EP signals Tokes
removal unlikely


No vice president of the European Parliament was ever dismissed or replaced before the end of their term, the European assembly’s press bureau said in a press release, asked by Mediafax to comment on a request to remove MEP Tokes Laszlo from his vice president post. The Conservative Party on Monday sent a letter to EP president Jerzy Buzek, asking him to remove Tokes from his position, following his repeated calls for Szeklers’ Land autonomy. The Social Democrats too said that when the EP re-convenes this autumn, they would ask for Tokes’s removal from all positions, because his position is an attack on Romania’s statehood and a threat to both the country and the entire Europe. PSD’s Cluj branch has also filed a criminal complaint against Tokes for instigating to ethnic conflicts and violating Romanian Constitution provisions.


Tokes said last week that if a micro-region such as Kosovo earned autonomy, the same would be possible for Szeklers’ Land and if it is needed, Szeklers will take to the street to achieve this target.


Romanian, French officials spar over Roma


French Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche on Monday during a meeting of EU foreign ministers called for a joint European action against offences committed by Roma citizens, including those of Romanian origin, ‘Le Monde’ reported, quoted by Mediafax. Lellouche said that there are 11 million Roma in Europe and nine of them have a EU passports, so the main responsibility goes to the countries where the Roma come from, ‘Le Monde’ said, adding that Romania is especially in the crosshairs in this regard. But Lellouche’s statements drew an immediate response from FM Teodor Baconschi. The minister said that while in Brussels on Monday, at the end of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, he explained to the French secretary that the nine million Roma he was referring to are European citizens whose freedom of movement cannot be restrained. Lellouche however didn’t seem too convinced and yesterday he criticised Romania, saying that “there is no (social) integration of Roma here,” according to France Info online, quoted by Mediafax. “Following EU enlargement to Eastern Europe, we discovered that in Europe, there are 11 million Roma, who live in an outrageous situation, there is no social integration of Roma in Romania. And Europe pays a lot of money for this,” he said. Lellouche added that Romania will not be able to join Schengen if it does not manage to solve this problem.


Robin Barnett: Red-tape still very high


As his term is drawing to an end, the United Kingdom ambassador to Bucharest, Robin Barnett, argues in an interview granted to Mediafax, that that the level of bureaucracy in Romania is still very high, and the latest European Commission report is a cause for concern, as it indicates Romania is not advancing at estimated pace. In the ambassador’s view, the EC report indicates that the Romania did not keep a steady pace in judiciary reform. He also qualifies the Constitutional Court ruling which declared certain aspects of the National Integrity Agency law unconstitutional and, subsequently, the Senate’s failure to respond to the action taken by the president Traian Basescu, the minister of Justice and the Chamber of Deputies as “disappointing”. Barnett argues that, in Romania, as anywhere else, corruption is a constant problem, but adds that the corruption phenomenon does not seem to be a decisive factor in an investor’s plans. At the end of his term, the ambassador concludes that traffic and driving in Romania leave a lot to be desired, and that Romanians are not punctual.