Tuesday, October 09, 2007

* ROMANIA's WONDERS *



The Fun Graveyard – Sapanta (Maramures) – This graveyard is unique in the World, for his funniest funeral inscriptions and naïve paintings maded by Stan Ion Patras on more than 1.000 funeral monuments.

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Girly glitter comments from www.GirlyTags.com

Ministers banned to use cell phones in government meetings

The Romanian PM Calin Popescu-Tariceanu decided yesterday to ban Cabinet members to carry their cell phones in government meetings, as during such reunions there would be used special equipment for protection against "active interception". Furthermore, the employees of the Government's General Secretariat attending such meetings must have a certificate of access to classified information.
The decision also mentions that only those mass-media representatives allowed to attend government reunions may use audio and video recording devices.

R.I.P.
Ziua tuesday 9 october 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english

Verdict: Guilty

Prosecutors Department in the CSM (Superior Council of Magistracy) admitted yesterday the CSM Inspection's check report on the activity of the DNA (National Anti-Corruption Department), after admitting 12 insignificant objections raised by the DNA head Daniel Morar. Right after the CSM reached verdict on grounds of the unveiled deficiencies, the Romanian Justice minister Tudor Chiuariu wrote a solicitation to revoke prosecutor Doru Tulus, a head of Department II in the DNA, pointing to poor management and inappropriate activity.
Surprisingly enough, the Justice minister didn't ask that the other DNA officials and head Daniel Morar should be revoked, despite the deficiencies in their activity. The revocation of prosecutor Doru Tulus is to be analyzed in a future meeting of the CSM, most likely next week.
Despite the severe dysfunctions unveiled in the report, the CSM has got no right to take measures. According to the law, it is only the President of Romania that may appoint or revoke the head of the DNA, if the Justice minister suggests it and if the CSM consents. Therefore the final decision is up to President Basescu, the official who appointed Doru Tulus at the suggestion of Monica Macovei, Romania's ex Justice minister. In case of no presidential decree, Doru Tulus may not be sacked.
The CSM prosecutors also decided to make new checks on the DNA in 6 months' time and see if the deficiencies were settled. (...)
Allowed to raise objections
Daniel Morar raised several objections against the CSM inspectors who had checked on the activity of the Department II in the DNA, headed by Doru Tulus. He accused them of amateurishness. His demonstration was skilful, meaning he avoided to take up the essential components of the checks and the deficiencies noticed. All he did was raise procedure matters and argue there were no norms that he had to do one thing or the other. He claimed the CSM inspectors had broken the check methodology and described their report as "inhomogeneous", "incomplete" and "unreliable". (...)
The DNA head also commented that the inspectors had "overpriced the relevance of the deficiencies discovered" and demanded that from the report they should eliminate all references to those criminal cases involving phone call recordings, claiming they were cases in progress and the references might jeopardize the inquiries.

Razvan Savaliuc
Ziua tuesday 9 october 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english

The Kafkian reform of Justice

People's trust in the Romanian Justice system is about to reach lower than ever in history. It is no surprise, since the activity of the third power in state has never been more lamentable. The system has never behaved more aberrantly or incoherently. It has now reached a standstill because it is split due to the battle this system should be indifferent and impartial to. Never before has the reform of Justice promised during the campaign by the "Truth and Justice" Alliance seemed such a gloomy joke.
I admit I trusted Monica Macovei honestly. I trusted her good intentions. A long time I thought she was a victim of the mafia connections and of a diseased system's resistance. But it is the outcome that unveils a reform. And Justice is nowadays more dysfunctional than ever. Gone are the days when Rodica Stanoiu would complain that the case against the Traian Basescu hadn't been produced from the drawer on time ! The habits mentioned in the stenograms of the Social-Democrats' meetings enraged public opinion in 2004. But compared to what is going on now, they seem touching naivetes.
The ordinary war between Traian Basescu and Calin Popescu-Tariceanu has split magistrates in sides. Criminal cases have got to be a prevailing weapon for political battles. The great inquiries seem to be progressing only in front of TV cameras and they alter before being completed. The fight against corruption has lost any credibility, turning into a sort of Machiavellian game meant only to defile the adversary's reputation. Even if those asked to report against enemies are indeed guilty of coming severe crimes, no one is still confident that to learn the truth investigators' priority. Cases are no longer analyzed in terms of unbiased and indubitable evidence, but in terms of backstage interests.
Elementary procedure rules are serenely broken, out of stupidity or premeditation. It doesn't matter, nothing happens to anyone, anyway. God forbid someone should try to sanction a prosecutor or a judge ! He would denounce 'revenge' at once and he would remember that he was in charge of a 'hot' case once. To incompetent magistrates, such politically fueled pell mell is true manna.
The system has been growing more and more complicated and attributions have become more and more ambiguous. The harmonization of Romanian Justice with European practices looks like a blue joke. In which developed country is the head of state supposed to consent to the opening of criminal investigations against a former of present official ? What about the independence of Justice ? I thought the law was the same for everybody. But the Constitutional Court thinks it is not. The Constitutional Court threw one more ball for President Basescu to catch. The Court did the same during the referendum last April by changing the rules during the game and allowing for the validation of results, although more than 50% of Romanians didn't go voting. It was a valuable gift to the Democrat Party, who became more relaxed when starting campaigning.
Traian Basescu is now lamenting that it is the government who changes rules during games and modifies the components of the commission meant to advise the President before he decides which official may be under investigations and which may not. The government's action is in keeping with common sense, but it is not at all enough. It actually fails to reach the core of the problem: It is not the business of a politician, even if the most important one in state, to decide on the opening of a criminal inquiry. No constitutional law expert will ever persuade me into thinking the opposite. And no politician, anyway.

Miruna Munteanu
Ziua tuesday 9 october 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english

Most corrupted university top coming up

Several NGOs are going to release in 2008 a top of the most corrupted universities in Romania and inform the Prosecutor's Office about the severest crimes committed in universities. Such measures are part of the "Coalition for Clean Universities", a project launched yesterday.
It is meant to do away with corruption and flaws in universities, commented yesterday Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, a president of the Romanian Academic Society.
The authors are going to draw a list of habits in Romanian universities, such as clientele-based promotion and lack of transparency. They are going to be dismissed with every dean and contracts are going to be signed so that the deans would get committed to eliminate corruption from the universities they head. (...)
A group for monitoring is going to be established in every university, with both students and education staff as members. (...)

M.S.
Ziua tuesday 9 october 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english