Romania bans gambling venues in small towns and villages
Romania has announced a ban on gambling venues in small towns and villages with populations of less than 15,000 residents.
What's known as the “law of slot machines” was passed by deputies in the lower house of parliament."It is the first law adopted in Parliament in 30 years against this mafia that has controlled the political world until now," said Alfred Simonis, the leader of the Social Democrats.
"Right now we are fighting an industry that has a total turnover of €10-12 billion."
Industry figures complain they were not consulted, and hope that the authorities will control the black market as they promised.
It is the first law adopted in Parliament in 30 years against this mafia that has controlled the political world until now. Alfred Simonis Leader of Social Democrat (PSD) deputies
Despite the unanimous vote, there was some dissent within the chamber. Two opposition parties that want to ban the "scourge" of gambling outright accuse the government of collusion with the gaming sector for not taking a stronger position.
On another front Ionut Mosteanu, the leader of the opposition USR, questioned how lawmakers had set the threshold.
“They thought that slot machines only damage 15,000 people," he said. "There was not even a debate to see how many townships qualify for this 15,000. Why not 16, 17, why not two million and you would ban them definitively?"
Gambling venues have become ubiquitous across Romania over the last few decades. The National Gaming Office, the state body that monitors and approves the sector, has registered 12,000 sports betting, bingo, casino, lottery rooms.
The state collects taxes from gambling venue licenses and online ticket sales as from the amount betting houses spend on advertising.
There are no recent data to indicate how many people in Romania are addicted to gambling. The last survey was conducted in 2016, and found that there could be around 100,000 addicted people across the country. The number today could be much higher.
Research recently carried out by Save the Children shows that one in seven children in Romania spends money on gambling, while one in 10 lives in families where one of the parents does.
concepts of "human shield" and "collateral damage" to provide a legal cover for genocide - has been fiercely dismissed by Israel as "obscene."
Calls to scrutinise EU funding for Israeli military companies
Speaking alongside Albanese at the European Parliament, Spanish MEP Manu Pineda of the Left group, who chairs the parliament's Delegation for relations with Palestine, slammed the EU for allegedly funding military ventures in Israel that allow its armed forces to conduct its operations.
He said that drone manufacturers providing their technology to Israel's Armed Forces have received funds from the EU's Horizon Europe project, a claim recently corroborated in an analysis by two independent monitors, Statewatch and Informationsstelle Militarisierung (IMI).
"Other Israeli military companies and institutions received millions of euros for drone development in recent years, despite a supposed prohibition on EU funding for military and defence projects," the monitors said in their March analysis.
According to MEP Pineda, the EU's "hands are stained in blood" for its failure to ensure its funds do not contribute to Israel's offensive.
"It's shameful that the European Union is still buying and selling arms to Israel that are being used in combat, that are falling on the heads of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip," MEP Pineda said.
It comes as pressure grows on the Biden administration in the US and the German government to stop sending arms to Israel.
The US and Germany combined are estimated to supply some 99% of all arms Israel receives from foreign governments. Estimates put Germany's arms sales to Israel at €300 million in 2023 alone.
On Tuesday, Germany contested charges brought by Nicaragua in the UN's top court claiming Berlin was facilitating crimes of genocide by selling arms to Tel Aviv, claiming such accusations had "no basis in fact or law."