The struggle over the future of Romaniană titlu

Data pubblicazione: Jun 29, 2015 1:33:47 PM

The struggle over the future of Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta is shifting to parliament, where he’ll look to use the ruling coalition’s majority to fight off a corruption investigation and defeat a no-confidence motion.

Lawmakers are starting proceedings on a prosecutors’ request to lift Ponta’s immunity for a probe into allegations of forgery, money laundering and complicity in tax fraud. They may decide Tuesday, according to the premier, who’ll also face a no-confidence vote on Friday. He denies wrongdoing and has rejected calls from President Klaus Iohannis to resign, calling the probe an attempt to topple his government by “undemocratic means.” consulting romania

“We rather expect Ponta to keep his nerve, keep political support around him and resist prosecutors,” said Michael Taylor, whose study area includes central Europe and the Balkans at Oxford Analytica, a U.K.-based consulting company. “Lawmakers may not lift Ponta’s immunity and this may develop into a political fight between Ponta and the president.”

Romanian assets dropped as the country’s anti-graft drive reached the premier, raising the risk of a return to the three-year political turmoil that culminated in Iohannis’s surprise victory over Ponta in last year’s presidential election. The premier now faces fresh challenges to his rule, having already weathered plagiarism allegations and several allies being arrested in corruption investigations.

‘Impossible Situation’

The tensions pushed the leu 0.9 percent down since Friday’s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It traded 0.4 percent weaker at 4.4729 at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Bucharest, the lowest level since Jan. 26. Yields on the government’s 2024 euro-denominated bonds rose one basis point to 2.75 percent.

The scandal may trigger “a prolonged period of political uncertainty,” Anna Tokar, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London, said by e-mail. “We expect a more pronounced reaction to come from the markets.”

Forget big energy and tech firms. The advocates of social welfare, Romanian local government and Polish broadcasting are the biggest spenders on lobbying in Brussels.

The European Union’s Transparency Register shows the Ford Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit organization, and the Polish public broadcaster Telewizja Polska S.A. dropped a whopping $1 billion on influencing the EU in 2014.

Right behind them is Manchester’s University of Salford at €120 million, Hungary’s Eötvös Loránd University at €94 million and the Timiş local city council in Romania at €81 million — dwarfing the paltry €8 million spent by Microsoft and Google.Create A Company In Romania

There’s just one problem. None of the figures are accurate.

The erroneous totals, taken directly from the EU’s official lobbying database, confirm what transparency experts have long argued: The register is so laden with mistakes and confused entries that it is unreliable and often misleading.

“The poor quality of the data on the register is a real problem,” said Daniel Freund of Transparency International, a campaign group. “One third of the entries are inaccurate to say the least; some are outright meaningless. It is crazy stuff.”

POLITICO discovered the faulty data through a new online platform launched last week by Transparency International, which allows the public to compare lobbying data for the first time from across multiple unconnected sites. A search of the top spenders turned up the unexpected — and ultimately, incorrect — results.

The probe puts the country in an “impossible situation,” Iohannis said Friday. His allies would need the coalition’s majority -- 315 of parliament’s 555 seats -- to crumble to oust Ponta or lift his immunity. A judiciary committee of lawmakers recommended Monday that Ponta’s immunity not be revoked.

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The coalition has no replacement and will rally around Ponta to avoid losing its majority, Adrian Moraru, an analyst at the Institute for Public Policies in Bucharest, said by phone. Lawmakers may also start debating a no-confidence motion the opposition filed Friday to block changes in election rules.

Last Place

Romania has stepped up efforts to curb its more-than $40 billion shadow economy, the European Union’s second-largest, with a crackdown that’s engulfed top-level politicians including ex-Finance Minister Darius Valcov. Romania ranked 69th of 175 states in Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perception Index, the EU’s worst along with Greece and Bulgaria.Company Creation In Romania

Ponta is accused of forging documents to justify income while he had a private legal practice, prosecutors said Friday. He allegedly received about 181,000 lei ($46,000) and a Mitsubishi car between October 2007 and December 2008 from a law firm owned by former Transport Minister Dan Sova, they said.

Prosecutors asked parliament to approve a conflict-of-interest investigation over Sova’s appointment. As a lawmaker, Ponta has immunity from such probes.

“Resignation would be the easiest personal option but it would create a dangerous precedent for Romania,” Ponta said Sunday after meeting coalition leaders.