4 April, 2019

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 04.04.2019, 13:42

European prosecutor. The negotiators
of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU are today holding the
third round of talks on who should hold the position of European chief
prosecutor, for which Romania’s former chief anticorruption prosecutor Laura
Codruta Kovesi is a candidate. Kovesi is backed by the European Parliament,
while the Council endorses the French candidate Jean-Francois Bohnert.
According to the regulations in force, the Parliament and the Council jointly
appoint the European chief prosecutor, who will serve a non-renewable 7-year
term. On Wednesday, the European Commission and the European Parliament
reiterated their endorsement of Kovesi and emphasised that it is important that
she should be able to defend her candidacy in Brussels. The president of the
European Parliament Antonio Tajani demanded that the Romanian authorities stop
obstructing her candidacy to the European public prosecutor’s office. The High
Court of Cassation and Justice on Wednesday lifted the judicial restrictions
placed on Kovesi last week by the prosecutors of a new special department for
the investigation of magistrates as part of a case in which Kovesi is accused
of abuse of office, bribe taking and lying in court.

Justice. The representatives of
several judges and prosecutors associations from Romania are today meeting
European Commission and European Parliament officials in Brussels. The Romanian
magistrates say they will hold a flash mob protest outside the Palace of
Justice in Brussels, together with their Belgian colleagues. The Romanian
associations say judges and prosecutors have been under constant attack
following the legislative changes made in recent years and that Romania is visibly
moving away from the requirements of the rule of law. On Wednesday, the
embassies of some of Romania’s allied and partner states, including France, the
United States and Germany, voiced concern about the rule of law and called on
the parties involved in drafting emergency orders in the area of justice to
abstain from changes that weaken the rule of law and the country’s ability to
fight crime and corruption.

B9 Initiative. The Romanian defence minister Gabriel Les is
attending a meeting of defence ministers from the member countries of the
Bucharest 9 Initiative (B9) held on Thursday and Friday in Warsaw and
co-organised by the Polish and Romanian relevant ministries. Attending are the
defence ministers of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as NATO officials and representatives
of the US department of defence. The meeting is an opportunity to discuss
topical issues on NATO’s and the European Union’s agenda in the context of the
upcoming NATO anniversary summit and Romania’s holding the rotating presidency
of the Council of the European Union. Last year, the meeting of defence
ministers of the B9 Initiative countries was held in Bucharest.

Brexit. The House of Lords, the
upper house of the British Parliament, is today debating a bill forcing prime
minister Theresa May to seek an extension to the Brexit process to prevent the
UK’s disorderly, no-deal exit from the European Union on the 12th of
April. The draft legislation was adopted on Wednesday by the House of Commons.
To become law, the bill has to be adopted by both chambers within 24 hours.
Also on Wednesday, the Commons rejected a bill to hold a third round of
indicative votes on alternative solutions to the EU withdrawal agreement Theresa
May reached with Brussels. The UK was initially supposed to leave the European
Union on the 29th of March.

Visit. The European Commission for
Competition Margrethe Vestager is on a visit to Bucharest today. According to
the European Commission Representation in Romania, she is due to deliver a
keynote speech at a conference on the European Day of Competition and Consumers and to
meet representatives of the Coalition for the Development of Romania. The
European Commissioner will also participate in a citizens’ dialogue. The
conference is organised by the Competition Council and the National Authority
for Consumer Protection, in the context of Romania’s holding the presidency of
the Council of the European Union. The event is also attended by Vera Jourová, the European
commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality.

Exercise. Between the 5th and the
13th of April, the Romanian Navy is organising Sea Shield 19, the
largest multinational naval exercise in the Romanian territorial waters and the
Black Sea international waters. 14 Romanian military vessels and 6 vessels from
Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, Holland and Turkey are taking part in the drill. More
than 2,200 troops will exercise combat procedures against underwater, surface
and aerial threats, adjusted to the type of security threats in the Black Sea
area. The drills are based on a fictitious scenario and consist of a crisis response
operation with the mandate of a UN Security Council resolution. A NATO standing
maritime group operating in the Black Sea is also taking part in the exercise.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu has reached the last 16 of
the WTA tournament in Charleston, in the US, worth 823,000 dollars. She
defeated the American player Lauren Davis. Buzarnescu, who is seeded 12th,
will next face the number 5-seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Wozniacki has
won both of her previous matches against Buzarnescu.