EU<\/strong> – The Romanian Economy Minister,
<\/p>\n
JUDICIARY<\/strong> – The High Court of Cassation
<\/p>\n
FOREIGN AFFAIRS<\/strong> – The Romanian Foreign Minister
<\/p>\n
STATISTICS<\/strong> – 1.6% of Romanian employees
<\/p>\n
FLU – In Romania, the number of
<\/p>\n
NAVY – The Lieutenant Lupu Dinescu minesweeper on Sunday left
<\/p>\n
PIPELINE – Construction works for phase
<\/p>\n
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep
(Translated by Ana-Maria Popescu
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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":[29120,34411,34512,34514,29080,34513,34088,34515,31448],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-eu","tag-flu-epidemic","tag-high-court-in-bucharest","tag-iasi-ungheni-chisinau-pipeline","tag-liviu-dragnea","tag-romanian-navy-and-nato","tag-romanian-presidency-of-the-eu-council","tag-tennis-tournament-in-dubai","tag-teodor-melescanu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nNiculae B\u0103d\u0103l\u0103u, on Monday chaired in Brussels the first meeting of the
\ninternal market and industry section of the Competitiveness Council (COMPET),
\nunder the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. The agenda of the
\nCouncil meeting included talks on competitiveness, artificial intelligence and
\nits impact on EU industry and the Commission’s communication A Clean Planet
\nfor all: A European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern,
\ncompetitive and climate-neutral economy. Moreover the Council also adopted the
\nconclusions on the Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence, which is part
\nof a Coordinated Plan on the Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence
\nMade in Europe. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nand Justice has once again postponed, to March 18, the appeal filed by the
\nSocial Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea against a 3-and-a-half-year prison
\nsentence he had received from the court of first instance in a
\ncorruption-related case. In June 2018, the Supreme Court sentenced Dragnea for
\ninstigating abuse of office, in a case involving the fictitious employment of 2
\nindividuals who were on the payroll of the Teleorman Directorate General for
\nSocial Assistance and Child Protection, but who actually worked exclusively for
\nthe Social Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea, who was the head of the County
\nCouncil at the time, was accused of having ordered the hiring. He claims to be
\ninnocent and has appealed the initial ruling, but the trial has been repeatedly
\npostponed, amid controversies regarding the membership of the 5-judge panels at
\nthe Supreme Court. In 2016, Dragnea also received a suspended 2-year prison sentence
\nfor attempted election fraud, but last summer the Supreme Court reversed the
\ndecision to suspend his sentence.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nTeodor Mele\u015fcanu on Monday attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in
\nBrussels. The agenda included the developments in Ukraine and Syria. According
\nto Minister Melescanu, concerning Syria, everyone agreed that the EU needs to
\nget more involved in finding a political solution to the crisis in this
\ncountry, considering the impact the crisis is having on the EU, especially in
\nterms of migration and the return of military combatants from Syria. As regards
\nUkraine, Teodor Melescanu said it is important the Council sends a clear
\nmessage of support by means of its resolutions that should focus on the
\nobservance of Ukraine’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. Moreover,
\nthe Romanian official said the best solution after the election in Moldova
\nwould be a pro-European Parliament majority that should continue its EU
\naccession path. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nwere working in culture-related fields in 2017, as against the 3.8% the EU
\naverage, according to data made public by the European Statistics Bureau,
\nEurostat, on Monday. Around 8.7 million EU citizens were working in culture-related
\nfields or had professions in this field. The highest rates were reported in
\nEstonia (5.5%) and Sweden (4.8%). According to Eurostat, in 2017 EU households
\nallotted an average 8.5% of their total expenses to entertainment and culture,
\nwith Denmark and Sweden spending as much as 11.5% and 11% respectively,
\ncompared to Greece with 4.6% and Romania with 5.8%. The total expenses for
\nentertainment and culture across the EU in 2017 reached 710 billion euros,
\naccounting for 4.6% of the Union’s GDP.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ndeaths caused by the flu has reached 131. According to the National Centre for
\nInfectious Disease Monitoring and Control, the last victims are a woman and 2
\nmen. They had previous conditions and had not been immunized against the flu.
\nRomania is currently struggling with a flu epidemic.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nthe port of Constanta to join the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group. The
\nmission is aimed at carrying out specific actions in the Black Sea to ensure
\nNATO’s collective defense on its eastern flank. Taking part are vessels from
\nBulgaria, Germany, Spain and Turkey. The Group will also take part in the
\nPoseidon 19 Romanian-Bulgaria bilateral exercise. The crew of the Romanian
\nminesweeper comprises 78 military. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nII of the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau pipeline kicked off on Monday, the Romanian
\nMinistry of the Economy reports. The project is proof of Romania’s support for
\nthe Republic of Moldova and of its efforts to consolidate energy security and
\nintegration on the European single energy market. The first phase of the
\npipeline was inaugurated in 2014 and can carry some 1,5 billion cubic meters of
\nnatural gas. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nis as of Monday world number 2 in WTA standings. She will play Eugenie Bouchard
\nof Canada in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,
\ntotaling 2.8 million dollars in prize money. Also on Monday, the pair made up
\nof Irina Bara of Romania and Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia advanced to the round
\nof 32 in the doubles competition, after easing past Belinda Bencic of
\nSwitzerland and Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 2-6, 6-4, 11-0. They will next play
\nAnna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands, seeded 8th
\nin the competition, who ousted Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania and Alicja
\nRosolska of Poland. Mihaela Buzarnescu on Monday also lost to Sofia Kenin of
\nthe United States in the singles competition, 6-3, 6-nil.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n& V. Palcu)<\/p>\n