NOMINATION – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on
\nThursday designated Liberal Ludovic Orban as Prime Minister following
\nconsultations with parliamentary parties. The previous Orban Cabinet was
\nremoved from office on Wednesday after it did not survive a censure motion
\nfiled by the Social-Democratic Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic
\nHungarians. The motion was triggered by the Government’s choice to take
\nresponsibility over the return to the two-round local election system.
\nPresident Iohannis says his main option is to let voters decide by organizing
\nearly legislative elections. After consultations with the President, the
\nNational Liberal Party and Save Romania Union also shared the president’s
\noption. The Social-Democratic Party and Pro Romania Party nominated Remus
\nPricopie, a former minister. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians did not
\nnominate a candidate and said they would not support the Social-Democrats’
\ncandidate. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats didn’t nominate a candidate
\neither, although they agreed to holding early elections. The People’s Movement
\nParty on Sunday will decide whether it supports early legislative elections. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EPPO -
\nEuropean Chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi on Thursday addressed the
\nEuropean Parliament, calling for an increase in the budget of the European
\nPublic Prosecutor’s Office. It is estimated some 2,000 new cases will be
\ninvestigated in the first year of activity. Kovesi said the main two parameters
\nto be defined are the number of European delegate prosecutors in each Member
\nState and the number of employees at the EPPO central in Luxembourg. The
\ndecision on the budget is not just for financial experts, but equally important
\nto policians. Kovesi refered to a recent report estimating VAT fraud at EU
\nlevel at around 60 billion euros every year. I think it is worth investing in
\nthe EPPO, Kovesi concluded. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FED CUP -
\nRomania will take on Russia in the Fed Cup on Friday and Saturday in Cluj.
\nElena Gabriela Ruse (166 WTA) will play Ekaterina Alexandrova (28 WTA) in the
\nfirst singles match. In the second match on Friday, Ana Bogdan (90 WTA) will
\nplay Veronika Kudermetova (38 WTA). On Saturday, Ana Bogdan will play Ekaterina
\nAlexandrova, while in the last singles match Elena Gabriela Ruse will take on
\nVeronika Kudermetova. The doubles match will pit the pair made up of Irina Bara
\n(98 WTA) and Raluca Olaru (47 WTA) against Ana Blinkova (63 WTA) and Ana Kalinskaya
\n(95 WTA). The match will decide which team qualifies to the final tournament in
\nBudapest, to be held over Aril 14-19. Simona Halep, world no. 2, will not
\nrepresent Romania in the Fed Cup this year, as she has begun preparing for the
\nOlympic Games in Tokyo this year. Romania has never played Russia in the Fed
\nCup before, although it played the USSR twice, losing both games. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FLU VIRUS -
\nRomania has reported a 99% increase in the number of flu virus infections in
\nthe past week, and the authorities have declared a flu epidemic, for the second
\nyear in a row. The number of flu infections has exceeded 7,000, and a total of
\n18 people have been killed by the virus, the National Center for Surveillance
\nand Control of Communicable Diseases reports. The latest victims are a 1 and a
\nhalf year-old child and a 49-year-old woman. Both had a medical history and had
\nnot taken the anti-flu shot. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CORONAVIRUS
\n– A ship with 17 Romanians on board has been quarantined in the Japanese port
\nof Yokohama, after several cases of cornoavirus infections were reported, the
\nForeign Ministry in Bucharest has announced. According to the same sources, the
\nRomanian embassy in Tokyo has been notified by the Foreign Ministry in Japan.
\nOut of the Romanians on board, two are tourists and 15 crew members. Romania’s
\nconsulate in Hong Kong has asked for information from the local authorities on
\nthe situation of the Romanians on board of a ship moored in that port. No case
\nof coronoavirus infection has been reported in Romania so far. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
WEATHER – A
\ncode yellow alert is in place until Saturday morning against heavy snowfalls
\nand blizzards targeting the north, center and east, with strong wind expected
\nin the mountains. The recent snowfalls and blizzards affected most of Romania’s
\nterritory, disrupting road, rail and air traffic and causing blackouts, with
\nseveral school having been shut down. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V.
\nPalcu) <\/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":[35339,31801,29020,35359,28945,29799,30168,31375],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-coronavirus","tag-eppo","tag-fed-cup","tag-flu-virus-epidemic","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-laura-codruta-kovesi","tag-ludovic-orban","tag-nomination"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n