February 1, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 01.02.2016, 12:30

Romanian Prime
Minister Dacian Ciolos on Monday said the decision on staging two-round local
elections must be made by Parliament adding the government is ready to endorse
such an initiative. The Romanian official said there would be no emergency
ordinance on amending the law. The statement comes after on Monday, the
Romanian Prime Minister held talks with representatives of the political
parties on coming back to the previous election system when mayors were elected
in two rounds, an initiative backed by the National Liberal Party. The Liberals
believe the move would give more power to voters and that the present
single-round system is favoring the big parties. The initiative has been
endorsed only by the People’s Movement and the Romanian Social Party. Among
those opposing the project are the Social Democrats, the National Union for the
Progress of Romania, the Democratic Union of the Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the
Liberal-Democratic Alliance. They argue that a two-round election would run
counter a Constitutional Court decision banning any amendment to election
legislation with less than a year before the voting. A new Parliament session
started on Monday; high on the agenda are the upcoming elections as well as
social projects.

Treasures of Romania’ is the name of an
exhibition that opened at the National Museum of China in Beijing on Monday.
The museum is the world’s second in terms of visitors, after the Louvre in
Paris. The event has brought together 33 of Romania’s most important museums,
which have put on view a collection with 450 heritage pieces. The exhibition,
which is open until May, has been the first large-scale event of this kind
Romania stages in China showcasing exhibits from prehistoric, classic and
medieval archaeology as well as medieval artifacts from Romania.

Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Monday held talks in Bucharest
with members of an EBRD delegation headed by the institution’s president Suma
Chakrabarti. The delegation has briefed the Romanian president on major economic
developments, prospects on investment climate at domestic and international
levels as well as the EBRD’s priorities in its relation with Romania. In turn,
the Romanian president has invited the EBRD to contribute to improving the
Romanian investment climate not only through the financial support offered but
also through the expertise and professional consultancy of EBRD experts, given
that Romania still has a series of economic reforms to implement. The EBRD
delegation is in Romania on Monday and Tuesday for talks with Romanian
officials and business partners. The bank is one of the biggest institutional
investors in Romania.

The Moldovan Parliament resumed activity on Monday as part of the
so-called spring session. The agenda of the talks was dominated by the measures
to be adopted urgently to disburse a loan worth 150 million euros granted by
neighboring Romania and by the resumption of negotiations with international
financiers. Some of the measures refer to the implementation of the EU
Association Agreement, the reform of the judiciary and the fight against
corruption. Chisinau is faced with an economic and financial crisis that has
generated serious political tension.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has dropped from the 2nd
to the 3rd position in the WTA classification of best professional
tennis players of the world, after Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open
tournament, the first Grand Slam tournament of 2016. American Serena Williams
is WTA leader with 3,500 points more than Kerber. Irina Begu is the 2nd
Romanian in the classification being ranked 34th, while Monica
Niculescu is on 37th position and Alexandra Dulgheru on 54th
position. Halep and Niculescu alongside Andreea Mitu and Raluca Olaru make up
Romania’s team that will take on, on February 6th and 7th,
in Cluj Napoca (central Romania), the Czech team, in the first round of Fed
Cup’s World Group.