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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-05-05
May 5, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Statement of Presidential Adviser Zoe Petre
[02] PD Leader Petre Roman on the Otopeni Military Airport Smuggling Case
[03] Statements in Romanian Senate "Operation Cigarette 2"
[04] PNTCD Against Setting Up Special Inquiry Commission
[05] New SPP Director
[06] General Gheorghe Florica under Arrest
[07] French Newspaper "liberation" on "Operation Cigarette 2"
[08] Government General Secretariate Restructuring
[09] State Secretary Positions Distributed
[10] MEN Facilities for Romanian Students Learning Abroad
[11] Talks on Mining Personnel Status
[12] Bucharest: International Conference on Ways of Fighting Organised
Crime
[13] Romania at the 102-nd Session of Council of Europe's Ministerial
Committee
[14] Meeting of Romanian and Canadian Habitat Ministers
[01] Statement of presidential adviser Zoe Petre
Monday evening at Cotroceni Palace, presidential adviser Zoe Petre said
that all actions against basic state institutions - mainly those entitled
to fight corruption and organised crime - were aimed to block the
initiative of cleaning up the comunity. Mrs Petre has insisted that there
was a "flagrant" at the Otopeni military airport during the night of April
16/17. According to former SPP Colonel Trutulescu's request, the cigarette
tracks were to be allowed access to the presidential residence of
Scrovistea, but, as Mrs Petre stressed, his request was rejected for two
reasons: firstly, such a decision would have been against the SPP (Guard
and Protection Services) regulations, and secondly, the wife of the
president was in the residence at the time. Mrs Petre explained that the
information was delayed because the SPP inquiry started only after the SPP
Chief Nicu Anghel resigned. RADOR
[02] PD leader Petre Roman on the Otopeni military airport smuggling case
Before leaving for Madrid on Monday, the leader of the ruling Democratic
Party (PD) has made a statement. Here are some excerpts: "We had few
political interventions on the matter - I am speaking about the PD - and we
still would not like to intervene. The only matter that was really and
mostly bothering us was the authority and credibility of the state
institutions following the operation as their reaction was very
unprofessional (or less professional, to be fair) because they did not
reacted at the right time. We believe that those institutions, their
authority and credibility were badly affected, and I am speaking about the
institutions involved in the incident. We do not agree with the PDSR (Party
of Social Democracy in Romania) proposal concerning the setting up of an
inquiry commission into the affair. The decision was already made, and I
really trust the institutions responsible - the Police, the Attorney
General's Office and the SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service) - because the
affair also involves matters of national security. I do not see why the
Parliament should intervene with means that it actually could not afford.
On the other hand, we believe that the Parliament could make its duty
according to its rights: it could control the institutions involved".
RADOR
[03] Statements in Romanian Senate on "Operation Cigarette 2"
The Romanian Senate continues to concentrate on the smuggling scandal.
During political debates on Monday, the leader of the opposition Greater
Romania Party (PRM), Corneliu Vadim Tudor said that the main responsible
involved in the "Operation Cigarette 2" included presidential adviser Dorin
Marian, businessman Costel Boboc, Customs Chief Nini Sapunaru, former SPP
Chief Nicu Anghel, presidential aqdviser Dan Petre and Dragos
Constantinescu, the son of Romanian President Emil Constantinescu. In his
opinion, the president should dismiss the interior minister, the justice
minister and all his team of advisers at Cotroceni Palace. In his turn,
PDSRSenator Constantins Sava has announced that his party has asked for the
dismissals of the interior minister, the SRI chief, the air force commander,
presidential adviser Dorin Marian and Attorney General Sorin Moisescu.
According to the PDSR demand, President Emil Constantinescu should make an
official statement explaining the affair to both the Romanian and foreign
public opinion. The main opposition party says that in case the president
would try to cover up tha affair, then the PDSR was seriously considering
the suspension of President Constantinescu. RADOR
[04] PNTCD against setting up special inquiry commission
The ruling Christian Democrat National Peasant Party (PNTCD) believes that
a special inquiry commission to investigate the Otopeni affair is not
necessary. At a press conference on Monday, PNTCD leader Ion Diaconescu
said that, as long as the state institutions responsible were working
efficiently, the opposition request had no reason. Mr Diaconescu said the
interior minister made his duty and his personnel had good results in
dicovering and annihilating the smuggling network. He accused the
Opposition that it was trying to minimalise and misinterpret negatively
their success. Mr Diaconescu said that both the PDSR and PRM have tried to
discredit the state officials in order to create chaos and disorder.
RADOR
[05] New SPP director
Romanian President Emil Constantinescu has designated Division General
Anghel Stefan Andreescu as the new SPP director. According to a press
communiques issued by the Romanian Presidency, the president has ordered
the new SPP director to present a SPP restructuring plan before the
Romanian Security and Defence Council in 15 days time. At the end of the
ceremony on Monday, the SPP director said he would ask his employees to
declare their estate. General Andreescu added that if the inquiry would
prove the involvement of some SPP units in the Otopeni affair, then they
will be punished both disciplinary and legally. He also promise to present
his own restructuring plan of the SPP in 15 days time. RADOR
[06] General Gheorghe Florica under arrest
While coming back from Athens on Moday at 15 PM, General Gheorghe Florica,
former chief of Romanian Financial Guard, was arrested at the Otopeni
International Airport. Some undercover sources have declared that General
Florica protested when the Romanian border police put him under arrest. He
then was transfered to the Bucharest Police headquarters in Calea Rahovei.
The journalists were denied access to the plane and contact the detained
because, as the airport authorities put it, Transport Minister Traian
Basescu forbade it in order to prevent the airport to get involved in the
case. According to the same sources, airport officials said they would have
liked to organise a press conference in the presidential hall, but Police
Chief General Berechet rejected the proposal. RADOR
[07] French newspaper "Liberation" on "Operation Cigarette 2"
The French newspaper "Liberation" has dedicated a whole page to the
smuggling ciggarette scandal in Bucharest. The author of the article, Tania
Enescu, says that President Constantinescu was not involved directly in the
affair, but his popularity is getting down slowly. Political analyst Silviu
Brucan is accusing the president that he was not careful in chosing his
advisers. He insists that the affair could have disastrous consequences if
the SPP was not to be subject to general restructuring. The Romanian public
opinion is astonished to see how deeply the corruption was penetrating some
high level departments especialy now, after Colonel Trutulescu declared
that the 5-6 million dollar benefit from the cigarette affair went to
several political parties. RADOR
[08] Governement General Secretariate restructuring
Government Secretary General Radu Stroe has announced that his department
restructuring was completed in an attemt to eliminate previous mistakes and
draw up improved draft documents. When the Budget law will get into force,
the personnel is expected to be reduced by 10%, and some services and
departments are to merge. RADOR
[09] State secretary positions distribution
Representatives of the parties in the governing coalition have completed
negotiations concerning the distribution of state secretary positions.
There are 58 state secretary positions in the government: 21 go to the
PNTCD, 13 go to the PD, 10 go the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the
Democratic Union of Ethic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), 3 go the Romanian
Social-Democrat Party (PSDR) and 1 to the Romanian Alternative Party (PAR).
Participants decided that the nominations for state secretaries with the
Foreign, Defence and Interior Ministries should be based on proessional
criteria. According to the same source, the acting mayor of Bucharest,
Viorel Lis, was designated as single candidate for the job. He is the
representative of the ruling Democratic Convention in Romania (CDR).
RADOR
[10] MEN facilities for Romanian students learning abroad
The Romanian Ministry of National Education (MEN) has issued an order
recently stipulating that Romanian students receiving MEN scholarships
abroad are to benefit from some additional facilities. Referring to the
issue, Romanian National Education Minister Andrei Marga has announced that
a contract was to be signed between his ministry, as representative of the
Romanian state, and the Romanian institution (university or research
institute) where the student was expected to return after finishing his
school abroad. The contract stipulates that the student's position should
be preserved until his coming back. The ministry should pay all the
instalments of the scholarship as agreed while the graduating students
should remain in the country and work with their former institutions the
double of the scholarship period. "We should stress that the contract
concerns only the students benefitting from Romanian scholarships. The
contract does not include other sorts of scholarships", the Romanian
minister said. RADOR
[11] Talks on mining personnel status
While in Deva on Monday, Romanian Labour and Social Protection Minister
Alexandru Athanasiu met representatives of economic units and trade unions
in Hunedoara county. The talks focused on issues concerning the mining
industry such as restructuring and unemployment in the region, ways of
improving working conditions and honorary pensions. The minister said that
some labour groups were to be reduced or eliminated while the employer
should concentrate on ways of improving working conditions, preventing
professional diseases and eliminating working injuries. RADOR
[12] Bucharest: international conference on ways of fighting organised
crime
A conference on "Financial Research Concerning Economic Crime and Illegal
Activity in the Banking System" has opened in Bucharest on Monday. The
coordinators - French and German police along with Romanian authorities -
are ready to improve the cooperation between the security services in the
three countries in order to fight the most dangerous cases of organised
crime. RADOR
[13] Romania at the 102-nd session of Council of Europe's Ministerial
Committee
Romanian Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu left for Strasbourg on Monday to
attend the 102-nd session of the Council of Europe's Ministerial Committee.
While leaving the Otopeni International Airport, Mr Plesu said: "I will
attend the 102-nd session of the Council of Europe's Ministerial Committee
which may be seen as a government of Europe. Each country is represented by
its foreign minister. This government session has its own agenda, and its
topics focus mainly on recent developments in South-East Europe. There are
also some topics concerning the restructuring of the body. Romania will
announce its accession to some legal instruments reflecting the standards
and requests of the European Council. We shall also announce our
participation in the group of states fighting corruption. Romania has made
its contribution to the setting up of this new institution and, along with
other countries, we are committed to participate actively in the project.
Irrespective of this, let's say, routine operation which the Ministerial
Committee actually is, I am expected to have some important bilateral
meetings with my colleagues and European counterparts attending the session
in Strasbourg. I shall meet, of course, the secretary general of the
Council, the speaker of the Parliamentary Assembly and some foreign
ministers including Evgueny Primakov on Monday, and Mr Geremek and Mr Klaus
Kinkel on Tuesday. RADOR
[14] Meeting of Romanian and Canadian habitat ministers
While on a visit to Canada, Romanian Habitat Minister Nicolae Noica his
Canadian counterpart. The talks focused on issues concerning the house
building in Romania and ways of redressing it. The ministers agreed to use
the Canadian experience in the field successfully based on mortgaging
credits. A communique issued by the Romanian Habitat Ministry (MLPAT) says
that Canadian experts have agreed to cooperate with their Romanian
counterparts and examine the Romanian problems and opportunities on the
matter. RADOR
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