Romania: Women and children become 'thugs and prostitutes'
Children and women left behind by men who have gone to find work abroad turn into thugs and prostitutes, a Romanian minister has said. As many as three million Romanians have migrated to western European countries in a bid to escape poverty in their homeland, triggering debate and concern over the consequences of the exodus from one of Europe's poorest countries. Ioan Rus, transport minister (until his resignation on Thursday night), said men working abroad could earn €1,500 (£1,000) a month, an amount to ‘turn children back home into thugs and wives into whores’. The anger triggered by Mr Rus's comments and his subsequent resignation dealt another blow to the government of Victor Ponta, which has been reeling since Friday when Mr Ponta came under a criminal investigation into corruption. The prime minister stands accused of a number of offences including forgery and money-laundering in the most high-profile corruption case in Romania since the fall of communism. (See Prayer Hub 18 June article)
Portugal: State of Nation debate
On 8 July, Portugal's Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, opened the State of the Nation debate in parliament - taking place barely three months before the legislative elections. The last State of the Nation debate was on 2 July 2014 when the prime minister called for a national commitment on employment and asked the leader of the opposition Socialists about his position in regard to the European Union budget treaty. This time, Passos Coelho took a message of confidence in the euro zone and the Portuguese economy. The Socialist leader, António Costa, wanted to give a voice to citizens disillusioned with ‘false promises’ in the 2011 general election campaign, adding, ‘three generations have been decimated in three harrowing years.’
Poland: IVF bill divides senators
Senators spent 11 hours debating a bill on IVF on Wednesday 6 July in what has proved one of the most divisive issues in current Polish politics. The bill was passed in the lower house of parliament in late June and regulates state funding for couples seeking the treatment, but has been flatly opposed by chief opposition party Law and Justice. During Wednesday's Senate session representatives of various parties called for amendments to the bill, while others said that as Roman Catholics the prospective law is wholly unacceptable. Law and Justice Senator Dorota Czudowska claimed that ‘we are opening the gates of hell with this act’. Several senators from the ruling Civic Platform/Polish People's Party coalition suggested an amendment that would only allow the treatment for married couples.
Norway: Diocese inflating membership figures
The government of Norway is demanding $5.1 million from the Oslo diocese in compensation for what the government sees as fraud in the inflated reporting of church membership figures. The government charges that the Oslo diocese obtained nearly $6 million in state subsidies by routinely registering immigrants as Catholics if they came from predominantly Catholic countries, without obtaining any evidence of the immigrants’ actual affiliations. The government charges that of the 65,500 new Catholics registered by the Oslo diocese between 2010 and 2014, more than 56,000 were not confirmed as Catholics. After a government raid on diocesan offices, Church officials conceded that they had used ‘unsatisfactory’ methods of identifying members of the Catholic Church, but denied ‘any conscious or intentional fraud.’ The diocese has indicated that it plans to appeal the assessment of $5.1 million, saying that the case is ‘legally complicated.’
