The National Liberal Party, the
\nmain opposition party in Romania, will today submit a no-confidence motion on
\nthe government’s lack of credibility as a result of prime minister Victor
\nPonta’s legal problems. A member of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Victor
\nPonta was officially indicted last Thursday for some of his activities as a
\nlayer, before becoming prime minister. He was charged with tax evasion, money laundering and forgery as part of a
\ncorruption scandal involving the energy companies in Turceni and Rovinari, in
\nthe south. The prime minister repeatedly denied the allegations. His situation
\nwill be discussed today by his party’s Executive Committee. The Social
\nDemocrats’ interim leader, Liviu Dragnea, said Victor Ponta could count on the
\nsupport of his party, but talks within the ruling coalition were also needed.
\nThe Supreme Court today holds the first hearing in Ponta’s trial. Four other
\npersons were also indicted as part of the same case, including the
\nSocial-Democrat senator Dan Sova. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The foreign ministers of the
\nVisegrad Group, which includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
\nHungary, today meet in Prague together with their counterpart in Luxembourg,
\nthe country currently holding the EU rotating presidency, to discuss the
\nmigration crisis. The Visegrad Group is opposed to the migrant distribution
\nsystem proposed by Brussels. Poland said it would only accept a symbolic
\nnumber of refugees. The R\u00f6zske border crossing point between Hungary and Serbia was reopened on
\nSunday after five days. EU interior ministers are to meet on Tuesday to discuss
\nthe situation. The president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said he
\nwas expecting an agreement on a voluntary relocation scheme for 160,000
\nrefugees. German chancellor Angela Merkel called on EU leaders to share in the
\nresponsibility for the most serious migration crisis since the Second World
\nWar. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian authorities are making preparations for the possible
\narrival of refugees in Romania. According to the interior ministry, an exercise
\nis carried out in the western county of Timis, near the border with Serbia,
\nrelated to the creation of temporary refugee camps. These military-type
\nshelters are guarded by security forces and may accommodate hundreds of
\npersons. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis will today receive the
\nnew US ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm. The latter said that during his term
\nhe would focus on developing Romanian-American economic ties and providing
\nassistance to Romania in the fight against corruption. Mark Gittenstein was the
\nlatest US ambassador to serve in Romania, his term ending in December 2012.
\nSince then, the US embassy in Bucharest has been run by a charge d’affaires. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza
\nparty won Sunday’s early elections in Greece. With 90% of the votes counted,
\nSyriza won 145 out of the 300 seats in Parliament, according to France Presse
\nnews agency. The Conservative leader Vangelis Meimarakis, Tsipras’ main rival,
\nwhose party holds 75 seats in Parliament, has conceded defeat. Alexis Tsipras
\nsaid he would try to form a new ruling coalition together with the small
\nright-wing Independent Greeks Party in order to implement Greece’s third
\nbailout agreed in July in exchange for 86 billion euros. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nAmsterdam Royal Concert Orchestra on Sunday evening brought the 22nd George
\nEnescu Festival to a close. For three weeks, Bucharest was the Romanian capital
\nof classical music, with 2,500 foreign and 500 Romanian musicians taking part
\nthis year. Organisers say they have already finalised 80% of the programme of
\nthe next festival, due in 2017. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of local and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":100004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[28877],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-100477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n