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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies
Vol. 2, No. 6, 7 February 2001

ROMANIA

MAYORS OPPOSE NEW LAW ON LOCAL PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. The mayors
of eight large Romanian towns, meeting in Brasov on 3 February,
called on the government to amend the recently passed Local Public
Administration Law, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The mayors
say the law contravenes the constitution and the provisions of the
European Charter on Local Autonomy. The mayors oppose the
provision in the law granting prefects the prerogative to dismiss
those mayors against whom a court case has been launched, and do
so even before the court has ruled on the matter. Prime Minister
Adrian Nastase said the cabinet will examine the possibility to
abolish this prerogative. The mayors also said they oppose the
provision in the new law granting national minorities the right to
officially use their language in localities where these minorities
make up 20 percent or more of the population. ("RFE/RL Newsline,"
5 February)


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 5, No. 27, Part II, 8 February 2001


ROMANIAN PRESIDENT TO PROMULGATE CONTROVERSIAL LAW. President
Ion Iliescu said on 7 February that he will promulgate the
law on Local Public Administration once the parliament ends
the approval process. He said the article in the law allowing
national minorities to use their languages in localities
where they make up 20 percent of the population "is correct
from all points of view" and "in line with the spirit of the
constitution." Members of the Party of Social Democracy in
Romania (PDSR) parliamentary group in the Senate have voiced
misgivings about the article, and the extremist Greater
Romania Party (PRM) is opposed to approval of the law because
it contains that provision. MS

ROMANIAN OPPOSITION PARTY OPPOSES HUNGARIAN DEMAND. National
Liberal Party (PNL) First deputy Chairman Valeriu Stoica, in
an interview on Romanian Radio on 7 February, said the PNL
will oppose the demand of the Hungarian Democratic Federation
of Romania to amend the constitutional provision that defines
Romania as a "national state." Stoica said the "myth of the
national state" is the "corner-stone of the modern world" and
"its dismemberment would also mean the dismemberment of that
world." He said that "any myth has a beneficial and a harmful
side" and "one must not emphasize the harmful aspect alone"
because of its influence on "some excesses in the last
century." A PNL-PDSR team began negotiations on amending the
constitution on 7 February. MS