December 9, 2019
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 09.12.2019, 14:42
GRAFT The scourge of corruption is
undermining democracy and the rule of law. At the same time corruption endorses
organized crime rings and will eventually lower the citizens’ standard of
living, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis says in his address on the
International Anti-corruption Day. 30 years on from the demise of the communist
regime, Romania made ‘immense headway’ in fighting corruption at high level and
in society, the head of state went on to say adding that this process is
‘ongoing’, and involves the effort of changing outlooks, involves consistency,
as well as a set of firm principles. In turn Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said
the fight against this phenomenon is a desideratum of all the Romanians
irrespective of their age and reiterated ‘the Romanian government’s determination
and commitment to relentlessly supporting this process. Established by the
United Nations Organisation in 2003, the International Anti-corruption Day is being
celebrated every year on December 9th.
MEETING Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is attending the
proceedings of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. This is the first
meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers under the chairmanship of Josep Borrell,
the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and
Vice-President of the European Commission. High on the agenda are relations
between EU and Africa and human rights observance around the world. On the
sidelines of this formal meeting, Minister Aurescu will be participating in a
working breakfast hosted by the Greek Foreign Minister, which has as special
invitees foreign ministers from North Macedonia and Albania.
MOTION Romania’s
Senate is today debating and voting on the first simple motion against a member
of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban. The document has been tabled
by the Social-Democratic opposition against Finance Minister Florin Cîţu who
has been accused of improper statements regarding the state of the public
finances, which led to the depreciation of the national currency. The Liberals
say however, the motion will be another good opportunity to provide details in
Parliament about the disastrous situation the state budget is currently in, due
to the latest PSD ruling. The PSD’s move puts to the test the fragile majority
of the Liberal cabinet and speaks about the support the Social Democrats currently
rely on.
HANDBALL The Romanian
women’s handball side plays Sweden on Tuesday in group ll of the World Handball
Championships underway in Japan. On Saturday Romania lost to Russia and thus blew
their chances to qualify for the competition’s semifinals. The Romanians are
currently fighting for the fourth position, which will allow them to play in pre-Olympic
tournaments. Romania will be playing the host country in their last game of
this championship. Our side is currently ranking last in their group which is
led by Russia and Spain.
TALKS French capital Paris is today hosting a
first round of face-to-face talks between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky
and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin under French-German mediation. The
latest round of talks of the so-called Normandy Four Summit was held in 2016 in
Berlin. The talks’ main objective is to kick-start peace negotiations between
the authorities in Kiev and pro-Russia separatists, engaged in a conflict,
which started five years ago and killed over 13 thousand people. The West and
Ukraine are accusing Moscow of supplying funds and weapons to the rebels, a
fact denied by Russia. Russian president Vladimir Putin is also to have talks
in Paris with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and with German chancellor
Angela Merkel.
(translated by bill)
