule refer to Iassy (September), Cluj-Napoca (October) and Craiova (December)”, the minister added.
Romania’s ANAF trying to sell assets belonging to former tycoon
Romania’s National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) will try to bid assets once belonging to Sorin Ovidiu Vântu, one of the country’s former tycoons. The auction is scheduled on July 31 with assets including land and buildings. It is the second such bid of a 1,905 m² land including buildings and farmland in the Romanian southern village of Mihăileşti, Giurgiu county. Starting price is established at RON 193,650 lei. Mr. Vântu (born 1955) was seen as the 5th richest man in Romania with an estimated net worth between €800m. and €850m in 2008. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2005 for using some false documents to gain majority shares in the Investment and Development Bank (BID), which went bankrupt in 2002. On February 21, 2016, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for a ponzi scheme. The ruling is final.
Alexandru Danga/adanga
