June 28, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 28.06.2018, 19:55

APPEAL 12 Western embassies in Bucharest on
Thursday made an appeal to all the parties involved in amending the country’s Penal
and Penal Procedure Codes urging them to avoid changes that might weaken the
rule of law as well as Romania’s ability to fight crime and corruption. The position
has been expressed in a common statement by the embassies of the United States,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The embassies are concerned that some of
these amendments might affect international cooperation in the field of law
enforcement and can negatively impact the fight against violent crimes, transnational
organized crime, financial crimes, drug and human trafficking. The Romanian
Foreign Ministry has announced it took note of the position expressed by the 12
partner countries. According to the Ministry, the
process of amending the legislation in the criminal field is an attribute of
Parliament, granted through the Constitution and that strengthening the rule of
law and the fight against corruption are part of the priorities assumed by the
government.

TENNIS Romania will have 8 players on
the main draw of the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon. This is the largest
number of players Romania has so far sent to a Grand Slam competition. Alexandra
Dulgheru and Elena-Gabriela Ruse were the last to qualify after wins on
Thursday against Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia and Barbara Haas of Austria. The
other players that will represent Romania in Wimbledon are the world’s number
one Simona Halep, who is also winner of the latest Roland Garros tournament,
Mihaela Buzarnescu (WTA 28th), Irina Begu (WTA 33rd),
Sorana Carstea (WTA 47th) Monica Niculescu (WTA 59th) and
Ana Bogdan (WTA 63rd).

INVESTMENT The
Romanian government on Thursday passed a bill on granting state aid to the
Romanian companies willing to make large-scale investment particularly in
underdeveloped areas. The minimum value of the investment must be three million
euros and the annual budget allotted for this programme stays around 145
million euros. According to Finance Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, the programme
is a sequel of a state-aid project successfully run between 2014-2017.

TALKS The
president of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu held talks in
Brussels on Thursday with Frans Timmermans, the First Vice-president of the
European Commission. High on the talks agenda were the ways in which Bucharest observes
the rights and liberties of all its citizens as well as the institutional
relations characteristic to the rule of law. The two officials also tackled the
stage of the European Commission’s monitoring of the Romanian legal system
through the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. Brussels is carefully
monitoring the amendments to the justice laws brought by the ruling coalition
in Bucharest.

(translated by bill)