January 22, 2018 UPDATE

The leaders of the PSD-ALDE ruling coalition in Romania have announced the validation of the list of nominations for the new cabinet has been postponed for Friday/ Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu attended the Foreign Affairs Council meeting

Newsroom, 22.01.2018, 19:45

CABINET – The ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party-the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania (PSD- ALDE) convened in a session in Bucharest on Monday. The Social-Democrat leader, Liviu Dragnea, and the ALDE leader, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, said the validation of the list of nominations for the new cabinet led by Social Democrat Viorica Dăncilă has been postponed for Friday. There will be no major changes in the governing program and the number of cabinet ministers will not be changed, the two leaders have said. The previous PSD – ALDE Government had 27 ministers, three Deputy Prime Ministers and two delegate ministers, apart from the Prime Minister. Meanwhile the opposition is taking action, the Liberals saying they will start talks with the other political parties and MPs to persuade them to vote against the new Cabinet. The Liberals aim to win as many votes as possible to prevent the new cabinet from being sworn in. Parliaments vote is scheduled for January 29.

EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY– The national document on the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council will be approved by September, at the latest. The announcement was made in Bucharest on Monday by the minister delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu, fresh from a first meeting with his Finnish and Croatian counterparts, whose countries will hold the rotating presidency of the EU Council, after Romania. The three countries will prepare a common agenda with major topics that will be tackled in the Council over a period of 18 months. Romania will have its own six-month program, based on this agenda. The priority of Romanias mandate is preparing the European Parliament elections, scheduled for May 2019. Bucharest authorities want to adjust Romanias priorities depending on the evolution of key topics of EU interest, of which the most important are Brexit and the post-2020 multi-annual financial framework.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS COUNCIL – Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Meleşcanu, on Monday
participated in the Foreign Affairs Council meeting held in Brussels. According
to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the main issues on the agenda of talks were:
Libya and the Middle East Peace Process. Meleşcanu underlined the need for a
just and sustainable solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and
reiterated the appeal for unblocking the Peace Process and for the resumption of
a direct dialogue between the
sides. Also, the EU foreign ministers
attended a working lunch, having Israeli president Mahmoud Abbas as honorary
guest. The participants analysed ways
in which the EU and the member states can support, in a constructive way, the
re-launch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The EU’s support for strengthening
Palestinian institutions has been reiterated. On the sidelines of the Foreign
Affairs Council meeting, a working breakfast was organised together with the
President of the European Investment Bank, EIB, Werner Hoyer, who came up with
the proposal of setting up an EIB development branch. The Romanian foreign
minister has had bilateral meetings with the new foreign ministers of Austria
and Poland.

DEFENCE – Romanian defence minister, Mihai Fifor, on Tuesday will meet in Câmpulung Muscel (in the south) with military of the 30th Battalion “The Carpathian Eagles ahead of their new mission on the theatre of operations in Afghanistan. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Defence Ministry, between February and August 2018, the Romanian troops will carry out specific protection missions of the Kandahar Military Air Base force, as well as missions of training, counselling and assisting the Afghan National Forces. According to the same source, the troops from Câmpulung Muscel have proved that they can accomplish some of the most complex missions in the country and on theatres of operations, in Kosovo (in 2005 and 2007), and Afghanistan (in 2008). 627 Romanian military are currently taking action in Afghanistan.

TENNIS – Romanias tennis player Simona Halep, no. 1 WTA, on Monday qualified to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, where she is seeded first. In the round of 16 she ousted Naomi Osaka of Japan, 6-3, 6-2. In the quarter-finals, Halep, the only Romanian woman tennis player still playing in the Australian Open main table will play against Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, no. 6 WTA. Halep and Pliskova have met seven times so far, with the Romanian tennis player boasting five wins. In the womens doubles, tenth-seeded Irina Begu and Monica Niculescu are playing Jennifer Brady and Vania King of the United States in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. (Translated by D. Vijeu)