GOVERNMENT – The prime
\nminister designate Ludovic Orban continues talks with the parliamentary parties
\nthat backed the no-confidence vote against the Social Democrat government in
\norder to secure enough votes for a new cabinet, namely 233 out of a total of
\n465. Consultations were held on Thursday with the Alliance of Liberals and
\nDemocrats, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and Pro Romania
\nParty and on Friday Orban will meet with Save Romania Union. The MPs
\nrepresenting the group of ethnic minorities have already said they will support
\na possible Orban cabinet. Talks were held on Wednesday with the People’s
\nMovement party, which Orban described as encouraging, saying the possibility
\nwas also discussed for this party to be in the government. Ludovic Orban must
\npresent the structure of his cabinet and the proposals for ministers by next
\nweek. The Social Democrats have said they will not be in Parliament to ensure
\nquorum when the voting on the new government takes place. <\/p>\n
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EUROPEAN COUNCIL
\n– The president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday said
\nthat a new deal on the UK’s exit from the European Union was reached after
\nintense talks. The announcement was made a few hours before the start of the
\nEuropean Council summit in Brussels. Attending the meeting, President Klaus
\nIohannis said nothing will change regarding the Romanians living in the UK,
\nexpressing hope the European Council will adopt the document. The President met
\nwith President Elect Ursula von der Leyen, discussing the appointment of a new
\nRomanian Commissioner. Previously Iohannis was adamant about nominating a
\nproposal of the outgoing Dancila Cabinet. We recall the European Parliament has
\npostponed a vote on the validation of the future European Commission scheduled
\nfor October 23, considering that the candidates of Romania, Hungary and France
\ndid not get through the validation process. Rovana Plumb and Laszlo Trocsanyi,
\nthe proposals of Romania and Hungary, were ruled out over suspicion linked to
\npossible conflicts of interest, while France’s Sylvie Goulard’s candidacy was
\nrejected on ethical grounds. Apart from Brexit, the summit also looks at the
\nrelationship with Turkey following the latest developments in Syria and the
\nEuropean Union’s multiannual budget. EU leaders also discussed ways to combat
\nclimate change, which is a priority for the next European Commission, and EU
\nenlargement.<\/p>\n
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EPPO – European
\nCommissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourova, on
\nThursday hailed the confirmation of the former chief of the National
\nAnti-corruption Directorate in Romania Laura Codru\u0163a K\u00f6vesi at the helm of the
\nEuropean Public Prosecutor’s Office, expressing hope Kovesi will do a great job
\nat protecting the EU’s financial interests. Jourova went on to say that the EU
\nis losing at least 50 billion euros in VAT-related fraud every year, which is
\nsomething the EPPO will investigate. Kovesi was confirmed as European chief
\nprosecutor by the Conference of Presidents in the European Parliament formed by
\nthe leaders of the different parliamentary groups and the speaker of the
\nEuropean Parliament. This was the last official step in the appointment
\nprocedure, with the European Parliament saying in a statement that K\u00f6vesi can
\nnow start her 7-year mandate as head of the European Public Prosecutor’s
\nOffice. This is an independent body responsible for investigating and indicting
\ncrimes against the European Union’s financial interests. Laura Codru\u0163a K\u00f6vesi
\nis the first person to occupy this position, which she has secured despite the
\nopposition of Romania’s acting Social Democrat government.<\/p>\n
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NATO – Mircea Geoana
\non Thursday started his mandate as Deputy Secretary General of NATO, the
\nhighest position ever held by a Romanian in NATO. Geoana was appointed earlier
\nthis year by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The Romanian will replace Rose
\nGottemoeller of the United States, herself the first woman to occupy such a
\nhigh rank in NATO. Mircea Geoana is the founder and president of the Aspen Romania
\nInstitute. He was previously Senate Speaker, Foreign Minister and US Ambassador
\nin the US. <\/p>\n
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EXERCISE – A three-day
\nexercise carried out in the Serpents Island area and the Black Sea
\ninternational waters came to an end on Thursday. Romania has taken part with
\nthe navy corvette Counter admiral Horia Macellariu, alongside Ukraine’s missile
\nboat Pryluky and the US destroyer USS Porter. According to the General Staff of
\nthe Romanian Navy, the exercise helps consolidate the partnership between
\nUkraine and the NATO member states in the area of naval forces. Its aim is to
\nachieve the interoperability of the different crews at tactical level at NATO
\nstandards with respect to the fight against security threats.<\/p>\n
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TENNIS – Romanian
\ntennis player Marius Copil, 92 ATP, on Thursday advanced to the quarterfinals
\nof the ATP tournament in Antwerp, Belgium, totaling over 635 thousand dollars
\nin prize money. Copil ousted Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, the
\ncompetition’s third-seed and no. 15 ATP. Schwartzman had previously won a
\nsingle time against Copil, this year at Acapulco. In the next round Copil will play
\nthe winner of the match pitting Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay (45 ATP) against Andy
\nMurray of Britain (243 ATP) <\/p>\n
(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":[31801,29654,35120,29799,30530,34885,13794,31525],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-eppo","tag-european-council-meeting","tag-government-negotiations","tag-laura-codruta-kovesi","tag-marius-copil","tag-mircea-geoana","tag-nato","tag-orban"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n