2 September, 2018 UPDATE

A roundup of the main stories in Romania.

Newsroom, 02.09.2018, 17:55

Opposition. Ludovic
Orban, the leader of the National Liberal Party, in opposition, announced on
Sunday that his party would take part in the European elections next year on
its own. He also said the National Liberal Party would support the current head
of state Klaus Iohannis in the race for a new presidential term, also next
year. He made these comments after a meeting in Bucharest between the party’s
leadership and its senators and deputies about their legislative priorities. The
Liberals wish to ask the prime minister questions about the violence that took
place at the protests of August 10th in Bucharest and the situation
of the African swine fever epidemic. The new parliamentary session begins on
Monday.

Vacancy. The six applicants for the
position of chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate will be
interviewed by the justice minister Tudorel Toader on Monday and Tuesday. The
results will be made public on the 6th of September. The proposal of
the justice minister will then be submitted to the Supreme Council of
Magistracy for an opinion and later to president Klaus Iohannis. The former
head of the anti-corruption body Laura Codruta Kovesi was sacked in July following
a decree signed by the president, who was in effect forced to do so in order to
comply with a Constitutional Court ruling. The justice minister had requested
that Kovesi be sacked following a report that received a negative opinion from
the Supreme Council of Magistracy.

Tourism. Public
employees in Romania will also benefit from holiday vouchers next year, the
tourism minister has announced. The amount remains unchanged, at around 315
euros. The ministry says the vouchers were a breath of air for local tourism in
2018. The measure benfits 1.2 million employees and is meant to stimulate
domestic tourism, the authoritities have said.

Virus. Two new cases of African swine fever
have been confirmed in Romania, where the number of hotbeds now stands at
around 800. The authorities continue to take measures to contain the spread of
the virus, and in the areas where the virus has been confirmed, that is a
quarter of all counties in Romania, the pigs are culled. As a preventive
measure, the authorities have also imposed restrictions on the sale of pork,
and road checks are in place on the borders with the counties where the virus
has been indentified. The government has given assurances that the owners of
the culled pigs will receive compensations.

Meeting. The Romanian president
Klaus Iohannis has called for a meeting of the Country’s Supreme Defence
Council on the 4th of September to discuss the government’s proposals
to adjust this year’s budget of state institutions with responsibilities in the
area of national security. The president’s office has explained that not all
Council members agreed to approve the proposed adjustment. The president said
the government could have made the budget adjustment in any field with no need
for further approval, with the exception of national security. Earlier, the
government had called for an emergency meeting of the Council and warned that
the president’s refusal to hold one to approve the budget adjustment bill can
jeopardise not only the incomes of the most vulnerable categories, that is
pensioners, mothers and children, but also people’s access to medical services.

Sea crossing. Avram Iancu, a 42-year-old
librarian from Petrosani, in south-western Romania, said on his blog that he
plans to swim across the Black Sea, from Sulina in Romania to Istanbul in
Turkey, covering a distance of 630 km. He started his journey on Sunday and
plans to finish in 40 to 50 days, according to News.ro. He is the first person
in the world to swim the length of the Danube river, 2,860 km, without a
protective suit, something that took him 89 days. He also crossed the English
Channel without wearing a neoprene suit.