October 24, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 24.10.2016, 12:15

ARMY DAY – Marked every year on October 25, the Romanian Army Day is being observed this year both at home and abroad. On Tuesday events will be held in all towns and villages hosting military units, in countries where defense attaches are accredited and in military bases and theatres of operations where Romanian military are deployed. Floral tributes will be paid at the cemeteries and monuments devoted to Romanian heroes in Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Russia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. A memorial service for the re-burial of the Romanian military killed in the battle of Stalingrad will be held at the Rossoshka Military Memorial in the Volgograd region.

PRESIDENCY – The Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş announced on Monday that the government almost finalized the master plan including the priority administrative and technical actions to be taken in the run up to Romanias taking over the presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019. Attending, in Bucharest, the conference “Start 2019: Romania at the presidency of the Council of the EU, Prime Minister Cioloş added that the Government started assessing the human resources in the public administration in order to identify well-trained people that will make up the elite body of the Romanian administration to deal with European issues. He underlined that during Romanias presidency several thousand working group meetings will have to be managed as well as various specialized experts committees within the Council of the EU. The prime minister also announced that a number of debates on this topic would be launched in the coming period.

CETA – Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his country couldnt reach a consensus for the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement between the European Union and Canada. The EU had given Belgium an ultimatum to take a domestic decision on this matter by Monday evening, after the Wallonia region expressed discontent with certain provisions in the document. Romania and Bulgaria had blocked the agreement for a while, demanding the lifting of Canadian visas for their citizens as a prerequisite to signing the agreement. The Canadian side reached an agreement with Bucharest authorities for the gradual lifting of visas as of next year. With Belgium vetoing the CETA agreement, President Iohannis said Romania would continue negotiations with Canada, irrespective of the fate of the agreement. Romania and Bulgaria are the only EU member states whose citizens still require a visa to travel to Canada presently.

RADIO AND TV LICENCE FEE – The budget and finance committee in the Chamber of Deputies gave its positive opinion on a draft law spearheaded by the Social-Democrats, allowing for the elimination of some non-fiscal fees. The Committee established, however, that the radio and tv licence fee, originally included in the draft law, would not be eliminated. Previously representatives of the political class, civil society and public media institutions said that eliminating the fee would seriously affect the autonomy and independence of the public radio and television. Already passed by the Senate, the law will be voted on Tuesday by the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this case.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (4 WTA) is leader in the Red Group at the WTA finals in Singapore. On Tuesday, Halep will take on Angelique Kerber of Germany in the eighth direct encounter with this player. In the other fixture in the Red Group, Madison Keys will play Domonika Cibulkova. The White Group includes Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, Svetlanta Kuznetsova of Russia, Karoline Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Garbine Muguruza of Spain. This is Haleps third participation in the WTA Finals, after in 2014 she played the final against Serena Williams of the US and last year was knocked out in the group phase.

(Translated by V. Palcu)