GRECO Romania has made little progress to put in place measures to
\nprevent corruption among parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors and to
\naddress the concerns raised by its controversial judicial reform says the
\nCouncil of Europe’s anti-corruption institution GRECO in two reports that it
\nhas published today. GRECO is deeply concerned
\nby the fact that the authorities have disregarded the recommendation to abandon
\nthe setting-up of the section for the investigation of the offences in the
\njudiciary. On the other hand GRECO hails the announcement made by Prime
\nMinister Dancila regarding the intention to give up the controversial justice
\nreforms. GRECO decides to continue to evaluate Romania’s complying with the
\nrecommendations included in the two reports and has called on the authorities
\nto report back on the progress achieved by June 30th 2020. <\/p>\n
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PSD
\nLeaders of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main component of the ruling
\ncoalition in Bucharest have today begun talks about government reshuffle. These
\ntalks might take several weeks, during which the activity of ministries is to
\nbe assessed – the party’s new leader, Viorica Dancila, has announced. After the
\nassessment, the Social Democrats will decide which ministers should be
\nreplaced. According to the Prime Minister, the PSD candidate to the
\npresidential election this autumn will be established based on a poll in the
\nfirst half of August. We recall that Prime Minister Dancila went to the helm of
\nthe party after the coalition’s strongman Liviu Dragnea had been arrested on
\ncorruption charges. We recall that the PSD also lost the European Parliament
\nelection to the opposition National Liberal Party while its partner ALDE failed
\nto clear the 5% threshold. <\/p>\n
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TENNIS Romanian
\ntennis player Simona Halep, currently ranking 7th in the world standings, will
\nbe up against Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon
\ntournament, the third Grand Slam competition of the year. On Monday, Halep
\noutperformed the tournamnet’s revelation, 15-year-old US challenger Cori Gauff.
\nHalep’s best Wimbeldon performance was in 2014, when she made it to the
\nsemifinals. Also today, Romanians Irina Begu and Monica Niculescu are playing
\nagainst Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. In
\nthe men’s double, Horia Tecau of Romania and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien
\nRojer will be taking on Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Columbia in
\nthe quarter finals. We recall that Tecau and Rojer won the tournament in 2015. <\/p>\n
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FOOTBALL Romania’s football champions, CFR Cluj will today be playing FC
\nAstana of Kazakhstan in an away game counting towards the first preliminary round
\nof the Champions League. On Thursday in the first preliminary round of the
\nEuropa League, FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, will be up against
\nMilsami Orhei of the neighboring Republic of Moldova in a home match, while CSU
\nCraiova will be playing in an away fixture FK Sabail of Azerbaijan. The return
\ngames are due next week. Romanian Cup holder, Viitorul Constanta, will be
\nplaying directly in the Europa League’s second preliminary round against
\nBelgian side FC Anvers, coached by former Romanian international Ladislau
\nBoloni. <\/p>\n
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PROSECUTOR The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet,
\nRomanian-speaking country might today launch procedures to revoke its chief
\nprosecutor Eduard Harujen, accused of having carried out the political orders
\nof the former government. Appointed in 2006, the former chief prosecutor
\nprosecuted political files upon requests coming from the country’s former
\nruling Democratic Party headed by the controversial tycoon Vladimir Plahotniuc.
\nThe country’s new Prime Minister Maia Sandu has announced she would like a
\nEuropean Prosecutor to take over Harujen’s job adding that she has conveyed an
\ninvitation in this respect to the former head of Romania’s Anti-corruption
\nDirectorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi. However, the country’s pro-Russia president
\nSocialist Igor Dodon is not comfortable with the idea of having a European
\nprosecutor in Chisinau. We recall that Kovesi is presently running against
\nFrench Jean-Francoise Bohnert for the position of chief of the future European
\nProsecutor’s Office, which might become operational next year. <\/p>\n
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PROPOSAL Romania’s Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has proposed the former
\nMEP Social-Democrat Ioan Mircea Pascu for the position of interim commissioner
\nfor regional policies to replace Corina Cretu, who was elected MEP on May 26th.
\nThe move comes after the EU Council has rejected a proposal by the head of the EU
\nExecutive Jean Claude Juncker that other commissioners should take over positions
\nleft vacant after the elections for the next four months that remained from the
\nmandate of the present commissioners. The main argument invoked by the European
\nCommission was that referring to budget expenses. ‘We regret the Council’s
\ndecision not to accept the proposal, but the responsibility on this is now
\nentirely with the Council’, a spokesperson for the Executive told our
\ncorrespondent in Brussels. A veteran leftist politician who got involved in the
\ncountry’s political life shortly after the anti-communist revolution of 1989,
\nPascu, 70, was Defence Minister in 2004 the year of Romania’s entry into NATO
\nand an MEP when the country joined the European Union in 2007. <\/p>\n
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(translated by bill)<\/p>\n
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