July 8, 2018

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Newsroom, 08.07.2018, 14:51

MEETING — Romania’s Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Tuesday is to meet EU officials, including the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and vice-president Frans Timmermans, the European Commission reports. On Friday, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced he would meet EU Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourova in Austria. The European Commission previously announced it was closely monitoring the developments in Romania regarding the justice system and would not hesitate to take action to ensure the modifications brought to the Criminal Code observe the legislation in the field. Backed by the ruling coalition, the modifications sparked criticism from President Iohannis, the right-wing opposition and civil society, who claim that the new provisions favor criminality and are aimed at benefiting certain people, including Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea.

IMPEACHMENT — The left-wing opposition in Romania made up of the Social-Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats on Monday will decide whether they will move to impeach President Klaus Iohannis. Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea, who is also the Chamber of Deputies speaker, accused the president of violating the Constitution, excessively delaying a decision to dismiss the head of the National Anticorruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi. On May 30, the Constitutional Court ruled the president must sack Kovesi, noticing a constitutional conflict between the head of state and the Government. Justice Minister Tudorel Toader had previously notified the Court after the President dismissed his request to remove Kovesi from office as ungrounded. The Court’s ruling has sparked fierce reactions from the opposition and magistrates, as well as anti-government protests.

COMMEMORATION — The Romanian Defense Ministry on Monday is hosting events in the country and in theatres of operations abroad to commemorate Lieutenant-Commander Florin Rotaru, who on Saturday lost his life after crashing his MIG-21 Lancer into a field in Fetesti, southern Romania. Rotaru was taking part in an air show. Aged 36, the pilot was head of a fighter squadron. Military prosecutors have already launched an investigation. By order of Defense Minister Mihai Fifor, a technical expertise committee has been set up to investigate the circumstances of the air tragedy. Pending the inquiry, all training flights operated by this type of aircraft have been suspended.

EXTREME WEATHER — The National Weather Administration has issued a code orange alert against heavy rain for 18 counties in the south and southwest, in place until Tuesday evening, as well as a code yellow alert for the entire country, including the capital-city Bucharest. During the interval large quantities of rainfall are expected in local areas. Hydrologists have also issued a code yellow warning against floods, in place until Monday, for the rivers in 13 counties. Temperatures are also expected to drop sharply during the interval. The National Emergency Intervention Inspectorate has announced over 20,000 firefighters with over 7,000 technical equipment are ready to intervene in calamity-stricken areas. The heavy rainfall last week caused devastating floods killing five people, destroying hundreds of homes and flooding numerous national or county roads, also affecting large areas of farmland.

2018 WORLD CUP — France will play Belgium on Tuesday in St. Petersburg while England will take on Croatia on Wednesday in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. On Saturday, England grabbed a 2-nil win over Sweden in the quarterfinals, while the host country Russia was ousted by Croatia at the penalty shootout.

OLYMPIAD — Some 1,500 high school students from over a hundred countries on five continents are taking part in the International Mathematics Olympiad in Cluj-Napoca. The event lasts a week and is the oldest and most prestigious event of its kind. The first edition was held in 1959 in Romania. Romania and Bulgaria are the only countries that have taken part in every edition of the Olympiad. Attending the opening ceremony was President Klaus Iohannis, who expressed hope Romania would become an attraction for research in the field of mathematics.

NEVERSEA — The Neversea music festival continues in Constanta, with an expected turnover of 200,000 guests. It is one of the biggest beach festivals in Europe, bringing together top-notch artists, including Armin Van Buureen, Scooter, Steve Angello, Nina Kraviz, The Script and John Newman. Local authorities say some 2,000 gendarmes and firefighters have been mobilized throughout the festival

WIMBLEDON — The tennis pair made up of Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu and Marcin Matkowski of Poland qualified to the round of 16 of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, after defeating Divij Sharan of India and Alicja Rosolska of Poland, 6-3, 7-5. The two will next play Henri Kontinen of Finland and Heather Watson of Great Britain. Buzarnescu has also advanced to the women’s doubles’ round of 16, alongside another Romanian, Irina Begu. She was unfortunately knocked out from the singles’ main draw, the same as world number 1 Simona Halep.

(Translated by V. Palcu)