1 July, 2019

Romania handed over presidency of the Council of the European Union to Finland./ Parliament meets this week to discuss election legislation.

Newsroom, 01.07.2019, 14:00

EU presidency. Finland has taken over from Romania the rotating
presidency of the Council of the European Union. The central theme of the
Finnish presidency, held under the motto Sustainable Europe – Sustainable
Future, is to promote Europe’s position as a global leader in climate action.
This means committing to the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, the Finnish
prime minister Antti Rinne told Parliament last week. The challenges facing the
European Union in the next six months include the UK’s delayed exit from the
Union on 31st October.

Parliament. The Romanian Parliament meets this week in an extraordinary
session. The agenda includes, among others, a bill to amend the legislation
regulating voting for Romanian citizens abroad which was given green light by a
special joint committee. A new law for the presidential elections will be put
to vote in the Senate today before reaching the Chamber of Deputies on
Wednesday, the decision-making body in this case. Under the new bill, Romanian
citizens voting abroad will also be able to cast their ballots by postal voting
and early voting, alongside traditional voting. The voting process abroad is to
last three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The two chambers of the Romanian
Parliament will meet on Wednesday to make nominations for the managing board of
the National Bank.

EU talks. EU leaders continue talks in
Brussels to reach an agreement over the nominations for the EU’s top jobs. The president
of the European Council Donald Tusk is trying to find a solution to the crisis
generated by the refusal of the European People’s Party to agree to a balanced
package for the distribution of the top EU positions. The so-called Osaka
agreement was rejected by most European People’s Party leaders. The deal agreed
with German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Emmanuel Macron and
other European leaders implied that the European People’s Party gave up the
presidency of the European Commission targeted by Manfred Weber and supported
instead the Social Democrat candidate Frans Timmermans provided the
European People’s Party got the positions of European Parliament speaker and
president of the European Council. Frans Timmermas also does not have the
support of the Visegrád Group
countries, nor that of Italy. European leaders must reach, however a consensus
to avoid an institutional blockage, given that the European Parliament meets
tomorrow to elect a new leadership. The positions of president of the European
Council and the European Central Bank and that of EU foreign policy chief are
also being negotiated.

Republic of Moldova. Maia Sandu, the new prime minister of the Republic
of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population,
travels to Bucharest on Tuesday. She will have talks with the Romanian
authorities about the development of joint projects, including in the energy
field, and the scholarships for Moldovan pupils. Sandu said her country would
like to see a faster pace of implementation in the case of certain projects,
such as in the energy field, to ensure alternative sources, and the
continuation of various cooperation projects in the area of education and
culture. In an interview to Radio Chisinau last week, she said neighbouring Romania has supported the Republic of Moldova
both politically and financially, in all projects and that it is her
country’s most important advocate in the process of European integration. Sworn
in this month, Moldova’s pro-European prime minister has decided to make her
first foreign trip to Bucharest, although she said earlier that she would
travel first to Brussels. According to Radio Chisinau, her official visit to
Romania is the result of an invitation from president Klaus Iohannis.

Tennis. The no. 7 seed Simona Halep
of Romania will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus in the first round at
Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins today.
Another Romanian player, Mihaela Buzarnescu, plays against Jessica Pegula of
the US in the first round and will meet Halep if she makes it to the second
round. Qualifier Ana Bogdan is up for a tough match against the British no. 1 Johanna
Konta, who is seeded 9th. Sorana Cirstea will face 25th
seed Amanda Anisimova of the US. Monica Niculescu, who got a wild card for
Wimbledon, plays Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. Qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse faces
Germany’s Julia Goerges in the opening round, seeded 18th. In the
men’s draw, Romania’s Marius Copil faces Argentina’s Guido Pella in the first
round.