November 19-23

A roundup of the week's main stories

Daniela Budu, 24.11.2018, 11:38

The government reshuffle is postponed

The new ministers for labour, defence, economy,
culture, communications and youth and sport were sworn in on Tuesday before
president Klaus Iohannis, who issued the reshuffle decree taking into account
the proposals of the Social Democratic Party, the main force in the ruling
coalition. Iohannis postponed however making a decision on the changes proposed
by the Social Democrats for the posts of transport and development ministers.
The president said the changes earlier this week won’t be followed by others,
at least not until after National Day on 1st December. He said he
was not pleased with the fact that in two years since it came to power, the
ruling coalition has replaced about 70 ministers, which in his opinion is too
much. Klaus Iohannis:

There won’t be another change of
ministers this week, and this new proposed reshuffle, coming after another
reshuffle, won’t be analysed until after the celebrations dedicated to the
Centenary and the National Day, at the earliest.

President Klaus Iohannis has also rejected the
proposal of the justice minister Tudorel Toader to appoint Adina Florea as
chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate. Florea has also
earlier received a negative opinion from the Superior Council of Magistracy.
The Council’s opinion is advisory. The post of chief prosecutor of the National
Anticorruption Directorate has been vacant since July, when the president dismissed
its former occupant, Laura Codruta Kovesi, in keeping with a Constitutional
Court ruling.

European
Parliament officials paid visit to Bucharest

We want Romania’s first-time presidency of the
EU Council to be a success not only for Romania but for the whole Union, said
in Bucharest the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani. At the
meeting of the EP Conference of Presidents with the Romanian government, held
in the run-up to Romania’s taking over the rotating presidency of the EU
Council on January 1, 2019, the European official stated that Romania’s Schengen
accession should be accelerated. Brexit, the post 2020 multiannual budget,
preparations for the future summit to be held in Sibiu (central Romania) that
will set the guidelines for the Union’s future, the elections for the European
Parliament are some of the issues Romania will have to deal with as president
of the EU Council. The Romanian authorities presented the four big themes of
its six-month mandate: a cohesive Europe, a Europe with a bigger global role, a
safe Europe and a Europe of values. They have given assurances that Romania is
ready to take over the EU Council presidency, have reiterated their openness to
dialogue and cooperation with the European institutions and have pointed out
that Romania wants to contribute to promoting the common European agenda in a
constructive spirit based on consensus.

Joint
government meeting

The governments of Romania and the Republic of
Moldova Thursday held a joint meeting in Bucharest, attended by the Moldovan PM
and ministers in charge of mutual interest sectors. The parties signed several
cooperation agreements in the field of tourism, environment and telecoms, and
discussed means to encourage Romanian investments in the Republic of Moldova.
The Romanian PM Viorica Dancila discussed ministry-level cooperation and said
the Romanian ministers’ participation in events or talks in Chisinau would
bring the 2 countries a lot closer together. Dăncilă reiterated that European
accession was the only solution for the Republic of Moldova and for the
prosperity of its citizens. In turn, the Moldovan PM Pavel Filip believes
statements regarding the Union of Moldova and Romania are a new trend in Chisinau,
and cautioned that the topic must be approached in a pragmatic manner. Pavel
Filip pleaded instead for a common energy, transport, defence and security, and
cultural space. The Moldovan official also announced that on December 1,
Romania’s National Day, Moldovan citizens will not be charged for mobile
roaming calls to Romania, and thanked Bucharest for the plans to sign an
agreement reducing mobile roaming fees.

RadiRo
in Bucharest

RadiRo, the only festival of radio orchestras in
the world is running in Bucharest until Sunday. Eight symphonic concerts, and
as a premiere for the RadiRo Festival, four jazz concerts, have been given this
week. The guests of the fourth edition of the festival have been outstanding
international orchestras and prominent conductors and soloists. The oldest European radio orchestra, MDR
Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra (Germany) has returned onto the stage of the
festival this year, and three other famous orchestras are performing at the
Radio Concerts Hall for the first time: the BBC Philharmonic (Great Britain), L’Orchestra de la Svizzera Italiana
(Lugano, Switzerland) and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland). All
concerts given during the festival have been broadcast live by Radio Romania, recorded
and later broadcast by the Romanian
Television Company as well as by other radio broadcasters that are EBU members.