Radio România Internațional

Tag: new ministers

  • August 26, 2019 UPDATE

    August 26, 2019 UPDATE

    POLITICS – The Alliance of Liberals and
    Democrats will withdraw from the governing coalition, its leader Calin
    Popescu-Tariceanu announced on Monday. The decision follows after the
    Social-Democratic Party, the Alliance’s ruling coalition partners, did not
    support their claim to reshuffle the government and present a new governing
    program, Tariceanu says. Tariceanu will also withdraw from the presidential
    race, while his party will support the candidacy of Mircea Diaconu, who has
    also rallied the support of the Pro Romania Party. Calin Popescu-Tariceanu will
    also resign from the position of Senate Speaker. In turn, Prime Minister and
    Social Democrat leader Viorica Dancila said her party will stay in power. The Prime Minister on Tuesday will make new nominations to replace the outgoing ministers from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.




    ELECTIONS – The
    Romanian Government’s decisions regarding the presidential election in November
    enter into force this week. The document includes information and regulations
    regarding the vote in Romania and abroad. The deadline for the submission of
    candidacies is September 22. The election campaign will start on October 12.
    The first round of elections will be held on November 10 and the second one on
    November 24.




    DIPLOMACY -
    Bucharest is hosting for four days the annual meeting of Romanian diplomacy,
    staged by the Romanian Foreign Ministry. Approached at the meeting will be the
    future of the EU and its global role, the trans-Atlantic ties, the ties with
    the eastern neighbors, European affairs, Romania’s political and economic ties
    with countries in the Asia-Pacific area, the Middle East, Africa and Latin
    America, humanitarian aid and the contribution to world peace and security.
    Attending the event are Foreign Minister Ramona Manescu, minister-delegate for
    European affairs George Ciamba and heads of Romania’s consular and diplomatic missions
    abroad. The special guests of this year’s meeting are the foreign ministers of
    Bulgaria and Moldova and the Croatian state secretary for European affairs. On
    Monday, the Foreign Ministry and the UN Development Program signed a
    cooperation memorandum.




    MILITARY – A new
    detachment of the Romanian Gendarmerie is leaving on Tuesday to Afghanistan for
    a six-month NATO mission. The 16 officers and agents will provide training,
    counseling and assistance to Afghan security forces and institutions. Attending
    the departure ceremony on Monday, Inspector General with the Romanian
    Gendarmerie Constantin Florea said the participation of Romanian gendarmes in
    missions in Afghanistan started in 2011, with notable results prompting
    international bodies to call on Romania to contribute special forces to
    training and counseling missions. So far Romanian gendarmes have helped train
    over 17,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers.




    MINISTERS – Prime
    Minister Viorica Dancila on Monday submitted the proposals for new ministers
    decided at Saturday’s National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic
    Party to President Klaus Iohannis. The party’s secretary general, Mihai Fifor
    will be heading the Interior Ministry, Ana Birchall will become Deputy Prime
    Minister for Strategic Partnerships while MP Iulian Iancu will be Deputy Prime
    Minister in charge of economic affairs. Dana Girbovan was nominated for the
    Justice Ministry, but the move has been harshly criticized by the opposition
    who emphasized the fact that Girbovan was a staunch supporter of the justice
    reforms that had been proposed by PSD and ALDE with the alleged intention to
    gain control over the magistrates and hinder the anti-graft fight.




    G7 – World
    leaders gathered in Biarritz for the last day of the G7 Summit on Monday. UN
    Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the international community to
    take action to protect the Amazon region, swept by wildfire. French president Emmanuel
    Macron said the industrialized states of G7 have agreed on a 20-million-dollar
    fund which states in the Amazon can use to combat wildfire. President Macron also
    said an international initiative for the Amazon at UN level will be launched,
    looking into ways to reforest the affected areas.




    VOLEYBALL – The
    Romanian national women’s volleyball team defeated Estonia 3-1 on Sunday in
    Budapest, Hungary, in Group C of the European Championship. This is the second
    consecutive win of the Romanians, after defeating the host country’s team on
    Saturday, 3-1. The Netherlands is first in the group, with 6 points in 2
    matches, followed by Romania, with 6 points in 3 matches, Croatia, Hungary,
    Azerbaijan and Estonia. On Tuesday Romania will take on Croatia and on Thursday
    it will play Azerbaijan.


    (Translated by V.
    Palcu)

  • August 25, 2019 UPDATE

    August 25, 2019 UPDATE

    MEETING – The Chamber of Deputies will
    convene over the coming days to debate the possibility of eliminating amnesty
    and pardon as well as Emergency Decree 114, providing for a series of economic
    and fiscal measures. The opposition considers the decree to be the most toxic
    instrument in Romanian economy. The Social-Democrats say the decree also
    provides for an increase in pensions starting September 1, as well as capping
    natural gas and electricity prices for home consumers.






    CANDIDACIES – About
    one thousand Social Democrats from the PSD, number one in the government
    coalition in Bucharest, on Saturday convened in a congress to launch the
    candidacy of Romania’s incumbent Prime Minister Viorica Dancila for the
    presidential election in November. The country’s incumbent president Klaus
    Iohannis has also announced his intention to run for a second term in office
    with support from the main opposition party, the National Liberal Party. Dan
    Barna, leader of the opposition USR-PLUS, will also run for the presidential
    seat and so will Calin Popescu Tariceanu, leader of ALDE, part of the present
    ruling coalition. The former Culture Minister Theodor Paleologu is the
    candidate of the People’s Movement Party, voted unanimously on Sunday by the
    party’s national college, upon the proposal of former president Traian Basescu.






    MINISTERS – Saturday’s
    National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party also adopted
    proposals for the ministers the Prime Minister is going to submit to president
    Iohannis on Monday. The party’s secretary general, Mihai Fifor will be heading
    the Interior Ministry, Ana Birchall will become Deputy Prime Minister for
    Strategic Partnerships while MP Iulian Iancu will be Deputy Prime Minister in
    charge of economic affairs. Dana
    Girbovan had been proposed for the Justice Ministry, but the move attracted a
    lot of heat from the opposition who recalled that Girbovan was a staunch
    supporter of the justice reforms that had been proposed by PSD and ALDE with
    the alleged intention to gain control over the magistrates and hinder the
    anti-graft fight.






    GOLDEN STAG – The
    2019 Golden Stag trophy went to Eliza G of Italy. 12 artists from ten countries
    competed for the trophy. The jury decided on Saturday to award 1st
    prize to Sara De Blue of Austria, 2nd prize to Ralfs Eilands of
    Latvia, and 3rd prize to Monika Marija of Lithuania. Alfie Arcuri
    got the award for best interpretation of a Romanian song, awarded by the
    Romanian television and radio corporations. The Golden Stag Festival started in
    1968 and continued for 18 editions, the last staged in 2018. Radio Romania is
    co-producer of the festival.








    PROETNICA – The
    Pro-Etnica Intercultural Festival came to a close on Sunday in Sighisoara. For
    five days traditional ensembles of Italian, Greek, German, Roma, Macedonian,
    Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Jewish communities performed live on stage. Craftsmen’s
    workshops and national minority pavilions were open all throughout the
    festival. The 17th edition of the Festival also introduced the
    Literary Salon, a place devoted to national minority writers presenting their
    works, organizing debates, readings as well as book launches.






    TENNIS – Romanian
    tennis player Simona Halep, world no. 4, on Tuesday will be playing Nicole
    Gibbs of the US in the first round of US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament
    of the year. Another four Romanians have made it to the main draw. Sorana
    Cirstea (106 WTA) will play Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, Monica
    Niculescu (105 WTA) will play Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, Mihaela Buzarnescu
    (136 WTA) will play Andrea Petkovic of Germany, while Ana Bogdan (147) will play
    Harriet Dart of Great Britain. In the men’s competition, Marius Copil (96 ATP)
    will take on Ugo Humbert of France.






    VOLLEYBALL – The
    Romanian national women’s team on Saturday grabbed its first win in the 2019
    European Championship, defeating Hungary 3-1 in Group C. On Friday, Romania had
    lost nil-3. Romania will next play Croatia, Estonia and Azerbaijan.


    (Translated by V.
    Palcu)

  • July 22-26

    July 22-26


    New ministers in the Romanian government


    On Wednesday, the Romanian
    president Klaus Iohannis signed the appointment of Nicolae Moga and Ramona
    Manescu to the positions of interior minister and foreign minister
    respectively. The two were sworn in on the same day. Nicolae Moga, a former
    senator from Constanta and former vice-president of the Senate in the Standing
    Bureau replaced outgoing Carmen Dan at the helm of the interior ministry.
    Ramona Manescu joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats – ALDE, in the
    governing coalition, in 2017. Previously she held the position of transport
    minister. An MEP since 2007, Ramona Manescu was appointed foreign minister,
    thus replacing outgoing Teodor Melescanu. Through another presidential decree,
    Mihai Fifor was appointed vice-prime minister for Romania’s strategic
    partnerships.


    Romanians in the Diaspora


    The Romanian president has
    promulgated the law on early and postal voting for the Romanians in the
    Diaspora, which allows them to cast their vote for 3 days in order to avoid
    what happened at the May 26 EP elections, when many Romanians abroad could not
    vote because of the very long queues. According to the new law, the Romanian
    citizens abroad will be able to vote either by post or in advance from Friday
    to Sunday. On the last voting day, the vote may be extended until midnight for
    those people who are inside the polling stations or queuing outside. The
    procedure will also be applied in Romania. For the postal vote, Romanians
    abroad will have to register on the permanent electoral lists for the Romanians
    in the Diaspora by means of an online form that can be found on the website of
    the Permanent Electoral Authority. They will also have to attach a scanned copy
    or a photo of their ID to this form. They can register on this list starting on
    Sunday on the platform www.votstrainatate.ro.
    The website was created by the Electoral Authority, to have a clearer record of
    Romanians abroad and to provide them with more info on the voting process. An
    information campaign has also been started by the Ministry for the Romanians
    Abroad that has recently announced that over 5 and a half million Romanians
    have left the country. Alongside the Romanians in the historical communities,
    there are almost 10 million Romanians living outside the country’s borders,
    show data provided by Romania’s 70 diplomatic missions and centralized by the
    Ministry for the Romanians Abroad. According to the line minister Natalia
    Intotero those who leave the country are discontented with the lack of
    financial means, with their small incomes, the lack of a decent job, the poor
    quality of the political class and the all pervasive corruption. Minister
    Intotero also announced that the ministry officials were preparing a draft law
    on the social and professional reinsertion of Romanians who want to return
    home, a bill that will be forwarded to Parliament in September. August will see
    the start of the 2nd stage of the national campaign ‘Information at
    home! Security abroad’ meant to inform Romanians ahead of deciding to leave the
    country. The campaign also targets the Romanians abroad who want to return.


    European Commission issues warnings for Romania


    The European Commission has
    launched infringement procedures against Romania in 11 fields, including air
    pollution, financial services, transposing firearms standards into national law
    or illegal migration. On Thursday the Commission pointed out Bucharest has not
    lifted restrictions on natural gas trade among member states, as stipulated by
    EU law. The Commission also noticed that one of the changes brought to the
    energy law provides for the obligation to sell natural gas on the internal
    market as a priority, which is in breach of EU law, creating unwarranted
    barriers to gas exports. The environment authorities in Bucharest said they
    will take steps to immediately solve the problems in the field. Another
    procedure was launched in the case of failing to enact EU standards regarding
    combating child abuse, sexual child exploitation and child pornography.


    A Romanian appointed as interim head of the International Atomic Energy
    Agency


    Romanian Cornel Feruta, a career
    diplomat for over 20 years, was appointed interim director general of the
    International Atomic Energy Agency pending a permanent designation. The
    appointment follows the death of the former head of the institution, Yukiya
    Amano, at a time of intense diplomatic negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme.
    Cornel Feruta was a chief coordinator with the Agency, a former chief of staff
    for Yukiya Amano. In the 2007-2012 period he also held the position of
    Romania’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna.


    Romanian football teams enrolled in European inter-club competitions


    Romanian vice-champions FCSB on
    Thursday defeated Armenia’s FC Alashkert 3-nil in the first leg of the Europa
    League second preliminary round. CSU Craiova drew nil-all against Honved
    Budapest away from home, while Viitorul Constanta lost 3-6 away from home against
    Belgium’s KAA Gent. The return legs are scheduled for next week. On Wednesday,
    Romanian champions CFR Cluj defeated 1-nil Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel in the
    first leg of the Champions League second preliminary round. The return leg is
    scheduled for July 30 in Israel.



    (Translated by L. Simion & V. Palcu)