June 26, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 26.06.2018, 19:35

NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE – The no-confidence motion initiated by the National Liberal Party and backed by Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party against the Dăncilă Cabinet was read out on Monday in Parliament, and is to be discussed and voted on Wednesday. The Government is criticized, among other things, for the changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, for reducing the powers of the countrys president and for negative economic performances.

EUROPEAN COUNCIL MEETING – President Klaus Iohannis will attend with European Council meeting on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, where he will express Romanias support for NATO and EU initiatives aimed at boosting military mobility, the presidency reports. Iohannis will also argue in favor of maintaining an attractive climate for investment in the EU. High on the Councils agenda are topics such as migration, Brexit, the future community budget and the EUs external relations.

FLAG DAY – Bucharest and other cities in Romania on Tuesday hosted military and religious ceremonies as well as air shows, to mark National Flag Day. Taking part in the events in the capital city were the Defence Minister Mihai Fifor, troops, war veterans, and retired officers. National Flag Day was proclaimed by law in 1998 and is celebrated every year on June 26. The date was chosen to mark the day in 1848 when the blue, yellow and red colors were chosen as the symbol of the Romanian nation.

ACCUSATIONS – Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Tuesday said the ministry he represents received no official notification from Moscow authorities referring to the Romanian citizen accused of espionage. Melescanu said the ministry tried to get clarifications from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest. According to TASS news agency, Carina Turcan, who holds both Russian and Romanian citizenship, was arrested on June 14 and risks a 20-year prison sentence. Turcan sits on the board of a Russian energy company.

RESIGNATION – The head of the Romanian Police Catalin Ionita resigned for personal reasons on Tuesday. Ionita was appointed for a six-month term in January 2018 following an internal dispute at the Interior Ministry between Minister Carmen Dan and former Prime Minister Mihai Tudose. The new police chief will be Ioan Buda from the Border Police, a State Secretary and head of the Public Order and Safety Department in the 2015-2016 period.

SENTENCE – The former head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), Alina Bica, was sentenced by the High Court of Cassation and Justice on Tuesday to four years in prison. Bica was found guilty of aggravated abuse of office after in 2014, while head-prosecutor at DIICOT, admitted a plea to lift a lien on shares owned by Adriean Videanu, a former Economy Minister, who was acquitted in the same case. Also on Tuesday Bica was acquitted in another case where she was accused of abuse of office. Alina Bica is currently in Costa Rica, where she was granted political refugee status in January.

BYKES – Around 250 bikers set out on Tuesday from the capital city Bucharest, from Iaşi in the north-east, Timişoara in the west and Drobeta Turnu Severin in the south-west, to meet in Alba Iulia, in the center of the country, where the Great Union was proclaimed 100 years ago. The cycling tour is devoted to the celebration of 100 years since the formation of the Romanian nation state, on December 1, 1918. The around 500-km route will be completed in 5 days. For a short while the participants were joined by President Klaus Iohannis, who took the opportunity to plead for national unity.

(Translated by A.M. Popescu and V. Palcu)