\n
<\/p>\n
KOVESI – The special
\ndepartment established to investigate magistrates in Bucharest has announced
\nthat the former chief-prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate,
\nLaura Codruta Kovesi, is being prosecuted for setting up an organized crime
\ngroup and for complicity in unfair repression. Kovesi is accused that over
\n2015-2016 she coordinated an organized crime group established by two
\nprosecutors and one judicial police officer, suspected of abusive prosecution,
\nunfair repression, decision influencing and misleading the judicial
\nauthorities. The former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate has
\nstated that all these accusations are mere fabrications, aimed at denigrating
\nher. Laura Codruta Kovesi has also been accused of official misconduct, perjury
\nand bribe taking. We recall that the former head of the National Anticorruption
\nDirectorate was sacked last summer. The Justice Minister Tudorel Toader accused
\nher, among other things, of defying Parliament’s authority and challenging the
\nRomanian Constitutional Court’s rulings. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EU PROSECUTOR – The European
\nParliament President Antonio Tajani has sent an official letter to the Romanian
\nMinister of European Affairs and acting president of the EU Council, George
\nCiamba, announcing him that Laura Codruta Kovesi is the European Parliament’s
\ncandidate for the office of European Chief Prosecutor. After the recent
\nhearings in the civil liberties and budgetary control committees of the European
\nParliament, Laura Codruta Kovesi has outranked her opponents Jean-Francois
\nBohnert of France and Andres Ritter of Germany. Previously, the Conference of
\nPresidents of the European Parliament had decided to support the nomination of
\nMs Kovesi for the office of chief prosecutor of the future European Public
\nProsecutor’s Office. The chief prosecutor will be appointed after negotiations
\nbetween the European Parliament and the Council of the member states, which
\nsupport the French candidate. The European Prosecutor’s Office, which would
\nbecome operational by the end of 2020, will be an independent body of the EU,
\nwhich will have the power to investigate and prosecute crimes affecting the EU
\nbudget. The chief-prosecutor will have a
\n7 term, which cannot be renewed. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BREXIT – British leaders have
\nrejected the EU’s proposal to allow the UK to unilaterally leave the customs
\nunion after Brexit, provided it preserveS a border free of control between
\nNorthern Ireland and the Republic. The leader of the House of Commons was
\ndeeply disappointed with the proposal and said she did not understand Brussels’
\ngame. The president of the Conservative Party has told the BBC that the
\nsolution proposed by the European negotiator compromises the country’s unity.
\nTalks on redefining the Brexit deal have reached a deadlock, less than three
\nweeks until the deadline set by the Cabinet headed by Theresa May. According to
\nthe Radio Romania correspondent in London, a new vote on the agreement is to be
\nheld on Tuesday, but several conservatives have already announced they will not
\nsupport the premier. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
MOLDOVA – The
\nConstitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova has confirmed the results of
\nFebruary 24th parliamentary elections and has validated the 101 mandates.
\nAlso, the Court has rejected the appeals made by the ACUM electoral bloc, which
\ncalled for the invalidation of the election and of the mandates of the deputies
\nelected in 5 precincts. In the future parliament, the pro-Russia socialists
\nheaded by the president Igor Dodon will have 35 seats, the ruling left of the
\ncenter Democratic Party 30, the opposition ACUM bloc 26, the populist Sor party
\n7 and 3 seats went to independent MPs. The Democratic Party has several times
\ninvited the ACUM bloc to negotiations for a parliamentary majority, but the
\nlatter declined. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
VISA – The EU
\nhas announced that as of 2021, the US citizens will need visas to travel to the
\nSchengen area. The Americans will need a valid passport, a credit or debit card
\nand an e-mail address in order to apply for an ETIAS (European Travel Informer
\nand Authorization System) visa. Minors will only need a passport and an ETIAS
\nregistration. Currently, the US citizens do not need a visa for stays shorter
\nthan 90 days in the Schengen area. Similar to other countries and regions in
\nthe world, Europe has recently decided to improve their security level to avoid
\nany further problems with illegal migration and terrorism reads the ETIAS
\nwebsite. In 2016, the EC published for the first time a report, in which it
\ncalled on the US to waver visas for five member countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus,
\nCroatia, Poland and Romania, because, according to the EU’s rules, all European
\ncitizens must benefit from the same treatment. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CAR-SCRAPPING – In Romania, the
\nscar-scrapping programmes have been changed. On Monday, the Government will
\ndiscuss a bill amending the emergency decree on approving the programme that
\nstimulates the purchase of new vehicles. The bill stipulates that, for the
\nvehicles that have an internal combustion engine, the purchase price cannot
\nexceed 50,000 RON (10,500 Euro), plus VAT. For hybrid vehicles, the purchase
\nprice cannot exceed 100,000 RON, plus VAT, and for electric and electric hybrid
\nvehicles, the price cannot exceed 150,000 RON plus VAT. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no.2 in
\nthe WTA rankings, is today playing against the Ukrainian Katerina Kozlova (no.
\n11 WTA) in the third round of the Indian Wells tournament, with 9 million
\ndollars in prize money. In the second round, Halep defeated the Czech Barbora
\nStrycova (no.50 WTA) 6-2, 6-4. Also today, in the doubles competition, the
\nRomanian – American team Monica Niculescu \/ Abigail Spears will play against
\nthe pair made up of the Canadian Gabriela Dabrowksi and Yifan Xu of China in
\nthe round of 16. In the men’s doubles, the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch
\nJean – Julien Rojer have qualified for the round of 16. In the next round,
\nTecau and Rojer will play against the 8th-seeds Henri Kontinen of
\nFinland\/John Peers of Australia.<\/p><\/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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n