PRESIDENCY – Romania’s big objectives in 2019 are EU integration,
consolidating NATO membership and strengthening NATO’s presence on its eastern
flank, consolidating the rule of law and carrying on the fight against
corruption, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis said. The President said he
won’t accept the nominations of Lia Olguta Vasilescu for the position of
Development Minister and Mihai Draghici for the position of Transport Minister
saying they are both untimely and unlawful, adding he will present his
motivation next week. We recall in late November last year Klaus Iohannis
accepted six nominations as part of a reshuffle of the Dancila Cabinet for the
portfolios of Defense, Labor, Economy, Culture, Communications and Youth and
Sports, refusing the nominations for Transport and Regional Development. On
Thursday Iohannis signed the decrees acknowledging the vacation of the two
positions.
ROMANIA-MOLDOVA – Romania’s Presidency of the EU Council creates a
unique opportunity to boost Moldova’s relations with the European Union,
Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Iurie Leanca, has
said. He expressed hope that EU-Moldova dialogue would intensify, offering his
country a clear accession perspective. Iurie Leanca went on to say that he is
relying on support for the reform process and boosting the implementation of
projects aimed at interconnecting the energy and infrastructure grids of
Moldova and Romania.
TOURISM – Some 12 million tourists visited Romania in the first 11
months of 2018, up by 6.4% as compared to the same period of 2017, the National
Statistics Institute reports. Of the total number of arrivals, Romanian
tourists accounted for 78% of bookings in accommodation units, while foreign
tourist booking stood at 22%. As regards the number of foreign tourist
arrivals, Europe was the most visited continent, with 74.6% of bookings, while 85.7%
of these tourists visited EU Member States. Most tourists who booked a holiday
last year came from Germany, Israel, Italy, France and the United States. The
counties with the largest number of tourist arrivals last year in Romania were
Constanta, Brasov, Cluj and the capital city Bucharest.
LAW ENFORCEMENT – The total number of law
enforcement officers in 2016 stood at 1.6 million at EU level, accounting for
318 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants, a Eurostat report shows. There are
major differences however between member states, considering Hungary had 90
police officers per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015, followed by Finland with 137.
Romania had 242 police officers per 100,000 inhabitants. At the opposite pole
are Cyprus with 573, Malta with 505 and Greece with 492.
BORDERS – Some 188 thousand people, both Romanian and foreign
nationals, have crossed the country’s borders in the last 24 hours, most of
them leaving the country, the Romanian Border Police has announced. By
accessing the online app available at www.politiadefrontiera.ro/traficonline, people can see the
real-time waiting times and traffic for every border crossing point. The Border
Police has also signaled 27 irregularities and denied access to 13 foreign
nationals who failed to fulfill legal requirements for entry into the country.
Additionally the Police has prevented 15 Romanian citizens to leave the country
for various offences.
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea was
knocked out on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Shenzhen tournament in China,
totalling 750,000 dollars in prize money. She lost 7-5, 6-1 to Alison Riske of
the US. This was the third consecutive defeat for Cirstea (84 WTA) in direct
encoutners with Riske (62 WTA). Also on Friday, another Romanian, Monica
Niculescu (99 WTA), was ousted by Yafan Wang of China (70 WTA), 6-2, 6-7, 1-6.
(Translated by V. Palcu)