November 22, 2018
Government reshuffle in Bucharest, Joint session of the Romanian and Moldovan governments
Newsroom, 22.11.2018, 13:45
Reshuffle — The Social Democratic transport minister Lucian Sova has resigned today. The executive committee of the Social Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition in Bucharest, decided Monday to replace Sova with Lia Olguta Vasilescu but President Iohannis refused to approve his dismissal and the new nomination. The Social Democrats made a new proposal for the transport ministry, namely Mircea Draghici, nominating Lia Olguta Vasilescu for the ministry of regional development and public administration. Early this week President Iohannis accepted 6 new nominations made by PM Viorica Dancila for the ministries of defense, labor, economy, culture, communications and youth and sports.
Joint session — Bucharest is today hosting a joint session of the Romanian and Moldovan governments. The session was preceded by a bilateral meeting of the Romanian and Moldovan prime ministers. Talks focused on the stage and prospects of bilateral relations as well as on exploring opportunities for new cooperation projects. The meeting takes places in the run-up to Romania’s taking over the rotating presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. According to the Romanian government officials, this is going to be an opportunity to encourage the Republic of Moldova to carry on with the efforts for the implementation of the reforms it assumed under the Association Agreement with the EU. This is the 2nd joint session of the Romanian and Moldovan governments in 2018. During the February session held in Chisinau, the Romanian PM Viorica Dancila stated that Romania was interested in boosting investments in neighboring Moldova and in supporting its European accession process. The Moldovan PM will also meet today with President Klaus Iohannis and the speakers of the Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
Visit – The European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos is today paying an official visit to Bucharest where he met with the interior minister Carmen Dan for talks over the stage of preparations for Romania’s upcoming takeover of the presidency of the EU Council. The Romanian interior minister has given assurances to the European official that Bucharest is ready for the 6-month mandate, which she wants to be ambitious and realistic. In turn, the European Commissioner has stated that he supports Romania in its efforts for Schengen integration. The agenda of the European Commissioner also includes meetings with the Romanian PM, with the speaker of the Senate and the minister delegate for European affairs George Ciamba.
Justice — The report of the justice minister Tudorel Toader on the managerial activity of the prosecutor general Augustin Lazar does not observe the legal provisions in force, the national and international standards regulating the activity of the Public Ministry and it runs counter to the tradition of jurisprudence promoted by international bodies and Romania’s Constitutional Court. This is the conclusion of the Prosecutors’ Section within the Supreme Council of Magistracy that published today the explanatory statement for the negative opinion issued recently in relation to the justice minister’s proposal to dismiss the prosecutor general. The opinion is consultative. The prosecutor general has filed a complaint with the Ministry against the report on his managerial activity and also submitted in court a request for the suspension of the dismissal procedure. The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, announced that he would not make any decision regarding the dismissal of Mr. Lazar before a solution is given to his complaints.
RadiRo – The 4th edition of the International Radio Orchestras Festival — RadiRo, organized by Radio Romania, continues today with a concert by the BBC Philharmonic. On Wednesday evening, the festival schedule included a concert by the National Radio Orchestra that presented a Romantic program alongside French musicians, under the baton of conductor Frédéric Chaslin. Wednesday evening also saw the first jazz concert held during the RadiRo Festival, given by Aura Urziceanu together with the Radio Big Band. RadiRo is the only event devoted to European and world radio orchestras. All concerts are broadcast live by Radio Romania’s channels, recorded and subsequently rebroadcast by the public television. The concerts are also rebroadcast by the radiobroadcasters that are members of the European Broadcasting Union. (translation by L. Simion)
