June 25, 2018 UPDATE

The no-confidence motion filed by the National Liberal Party against the government headed by Viorica Dancila was read out in a plenary session of Parliament/Romania has been represented at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting by Mircea Dusa

Corina Cristea, 25.06.2018, 19:50

PROTEST – Thousands of Romanians have again taken to the street, calling for the resignation of the Government led by Viorica Dancila. They are worried that the current executive, formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, might adopt, under an emergency decree, the changes brought to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which have been adopted recently. The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, has said the changes will not be adopted by an emergency decree, but he stated his wish that parliamentary procedures be stepped up. These changes are also the object of a no-confidence motion filed by the National Liberal Party. The document was read out in a plenary session of Parliament on Monday and will be voted upon on Wednesday. The right wing opposition blames the Government for having destroyed the economy and the justice system. Also on Monday, the Romanian MPs debated a simple motion filed by the Save Romania Union, which calls for the resignation of the Transport Minister Lucian Sova. He is accused of incompetence and of having blocked funding for the building of motorways in Romania.

CVM – The European Commission is currently conducting a fresh evaluation under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. For three days, a Commission delegation will analyse the impact of the changes brought to the justice laws and the criminal codes on the Romanian justice system. The Justice Minister Tudorel Toader has stated that a document was drawn up, highlighting the progress made by Romania.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – Romania was
represented on Monday at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, in
the common format of EU defense and foreign ministers, by the state secretary
for the defense policy, planning and international relations, Mircea Duşa. The meeting started with the signing of
the Declaration of Intention on the PESCO project devoted to cyber defense, and in
the first working session the participants assessed the progress made in the
effort to implement the EU Global Strategy in the field of security and defense. They have also approved the basic document on military requirements in
the field of military mobility. Mircea Duşa has
underlined the importance of the military mobility initiative in the current
strategic context, in which the response to any security threat resides in fast dispatching forces to the needed location at the right moment. The
second working session unfolded in the presence of NATO Secretary General,
Jens Stoltenberg, and focused on the stage and prospects of the EU-NATO
process of cooperation. On the sidelines of the meeting, the Romanian state
secretary has held talks with Frederick Richard Penn Curzon, 7th Earl Howe,
front bench member of the House of Lords with the British Parliament and Minister of State for Defense. The two
officials discussed concrete ways to strengthen the Strategic Partnership
between Romania and the UK, in the field of security and defense.

MIGRATION – The European mini-summit on migration ended on Sunday in Brussels without any concrete measures being adopted. The leaders of the 16 participant countries agreed over the need to curb illegal migration and protect the European frontiers, but there was no consensus as to how that would be achieved. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that, unless solutions were found at the level of the EU, bilateral agreements will be proposed, while the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte proposed the creation of international protection centers in the transit countries and sanctions against the EU countries that do not accept refuges. The Visegrad Group (made up of Hungary, Poland, the Check Republic and Slovakia) boycotted the meeting. New talks will be held at the European Council this week.

NUCLEAR PHOTONICS – Researchers from across the world are these days in Brasov, in central Romania, attending the International Nuclear Photonics Conference. Romania was chosen to host the second edition of this event, given that it is home to the most powerful laser in the world, which will be rendered operational next year. On Sunday, the participants discussed the applications of this technology, after they had visited the Magurele facility, near Bucharest. The first edition of the Conference was held in California in 2016.

BACCALAUREATE – The high-school graduation examinations – the Baccalaureate – have started in Romania on Monday. Some 137,000 students are participating, in 440 examination centers across the country. Monday was the day for Romanian language and literature examination. On Tuesday, students belonging to the national ethnic minorities will sit for the examination in their mother tongues, Wednesday is the compulsory specialty examination, and on Thursday students will be tested into a matter of their own choice. For the first time, the oral examinations were taken during the school year. The first results are to be posted on July 4th, and the final ones on July 9th.

NATIONAL DEFENSE – The meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense will be held on Wednesday, headed by the President Klaus Iohannis. The meetings agenda includes Romanias objectives for the NATO summit in Brussels next week and the Romanian Armed Forces that can be deployed for missions and operations abroad in 2019. A fresh NATO training mission in Iraq will be officially announced at the summit of the Alliance scheduled for July. Also, NATO wants to set up ground forces command units. Romania has already announced its intention to host such a command unit. Bucharests stand on the relation between the EU and NATO, a topic that will be approached at the summit, must also be established at the meeting of Romanias Supreme Council of National Defense.

TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep remains no.1 in the world, according to the WTA rankings published on Monday. To Halep, its the 34th week as world leader. Next on the podium there come Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Garbine Muguruza of Spain. The top 100 includes another five Romanian tennis players: Mihaela Buzarnescu (28), Irina Begu (33), Sorana Cirstea (47), Monica Niculescu (59) and Ana Bogdan (63).(Translated by M. Ignatescu and D. Vijeu)