January 15, UPDATE

Romanian PM Mihai Tudose resigns, Irina Begu qualifies to 2nd round of Australian Open

Newsroom, 15.01.2018, 22:03

Social Democratic Party — The executive committee of the Social Democratic Party, on Monday convened in emergency meeting at the initiative of its leader, Liviu Dragnea, and decided to withdraw the support for PM Mihai Tudose who announced his resignation. Paul Stanescu, deputy prime minister and minister of regional development, public administration and European funds will take over the interim position of PM. Tensions started in the party last week, when PM Tudose asked Interior Minister Carmen Dan to resign, against the backdrop of a pedophilia scandal within the Police. Carmen Dan, seen as one of Liviu Dragnea’s protégées, refused to resign. Also on Monday the National Liberal Party (PNL), the most important party in opposition, presented a report on the Government’s activity, dubbed “The Black Book of the PSD Governing”. The Liberals claim the new crisis proves the Social Democrats’ incapacity to rule, and have asked for early elections. This is the second cabinet made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, after the one installed in January 2017 and dismissed after six months following a no-confidence vote initiated by the same leftist majority. President Klaus Iohannis will again call all parliamentary parties for consultations with a view to designating a new prime minister. The Romanian head of state is not obliged to nominate the candidate of a certain party.

National Culture Day — Romania marked the National Culture Day on January 15, on the same day with the celebration of 168 years since the birth of Romania’s national poet Mihai Eminescu. A number of events took place in Romania and abroad to evoke the great personality of poet Mihai Eminescu and to celebrate the National Culture Day.

NATO — A delegation of the General Staff of the Romanian Armed Forces headed by general Nicolae Ciucă will participate, Tuesday and Wednesday, in Brussels, in the NATO Military Committee conference, which will gather the defense ministers of NATO countries. The conference will tackle topical military issues such as the security challenges on NATO’s eastern flank and NATO’s contribution to stabilizing the security climate, the ways to follow in relation to the mission Resolute Support from Afghanistan, NATO’s role in granting assistance for the reform of the security domain in Iraq and in training the Iraqi security forces in 2018. Other issues to be debated are the proposals regarding the adaptation of NATO’s command structure, the drafting of military recommendations and their harmonization with the political recommendations of the North Atlantic Council.

Statistics – 51% of the Europeans aged between 16 and 74 used Internet banking in 2017, according to the Eurostat. Bulgaria and Romania rank last in the EU in this respect, as only 5% and 7% respectively of their population used Internet banking services last year. Denmark ranks first in Europe, with 90% of its adult population having used Internet services in 2017, followed by the Netherlands with 89%, Finland, with 87% and Sweden with 86%. In the past decade, the number of people using Internet banking has doubled within the EU, rising from 25% to 51%, while the number of Internet banking users in Romania tripled, from 2% in 2007 to 7% in 2017.

Tennis — The Romanian tennis player, Irina Begu, ranked 40 in the WTA classification qualified to the 2nd round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, after she defeated on Monday the Russian Ekaterina Makarova (33 WTA) and 31st seed, 3-6, 6-4, 8-6. Also on Monday Monica Niculescu (85 WTA) was defeated by the German Mona Barthel (52 WTA) 6-4, 7-5, in the first round. Also in the first round, Mihaela Buzărnescu (44 WTA) lost 6-2, 6-3 to Danish Caroline Wozniacki, world’s no. 2 player. Another three Romanian players are participating in the Australian Open. Simona Halep, world’s no. 1 and main favorite in the competition, will be up against Australian Destanee Aiava, Sorana Cîrstea will take on Zarina Dias of Kazakhstan and Ana Bogdan will play against Kristina Mladenovic from France. The only player in the men’s singles, Marius Copil, was eliminated in the first round by French Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. (Translation and update by Lacramioara Simion)