September 26, UPDATE

Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, has accepted the resignation tendered by the Director of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu/ Romanian penitentiary workers have started protests against poor working conditions

Newsroom, 26.09.2016, 12:20

RESIGNATION – Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, has accepted the resignation tendered by the Director of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, the Presidential Administration announced on Monday. According to the same source, general Silviu Predoiu will take over from Ungureanu, as interim director of the Service. Also on Monday, the Senate registered the request made by President Iohannis to declare vacant the position of Director of the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service. Ungureanu, former prime minister and foreign minister, became head of the Foreign Intelligence Service in June 2015, after being nominated by the President and validated by Parliament. That was Ungureanus second term as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, after the 2007-2012 tenure.

SUPREME DEFENCE COUNCIL – In Bucharest, the Supreme Defence Council is to convene on Tuesday. The agenda includes topics like the implementation of the decisions made in the NATO Summit, which affect Romania, the Presidents spokesman announced on Monday. Another topic on the agenda is the state of the healthcare system in Romania. The previous meeting of the Supreme Defence Council was held in late July, two weeks after the NATO Summit in Warsaw.

PROTESTS – Romanian justice minister, Raluca Pruna, said on Monday, fresh from the talks she had had with penitentiary workers, that its regrettable that laws are adopted in Romania before properly analysing if the financial and human resources can be assured to that end. Earlier, the management of the National Penitentiary Agency had announced the institution took note of the demands of trade unions in the penitentiary system, but warned that employees cannot resort to strikes or voluntary suspension of work, although they may organise other forms of protests permitted by law. Prison staff in Romania initiated open-ended protest actions around the country on Monday. They demand, among other things, an improvement in working standards, addressing salary imbalances and a reduction of the personnel shortage, currently put at nearly 8,000 people.

ROMANIAN MILITARY – The condition of the 4 Romanian troops wounded on Sunday during a mission in Afghanistan is improving, the Romanian Defence Ministry announced on Monday. According to the aforementioned source, the trauma produced by the sustained injuries didnt reach any vital organs. The military were part of the White Sharks Battalion, which ensures the protection of the military base in Kandahar and assists the Afghan security forces. They were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off during their patrol mission, and were taken to the army base hospital in Kandahar.

NATIONAL INTEGRITY AGENCY – Romanias National Integrity Agency, ANI, on Monday sent a letter to the Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies, asking it to take note of the fact that three MP seats are vacant and the disciplinary procedure has been launched in the case of two other MPs. According to the Agency, MPs Victor Roman, Ion Moldovan and Florin Ionas Urcan have been declared incompatible by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The rulings are final. The Agency also says two assessment reports in the case of MPs Florin Paslaru and Ion Calin, respectively, show they have infringed the legal regime of conflict of interest. Therefore, in their case, ANI requests the start of disciplinary procedure, in conformity to the Statute of MPs, which provides for decreasing their MP allowances by 10 %, for a maximum period of three months.

TAXATION – Romanian finance minister, Anca Dragu, has reiterated that no major tax increases will be made during the mandate of the current technocratic cabinet. She has added that all changes made so far were aimed at reducing red tape in the fiscal system. Anca Dragu has also said the institution will no grant any type of financial amnesty. Also, by the recently approved budget revision, the budget deficit is maintained at 2.8% of the GDP, the minister has also said. Anca Dragu participated in the so-called “Hour of the Government, in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday. The ministers presence had been requested by Liberal MPs, who called for clarifications with respect to the changes brought to the Fiscal Code and the prospective instatement of fiscal amnesty.

FEAST OF MUSIC– RadiRo Festival, the only large-scale European
event exclusively devoted to radio orchestras, continued on Monday with a
concert given by the National Radio Orchestra conducted by Cristian Macelaru.
The soloist was the highly acclaimed cello player Razvan Suma, who was
accompanied by the Academic Choir and the Radio Children’s Choir. They
performed Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana,
one of the best known works of the last century. The festival, organised by
Radio Romania, comes to an end on
Saturday, October 1, and the concerts will also be aired live in the European
Broadcasting Union network and the Asia-Pacific platform of public and private
radio broadcasters.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, WTA no.5, on Monday qualified to the eighth finals of the Wuhan Open in China, with 2.5 million dollars in prize money up for grabs. Halep secured qualification, after her opponent and co-national, Irina Begu (WTA no.24) abandoned the match in the second set. This is the fifth match played by the two Romanian players, with Halep winning the four previous matches. (Translated by D. Vijeu)