September 20, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 20.09.2019, 19:44

ELECTION – Candidates running in November’s presidential
elections have Sunday as deadline to register with the Central Electoral
Office. The current president of the country, Klaus Iohannis, backed by the
opposition National Liberal Party and Dan Barna, supported by the USR-PLUS
Alliance, also in the opposition, registered on Friday. The country’s incumbent
Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Viorica
Dancila and the opposition People’s Movement Party leader Theodor Paleologu
submitted their applications on Thursday. The first round of the presidential
election is due on November 10th and the second round two weeks later.

PROTEST – Green and
human rights organisations in Romania have started a week of protests against
the lack of effective measures to combat climate change. A march was held on
Friday in Bucharest between one of the central parks of the city and the
Ministry of the Environment, with the aim of drawing attention to pressing
climate issues in the country and to the necessary solutions for the largest
polluting industries. The action is part of a global anti-pollution protest,
which will culminate in a gigantic rally in New York, three days before the UN
Climate Summit. A recent report by French scientists shows that global warming
is much faster that previously thought.

NATO – Over 80 servicemen
and military equipment belonging to Romania’s Air and Ground Forces are
participating in NATO days hosted by Ostrava, in the Czech Republic. Romania has
the statute of special partner in this event. NATO Days in Ostrava is a public
event staged annually, which consists of air shows and exhibitions staged by
the police and armed forces of NATO participant and partner countries. Speaking
on Thursday in the opening of an exhibition entitled ‘We are Together: Romania
and the USA in NATO’ at the US embassy in Bucharest, Romanian Prime Minister
Viorica Dancila said that Romania remained firmly committed to its pledge to
allocate 2% of its GDP for defense. Dancila went on to say that Bucharest would
continue to actively and responsibly contribute to promoting NATO values.

EU PROSECUTOR – On Thursday, Romania’s former anti-corruption
prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi was voted by most of the EU ambassadors to
become the EU’s first public prosecutor, the EU Observer has announced.
According to US News, Kovesi, who will become the EU’s first anti-fraud
prosecutor, got support from the member states in spite of opposition from the
government in Bucharest. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office will be established
next year as an independent Union body competent to fight crimes against the
Union budget.

SECURITATE – The former president of Romania Traian
Basescu collaborated with the political police, the Securitate, during the
communist regime, ruled the Bucharest Court of Appeal on Friday. The case tried
by the Court was opened after the National Council for the Study of Securitate
Archives called for it. Traian Basescu has announced he will challenge the
court’s ruling. According to his lawyer, during the time when he allegedly provided
information to the Securitate, Basescu was a serviceman and therefore subject
to the rigors imposed by that status.

ANNIVERSARY – On Friday, Romania’s capital Bucharest
celebrated its 560th anniversary. The Bucharest municipality has organized
several events for the weekend, such as workshops, street events, food shows,
concerts and the already traditional iMapp Bucharest contest, which has reached
its 6th edition. On Saturday, eight teams will project their shows
on the façade of the Palace of Parliament, the second largest administrative
building in the world, after the Pentagon.