October 28, 2019

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 28.10.2019, 14:22

CABINET The permanent offices of
the Chamber of Deputies and Senate in Bucharest on Monday decided with a landslide
majority that the ministers of the new cabinet be interviewed on Tuesday and
Wednesday and the investiture vote be cast on November 4th, sources
with the Romanian Parliament have announced. The country’s Prime Minister
designate proposes a 16-minister cabinet, a Deputy Prime Minister and a
Secretary General of the government. His ruling programme includes maintaining
the flat income tax as well as amendments to the country’s economic and justice
laws. The USR and ALDE have announced a political agreement with the National
Liberal Party PNL and their support for the government. A yes vote is also
expected from the national minorities. The Democratic Union of Ethnic
Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) is to decide its position over the new cabinet today,
while PMP has also announced its support for the cabinet under certain
conditions. Only the Social Democrats (PSD) and Pro Romania have voiced opposition
against the new government, which needs 233 votes to get validated.

BREXIT Ambassadors of the 27 EU
member countries have accepted the UK’s request to extend the Brexit deadline
to the end of January. The decision comes against the political uncertainties
in Britain. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected today to call on Parliament
to grant early election in mid December. The opposition has announced its
readiness to accept early election only if the EU agreed with a Brexit
extension. Without a majority in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Johnson
hopes to turn the table by organizing early election but according to news
agencies this objective isn’t easy to achieve with a divided Parliament
unwilling to make a compromise. Under the present legislation, early election
needs to be endorsed by two thirds of the MPs but the Labour Party is conditioning
its support on a longer Brexit extension and rules out the idea of leaving the
bloc with no agreement.

FLAG Romania’s flag will be
flying on the country’s highest peak, Moldoveanu, in the Fagaras Mountains in
the following days. A team of the Romanian Interior and Defence ministries will
be taking the flag to the summit in a bid to mark the end of the festivities
devoted to the Romanian Army Day on October 25th and to its Mountain
Corps. The team to fly the flag on Moldoveanu at an altitude of 2544 meters is
made up of over 30 servicemen and policemen.

TENNIS Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is today
making her debut in the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China. Halep will be playing
the Romanian-born Canadian Bianca Andreescu. In the competition’s first day on
Sunday, the world’s leader Australian Ashleigh Barty clinched a win against
Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. The world’s 8 best tennis players are
vying for this prestigious title in Shenzhen. Simona’s group also includes the
Czech challenger Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.

DRILL Until November 8th, Cincu in central Romania will be
hosting a multinational exercise called Scorpions Legacy 2019. The event brings
together 1400 Romanian and foreign servicemen and 220 pieces of military
equipment. The objective is the training of the Multinational Brigade Southeast
as well as its units in Bulgaria, Italy and Portugal, through computer-assisted
drills and tactical exercises. The Command Center of the Multinational Brigade
Southeast assures an increased capability of commanding troops deployed in the
NATO’s southeastern borders with major contribution to the Alliance’s
collective defence.

(translated by bill)