NOMINATION The president of Romania, Nicu\u015for Dan, announced this morning that Eugen Tomac stepped down as prime minister designate and nominated the National Liberal Party senior vice-president Adrian Ve\u015ftea to replace him. The president voiced his confidence that Adrian Ve\u015ftea will successfully complete the mission entrusted to him. In turn, the new PM designate said he is taking responsibility for the job at a time of political crisis, and that he aims to preserve Romania\u2019s pro-Western direction. The constitutional deadline for Eugen Tomac to present Parliament with his governing programme and list of Cabinet ministers was today. But the mission was nearly impossible, as he was unlikely to get the 233 votes required for his endorsement. In fact, he expressed his regret today at having failed to convince the political parties in Parliament to support him.<\/p>\n
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POLITICAL RESPONSE The president of the National Liberal Party and interim PM Ilie Bolojan says the Liberals were not informed by president Nicu\u015for Dan regarding the nomination of their fellow Liberal Adrian Ve\u015ftea for the prime minister post. Moreover, he described the president\u2019s announcement as a hostile move and an obvious attempt to break up the party. Ilie Bolojan announced he would immediately convene a meeting of the party leaders. \u201cA major mistake,\u201d a \u201cplot,\u201d \u201cbetrayal,\u201d \u201cinterference,\u201d an \u201cattack on a democratic party\u201d\u2014these are some of the reactions from leading Liberals to the president\u2019s decision. Save Romania Union voiced surprise at the announcement, and the Social Democrats said they had not been consulted either. On May 5, Ilie Bolojan\u2019s Cabinet was dismissed by Parliament following a no-confidence vote, after the Social Democratic Party, previously a member of the ruling coalition jointly with the Liberals, Save Romania Union and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, withdrew its confidence in the Liberal PM, who chose not to resign. During both informal and formal discussions with the head of state in order to find a solution to the ensuing political crisis, none of the parties that had previously formed a coalition were willing to work together in the old formula, which would have secured a stable majority in Parliament. As a result, president Nicu\u0219or Dan originally designated a prime minister not affiliated to parliamentary parties, Eugen Tomac, and then the liberal Adrian Ve\u0219tea today.<\/p>\n
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UKRAINE Last night, Russia carried out new drone attacks on civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine, near the river border with Romania. According to the Romanian defence ministry, 2 Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft, part of the Air Police Combat Service, took off from Base 57 Mihail Kog\u0103lniceanu (SE Romania), to monitor the situation. No unauthorised drone entry or impact with the ground were reported. Also, civilians in northern Tulcea County, on the Romanian border with Ukraine, last night received a new RO-Alert message informing them about the possibility of falling objects and urging them to take protection measures. The alert was in place about 90 minutes. Recently, a Ukrainian maritime drone went off in the largest Romanian Black Sea port city, Constanta, where it damaged a berth. The drone had been allegedly hijacked by Russia. Another drone, this time a Russian one, fell on an apartment building in Gala\u021bi, a Romanian Danube port city, in an incident that left two people injured. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n IRAN The US president Donald Trump announced that an agreement will be signed today to end the war with Iran. However, the foreign ministry in Tehran hinted that the signing may take place in the coming days. Tehran claims the agreement would allow for frozen Iranian funds to be released and would end hostilities on all fronts, including the Israeli campaign in Lebanon. According to the US administration, the agreement would also allow for the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and would pave the way for the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear programme. The agreement is the result of almost three months of negotiations between the Trump administration and the regime in Tehran, brokered by Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, and could contribute to stabilising energy markets, so far affected by the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil passed before the conflict. The announcement has already triggered a significant drop in the oil prices in world stock exchanges. (AMP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NOMINATION The president of Romania, Nicu\u015for Dan, announced this morning that Eugen Tomac stepped down as prime minister designate and nominated the National Liberal Party senior vice-president Adrian Ve\u015ftea to replace him. The president voiced his confidence that Adrian Ve\u015ftea will successfully complete the mission entrusted to him. In turn, the new PM designate said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":731782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[29299,163509,152000,151444,144319,29492,192562,192532,158351,28905,192561],"coauthors":[116091],"class_list":["post-1028890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-agreement","tag-bolojan","tag-drone-2","tag-iran-2","tag-nicusor-dan-2","tag-pm-designate","tag-raid-en","tag-tomac","tag-trump-2","tag-ukraine","tag-vestea"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n