6 December, 2018

A look at the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 06.12.2018, 13:28

EU presidency. The Romanian interior minister Carmen
Dan is to present a meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in
Brussels with the programme of Romania’s presidency of the Council of the
European Union between 1st January and 30th June 2019.
The priorities include consolidating the Union’s internal security, the
management of its external borders, migration and combating online
radicalisation. The Romanian official supports a stronger role for Frontex in
managing migration and securing external borders and says she will give
priority to combating terrorist content online based on the principle of
community policing, which is meant to facilitate the relationship between
security forces and expat communities in the EU states. Romania has notable
expertise in this field, as the Romanian police are taking part in operative
missions in states such as Italy, Spain, France and Bulgaria, says the
Romanian interior ministry. The next meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs
Council will take place in Bucharest between the 6th and the 8th
of February.

Environment. The European
Commissioner for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries Karmenu Vella has today begun an official trip to Bucharest, according
to Romania’s European Commission Representation. Vella is due to meet
the Romanian deputy prime minister and environment minister Gratiela Gavrilescu
and other government officials. The Commissioner is also expected to attend a
conference on circular economy
success stories to discuss waste collection and
recycling and the funding and promotion of the transition to a circular
economy.

Reshuffling. Liviu Dragnea, the
speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the leader of the ruling Social
Democratic Party has threatened to refer president Klaus Iohannis to the
Constitutional Court next week unless the latter accepts the new proposals for
transport and development ministers. Iohannis says he is still considering the
two nominations, that of Olguta Vasilescu for the development ministry and of
Mircea Draghici for the transport ministry. At the end of November, president
Iohannis accepted six nominations as part of a reshuffling of Viorica Dancila’s
cabinet, namely for defence, labour, economy, culture, communications and youth
and sport. He also criticised the fact that in the two years since they came to
power, the Social Democratic Party and their junior ruling partners the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats have replaced 70 ministers, which he said
was too much.

Poll.The
Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition in Romania,
has dropped below 25% in voting intentions according to a survey conducted by
IMAS and commissioned by the Save Romania Union in opposition. The National
Liberal Party is in second place with more than 23%, followed by the Save
Romania Union with almost 15%. The Social Democrats’ partners, the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats, have 12% of voting intentions. The Romania Together
Movement led by the former technocratic prime minister Dacian Ciolos has 8% of
voting intentions. The poll also puts the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
in Romania, which has a collaboration agreement with the ruling coalition, at
5.8%. The poll was conducted in November, using a sample of 1,010 people and
has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

Poll. Corruption, inflation, the situation of the
economy, the government and the healthcare system are some of the problems
facing Romania at the moment according to a poll conducted by SC CT&Research SRL and commissioned by the Black Sea University
Foundation. Corruption is considered the biggest problem by 50% of respondents,
while 73% of them believe things are going in the wrong direction in Romania.

Internet. Almost three quarters (72.4%) of households in Romania have
access to home internet, up 3.8% compared with last year, according to the
National Institute for Statistics. Almost 63% of these households are in cities.
82% of home internet connections are fixed broadband
connections, followed by mobile broadband connections (57.3% and narrowband
connections (12.5%). Among Romanians aged 16 to 74, the proportion of people
who have ever used internet is 78.8%. Of current users, 75.5% use the internet
daily or almost daily.

Handball. Romania
defeated European defending champions Norway 31:22 on Wednesday in Brest in
their final Group D match at the European Women’s Handball Championship in
France. Romania put on a remarkable performance to defeat Norway for the first
time at a final tournament in the last 18 years. They now top the preliminary
group and will advance to the next stage with a maximum of points. In the other
group fixture, Germany defeated the Czech Republic. Romania and the Netherlands
begin their main round Group 2 matches with 4 points each, Hungary and Germany
with 2 and Spain and Norway with zero points. Romania next face the Netherlands
on the 9th of December, Spain on the 11th and Hungary on
the 12th. The two best-ranked teams in the group will make it to the
semifinals.