GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE <\/strong>– On Thursday,
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PACE<\/strong> – On Thursday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the
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BREXIT<\/strong> – The European Council is the only place where
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AUTOMOTIVE<\/strong>– President
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SPAIN<\/strong>– Spain
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MOLDOVA<\/strong>– The European
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14005,32663,30550,32664,29130,32658,32286,32665,32666,32584],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-102280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-brexit","tag-deputy-pm-sevil-shhaideh","tag-government-reshuffle","tag-minister-rovana-plumb","tag-moldova","tag-parliamentary-assembly-of-the-council-of-europe","tag-prime-minister-mihai-tudose","tag-social-democrat-leader-liviu-dragnea","tag-spain-national-day","tag-ukrainian-education-law"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nthree Romanian ministers announced their resignation during the meeting of the
\nNational Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party, the main party in
\nthe ruling coalition in Romania. The three are the Deputy Prime Minister and
\nRegional Development Minister Sevil Shhaideh, the Minister Delegate for
\nEuropean Funds Rovana Plumb and the Transport Minister Razvan Cuc. The
\nexecutive committee will convene again on Friday, to discuss potential
\nreplacements. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, the one who promoted the idea of a
\ngovernment reshuffle, has held talks over the past days with both president
\nKlaus Iohannis and the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea. Tudose has stated
\nthat the targeted ministers are those with legal problems and those who have not
\nbeen efficient. Both Shhaideh and Plumb are being prosecuted for corruption
\noffences. The minister in charge with liaising with Parliament, Viorel Ilie,
\nmember of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, the junior partner
\nin the ruling coalition, is in a similar situation. Party representatives
\nannounced on Thursday that the party was not interested in replacing him.
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\nCouncil of Europe adopted a resolution which reads that Ukraine was wrong in
\npassing the new Education Law and will therefore have to implement the
\nrecommendations that are to be formulated by the Venice Commission. The
\nstatement was made by Korodi Attila, member of the Romanian Delegation to the
\nEuropean body. He has also stated that Ukraine must observe the European
\nstandards, in particular the European Charter for Regional or Minority
\nLanguages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National
\nMinorities. The reason for the debate held at the Parliamentary Assembly,
\nproposed by the Romanian delegation with support from another five national
\ndelegations, was the new Education Law adopted in Ukraine, which drastically
\nrestricts access to mother tongue education for ethnic minorities. On
\nWednesday, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroskeno had promised that the Kiev
\nauthorities would introduce all the recommendations made by the Venice Commission
\ninto the law and would observe the European Charter for Regional or Minority
\nLanguages. Nearly half a million ethnic Romanians live in the neighbouring
\ncountry, mainly in the Romanian territories annexed by the USSR in 1940,
\nfurther to an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state in
\n1991.<\/p>\n
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\nRomania will present its stand on Brexit, said on Thursday the Minister
\nDelegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu. According to him, no Romanian
\nofficial has presented a formal stand regarding the Brexit negotiations.
\nMinister Negrescu also stated that the main goal of the Bucharest authorities
\nwith regard to these negotiations was to ensure the rights of the over 300,000
\nRomanians living in the United Kingdom. The clarification was made against the
\nbackground of the British daily The Times saying that Romania, France
\nand Germany have called for the blocking of new negotiations chapters, until an
\nagreement is reached on the rights of
\nforeign citizens in Great Britain.<\/p>\n
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\nKlaus Iohannis and PM Mihai Tudose took part on Thursday in the launch of the
\nnew Ford Ecosport model, at the Ford plant in Craiova, southern Romania. The
\nhead of state said that, by attending the event, he wanted to convey a strong
\nmessage of support for the automotive industry in Romania, which is growing
\nincreasingly competitive and has a better and better image in the European
\nmarket. Since it took over the plant in 2008, Ford has invested over one billion
\neuros in the production unit in Romania. More than 2,800 people are employed by
\nFord Craiova. The biggest carmaker in Romania is Automobile Dacia, based in
\nPitesti, in the south, taken over by the French group Renault in 1999. Over
\n13,500 people are working for this company, which has a turnover of over 4.3
\nbillion euros.<\/p>\n
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\ncelebrated its National Day on Thursday, amid tensions between the separatist
\nauthorities of Catalonia and the central government in Madrid. PM Mariano Rajoy
\ngave the regional Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont until Monday to give up
\nplans to declare the region’s independence, otherwise Catalonia would see its
\nlocal autonomy suspended. Rajoy accused the Catalan government of having
\ngenerated one of the most difficult times in Spain’s democracy and of having
\nstaged a very dangerous attack against the Constitution, the unity of Spain,
\nthe Catalan state and, most importantly, against Spain’s people living
\ntogether.<\/p>\n
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\nUnion announced it would not grant the Republic of Moldova the remaining 28
\nmillion euros under the reform programme, intended for changes in the field of
\nthe judiciary. The Union believes the Government in Chisinau has failed to meet
\nthe conditions requested by Brussels. The EU delegation in Moldova mentions in
\na news release that the authorities in Moldova have shown poor commitment for
\nreform, have not allotted enough funding and staff and, as a result, progress
\nin terms of judicial reforms has been insufficient. Last week, PM Pavel Filip
\nannounced Moldova would no longer receive this year’s installment of the 100
\nmillion euro aid programme provided by the EU. He admitted that the measure had
\nbeen prompted by Chisinau’s decision to change the election system for the
\nforthcoming parliamentary elections, in such a manner as to favour the major
\nparties.<\/p>\n
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