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MEP Ramona Mănescu (EPP): Looking for big fish in Romania, EU missed its whales in the west

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While East Europeans are being taught lessons of anti-corruption, problems are rising under the slightest sense of carelessness, and Europe as a whole, together with its citizens, will discount the effects, MEP Ramona Mănescu warned in an analysis signed for Calea Europeană, highlighting corruption issues faced by other European countries, not just Romania.
The analysis comes as the European Parliament voted on Tuesday a resolution on the rule of law in Romania and after EP adopted on Wednesday a resolution in which the European legislature calls on the Commission to adopt a “comprehensive mechanism for democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights” .
“In 2004, European Commissioner for Enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, speaking before the European Parliament about the state of play of EU enlargement towards Romania and Bulgaria said that he hoped that “justice would get to do its job properly” and that “big fish will also get behind the bars, not just the less important ones.” It has been 14 years since then and Romania brought to justice a bunch of fish, both large and small.
Meanwhile, beyond the borders of Romania, in the rest of the European Union, things seem to be not less than perfect. Citizens’ perception of corruption, from countries like Germany, the Netherlands or Denmark, confirms this.
 
Then why is the European Parliament trying, for the second time since 2016, to convince the European Commission of the “Need for a Comprehensive Mechanism for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights”? We understand that the 54% of the Dutch, who say that corruption is a rarity in their country, are wrong.
 
The document I just voted Thursday, together with my colleagues I draw attention to a reality that the Commission, supported by a number of highly influential Member States, ignores it. Paragraph N says: “Previous anti-corruption reports at EU level and 2018 country reports in the European Semester show that corruption in several Member States raises serious concerns, eroding the trust of citizens in institutions and the rule of law.”
 
The resolution lets us can guess a much more serious situation, which Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam or Paris are not willing to admit publicly. While Eastern Europeans are taught lessons of anti-corruption, the problems accumulate under a thick layer of indifference, and Europe as a whole, along with its citizens, will take the toll.
 
What are we talking about? The best example is the current scandal involving Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest commercial bank with a 150-year-old tradition, “a giga scandal” as Margrethe Vestager, the Danish European Commissioner for Competition, described it. This scandal began with the opening of a money laundering investigation, which involves more than €200 billion, through a branch of Danske Bank in Estonia. Black money come from Russia and are connected both with President Putin’s family and with Russian intelligence.
 
Unfortunately, this scandal is not the only one of its kind. It comes after the case involving ING, the largest Dutch bank. This dossier was finalized in 2018 with a fine of $ 900 million for money laundering (which happened between 2010 and 2016). One of the accuses in the case of ING, VimpelCom (VEON now), a company controlled by Altimo, which belongs to Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, transferred through ING $ 114 million bribe in Uzbekistan for access to the local telecoms market.
 
Another recent case concerns Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in Germany. It has agreed to pay a $ 630 million fine in 2017 for laundering $ 10 billion, money also coming from Russia.
 
Similarly, BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, and the $ 8.9 billion fine for money laundering (2014) in Sudan, Iran and Cuba, cannot be overlooked. Three years later, BNP Paribas paid another fine of € 10 million for lack of interest in implementing anti-money laundering measures.
 
All of these scandals have ended with lawyers’ agreements, the recognition of charges and the payment of penalties.
 
A legitimate question is: how deep the investigations went in these cases? Also, has been clarified the suspicion of involvement of the state authorities in facilitating, covering or sharing the benefits obtained from such illegal practices?
 
If there were only one case, explaining it through individual mistakes might be acceptable.
 
Unfortunately, we see a true pattern, shared by the most powerful European countries. It involves huge amounts of money, intentionally breach for long periods of time some of the most important European laws, corruption, and favouring foreign powers, declared adversaries of the European project.
 
It would be futile to believe that all this happens without the knowledge and tacit acceptance of the leadership of these great European powers.
 
What is even more painful is to see how Germany, the Netherlands or France, with the help of some Romanians, marked Romania on the map of Europe as “the homeland of corruption”. This, while hundreds of billions, which fuel terrorism, arms, drugs, and people trafficking, or that keep entire regions of the globe underdeveloped, are passed from one bank account to another bank account through the largest and most respectable European financial institutions, and when the frauds are proven, the scandal goes out silently, through an agreement between lawyers.
 
Starting from the Bible verse, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”, I wonder for how long we will be blind to EU’s hypocrisy and the double standard whih has become the rule?
 
It is time for everyone to solve their own problems and not everyone to be concerned only with Romania’s problems, un-doubtful real, but incomparably smaller than others.
 
Few people remember the first anti-corruption report released by the European Commission at the level of all EU member states in 2014, which shows that Western states are facing serious problems within their own borders. For example, we find there Germany with a 13% underground economy (the equivalent of over $ 487 billion, two and a half as much as the entire GDP of Romania at that time!). In reality, “underground economy” is just a synonym for “corruption”. Meanwhile, in 2017, 41% of Germans were convinced, according to the European Corruption Barometer, that corruption is rare or non-existent in their country.
 
It is obvious that some are very effective in projecting a false image of perfection, both inside and out. The fact that Berlin and Bucharest are just talking about corruption in Romania, although the billions of euros washed by Deutsche Bank are more damaging to the EU than anything can happen in Bucharest, contributes to this false perception of cleanliness.
 
Just as a German, Dutch or French citizen has the right to know the problems and the level of corruption in another Member State, so a Romanian should know the real situation in other countries. It’s not a curiosity. It is our interest, given that reality has often proved how a small group of Member States has a decisive influence on European policies that affect us all. Certainly I will continue with a future article detailing the different European policies, how they are elaborated and influenced, and especially how these policies affect the Romanians. Let’s not be naive to think that bringing Romania to a corner comes from a pure and altruistic desire to respect a common set of values. Beyond the facade, there are financial interests, sustained and maintained by financial gains from high level corruption, and the need to maintain a status quo in which some dictate and others execute.
 
It is also the time that the major cases of corruption, of EU legislation breaching, some of which I mentioned above, despite the constant effort to minimize them (although directly involving money and benefits for businesses and individuals), are being analysed from the point of view of the effects.
 
When hundreds of billions are involved, the implications cross the borders of a single country. The neighbourhood, defence and security policies of an entire continent are endangered.
 
These are not pure speculations. The links clearly appear in the various investigation reports. The best example is the August 2018 document by BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany), which analyses Deutsche Bank’s progress. One year after Deutsche Bank’s huge fine for money laundering, it continues to have major downsides in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
 
Terrorism and money laundering do not happen accidentally in the same phrase. Let us not forget that terrorism is the problem constantly pointed out by 500 million Europeans as the main cause of concern in recent years. After the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the first and most important step that should be taken to prevent this plague from reappearing in other parts of the world is cutting off funding sources. And ISIS’s main source of funding comes from the same organized crime networks that use EU’s banks as they please. It is obvious that loundering hundreds of billions of euros does not only finance the pleasures of oligarchs but also the needs of terrorist organizations.
 
Unfortunately, these cases of corruption and infringement of EU legislation are not just about banks. It is very fresh in memory the GasGate example, which linked Gazprom to Germany through preferential gas prices for some and overloading others. The investigation was conducted by DG Competition, concluded in 2018, and is a vivid proof of how illegal practices affect Europe’s energy security, not just the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism.
 
Furthermore, as many of these files involve Russia, whether it is black money or gas, we no longer have to wonder about Moscow’s strong influence within the EU. Hundreds of billions of euros transferred from one account to another, gas sold cheaper to the stronger and more expensive to the weaker – all of this not only bring vulnerabilities to an entire continent but also buys goodwill, votes, or successfully shuts down investigations.
 
Those who are left to hold the sack are the smallest, simple citizens or less influential European states. If we want the EU project to have a solid future, the rules must be equal for all and in practice, not just on paper. Romania has a profound interest in supporting the European project because the well-being of the Romanians depends to a large extent on the success of the EU. That is why Romania and the Romanians have a rightful voice in calling for the cessation of the artificial stigma of our country and the courageous approach of the big files that have been gathering for years and are well kept behind closed doors in Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam or Paris.
 
Maybe the Romanians are cooking their own goose. We know that Romania still has enough problems to solve internally to become a good foreign partner. We all need to be aware of this reality and most of all to take the necessary steps to solve the problems. But the effort must belong to us and must not come from outside.
 
In the same time, hundreds of millions of euros laundered, undermining Europe’s energy security or sabotaging the fight against terrorism, are harming both the Romanians and the other 480 million Europeans. It is time for the artificial noise of false talks to stop and the really serious problems that compromise the entire European construction to be tackled.”

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Romanian Space Agency and University Politehnica of Bucharest, joint workshop dedicated to identifying innovative solutions and facilitating partnerships between public and private actors in the fields of cybersecurity and space

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© ROSA

The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) and the National University for Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, with the support of the EU Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), organised on Wednesday, 20 March, a workshop on “Cybersecurity and Advanced Space Technologies”, to explore innovative solutions and to stimulate strategic actions, as well as to facilitate the forging of partnerships between public and private actors in the fields of cybersecurity and space.

The workshop hosted by the National University for Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest was held in a hybrid format, with the participation of representatives from academia, ROSA and ECCC, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of National Defence, the National Cyber Security Directorate, but also from the private sector, with companies such as certSIGN, Thales, CS Group Romania, Eviden or AROBS, which are active in the digital transformation, big data, encryption, software solutions development, electronics and cybersecurity markets.

The discussions, open to stakeholders from the industry, research sphere, academia and students of the National University for Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, focused on current trends in advanced space technologies, in particular on redefining and strategically strengthening the cyber resilience of critical infrastructures and services in space taking into account lessons learned from large-scale incidents on Earth; the role of technological innovation in preventing and countering cyber risks and threats, as well as managing future challenges and exploiting opportunities to create robust defence mechanisms.

Also, Romanian companies with a tradition in the IT&C field highlighted tangible results achieved for the development and innovation of the field and for the extension of technological solutions to the space domain, as well as the partnerships established with public and private stakeholders, both at national and European level, aimed at researching and developing innovative technological solutions for civil and military applications.

Finally, discussions also focused on the collaboration between the cybersecurity and space domains, with an emphasis on identifying the most appropriate pathways for cooperation between the two industries to address common cyber risks and challenges, e.g. based on a risk assessment model or through a cyber security operations centre serving entities in a common administrative area.

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Csaba Borboly, President of Harghita County Council and CoR rapporteur, supports the introduction of an infringement procedure against EU countries that do not seriously consider compensation for damage caused by large carnivores to livestock or crops

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© European Union / Fred Guerdin

Csaba Borboly, president of Harghita County Council and rapporteur of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) for the draft opinion on ”Biodiversity protection and coexistence with large carnivores in Europe – challenges and opportunities for local and regional authorities”, supports, among other things, the introduction of an infringement procedure in European legislation against countries that do not take seriously the compensation of damage caused by large carnivores to livestock or crops.

At a local dialogue organised by Harghita County Council and the CoR on 8 March in Miercurea-Ciuc, Csaba Borboly discussed the need to strengthen EU action for a European policy on large carnivores, underlining the transnational nature of the issue of harmonious coexistence with these animals and calling for sustained efforts at European, national, regional and local level to find new ways for the sustainable and safe coexistence of farm animals, humans and large terrestrial, marine and flying carnivores.

Borboly stressed that dialogue with the European institutions is essential to promote these concerns at the European decision-making level. In addition to ongoing negotiations with the European Commission and the European Parliament, he said, regional and local authorities must be actively involved in the process of developing specific solutions. He also stressed the importance of supporting politicians who back these initiatives and underlined the desire to create a platform at the regional level in Harghita County to develop specific solutions.

“With the report, we are in permanent negotiations with the representatives of the European Commission, here I am referring first of all to the Directorate General for Environment where there is a department for biodiversity, and, besides, to the European Parliament where we try to support with arguments the work of the MEPs who support us, and at home we would like to achieve the creation of a regional platform for large carnivores in Harghita County in the framework of the new European platform for large carnivores, where we can elaborate specific solutions. We also hope that the Government and Parliament will consider these things, and in parallel, there are several analyses and studies on what is not working and how we could improve things, and we are trying to formulate amendments to the legislation. Then we go further to the European Union level, where we have the opportunity to present the report when there are preparatory discussions for the decision-making act, then we can regularly present it at the European big platform meetings and at several public policy debates. Now we have Hungary coming up for the EU Presidency in the summer and if the Hungarian Presidency finds the issue important enough to put it on the agenda, then we will most likely have better results. These are the directions we can take”, said the President of Harghita County Council, CoR rapporteur.

He also highlighted the need for a more coherent and coercive approach at the European level in terms of compliance with biodiversity conservation and habitat protection legislation. He stressed that the lack of enforcement levers in international legislation makes it difficult to implement and comply with these rules, insisting on the need to find effective ways to monitor and sanction Member States that do not fulfill their obligations.

“As I said, on many levels we are moving forward and so far we have been able to solve many things at home, for some we have also had political decisions and regulations, for others we have not. I don’t follow that path – what would happen if we didn’t do anything? – we are moving forward. What has changed from the previous report is that we have included a provision saying that it is not okay if a Member State does not take citizens’ problems seriously. There is a new element in this report, to see if we get support from Brussels to launch an infringement procedure against those states that are not serious about providing compensation and solving the whole problem. Because I have worked with many ministers here, all of whom were well-meaning, but somehow in Parliament, here and there, on the stairs of the Academy, some things got bogged down, not all of them, but some of them, and we see that if there is infringement for waste management and everyone takes the position of the righteous, the mayors are fined for things they did not do, or for waste dumps that were there for who knows when; if there is infringement for air, for water, then we need this infringement procedure on this subject too. I believe that the international legislative framework is not complete here, and there is no coercive leverage. We have levers, what species are protected, and how to protect them, but for Articles 14 and 16, for habitats, for ensuring they are respected, for ensuring that human life and health come first, we do not have any levers. This is why I am saying this, when we also have elections for the European Parliament and this is why I wanted to have this debate and I hope that the two representatives of the RMDSZ in the European Parliament will take up this issue”, explained Csaba Borboly.

Finally, Borboly expressed the hope that through sustained efforts at European level and the active involvement of local and regional stakeholders, it will be possible to find appropriate solutions to a complex problem such as the harmonious coexistence of humans, domestic animals, and large carnivores, thus contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of the interests of local communities.

“The mills are working slowly to solve this problem. Let’s hope that the Environment Ministry and Brussels will be more courageous on this issue. At the moment I don’t see a better solution for this, than just to work together, to collect data, because I see that things are getting simpler ‘to shoot or not to shoot’; if we stick to this it all gets bogged down. If we simplify things to protected-unprotected status again, things get stuck again. There are many facts that people don’t know because we don’t have data. We know how many birds there are at European level, but we don’t know how many bears, and we could list the rest of the things, the compensation, etc. In 2028 the new funding period starts at the EU level, there will be a lot of opportunities, but there is no point in going for separate money for large carnivores then because it is late. Now a solution is being prepared and at these events we attend I see that many geese beat a pig and somehow we have to put our opinion forward in the European Union”, concluded the President of the CJ Harghita and CoR rapporteur.

The event “Biodiversity protection and coexistence with large carnivores in Europe – Challenges and opportunities for local and regional authorities”, held in Miercurea-Ciuc, brought together numerous speakers and addressed various topics related to biodiversity conservation and the relationship with large carnivores.

During the first part of the dialogue, European perspectives were discussed, with presentations and debates given by key figures such as Csaba Borboly, President of Harghita County Council, László Csák, expert, and Robert Zeman from the European Committee of the Regions. Other notable participants were MEP Herbert Dorfmann and Dr Miklós Heltai, Director of the MATE Wildlife Management Institute.

The second part of the dialogue focused on the situation in Romania and Harghita County, with presentations by officials such as Gabriel Oltean, Ministerial Advisor, and specialists such as Dr. Róbert Szép from the Research and Development Institute for Wildlife Management and Mountain Resources. Also included were perspectives from civil society, represented by Levente Miklós and Hadnagy Lehel.

The dialogue also included video messages from Professor Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu and Dr. Valeria Salvatore, who made important contributions related to the presentation of the Harghita County Regional Platform.

Moderated by journalist Dan Cărbunaru, the event focused on bringing together local and regional authorities, scientific experts and other stakeholders to share experiences and ideas on biodiversity conservation and coexistence with large carnivores, taking into account the Romanian legislative context. Professional presentations and networking sessions resulted in a better understanding of current challenges and possible solutions, as well as the creation of new connections and exchange of ideas among participants.

 

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Harghita County Council and the European Committee of the Regions organise a local dialogue on biodiversity protection and coexistence with large carnivores in Europe (LIVE, 8 March, 09.00)

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© Consiliul Județean Harghita

Harghita County Council, together with the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), is organising a local dialogue in Miercurea-Ciuc on Friday, 8 March 2024 on the protection of biodiversity and the coexistence of large carnivores in Europe, based on the draft opinion of CoR on this issue, coordinated by the President of Harghita County Council, Csaba Borboly (EPP-RO), as rapporteur.

Entitled “Biodiversity protection and coexistence with large carnivores in Europe – Challenges and opportunities for local and regional authorities –“, the event will start at 09.00 and will be broadcast LIVE on CaleaEuropeană.ro and on the Calea Europeană Facebook page.

 

The event will address both the European, national, and local dimensions of the topic. The full agenda is available here.

The first part of the dialogue will address the European perspective and will start with a presentation by the rapporteur, President of CJ Harghita Csaba Borboly, followed by a debate with László Csák, who will present the expert’s point of view, and Robert Zeman (CZ/ECR), shadow rapporteur at the European Committee of the Regions.

The panel will also include MEP Herbert Dorfmann and Dr Miklós Heltai, Director of the MATE Wildlife Management Institute.

The second part of the dialogue will address “Protection of biological diversity and coexistence with large carnivores in Romania and Harghita County”. This panel will include:

– Gabriel Oltean, Ministerial Advisor, Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests;

– Levente Miklós, Rural Development Association of Harghita County Council, on “Wildlife damage caused by brown bears in Harghita County. Aggregated data of the last ten years”;

– Director Dr. Róbert Szép, Research and Development Institute for Wildlife and Mountain Resources Management, on “Practical research results of the Institute for Research and Development of Wildlife and Mountain Resources”;

– Hadnagy Lehel, Engineer, Silos Hunting Association, on “To shoot or not to shoot – the situation of bears through the eyes of a game manager in Harghita”;

During this panel, Professor Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu, ICAS, and Dr. Valeria Salvatore, ecologist, Institute of Applied Ecology, Italy, will deliver video messages on “Regional platform support in meeting the challenges posed by coexistence with large carnivores in 2024”.

The local dialogue is moderated by journalist Dan Cărbunaru, director of CaleaEuropeană.ro.

The aim of the event is to bring together local and regional authorities, scientific experts, and stakeholders, providing an opportunity to share experiences and ideas on biodiversity conservation and coexistence with large carnivores, considering Romanian legislation.

Professional presentations in various fields will contribute to a deeper understanding of current challenges and possible solutions, while networking sessions will provide an opportunity to make new connections and exchange ideas.

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