Friday

29th Mar 2024

Romanians bring internal squabbles to the EU

  • Calin Popescu Tariceanu (l) and Jose Manuel Barroso (Photo: European Commission)

The European Parliament has became the latest battleground for fighting out internal Romanian political arguments.

In mid-November, the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Calin Popescu Tariceanu, a former prime minister, wrote to the president of the European Commission to complain about the "totalitarian twist" taken by Romanian President Traian Basescu's regime.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Last week, Romanian MEPs from the governing Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) managed to block a complaint sent by two Romanian trade unions in the Committee on Petitions in the European Parliament.

The unions, the Confederation of the Democratic Trade Unions of Romania (CSDR) and the Romanian Federation of Journalists MediaSind said the government considers the press to be a danger.

They criticised the Romanian government's new National Defence Strategy, which states: "Romania faces a series of threats, among which the press, and especially press campaigns, figure prominently."

Their complaint was at first deemed admissible but on Thursday (2 December) it was blocked after a Romanian committee member, Elena Basescu, daughter of Mr Basescu, successfully lobbied her colleagues to reject it.

This happened after another Romanian MEP, Theodor Stolojan, also from the president's party, brought the committee transcripts of telephone conversations. The conversations bore evidence of an anti-governmental slander campaign directed by media mogul Sorin Ovidiu Vantu.

Members of the Committee on Petitions present on Thursday (2 December) seem to have backed the Romanian government and conclude that the press is a danger to the country. But replacing absent EU deputies with eight Romanian MEPs who are not members of this committee is unusual.

"This is embarrassing," said Ms Norica Nicolai, an opposition Romanian liberal MEP. "By allowing this to happen, the president of the Committee on Petitions, Erminia Mazzoni [PPE, Italy] clearly infringed on the rules."

Journalist trade unions, meanwhile, have sworn to repeatedly reintroduce the petition until they get what they want.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us