PRESIDENTIAL DECREES – On
ANAF – On Thursday, the Romanian
JUDGE PANELS – Following a public
EU COUNCIL – A Europe of
TRAFFIC – Some two million people
AUTOMOTIVE – Registrations
LOAN – In 2019 Romania needs to
MUSIC – From January 6th
TENNIS – The matches that
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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThursday, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis signed the decrees acknowledging
\nthe vacancies in the Government created by the resignation of the Regional
\nDevelopment Minister Paul Stanescu and of the Transport Minister Lucian Sova.
\nPrime Minister Viorica Dancila announced two days ago that the president had
\ninformed her he would not accept the nominations of Lia Olguta Vasilescu and
\nMihai Dragici at the helm of the two ministries respectively. We recall that in
\nlate November, Klaus Iohannis accepted six proposals for new ministers made by
\nthe prime-minister for the defense, labor, economy, culture, communications and
\nyouth ministries. On December 7th, the prime-minister announced that the
\nGovernment informed the Constitutional Court of Romania that the president had
\nnot made a decision regarding the appointment of the new ministers of transport
\nand regional development. The Court ruled that, in order for the conflict to be
\nresolved, the president had to immediately issue the decrees acknowledging the
\nvacancies and to respond in writing to the proposals made by the PM. <\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nPM Viorica Dancila signed the decision to appoint Mihaela Triculescu, an
\neconomist with over 19 year experience in the private sector, as president of
\nthe National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), with the rank of State
\nSecretary. On Thursday, the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici announced he had
\ncalled on the PM to sack the president of ANAF, Ionut Misa, saying hat the
\ninstitution ‘must radically change its behavior in the economy’. According to
\npolitical sources, Ionut Misa was blamed for poor collection of taxes, though
\nhe claimed ANAF registered the biggest volume of tax collections in history. <\/strong><\/p>\n
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\ndrawing of lots, on Thursday, the High Court of Cassation and Justice in
\nBucharest designated members of the
\npanels of five judges for 2019. Last year, following a decision of the
\nConstitutional Court which declared illegal the 5-judge panels set up at the
\nHigh Court of Cassation, tens of appeals for annulment were filed. Definitive
\nsentences of 3 up to 6 years in prison were suspended and convicts were freed.
\nReleased from prison were, among others, the former Social Democratic senator
\nDan Sova, who received a 3-year definitive sentence for influence peddling,
\nanother former Social Democratic minister Constantin Nita who was serving a
\n4-year sentence for bribe taking, businessman Horia Simu, sentenced to
\n4-year-imprisonment for buying influence, and the former president of the
\nRomanian Boxing Federation Rudel Obreja, sentenced to 5 years in prison. Also,
\nthe sentences of the former minister of the Liberal Democratic Party Elena
\nUdrea and of the former chief of the Directorate for Investigating Organized
\nCrime and Terrorism, Alina Bica, were suspended. In their case, the extradition
\nrequests sent to Costa Rica, where the two women had been arrested, were also
\nwithdrawn.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nconvergence, a Europe of safety, Europe as a global actor and a Europe of
\ncommon values are the pillars of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council. On
\nJanuary 1, Romania took over the 6-month rotating presidency of the EU Council.
\nDuring this period it will have to deal with difficult files such as Brexit,
\nthe multi-annual budget for the 2021-2027 period and a coherent strategy on
\nmigration. Last week, the official site of Romania’s presidency of the EU
\nCouncil was launched. The webpage rom\u00e2nia2019.eu, available in Romanian,
\nEnglish and French, includes useful information for journalists, the public at
\nlarge and the experts in European affairs.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\ncrossed Romania’s borders between the 21st of December 2018 and January 2nd
\n2019. The traffic increased by 13% as compared to a regular period. The most
\ntransited border crossing point was the one on the Nadlac – Arad motorway, in
\nthe West, where 262,000 people crossed the border. According to the
\nauthorities, many of the Romanians who are working and living abroad came to
\nRomania to spend the winter holidays and are now returning to their homes
\nabroad. The border police estimate an increase in the traffic of people and
\ngoods across the borders in the west of the country. <\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nof new Romanian Dacia cars in France increased in 2018 by more than 19%, reaching
\n140,326 cars as compared to 117,865 cars in 2017, according to data published
\nby the French Automobile Manufacturers’ Committee. France remains the 3rd largest
\nautomobile market in the EU, after Germany and Great Britain and ahead of Italy
\nand Spain. Dacia company was taken over by Renault in 1999. Re-launched in 2004
\nwith the Logan model, Dacia company became an important player on the European automotive
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\npay 1.04 billion Euros to the EU and the WB from a stand-by agreement concluded
\nin 2009, after in 2018 the amount to be reimbursed stood at 1.4 billion Euros,
\nshow data published by the Finance Ministry. Romania has to reimburse to the EU
\nand the WB a total amount of more than 2 billion Euros from an aid package
\nworth 19.95 billion Euros agreed upon 10 years ago with the IMF, the EU and the
\nWB. The last installment amounting to 402.9 million Euros will have to be paid
\nout in 2023. <\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nto 16th, the National Symphony Orchestra of Romania, conducted by
\nCristian Macelaru, will go on their first tour of the US. The program includes
\n7 concerts to be given in Palm Beach, Miami, Fort Myers, Detroit and New
\nJersey. The concert at the Lincoln Center in New York will feature, as special
\nguest, the great trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Romania’s National Symphony
\nOrchestra is made up of the most prominent graduates of the National Youth
\nOrchestras. They have given concerts both in Romania and abroad in such cities
\nas Linz, Salzburg, Chisinau, Geneva, Paris, Lyon and Brussels.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nhad to be played by Romanians Sorana Cirstea and Monica Niculescu on Thursday
\nin the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament of Shenzhen, China were postponed
\ndue to the rain. Sorana Cirstea (87 WTA) will take on the American player
\nAlison Riske (62 WTA) and Monica Niculescu (99WTA) will play against the
\nChinese Yafan Wang (70 WTA). The tournament has prizes worth 750,000 dollars.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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