5 October, 2019

A roundup of some of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 05.10.2019, 14:04

Accident. Ten people have died today in a road accident when a passenger
minibus crashed into a lorry in south-eastern Romania. According to an initial
inquiry, the lorry was travelling in the wrong direction on the national road
between Slobozia and Urziceni. The police says both drivers were killed in the
crash, which makes investigations more difficult. The injured were taken to
hospitals in Slobozia and Bucharest. More than 40 fire-fighters, paramedics and
emergency staff and 19 ambulances were deployed to the site of the crash.

Government. Prime minister Viorica Dancila on Friday sent president
Klaus Iohannis her new proposals for interim ministers to occupy the seven vacant
cabinet positions, including home office, education and justice. The president
is obliged by a Constitutional Court ruling to appoint interim ministers
following the withdrawal of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats from the
government. After receiving the proposals, the president has said that the
45-day-interim period has expired in the case of the education ministry and
that a final proposal must now be made, which needs to be confirmed by
Parliament. He also says that by her request, prime minister Dancila requires
him to disregard constitutional provisions by appointing a second successive
interim minister for education. Earlier, the prime minister insisted that the
president must act on the ruling of the Constitutional Court and appoint an
interim education minister, saying the residency exam has been postponed by
three weeks, thus threatening the careers of an entire generation of young
doctors. Klaus Iohannis says, however, the blame lies with the inability of the
current government to approve the exam methodology on time.

Elections. The
Romanian foreign ministry has supplied the Permanent Electoral Authority with a
preliminary list of voting stations abroad ahead of next month’s presidential
elections. The list includes the 78 new voting stations to be established based
on the requests registered by voters at the online address votstrainatate.ro.
The foreign ministry is to submit new proposals for the setting up of new
polling stations abroad by the 19th of October. As far as postal
voting is concerned, the Permanent Electoral Authority has announced that the
Romanian Postal Service has already distributed over 10,000 envelopes abroad,
with 4,500 more to be distributed shortly. The election campaign begins on the
12th of October. The first round will be held on the 10th
of November, followed by a second on the 24th. 14 candidates are in
the race for president.

Brexit. Almost 200,000 Romanians living and working in Great Britain
have applied for the new residence status, the British Ambassador to Bucharest
Andrew Noble has told Radio Romania. He explained that in the event of a
no-deal Brexit, Romanian citizens coming to the UK for visits or short trips and
who wish to remain must apply for 3-year residence. The ambassador has also given
assurances that the Romanians living in the UK will not be affected. He says
that after Brexit, his government wants an even closer relationship with
Romania and that his country would enhance its involvement in humanitarian or
collaboration projects in areas such as home affairs and the fight against
organised crime. The UK is due to leave the European Union on the 31st
of October.

Teachers Day. On World Teachers Day on the 5th of October,
the Romanian justice minister Ana Birchall published a statement saying
education is a central pillar of a society’s development and mankind’s
progress. Education is the best legacy we can leave our children, because it
gives them the chance of a better life, and the funds allocated to this field
is the safest investment in the future, Ana Birchall also said. World Teachers
Day is a good opportunity to pay homage to teachers everywhere in the world.