10 June, 2019

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 10.06.2019, 14:00

Republic of Moldova. The first
meeting of the government of the Republic of Moldova ( an ex-Soviet state with
a majority Romanian-speaking population) led by the pro-European Maia Sandu
takes place today despite a ruling by the Constitutional Court that invalidated
the investiture of the new cabinet. The meeting is scheduled to take place in
the Parliament building because the members of the new cabinet do not have
access to the government, which is still controlled by the acting prime
minister Pavel Filip, from the Democratic Party. A close aide of the
controversial politician and businessman Vladimir Plahotniuc and appointed by the Court to take
on the responsibilities of the president, thus replacing the pro-Russian
Socialist Igor Dodon, Filip has announced the dissolution of Parliament and
called early elections in September.

Cabinet. Romania’s new ministers responsible for
justice, European funds and for liaising with the Romanians living abroad are
being sworn in today, according to the president’s office. At the weekend, the
president signed the appointment of Ana Birchall as minister for justice,
Roxana Minzatu as minister for European funds and of Natalia Intotero as
minister for the Romanians abroad. Iohannis rejected the nomination of Titus
Corlatean as deputy prime minister and asked prime minister Viorica Dancila to
make a new proposal. The president considers Corlatean as the artisan of the
disaster of the 2014 elections, when he was serving as foreign minister and
when tens of thousands of Romanians living abroad were unable to cast their
votes and said his reputation is not unblemished. The prime minister submitted
these proposals on the 29th of May.

Exercise. Around
8,000 military from six countries (Albania, Bosnia and Hertegovina, Bulgaria,
Romania, Hungary and the US) are taking part until the 24th of June
in the Saber Guardian 2019 multinational exercise. The exercise is led by US
Army Europe and the Romanian Land Forces and is hosted by Bulgaria, Romania and
Hungary. Its main aim is to highlight the cohesion, unity and solidarity
between partner and allied states in the face of any possible form of
aggression, in particular through rapid mobilisation and deployment of troops
anywhere in Europe. Shooting exercises are held at the shooting ranges in
Cincu, Borduşani, Babadag, Smârdan and Râşnov.

Trade. Romania’s trade deficit reached 5.038 billion euros in the first
four months of the year, up 1.298 billion compared with the same period in
2018, according to data published today by the National Institute for
Statistics. According to these figures, exports stood at 23.066 billion euros
between January and April 2019, while imports reached 28.104 billion euros.
During the same period, exports went up by 3.8% and imports by 8.3% compared
with the first four months of the previous year.

IT. 20 companies are taking part in an economic mission to promote Romanian
IT&C products in the United States, between the 10th and the 14th
of June. According to the ministry for the business environment, trade and entrepreneurship,
the Romanian companies will take part in the SelectUSA Investment Summit held
in Washington between the 10th and the 12th of June and
in the SelectUSA Spin-off held in San Francisco on the 13th and the
14th of June. The main goals of the mission are to enhance the
visibility of Romanian IT&C companies, promote Romanian products in the
area of innovation technology, identifying new business opportunities and
establishing long-term partnerships, according to a ministry press release.

Football. Tonight, Romania face
Malta away in a new Group F match as part of their campaign to qualify for the
2020 European Championship. On Friday, Romania drew 2-all, also away, with
Norway. In their first two group matches in March, Romania lost to Sweden in
Stockholm 1-2 and defeated the Faroe Islands at home 4-1. Spain lead Group F
with 9 points, followed by Sweden with 7, and Romania with 4. The two
best-ranked teams in the group will qualify. Bucharest will host the draw for
Euro 2020 on the 30th of November. The Romanian capital will also
host four Euro 2020 matches, including three group matches and a quarterfinal.
Also this month, Romania’s Under-21 side will be taking part in the European
Championship final tournament hosted by Italy and San Marino. They are in Group
C alongside England, France and Croatia.