October 12, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 12.10.2017, 21:13

GOV’T RESHUFFLE– The National Executive Committee of the Social
Democratic Party, the main party in the coalition in power in Romania, has convened to discuss the government reshuffle requested by PM Mihai Tudose. During
the same meeting, the relations between the government and the party are to be
clarified. Over the past few days the PM has discussed the reshuffle both
with President Klaus Iohannis, and with the Social Democratic leader, Liviu
Dragnea. The names the most frequently mentioned in the media in relation to
the reshuffle are Sevil Shhaideh, deputy PM and Minister for Regional
Development, and Rovana Plumb, minister delegate for European funds, both of
them members of the Social Democratic Party and prosecuted for corruption
offences. The minister in charge with liaising with Parliament, Viorel Ilie, a
member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, the junior partner
in the ruling coalition, is also in a similar situation. Other ministers with
image problems may also be replaced.

PACE – On Thursday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe adopted a resolution which reads that Ukraine was wrong in
passing the new Education Law and will therefore have to implement the
recommendations that are to be formulated by the Venice Commission. The
statement was made by Korodi Attila, member of the Romanian Delegation to the
European body. He has also stated that Ukraine must observe the European
standards, in particular the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities. The reason for the debate held at the Parliamentary Assembly,
proposed by the Romanian delegation with support from another five national
delegations, was the new Education Law adopted in Ukraine, which drastically
restricts access to mother tongue education for ethnic minorities. On
Wednesday, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroskeno had promised that the Kiev
authorities would introduce all the recommendations made by the Venice Commission
into the law and would observe the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages. Nearly half a million ethnic Romanians live in the neighbouring
country, mainly in the Romanian territories annexed by the USSR in 1940,
further to an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state in
1991.

BREXIT – The European Council is the only place where
Romania will present its stand on Brexit, said on Thursday the Minister
Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu. According to him, no Romanian
official has presented a formal stand regarding the Brexit negotiations.
Minister Negrescu also stated that the main goal of the Bucharest authorities
with regard to these negotiations was to ensure the rights of the over 300,000
Romanians living in the United Kingdom. The clarification was made against the
background of the British daily The Times saying that Romania, France
and Germany have called for the blocking of new negotiations chapters, until an
agreement is reached on the rights of
foreign citizens in Great Britain.

AUTOMOTIVE – President
Klaus Iohannis and PM Mihai Tudose took part on Thursday in the launch of the
new Ford Ecosport model, at the Ford plant in Craiova, southern Romania. The
head of state said that, by attending the event, he wanted to convey a strong
message of support for the automotive industry in Romania, which is growing
increasingly competitive and has a better and better image in the European
market. Since it took over the plant in 2008, Ford has invested over one billion
euros in the production unit in Romania. More than 2,800 people are employed by
Ford Craiova. The biggest carmaker in Romania is Automobile Dacia, based in
Pitesti, in the south, taken over by the French group Renault in 1999. Over
13,500 people are working for this company, which has a turnover of over 4.3
billion euros.

SPAIN – Spain
celebrated its National Day on Thursday, amid tensions between the separatist
authorities of Catalonia and the central government in Madrid. PM Mariano Rajoy
gave the regional Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont until Monday to give up
plans to declare the region’s independence, otherwise Catalonia would see its
local autonomy suspended. Rajoy accused the Catalan government of having
generated one of the most difficult times in Spain’s democracy and of having
staged a very dangerous attack against the Constitution, the unity of Spain,
the Catalan state and, most importantly, against Spain’s people living
together.

MOLDOVA – The European
Union announced it would not grant the Republic of Moldova the remaining 28
million euros under the reform programme, intended for changes in the field of
the judiciary. The Union believes the Government in Chisinau has failed to meet
the conditions requested by Brussels. The EU delegation in Moldova mentions in
a news release that the authorities in Moldova have shown poor commitment for
reform, have not allotted enough funding and staff and, as a result, progress
in terms of judicial reforms has been insufficient. Last week, PM Pavel Filip
announced Moldova would no longer receive this year’s instalment of the 100
million euro aid programme provided by the EU. He admitted that the measure had
been prompted by Chisinau’s decision to change the election system for the
forthcoming parliamentary elections, in such a manner as to favour the major
parties.