October 21, 2019

A round of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 21.10.2019, 14:00

CORONATION – President Klaus
Iohannis today met with Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, as part of his
visit to Japan. On this occasion the two expressed hope that the Strategic
Partnership between the two countries should be launched in 2021. Prime
Minister Abe pointed out the partnership will bring substance to relations
between the two states. In turn, President Iohannis said the launch of the
Strategic Partnership will be timely and will result in positive effects at
both political and economic level. In 2018 Japan’s Prime Minister paid a visit
to Bucharest. Also on Monday, President Iohannis had talks with his Finnish
counterpart, Sauli Niinisto, who extended him an invitation to visit Finland
next year, to mark 100 years of diplomatic bilateral relations. On Tuesday
President Klaus Iohannis will be attending the ceremony marking the coronation
of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. The 126th emperor in an uninterrupted
dynastic line, Naruhito took over his imperial prerogatives on May 1, 2019,
following the abdication of Akihito, the emperor emeritus of Japan.

CONSULTATIONS
– Prime Minister designate Liberal Ludovic Orban is this week meeting with the leaders of parliamentary parties in
Bucharest, as well as with representatives of civil society, to discuss the
structure of his new government and the governing program, which he said are
ready and will be made public in a few days. Orban already has a strategy in
place to secure support for his new Government. Outgoing Prime Minister Viorica
Dancila expressed confidence that no Social-Democrat MP would vote for the
Orban Cabinet.

APPEAL – The High Court of Cassation and Justice today voted in favor of
an appeal filed by former Senator Dan Sova, ruling for a retrial of the case
where he was sentenced to three years in prison for influence peddling. This
follows the Constitutional Court’s ruling on judge panels specialized in
corruption-related offences. Following this decision, all court cases presided
by three-judge panels before January 23, 2019, that have resulted in a final
sentence or are still pending, will be remanded for retrial. The National
Anticorruption Directorate accused Sova of having received 100,000 euros in
exchange for facilitating a judicial assistance contract between a thermal
power plant in Govora and a local law firm. Dan Sova was released from prison
in December last year after having served six months of his detention time,
following a Constitutional Court ruling concerning the illegal structure of the
five-judge panel.

INVESTIGATION -
Former director general of TAROM, Madalina Mezei, has today been called to
appear before the National Anticorruption Directorate as a witness in the case
where she accused the Interim Transport Minister, Razvan Cuc, of having
demanded to keep planes from taking off on October 10, the day when Prime
Minister Viorica Dancila was facing a no-confidence motion in Parliament. Madalina
Mezei on Friday said two days ahead of the scheduled vote in Parliament,
Minister Cuc had asked her to cancel five domestic flights and identify the MPs
who were supposed to board the flights, which she refused. In turn, Minister
Cuc has denied the accusations. On the other hand, outgoing Prime Minister
Viorica Dancila has dispatched her Cabinet’s Investigation Unit to the
Transport Ministry and the National Airline Company TAROM to clarify all the
aspects discussed in the media.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona
Halep has climbed one spot in WTA standings, now in 5th place.
Romanian-born Canadian player Bianca Andreescu is now in 4th place,
her career best. Ashleigh Barty of Australia ranks first, followed by Karolina
Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Naomi Osaka of Japan.

(Translated by V. Palcu)