The Week in Review 20 – 26.10.2019

A roundup of the week's main stories

Corina Cristea, 26.10.2019, 14:00

Romania’s Prime Minister designate, Liberal
Ludovic Orban on Thursday submitted to Parliament proposals for the country’s
new Executive and the governing programme

Romania’s
Prime Minister designate, Liberal Ludovic Orban on Thursday submitted to
Parliament proposals for the country’s new Executive and the governing
programme. The future cabinet will have 16 ministries and a Deputy Prime
Minister. Ensuring the proper conditions for the good functioning of the
presidential election in November, nominating a European commissioner candidate
and the draft budget for the next year are among the urgent measures stipulated
in the governing programme. The investiture vote will be taking place after the
first round of talks with the Pro Romania party, led by Romania’s former Prime
Minister Victor Ponta, ended in a deadlock. The cabinet may not rely on support
from the People’s Movement Party either, as the PMP do not agree with the Prime
Minister’s decision to forge a single-color cabinet. On the other hand the USR
and ALDE have announced they have reached a political agreement with the
Liberals. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) says that
the cabinet stands good chances to get the investiture vote while the
representatives of the national minorities have announced their support for a
PNL government. We recall that the National Liberal Party rallied support from
the other political parties in opposition to bring down the PSD government led
by Viorica Dancila on October 10th.

Where do the Romanians abroad cast their
ballot in the upcoming presidential election?

Romania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry
has published a list and an interactive map of the 835 polling stations where
the Romanians living abroad can cast their ballot in the presidential election
of November 10th and 24th. The number is almost three
times higher compared to the previous presidential election of 2014. Most polls
will be opened in Spain, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, France, the United States,
the Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Austria,
Greece, Portugal and Switzerland. Overall, 639 polls will be opened in EU
Member States. Additionally, apart from polls created in theatres of operation
in Afghanistan, a poling station will be opened this year in Mali, created
especially for the Romanian military taking part in the UN peacekeeping missions
in this country. The voting process will be held over the course of three days
abroad, namely over November 8-10 for the first round and November 22-24 for
the runoff, between 12 – 9 PM local time on Friday, and between 7 AM and 9 PM
local time on Saturday and Sunday. All voters who are still in line either
inside or outside polling stations at 9 PM will be able to cast their votes by
midnight.

The European Commission maintains the
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism for Romania

The latest developments in the
reform of the judiciary and the process of fighting corruption in the first
months of 2019 were reasons for serious concern for the European Commission,
says the latest assessment report with the Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism released on Tuesday. According to the document, since the previous
report in November 2018, the Commission has continued to announce the
authorities in Bucharest about its concerns over the rule of law. The
key institutions of Romania would need to collectively demonstrate a strong
commitment to judicial independence and the fight against corruption as
indispensable cornerstones, and to ensure the capacity of national safeguards
and checks and balances, a press release from the Commission reads. In
Bucharest Romania’s Justice Minister Ana Birchall says that Romania is
ready to assume an active role in consolidating the European construction in
which justice plays a major role. The minister decided to immediately summon the
specialized national committee for a joint action plan.

The Romanian president and
his wife attended the enthronement ceremony of Japan’s emperor Naruhito

Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis and his wife Carmen on Tuesday attended emperor
Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony in Tokyo. Naruhito proclaimed his ascension to
the throne in the presence of 180 foreign dignitaries, including Prince Charles,
the heir to the British throne, King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Letizia. In
Tokyo, the Romanian president had talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
the Finnish president Sauli Niinisto, and with his
Latvian counterpart Egils Levits. Emperor Naruhito, who is the 126th
monarch of his dynasty, took over imperial duties in May this year after the
abdication of his father Akihito, now known as emperor emeritus.

Is the Schengen zone expanding?

The future Schengen accession of
Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania would make the European Union better equipped for
protecting this border-free area, Dimitris Avramopulos, the EU Commissioner for
Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship said in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The
European Commission decided in Strasbourg on Tuesday that Croatia meets the
technical conditions for Schengen accession. Avramopulos recalled that at
present 400 million EU citizens can travel without restrictions in 22 EU
countries and in four associated non-EU countries. The EU official has
underlined that the Schengen zone is the largest border-free area in the world.
Initially scheduled for March 2011, Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to this
zone has been repeatedly postponed due to opposition from some member states which
invoked the lack of reforms in the country’s justice system.

A decision to
appoint Laura Codruta Kovesi, Romania’s former anti-corruption chief prosecutor
as head of the future European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) was signed at
the European Parliament

A decision to appoint Laura Codruta Kovesi, Romania’s former
anti-corruption chief prosecutor as head of the future European Public
Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) was signed by European Parliament President David
Sassoli and by the Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen on
Wednesday. The idea for setting up the aforementioned institution has been
launched and promoted by another Romanian, former minister and MEP, Monica
Macovei. The EPPO is expected to become operational at the end 2020 as an
independent institution in charge of investigating and prosecuting crimes
against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or cross-border fraud with
over 10 million Euros in VAT.