EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The
\nEuropean Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs has approved the candidacies of
\nthe commissioners designated by France, Romania and Hungary. In a special
\nsession on Tuesday, the Committee analyzed any potential or real conflicts of
\ninterest in each of the case. After getting the endorsement of the Legal
\nAffairs Committee, the three candidates, Thierry Breton, Adina Valean and
\nOliver Varhelyi, will be heard by the specialized committees on Thursday. Once
\nthe hearings completed, the EC President Elect Ursula von der Leyen will
\npresent the list of designated commissioners and the program of the Commission
\nduring a plenary session on November 27. Also on Tuesday, Adina Valean has been
\nheard by the joint European Affairs Committees of the Romanian Parliament,
\nwhose role is advisory. She has announced that, as a European Commissioner, she
\nwill keep supporting the mechanisms for interconnection, by means of which 1.24
\nbillion Euro have been invested in the Romanian transport infrastructure, and
\nanother 500 million in the energy infrastructure. The mechanism is aimed at
\ninterconnecting the EU’s transport, energy and telecommunication grids. <\/p>\n
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – The
\nleaders of the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, whose
\ncandidates will run in the second round of the presidential elections in
\nRomania, on November 24, met on Tuesday to discuss their campaign strategies.
\nIn the first round, the current president Klaus Iohannis, supported by the
\nLiberals, got 37.5% of the votes, and the head of the Social Democratic Party,
\nViorica Dancila, got approximately 23%. Viorica Dancila said she wants a public
\ndebate head-to-head with Klaus Iohannis. The latter has dismissed the idea of a
\ndebate with Viorica Dancila, whom he considers the candidate of an unreformed
\nparty that tranmpled the rule of law and sidetracked Romania’s pro-European
\nprojects. At the end of Tuesday’s meeting of the Socialist Party Executive Committee, Viorica Dancila said former Justice Minister Ana Birchall and Cozmin Gusa, as well as all MPs who voted the investiture of the Orban Cabinet, have been excluded from the party ranks. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA – Romania’s President
\nKlaus Iohannis believes the collapse of Maia Sandu’s Cabinet in the Republic of
\nMoldova at a very important time for the reform of the judiciary goes against
\nthe country’s medium- and long-term interests. According to a Presidency
\nrelease, the Romanian President warned that in the current context, Romania’s
\nsupport, including its financial assistance, will be strictly dependent on the
\ncontinuation of key reforms for the democratic development of the Republic of
\nMoldova and its European track. In turn, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban believes
\nthe decision to dismiss Maia Sandu’s Cabinet by means of a no-confidence motion
\nraises many questions as to the subsequent evolution of this country. Prime
\nMinister Orban warned that the chances of the Romanian Government cooperating
\nwith a Moldovan Government that offers no real guarantees in defense of a
\ngenuine democracy are very slim. Invested 5 months ago, Maia Sandu’s pro-western
\nGovernment did not survive Tuesday’s no-confidence motion in Parliament, filed
\nby the pro-Russian Socialist Party and the Democratic Party. The motion was
\nfiled last week by the Socialist Party, a junior coalition party, after the
\nGovernment pledged to modify the procedure for appointing the prosecutor
\ngeneral. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini,
\nreiterated that the EU’s relations with Moldova will continue to rely on the
\nobservance of the rule of law and democratic standards. <\/p>\n
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RADET – Bucharest’s heating
\nsupplier RADET has officially gone bankrupt, following a final ruling by the
\nBucharest Court of Appeal, but the municipality and representatives of ELCEN,
\nthe company that produces heat and hot water for the centralized system, has
\nassured the citizens of Bucharest that they will not be affected by this
\nsituation. The company that provides heating in the capital has been under
\ninsolvency for three years, and the causes that have led to the current
\nsituation are many. Among them, the huge debt, of more than 840 million Euro,
\nto the producer ELCEN, the state not paying the due subsidies and also the old
\ninstallations owned by RADET.<\/p>\n
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INFLATION – The annual rate of
\ninflation in Romania dropped in October to 3.4%, from 3.5% in September,
\nagainst the background of an increase in the prices of non-food products and
\nservices. The National Bank has decreased to 3.8% the inflation forecast for
\nthe end of this year and it estimates an inflation rate of 3.1% next year. The
\nInternational Monetary Fund has revised upwards the forecasts regarding
\nconsumption prices in Romania this year, up to an average annual increase of
\n4.2%, as to the 3.3% estimated in spring.<\/p>\n
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(Translated by M. Ignatescu & V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/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":[35173,35180,35172,28945,29570,29284,31116,35181,33035],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-adina-valean","tag-european-parliament-hearings","tag-inflation-forecast","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-moldovan-government","tag-no-confidence-motion","tag-presidential-election","tag-radet","tag-viorica-dancila"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n