The National Permanent Bureau of the Social Democratic Party, the
\nlargest member of the ruling coalition in Bucharest, meets today following the
\nparty’s extraordinary congress on Sunday to establish its new leadership team.
\nThe congress confirmed the election of the party’s 14 vice-presidents, who will
\nwork together with the new executive president Valeriu Zgonea. Liviu Dragnea is
\nthe new leader of the party, having won last week’s elections as the only
\ncandidate. He had been temporarily running the party since July, when prime
\nminister Victor Ponta stepped down as party leader following involvement in a
\ncorruption scandal. Last May, Liviu Dragnea himself was convicted by a court of
\nfirst instance to a one-year suspended prison sentence for fraud during the 2012
\nreferendum on the impeachment of the then president of Romania, Traian Basescu.
\n<\/p>\n
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\n
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The postal
\nvoting bill goes on the Senate’s agenda today. The Liberal opposition says it
\nwill support the bill, which is to be passed by the Chamber of Deputies as
\nParliament’s decision-making body. The bill is also supported by the Social
\nDemocrats, in power, who say, however, that they will submit a number of
\namendments to the bill. The National Union for the Progress of Romania and the
\ngroup of national ethnic minorities are also in favour of the bill. The postal
\nvoting system will be used in the presidential and European elections and only
\napplies to Romanian citizens residing or living abroad. <\/p>\n
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\n
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Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu travels to Israel today for
\ntalks with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two officials
\nwill discuss ways to consolidate bilateral ties and cooperation in various
\nfields such as investments, energy, tourism and agriculture. Mr. Aurescu will
\nmeet researchers from the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum and
\nmembers of the community of Israelis born in Romania. The Romanian foreign
\nminister is also due to meet a number of Palestinian officials, including his
\nPalestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki, prime minister Rami
\nHamdallah and president Mahmoud Abbas for talks on the current situation in the
\nMiddle East and the possibility of resuming peace talks. During his trip to
\nPalestine, Mr. Aurescu will also meet members of the local Romanian community. <\/p>\n
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\n
\n
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Romania’s gas imports dropped by almost 80% in the first 8 months of the
\nyear compared to the similar period last year, according to data published
\ntoday by the National Institute for Statistics. This year, Romania has imported
\n67,000 tonnes of oil equivalent compared with 500,000 tonnes in 2014. The
\ncountry’s internal production of natural gas has seen a slight increase to
\nalmost 9 billion tonnes of oil equivalent. Romania’s draft energy strategy for
\nthe next 20 years, which can be found on the website of the relevant ministry,
\nshows that Romania has the largest natural gas reserves in central and eastern
\nEurope. According to the national energy strategy, if the current levels of
\nproduction and consumption are maintained, these reserves will run out in about
\n14 years’ time. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\nMPs from Moldova’s Liberal Democratic Party, a pro-European party and
\nmember of the ruling coalition in this ex-Soviet state with a majority
\nRomanian-speaking population, have challenged the procedure to lift the
\nparliamentary immunity of their former leader and prime minister Vlad Filat
\nbefore the Constitutional Court, writes the Moldovan press. The MPs describe
\nthe procedure initiated on the 15th of October as a cynical scheme against
\nVlad Filat and the Liberal Democratic Party, which they say has been a
\npermanent target of attacks from different political groups in recent years.
\nFilat was detained on the 15th of October based on a warrant issued
\nby the National Anticorruption Centre soon after the Parliament in Chisinau
\ndecided to suspend his judicial immunity. Filat is investigated for his alleged
\ndirect involvement in the disappearance from the banking system of 1 billion
\ndollars. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of the main stories in Romania today<\/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-100533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n