September 6, 2018 UPDATE
Click here for a round-up of news from Romania
Newsroom, 06.09.2018, 19:30
MADRID — Romanian PM Viorica Dancila and her Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, signed in Madrid on Thursday bilateral cooperation agreements in the field of defense and public administration, respectively. The two ministers hailed the excellent level of cooperation in the economic field as well as at the level of bilateral trade exchanges, which stand at some 4 bn Euros. The Romanian Pm is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu, Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu, Defense Minister Mihai Fifor, Business Minister Stefan Oprea and Minister for European Funds Rovana Plumb. Romania and Spain have a Strategic Partnership, which they signed five years ago. Spain is also hosting a large Romanian community, standing at 870,000 people, according to estimates made at the start of the year. Actually, Romanians are making up the largest foreign community in Spain.
JUSTICE — Romanian Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader on Thursday nominated Adina Florea to become the next head of the Anti-corruption Directorate. She is a prosecutor with the Constanta Tribunal. The nomination will be forwarded to the prosecutor section of the Supreme Council of Magistracy, which has to endorse the appointment, then sent for endorsement to President Klaus Iohannis. The position became vacant in May, when the president was compelled by the Constitutional Court to dismiss former head prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, as requested by Justice Minister Toader.
BUDGET REVISION — Romania’s Ombudsman, Victor Ciorbea, has announced he will analyze the request made by President Klaus Iohannis related to an unconstitutionality exception regarding an emergency ordinance on budget revision, after it was published in the Official Gazette . The president made the request after on Wednesday, the leftist government in Bucharest approved by an emergency ordinance a budget revision, without getting the approval of Romania’s Supreme Defense Council. In another move, president Iohannis said PM Viorica Dăncilă ignored the invitation to dialogue on the issue of the budget revision, which represents, in the president’s opinion, a dangerous precedent with respect to the institutional relations. Instead of talks between the president and the prime minister, a meeting was held between finance and justice ministers, Eugen Teodorovici and Tudorel Toader, respectively and two presidential advisers. The government motivated the prime minister’s absence by saying she was on a visit to Spain.
ECONOMY — Romanian finance minister Eugen Teodorovici, said he will have talks with the IMF representative to Bucharest, Alejandro Hajdenberg. The latter announced on Thursday that the financial institution might downgrade the outlook for Romania. The minister said such declarations should be well grounded especially when they are made public. Hajdenberg told a press conference that the IMF is considering downgrading Romania’s economic growth outlook for this year from 5.1% , down to 4-4.5%, against the backdrop of a decreasing economic activity.
PIPELINE-Romanian economy minister, Dănuţ Andruşcă, and his Moldovan counterpart, Chiril Gaburici, on Thursday signed a document allowing for the extension of the gas pipeline which connects Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The document is actually the certificate attesting that the sale-purchasing procedure of a Moldovan company was finalized. It ahs been taken over by a gas conveyor from Romania, as part of an operation which allows fro the extension of the gas pipe line linking Iasi in eastern Romania to Ungheni , near Chishinau, in Moldova. According to the Romanian economy minister, Romania is thus further complying with the commitments it has made in the relation with the Republic of Moldova, which is securing its access to the European natural gas market. In turn, the Moldovan official said that by this project, the Republic of Moldova is reducing its dependency on Russian gas.
EU — The government will publish in November the calendar of events related to the Romanian presidency of the EU Council. The announcement was made by Minister for European Affairs Victor Negrescu, specifying that Romania is prepared to manage in terms of organization and logistics events during its term, occurring in the first half of next year. The estimated budget that Romania manages during its term is estimated at 60 to 80 billion Euro, said Daniel Gosa, general manager of the unit for preparing the presidency. According to him, a review was made for local resources in terms of allocating accommodation for meetings and lodging, as well as transportation for the events to be held next year in Bucharest and Sibiu.
KIEV — The Ukrainian parliament has ratified the agreement between Ukraine and Romania on cooperation in the field of military transports. The respective agreement was signed on April 21, 2016 by the defence ministers of the two countries, during the visit to Bucharest by Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko. Romania ratified the agreement in December 2017.
