July 24, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 24.07.2019, 20:09

APPOINTMENTS – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday signed the appointment of Nicolae Moga as interior minister and of Ramona Manescu as foreign minister, the presidents office has announced. Moga was a senator of Constanta and held the position of vice-president of the Senate in the Permanent Bureau. Manescu joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in the ruling coalition, in 2017. Earlier, she held the position of transport minister. An MEP since 2007, she was also a coordinator in the Regional Development Committee and a substitute member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. Also on Wednesday, the president took note of the resignation of Carmen Dan as interior minister and signed the decree for the revocation of Teodor Melescanu as foreign minister. In another decree, Mihai Fifor was appointed deputy prime minister in charge of implementing Romanias strategic partnerships. The new ministers were sworn in on Wednesday.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – Calin Popescu Tariceanu, the president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the junior partner in the ruling coalition in Romania, has been designated party candidate for the presidential elections due this autumn. Party representatives had tried to convince their partner, the Social Democratic Party, to support Tariceanu for the presidential office, but on Tuesday the Social Democrats voted their own candidate, the current Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila. Tariceanu has stated the Social Democrats decision was not a surprise, but, he said, “its a disappointment, because this decision will cause some problems within the coalition.”

UN MALI – Bucharest will support the United Nations in assisting the Government of Mali to continue the implementation of the peace agreement, with a detachment of four helicopters. The detachment has been evaluated by a commission of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. According to the Romanian Chief of Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca, the mission starts mid-October and it will last one year. The four helicopters will carry out medical evacuation missions, search and rescue, troops and material transport, passenger transport missions, patrols and observation missions. There will also be 120 soldiers, senior staff, pilots, technical and maintenance teams.

BORDER POLICE – In its Wednesday session, the Romanian Government discussed a bill on the functioning of border police. The bill brings some improvements with regard to the way in which border police collaborates with the similar structures in the EU member countries, with the aim of rendering the Unions external borders more secure. The agenda also included talks on the bills for the start of expropriation procedures for the rehabilitation of the Brasov-Simeria railway, a component of the Rin-Danube Corridor.

UK PM – On Wednesday, the former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson became the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Queen Elisabeth asked him to form a new government, against the background of the deepest political crisis of the last decades, caused by Brexit. Johnson met with the Queen after his predecessor, Theresa May, handed over her resignation. Johnson promised that the country would leave the EU by the end of October. The former Mayor of London defeated the current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the race for leader of the Conservative Party and has become the 14th Prime Minister during the reign of Queen Elisabeth II.

DIASPORA – Some 9.7 million Romanians have left Romania to live abroad, with 5.6 million living in the Diaspora and the rest in historical communities, according to data communicated by 70 diplomatic missions and centralized by the line ministry. The Minister for Romanians Abroad, Natalia Intotero, presented on Wednesday the ministrys activity report on the first half of 2019, as well as the first results of the questionnaires filled by Romanian individuals and NGOs abroad. 322 people and NGOs have filled in the questionnaires. The participants in consultations have stated that they would like to see more unity in the Romanian communities abroad, more possibilities of learning the Romanian language and a better relationship with the Romanian authorities. According to minister Intotero, the reasons why Romanians choose to emigrate are corruption, the poor quality of the political class and poverty. Romanians say they would come back provided the quality of infrastructure, health-care and education improves.

MOLDOVA – The European Commission has resumed its financial assistance to the Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet country with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, worth a total of 14 million Euros. The payments were previously suspended for two years following the deterioration of the rule of law situation in Moldova. According to Radio Romanias correspondent in Brussels, the European Union believes that thanks to the decisions taken recently, the republics new pro-European government led by Maia Sandu is meeting the requirements for the resumption of financial assistance.

MCM DIVE – The 10th Eurasian Partnership MCM Dive multinational exercise is under way in Constanta and other maritime areas along the Romanian Black Sea coast. Until Thursday, tens of military divers from Romania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia and the US are taking part in explosive device search and identification drills, conducting open, semi-closed and surface-supplied diving missions and target searches using underwater drones. This is the only annual multinational exercise organized in the west part of the Black Sea and designed to improve the training of military divers from NATO members and the signatories of the Partnership for Peace.

SPORTS – The Romanian swimmer David Popovici and the judoka Giorgia-Barbara Hagianu on Wednesday won gold and silver at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Baku. So far, Romania has won five medals in Baku, three gold and two silver. Romania is represented by 103 athletes at the 15th Summer European Youth Olympics Festival, with ten sports in the programme: artistic gymnastics, athletics, basketball, cycling, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, wrestling and volleyball.