NEGOTIATIONS – Negotiations between the
\nBucharest metro trade unions and the management are due to continue, following
\na warning strike on Thursday morning. The metro employees threaten to go on a
\ngeneral strike beginning on the 19th of November. They demand a 42%
\nsalary increase, but were only offered an 18% increase by the management.
\nAccording to the transport minister Lucian Sova, the salaries of metro
\nemployees have grown every year in the last four years, the last time by 21%
\nlast year. 700,000 people use the Bucharest metro every day. <\/p>\n
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PRESIDENCY – Romania is ready to take over and successfully carry
\nout its term as holder of the EU Council presidency in the first part of next
\nyear, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has again given assurances. The events
\ntimetable has been finalized and all working mechanisms have been created. We
\nhave the capacity to show our European partners that Romania is a balanced and
\nresponsible member state, determined to contribute to the future of the
\nEuropean Union, regardless of the purely political considerations at one time
\nor another, the Romanian prime minister also said. Tuesday’s vote in the
\nEuropean Parliament is one such example and I assure you that it will not make us
\nstray from our objectives, said Dancila. She added that she was disappointed
\nwith the conclusions of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report,
\ngiven that Romania has proved to be a loyal and fair partner of the European
\nUnion. We recall that European Parliament’s resolution and the aforementioned
\nreport are critical of the changes to the justice laws made by the ruling
\ncoalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals
\nand Democrats.<\/p>\n
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BREXIT – The foreign ministry in Bucharest
\nwelcomes the fact that Brussels’ and London’s negotiators have arrived at a
\nfinal version of the text of UK’s EU withdrawal agreement. This marks an
\nimportant moment in the negotiation process and paves the way for defining a
\nclose and strong future relationship between the EU and London, which is
\nRomania’s strategic objective, given the bilateral strategic partnership and
\nthe close security cooperation, which is important to maintain in the context
\nof the developments in the eastern neighborhood, where Romania and Great
\nBritain share a common objective, reads a press release from the Romanian
\nforeign ministry. The withdrawal agreement will guarantee the protection of the
\nrights of all Romanian citizens who settle in Great Britain before 31st December
\n2020. They will be able to continue to work, live and study in Britain after
\nobtaining a settled status, the ministry also says. <\/p>\n
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SIF – The Government on Thursday passed an emergency decree setting
\nup the Sovereign Investment Fund. The Fund is aimed at developing and helping
\nbuild profitable businesses in priority fields for the Romanian state, either
\nstandalone or jointly with external investors or other investment funds.
\nStipulated in the 2017-2020 governing platform and drawing on experience of
\nstates such as France, Norway, Poland or Italy, the Sovereign Fund will
\ncomprise profitable Romanian state-owned companies with a joint capital of some 2 billion euros. <\/p>\n
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SURVEY – Over 60% of Romanians have contracted loans while 37% of
\nthem have monthly expenses tantamount to their revenue, reads a survey on
\nRomanians’ financial habits released on Thursday. As regards loans, 83% of
\nRomanians trust the banking system, saying they would take out a loan from a
\nbank if they needed money. Additionally, 70% of Romanians who took out loans to
\nfinance a previous debt say their situation will improve in the future. 45% of
\nRomanians have no family savings and the little they put on the side is
\ndestined for emergency situations. <\/p>\n
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EXERCISE – Some 1,800 Romanian and foreign military backed by 250
\npieces of technical equipment are taking part in the Scorpions Fury multinational exercise under way at the shooting
\nrange in Cincu, central Romania until the 16th of November. The aim
\nis to evaluate the capacity of the Headquarters Multinational
\nBrigade South East in Craiova, in the south, to ensure the command and control
\nof a NATO collective defense operation. The military carry out both
\ncomputer-assisted command exercises and field training and tactical combat
\nshooting exercises. Turkish, Polish, Bulgarian, Italian and Portuguese as well
\nas Romanian military are taking part. <\/p>\n
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MEETING – Romania’s Interior Minister Carmen Dan on Thursday met in Budapest
\nwith Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister for National Security Sandor Pinter. The
\nagenda for talks focused on bilateral and regional cooperation and the upcoming
\nagenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, ahead of Romania’s
\ntaking over the EU Council presidency in the first half of 2019. Minister Dan
\npresented the priorities of Romania’s term in office ahead of the council
\nmeeting, with complex topics outside internal security, border crossing
\nmanagement and civil protection. Attending were also the heads of the Romanian
\nPolice and the Romanian Border Police. <\/p>\n
COMMITTEE – Members of the Romanian-Moldovan inter-Government
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RADIRO – Starting November 18
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MEDAL – Romanian Stefania Claudia Priceputu on Thursday scooped
(Translated by C. Mateescu & V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here<\/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":[14005,33244,33090,34209,29361,30479,34210,34207,29682,33035],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-brexit","tag-carmen-dan","tag-eu-council-presidency","tag-metro-negotiations","tag-military-exercise","tag-radiro","tag-romania-moldova-cooperation","tag-sovereign-investment-fund","tag-survey","tag-viorica-dancila"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\ncommittee for economic cooperation on Thursday signed a cooperation protocol in
\nseveral fields. The document was signed by Moldovan Minister of Economy and
\nInfrastructure, Chiril Gaburici, and Romania’s Minister for the Business
\nEnvironment, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Stefan Radu Oprea. Moldova will
\ncooperate with Romania in the field of economy, SMEs, and connecting certain
\ntowns and villages in Moldova to Romania’s drinking water grid. Additional
\ncross-border projects were discussed, such as the Romanian Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and
\nExtrication (SMURD) and the bridge over the river Prut. Moldova’s energy issues
\nwere also tackled during the meeting. Minister Oprea reiterated Romania’s
\nsupport for Moldova’s European accession. The next inter-government committee
\nmeeting is slated for June 2019 in Bucharest. <\/p>\n
\n
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\nBucharest plays host to one of the most important music events of the year: the
\nInternational Radio Orchestras Festival – RaDiRo. The festival marks 90 years
\nsince the public radio was founded and 100 years since the Great Union. The
\nRadio Concert Hall and the Auditorium Hall of the Fine Arts Museum will host 8
\nsymphonic concerts and 4 jazz concerts. This year’s guests include pianist
\nMihai Ritivoiu and cellist Andrei Ionita, alongside the famous vocalist Aura
\nUrziceanu. Europe’s oldest radio
\norchestra, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra from Germany, will return to
\nRomania this year along with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra of Great Britain,
\nSvizzera italiana – Lugano of Switzerland and RTE National Symphony Orchestra
\nfrom Ireland. All concerts are broadcast live on Radio Romania and the Romanian
\nTelevision Corporation, as well as members of the European Radio Broadcasting
\nUnion. <\/p>\n
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\nbronze in the 50-kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships
\nunderway in Bucharest. In the bronze final the Romanian defeated Lisa Ersel of
\nGermany. Romania so far has won another two medals: Mihai Radu Mihut won bronze
\nin the 63-kg Greek-Roman event, while Nicu Ojog won the silver medal in the
\n82-kg category. Also worth mentioning is that Romania will win either silver or
\ngold after Alexandra Anghel has qualified in the 72-kg category final, where
\nshe will take on Turkey’s Buse Tosun. A total of 30 athletes represent Romania
\nin this year’s edition. <\/p>\n
\n
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