October 30, 2019 UPDATE

Hearings concluded, final vote on PM designate Orban's new cabinet scheduled for November 4

Newsroom, 30.10.2019, 19:59

GOVERNMENT In Bucharest, the hearings of the candidates for minister posts in the Liberal PM designate Ludovic Orbans new cabinet have concluded. On Wednesday, the specialised parliamentary committees interviewed the candidates for minister of labour, justice, youth and sports, education and research, economy, energy and the business environment, development, administration, and public works, and foreign affairs. All candidates, except for the ones nominated for labour minister and minister for public works, development and administration, were greenlighted by MPs. On Tuesday, all candidates except for the one nominated for finance minister were also approved by the relevant parliamentary committees. However, the parliamentary committees only have consultative powers, and the decisive vote is scheduled for Monday, November 4. In order to replace the Social Democrat Viorica Dancilas Cabinet, dismissed on October 10 following a no-confidence vote in Parliament, Ludovic Orbans team needs at least 233 votes. To this end, the PM designate and president of the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban, has signed political agreements with Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the Peoples Movement Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and MPs representing ethnic minorities. PRO Romania, a splinter from the Social Democratic Party, said they would decide on whether to vote on the new cabinet after the hearings, whereas the Social Democratic Party announced they would not take part in the vote.

MISSION ‘Regele Ferdinand’ Frigate of the Romanian Navy, together with a Puma Naval helicopter and a Navy Special Operations unit are taking part until November 7th in a new NATO mission in the Mediterranean. The goal of Operation ‘Sea Guardian 19’ is to discourage illegal activities in the southern flank of NATO and the EU, by means of sea and air traffic monitoring. During the mission, the Romanian frigate will have stopovers in Haifa, Israel, and Limassol, Cyprus. The first stop was in the port of Aksaz, in the south of Turkey, followed by another one in Alexandria, Egypt, where a first meeting was held aboard, with members of the Romanian community in Egypt.

MILITARY A military delegation from Bulgaria, headed by Gen. Major Mihail Dimitrov Popov, chief of staff of the Bulgarian Land Forces, is on an official visit to Romania between October 29 and 31. The host of the event is the chief of the Romanian Land Forces, gen. major Dorin Blaiu. The visit is intended on the one hand to assess the cooperation between the Romanian and Bulgarian land forces, and on the other hand to identify new fields and opportunities for future training. The agenda of the Bulgarian delegation also includes visits to the Romanian military units in Bucharest, Cincu and Sibiu (centre).

ANTI-CORRUPTION The interim chief of the National Anti-Corruption Agency, Călin Nistor, has reported that over the past 4 years anti-corruption prosecutors sent to court over 900 individuals suspected of crimes against the financial interests of the European Union, in cases having caused combined losses of over 100 million euros. The chief prosecutor also said the acquittal rate in cases involving EU fund frauds is rather low, and added that Romanian courts have already sentenced more than 450 defendants and forced them to pay compensations of around 30 million euros.

TENNIS In the Purple Group of the WTA Finals in Shenzhen (China), the Romanian Simona Halep (5 WTA) Wednesday lost 7-5, 6-3, to the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who moved up into the semi-finals. Simona Halep played the final of the tournament at her first participation in 2014, when she lost to the American Serena Williams (9 WTA). Also on Wednesday, the Romanian-born Canadian Bianca Andreescu (4 WTA) forfeited the match against Karolina Pliskova (2 WTA), after the Czech player had won the first set, 6-3. Andreescu stands no chances to qualify into the semis, even if she was fit to play the last group match on Friday, against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)