July 7, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.07.2016, 12:33

RESHUFFLE The four new ministers proposed by Romania’s technocratic Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos were sworn in on Thursday in Bucharest. Mircea Dumitru, the rector of the University in Bucharest, becomes the Minister of Education, Sorin Buse, an experienced manager from the car industry, has been appointed Transport Minister while Romania’s present ambassador in Canada, Maria Ligor, has become Minister in the Department for the Relations with the Romanians Around the World. Dragos Tudorache, head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, has become the interim Communication Minister. These new ministers have taken over the seats following the amplest reshuffle made by Prime Minister Ciolos since taking over in November 2015.

ANTI-CORRUPTION The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, was sent to court on Thursday by the anti-corruption prosecutors for false testimony and abetment in crime. The charges were levelled against him after the declarations he had made in a case regarding the alleged illegal retrocession of land. Given the position he is currently holding, Tariceanu is the second high-ranking official in the Romanian state. He is also co-president of the recently set up centre left Romanian Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), and between 2004 and 2008, when he was the leader of the National Liberal Party, he held the position of prime minister.

SCHENGEN The Romanian Foreign Minister, Lazar Comanescu, said in Bucharest on Thursday that he hoped Romania would evolve towards accession to Schengen, after having proved that it can protect the EU’s foreign borders. Comanescu said that if admitted to Schengen, Romania would contribute to strengthening the EU’s capability of securing its borders, recalling that Bucharest is at present the second contributor to FRONTEX, the European agency in charge of securing the Union’s foreign borders. Comanescu has also explained that Romania is entirely observing the accession’s technical criteria. Initially planned for March 2011, Romania’s entry into Europe’s border-free area has been repeatedly postponed after some member states have showed reluctance towards the efficiency of the reform of the judiciary and the anti-graft fight.

NATO SUMMIT Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis will be attending the NATO summit that is due to start on Friday. For two days, the NATO leaders will be taking key-decisions aimed at strengthening NATO’s defense and deterrence capacity, with focus on enhancing the allies’ solidarity and strengthening the Eastern flank. At the summit, Romania will get the development of the contingency plan, namely NATO’s reaction in case one of its members is attacked. A Romanian brigade will be turned into a multi-national task force, made up of 3,000-5,000 soldiers, of which 1,000 are to be deployed from the other member states by rotation. Another decision will concern the components of the anti-missile defense shield in Deveselu, southern Romania, which is to be integrated into the NATO system. Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has stated that Romania’s stand at the Warsaw summit is in favour of solidarity and cohesion within the Alliance. The President has given assurances that Romania is and shall remain a credible ally and a pillar of stability and security in the region.

HEADCOACH German headcoach Christoph Daum is the new selector of Romania’s national football side, the Romanian Football Federation announced on Thursday. Daum 62, has thus become the first foreign coach to be appointed at the helm of our national football side. Daum replaces Iordanescu, the one who led the Romanian eleven at Euro 2016 in France, where our team was eliminated as early as the group’s stage. With VfB Stuttgart, Daum won the title in Bundesliga and the Supercup in the early 1990s. He also coached Besiktas Istanbul into winning Turkey’s championship and Supercup and he reaped two other consecutive titles with another Turkish side, Fenerbahce. Cristoph Daum has also won Austria’s Championship-Cup with Austria-Vienna.