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RADOR: News from Romania, 98-08-05
August 5, 1998
CONTENTS
[01] Hearing of SIE Chief Catalin Harnagea;
[02] Hearing of Customs Chief Nini Sapunaru;
[03] New Strategy of Customs General Directorate;
[04] The Dismissal of ROMSILVA Chief Was the Right Decision to Make,
Inquiry Commission Believes;
[05] Governing Coalition under PDSR Criticism;
[06] PDSR Vicepresident Adrian Nastase on a Visit to Constantza;
[07] PUNR Calls on Radu Vasile Cabinet to Resign;
[08] Justice Minister's Resignation Requested;
[09] Prime Minister Radu Vasile on a Visit to Israel;
[10] Romanian-Israeli Military Cooperation;
[11] Romanian-Moldovan Diplomatic Contacts.
[01] Hearing of SIE chief Catalin Harnagea
Following its meeting on August 4, the House of Deputies' commission for
monitoring the activity of Romania's Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) has
appointed deputy Gheorghe Serban to discuss and establish the last details
about SIE chief Catalin Harnagea's hearing this week. Gen. Corneliu
Grigoras is also expected to be heard this week. RADOR
[02] Hearing of Customs chief Nini Sapunaru
The hearing of Customs director general Nini Sapunaru has been taking place
on Tuesday. The senatorial commission for defence, public order and
national security was offered details about the programme aimed at
improving the Customs Service activity in the attempt to stop organised
crime and smuggling operations. Chief commissioner Nicolae Alexandru said
that the "Otopeni file" was not the only case to investigate given the
permissive and incomplete legislation now in force. Senator Nicolae
Alexandru believes the hard currency leaving the country illegally and
other similar crimes may be seen as an attack against the country's
national security. RADOR
[03] New strategy of Customs General Directorate
In a communique issued to the press, the Customs General Directorate says
that a series of elements were designed for a new strategy aimed at
preventing and fighting the smuggling. Mobile teams including 200 customs
inspectors will be sAt up for the monitoring of the import amd export
traffic of goods. Special facilities are to be purchased in order to
prevent drug, weapon, ammunition and dangerous materials traffiking. The
customs system will be computerised and an Information Centre will be
created to ensure the cooperation between the Customs General Directorate,
the Interior Ministry, the Financial Guard and other institutions involved
in the fight against smuggling and customs and fiscal frauds. RADOR
[04] The dismissal of ROMSILVA chief was the right decision to make,
inquiry commission believes
Following recent investigation, the Romanian Parliament's inquiry
commission has discovered a series of abuses in administrating the forests
in the forestry departments of Iasi, Piatra Neamt, Oradea and Timisoara.
Therefore, the commission believes the dismissal of Gheorghe Cahnita, the
head of the National Utility of Forests (ROMSILVA), was the right decision
to make. According to the communique, the inquiry commAssion says Mr
Cahnita was involved in a series of actions affecting the Romanian state.
RADOR
[05] Governing coalition under PDSR criticism
At a press conference on August 4, the vicepresident of the opposition
Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), Mrs Hildegard Puwak, has
presented a final report of Romania's governing coalition including the
Democratic Convention in Romania (CDR), the Social Democrat Union (USD) and
the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). The main
opposition party believes that the righ wing governing coalition has only
brought the public opinion to complete chaos and confusion. Mrs Puwak said
the coalition was only interested in building up its own image. There have
been a three-time rise in the prices of the last one and a half year, an
allarming dicrease in people's ability to buy consumer goods while the
lower unemployment was only an illusion, the PDSR vicepresident concluded.
RADOR
[06] PDSR vicepresident Adrian Nastase on a visit to Constantza
During his two-day visit to Constantza, PDSR first vicepresident Adrian
Nastase met senior members of his party's branch in Constantza county. "My
two-day visit to Constantza was meant to represent the reiteration of our
politicl option on the verge of a hot autumn, and our need to design a new
strategy based on economic and social realities as well as on the existing
political instability", Mr Nastase explained. Other points on Mr Nastase's
agenda included a meeting with trade unionists of the Constantza shipyard,
a meeting with the mayors and councilor of Ovidiu and Mangalia, and a visit
to the children camp in Navodari. RADOR
[07] PUNR calls on Radu Vasile Cabinet to resign
The Romanians' National Unity Party (PUNR) believes that the Radu Vasile
Cabinet activity is only unvailing the government's inability to reach its
goals. PUNR executive secretary Valentin Iliescu told a press conference on
Tuesday that the government was neglecting the difficulties RAmania was
facing and had no solution to them. The PUNR official mentioned the
existing differences between parties in the governing coaltion and
Romania's deteriorating economy and standard of living. PUNR believes that
the stepping down of the Vasile Cabinet and the setting up of a non-
political government of experts and professionals are the only reasonable
solutions to solve the crisis. RADOR
[08] Justice minister's resignation requested
The Victims of the Miners' Descent on Bucharest Association calls on
Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica to step down. In an open letter, they blame
the minister for not ordering the leagal measures against the prosecutors
who covered up the files concerning the two miners' descents on Bucharest.
Mr Stoica said that would ask the attorney general to hurry up the
procedures and solve every case of abuse by miners still under inquiry. The
minister's statement came after his previous talks with people representing
the Victims of the Miners' DescentAon Bucharest Association. RADOR
[09] Prime Minister Radu Vasile on a visit to Israel
While in Israel for an official visit, Romanian Prime Minister Radu Vasile
met Israeli President Ezer Weizman on Tuesday afternoon. Journalists were
denied access to the meeting. Before meeting the Israeli president, the
Romanian prime minister visited the Palestinian town of Ramallah where he
met the head of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat. Romanian Defence
Minister Victor babiuc and Foreign Minister Andrei Plesu have also attended
the meeting. While back in Jerusalem, minister Plesu said it was a rather
private meeting followed by a lunch on the occasion of Mr Arafat's
birthday. The talks have focused on issued concerning bilateral relations
and the future of the peace process in the Middle East. Also on Tuesday, Mr
Radu Vasile visited the Holocaust Memorial of Yad Washem and the building
sites in Modi'in where Romanian teams were working. The prime minister said
the workers, generally Aeen as good professionals, did not get their wages
for two or three month now, they were victims to many abuses and they live
under the permanent threat of losing their jobs. Therefore, Prime Minister
Radu Vasile has asked the Romanian embassy and his labour minister to take
every measure necessary and find a solution to the matter. RADOR
[10] Romanian-Israeli military cooperation
While in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Romanian Defence Minister Victor Babiuc told
journalists he visited three Israeli arms manufacturers. "We are interested
in cooperating with Israeli aeronautical enterprises which could be able to
produce in Romania some light planes such as those included in the Galaxy
programme. We are also interested in equipments for the electronic war,
robot planes and other facilities designed to modernise the Romanian army",
minister Babiuc said. RADOR
[11] Romanian-Moldovan diplomatic contacts
A Romanian delegation of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Department led by
Dumitru IfriA, the head of the Analysis and Synthesis Directorate, has
ended its visit to the Moldovan capital of Kishinev. The Romanian
delegation met Mircea Snegur, the head of the Romanian-Moldovan friendship
parliamentary group, Vasile Nedelciuc, chief commissioner for foreign
affairs in the Moldovan Parliament, and Valeriu Matei, the deputy speaker
of the Moldovan Parliament. At their talks on Tuesday, both sides have
expressed the wish to revigorate the relations between parliaments in the
two countries and examined concrete ways to ensure their cooperation.
RADOR
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