ROMANIA-MONTENEGRO – Romania’s Prime Minister Viorica
\nDancila hailed progress reported by Montenegro in the negotiation process with
\nthe EU at the end of a meeting she had in Bucharest with her Montenegrin
\ncounterpart, Dusko Markovic. Dancila reiterated Bucharest’s commitment to
\ncontinue to support the EU enlargement process based on individual merit. The
\nagenda for talks included defense cooperation at NATO level, energy security in
\nthe region and agriculture. The Romanian Prime Minister said a
\nRomania-Montenegro business forum will be held later this year. In turn, Prime
\nMinister Dusko Markovic said Romania is not just a friend, but a partner for
\nMontenegro, able to help based on its experience as EU member. Also today, Dusko Markovic will meet President
\nKlaus Iohannis. <\/p>\n
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JUDICIARY -
\nThe College of EU Commissioners is today discussing the rule of law in Romania.
\nThe Commission has repeatedly expressed concern over the latest developments
\ntied to the rule of law in Romania. The Commission believes both the content
\nand the procedures used to operate recent changes in the field, by using
\nemergency decrees and without consulting stakeholders, go against the
\nrecommendations issued under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which
\nhas been monitoring Romania’s progress in reforming its judiciary and combating
\ncorruption since its EU accession in 2007. <\/p>\n
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NATO
\n– Romania’s Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Wednesday and Thursday is
\ntaking part in the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting held in Washington. The event
\nis symbolic, marking 70 years since NATO was founded. A joint Declaration will
\nbe adopted at the end of the meeting. The North-Atlantic Treaty was signed in
\nWashington on April 4, 1949 by the United States, Canada and 10 European
\nstates. NATO currently comprises 29 states from Europe and North America.
\nRomania joined NATO in 2004. <\/p>\n
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CONFERENCE -
\nRomanian Minister for Tourism, Bogdan Gheorghe Trif is in Bucharest today
\nattending the conference titled Sustainable Tourism – Common Policies of EU
\nMember States, organized on the sidelines of the Romanian Presidency of the
\nCouncil of the EU. Attending are experts from European institutions and travel
\nspecialists from EU member states. The Romanian Presidency’s priorities in the
\nfield are digitizing the sector, collaborative economy (sharing physical and
\nhuman resources) and the sustainable development of tourism at EU level. <\/p>\n
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INVESTIGATION -
\nThe Social-Democratic Party’s treasurer, Mircea Draghici, has challenged the
\ndecree whereby the National Anticorruption Directorate is investigating him in
\na case linked to spending subsidized party funds, claiming the case lacks any
\nlegal basis. Prosecutors say Draghici was tasked with managing the party’s
\nassets and funds and had allegedly pocketed 380 thousand euros pursuant to
\nsigning a real estate rental contract. The subsidized money was given to
\nDraghici to cover the partial payment accounting for two thirds of a
\nbuilding. <\/p>\n
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FUNDS -
\nThe European Investment Fund (EIF) today signed four financing agreements with
\nRomania, whereby granting Bucharest over 170 million euros for the development
\nof SMEs as well as to be able to provide loans for students who want to further
\ntheir studies abroad. Some 450 students will benefit from advantageous loans to
\nstudy in another EU country, such as Iceland, Lichtenstein, North Macedonia,
\nNorway and Turkey. Under the new agreements, a total of 3,000 SMEs will benefit
\nfrom improved terms for financing. EIF is part of the Group of the European
\nInvestment Bank, its main mission being to support European SMEs by
\nfacilitating their access to financing. <\/p>\n
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MOTION -
\nThe simple motion filed by the Liberal Party and the People’s Movement Party in
\nopposition against Transport Minister Razvan Cuc was today debated and rejected
\nby the Chamber of Deputies. The two parties called on Minister Cuc to step
\ndown, saying that the ruling coalition has pledged to build 350 kilometers of
\nmotorway by 2020, of which only 58 kilometers have been completed in the year
\nand three months that have since passed. The two parties also said that in
\nspite of the EU funds specially allotted for large infrastructure projects,
\nonly four financing requests have been submitted in nearly five years. The
\nopposition also claimed the situation spells disaster in terms of rail
\ninfrastructure, while the national airliner Tarom is on the verge of
\nbankruptcy. <\/p>\n
TENNIS -
\nRomanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu (30 WTA) is today playing Lauren
\nDavis of the United States (184 WTA) in the second round of the WTA tournament
\nin Charleston, South Carolina, totaling 800,000 dollars in prize money. This
\nwill be the first direct match between the two players. Buzarnescu previously
\nousted Poland’s Magdalena Frech (182 WTA) in the first round at Charleston.
(translated by V. Palcu)<\/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":[30145,34632,34636,28952,34635,34634,32505,34631,32354,34633],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-charleston","tag-college-of-commissioners","tag-eif","tag-investigation","tag-mircea-draghici","tag-nato-cooperation","tag-razvan-cuc","tag-romania-montenegro-relations","tag-rule-of-law","tag-tourism-conference"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n