22 November 2018, UPDATE

President criticises frequent changes of government ministers./Romanian and Moldovan governments hold joint meeting in Bucharest.

Newsroom, 22.11.2018, 19:43

Reshuffle. President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday that the cabinet changes at
the beginning of the week will not be followed by others in the coming period. He
voiced his dissatisfaction with the fact that around 70 ministers have been replaced
by the ruling coalition since it came to power two years ago, which, in his
opinion, is too much. He said he will discuss the next reshuffle after the
celebration of Romania’s national day on the 1st of December. We
recall that earlier this week, the president approved six proposals for
defence, labour, economy, culture, communications and youth and sport and
rejected two, for transport and regional development, Lia Olguta Vasilescu and
Ilan Laufer, respectively. The executive committee of the Social Democratic
Party made a new proposal for the transport ministry, namely Mircea Draghici, and
nominated Lia Olguta Vasilescu for the ministry of regional development. Lucian
Sova on Thursday resigned as transport minister to vacate the post.

Romania-Rep. Moldova. A declaration of intent regarding the elimination of
roaming fees and a number of bilateral agreements in areas such as tourism,
defence, healthcare, communications and culture were signed on Thursday in
Bucharest by Romanian and Moldovan ministers and officials at the end of a
joint meeting of the Romanian and Moldovan governments in the presence of the
two countries’ prime ministers, Viorica Dancila and Pavel Filip, respectively.
The two also met ahead of the joint government meeting to discuss, among
others, the stage and future of bilateral relations. The meeting was held in
the run up to Romania’s taking over the EU Council presidency in the first half
of next year. The Romanian government considers this to be a good opportunity
to encourage Moldova to continue to make efforts to implement the reforms it
has committed to under its Association Agreement with the EU. This is the
second joint meeting of the Romanian and Moldovan governments this year after
that in February held in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. The Moldovan prime
minister also had talks with president Klaus Iohannis and the speakers of the
Senate and the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest.

Visit. The European Commissioner for Migration, Home
Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos paid a visit to Bucharest on
Thursday where he met prime minister Viorica Dancila. The two officials
exchanged useful views related to the dialogue between the Romanian government
and the European Commission ahead of Romania’s EU presidency on the subjects
dominating the European agenda during Romania’s term. They reviewed the main
European issues pertaining to Mr. Avramopoulos’s portfolio, with emphasis on
the management of migration at EU level and consolidating the
EU’s internal security and borders. Dimitris Avramopoulos also had talks with the interior minister Carmen Dan. He said
he supports Romania’s accession to the free-movement Schengen area. The agenda
of the European Commissioner also included meetings with the Senate speaker Calin
Popescu Tariceanu and the minister delegate for European affairs George Ciamba.

Budget. The
Bucharest government may discuss on Friday its second budget adjustment this year.
The finance ministry has published the project on its website, mentioning a
target deficit of 2.97% of the GDP. The finance ministry, the labour ministry
and the healthcare ministry will receive the biggest amount of additional
funds. The justice, internal affairs and development ministries will also
receive more money, as will the health insurance fund, the state social
securities fund and the unemployment fund. The ministries of transport,
research and innovation, culture, education, communication and information
society, European funds, waters and forests, the environment and agriculture
will receive less money.

National day. Around 4,000 military and experts from the defence
ministry, the interior ministry, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the
National Prisons Administration, and over 200 pieces of equipment and 50
planes, as well as military from a number of allied and partner countries will
take part in a military parade on the 1st of December in Bucharest
on Romania’s national day. The approximately 500 foreign troops taking part
will come from Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany,
Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the Republic of
Moldova, Slovakia, the US, Turkey and Ukraine. The Romanian military in foreign
missions and theatres of operation will also be holding special military
ceremonies and activities to celebrate the national day.