January 18, 2016 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 18.01.2016, 12:15

DIPLOMACY – Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis received in Bucharest on Monday the US Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland. On the
occasion, president Iohannis said that, since Mrs. Nuland’s latest visit, in
January 2015, things had changed in Romania, some for the better. In turn, the
US official said that her presence in Bucharest was a good opportunity to
highlight the fact that the US and Romania were good allies. Victoria Nuland
also had a meeting with the Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc and the two officials
discussed topics regarding bilateral military cooperation, which was
characterized as consistent and pragmatic. On Sunday, Victoria Nuland had an
informal meeting with PM Dacian Ciolos, who briefed her on the priorities of
the technocratic government in Bucharest.

FOREIGN
AFFAIRS COUNCIL– On Monday, the Romanian Foreign Minister,
Lazar Comanescu, attended the Foreign
Affairs Council in Brussels. Regarding
Syria, minister Comanescu said that the regional and international partners
should join efforts and find a solution in order to avoid a power void in the
transition period. Also, the Romanian Foreign Minister voiced his concern over
the humanitarian situation in Syria and said that a stable cooperation was
needed in order to find viable solutions. In another move, Lazar Comanescu
stressed the need for national reconciliation in Iraq and said Romania
supported the continuation of the reconstruction process in that country. On
the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council, minister Comanescu held talks
with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin about prospects of boosting
bilateral political dialogue. Also, he
talked with counterparts from other EU countries about the need to support
Moldova’s European aspirations.

VISIT– The Romanian prime minister, Dacian Ciolos, is paying a two-day official visit to
Paris, as of Wednesday. He will be accompanied by the Economy Minister and
deputy Prime Minister Costin Borc, and
by the Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu. On the first day of the visit, Ciolos
will meet with the French president,
François Hollande, Prime Minister Manuel Valls, and the Speakers of the two
Chambers of the National Assembly, Gérard Larcher and Claude Bartolone. Talks
will focus mainly on economic issues. Ciolos will also meet with
representatives of the Romanian community living in France. On the second day
of the visit, the Romanian prime minister is due to meet CEOs and managers of
big French companies. We recall that France is the fifth largest foreign
investor in Romania.

READER’S DIGEST AWARD -The Chief Prosecutor of the National Anti-corruption
Directorate in Romania, Laura Codruta Kovesi, is the winner of the Reader’s
Digest European of the Year 2016 award, in recognition of her brave and sustained
fight against top level corruption. It’s the second time that a Romanian wins
this award. The first Romanian recipient was Iana Matei, the president of the ‘Reaching Out Romania’ Foundation, back in 2010, for the support provided to the
victims of human trafficking. For 21 years, Reader’s Digest has annually
awarded people who, without being celebrities, have been deeply involved in
humanitarian campaigns regarding issues such as rape, torture or human
trafficking, HIV/AIDs and women’s rights, but also to personalities who have
had a positive influence on society.

MOLDOVA – The Prime Minister
Designate of the Republic of Moldova, Pavel Filip, said on Monday that the
governing program of the new Cabinet would be completed by midweek and
Parliament’s vote of confidence would be called for by the end of the week.
According to Filip, his Government would focus on carrying on along the path to
Europe. While the Liberal Democratic Party has announced it will not support
Pavel Filip’s candidacy and will turn into an opposition party, the Democratic
Party and the Liberal Party, as well as 14 MPs who left the Communist Party
will take part in the formation of the future Executive. The Socialists, who
have 24 out of the total of 101 seats in parliament, contested at the Constitutional Court on Monday the decree issued
by president Nicolae Timofti on the designation of Pavel Filip. Unless
Parliament endorses the new Government by January 29th, the
legislative will be dissolved and early elections will be held.

CAR INDUSTRY-
The largest car manufacturer in Romania, Dacia, a brand owned by the French
group Renault, registered record high sales in 2015. Some 551,000 units were
sold worldwide last year, registering a 7.7% increase, as compared to 2014. Ranking
first in the classification of best selling makes of the Dacia brand, at global
level, is Sandero, followed by Duster and Logan. Most of the units sold were
motorcars, followed by light commercial vehicles. We recall that in 1999,
Renault bought 73% of the Dacia shares. Re-launched in 2004, with the Logan
make, Dacia became a prominent player on the European car market.

TENNIS –Romanian tennis
player Monica Niculescu has qualified for the second round of the Australian
Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the debut match,
Niculescu defeated Brazilian Teliana Pereira, 6-2, 6-1. Romania’s four other
representatives, Simona Halep, WTA’s no.2, Irina Begu, Alexandra Dulgheru and
Andreea Mitu on Tuesday will play matches to qualify for the second round of
the tournament. In the men’s double, the pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecau
and Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer is first seeded in the competition, and the
Romanian -Indian pair Florin Mergea / Rohan Bopanna is fourth seeded.

WATER POLO – Romania’s national water polo
team will play against Germany on Wednesday, at the European Championship in
Belgrade, in a match counting for the 9-12 position. On Monday, Romania
defeated Malta 12-7 and Germany won against Slovakia, 16-15. Romania and
Germany have played against each other before, part of Group C of the European
Championship, and the Romanian squad won 14-13.