MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest is today debating
\na simple motion against Interior Minister Lucian Bode, filed by 55 opposition
\nMPs. A vote has been scheduled for Wednesday. The motion was originally due to
\nbe debated last week, but has been rescheduled at the request of Minister Bode.
\nThe document states Lucian Bode should step down from the Interior Ministry
\nwhich he failed to reform. The Minister’s efficiency became visible when he
\nhelped his friend, president Klaus Iohannis, sell 600 BMWs to the Romanian
\nPolice for only 32 thousand EUR gross of VAT as part of what the opposition
\ndescribes as a rigged auction, the document also reads. <\/p>\n
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DEFENSE – Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 held talks earlier
\ntoday with Defense Minister Vasile D\u00eencu. The meeting focused on the NATO
\nDefense Ministers meeting held in Brussels and communication policies at
\nDefense Ministry level. Last week, the Prime Minister was unhappy with Minister
\nD\u00eencu’s statement regarding the war in Ukraine, according to which peace in
\nUkraine can only be achieved by negotiating with Russia. Subsequently, Klaus
\nIohannis pointed out that only Kyiv can decide when, how and what is being
\nnegotiated, and that this is the official position of Romania and the EU. Defense
\nMinister Vasile D\u00eencu will today appear before the Chamber of Deputies to
\nprovide clarifications over his statements. His presence was requested by USR
\nin opposition, a party that believes Minister D\u00eencu is reiterating Kremlin
\nrhetoric and endangering Romania’s partnerships with EU and NATO states. <\/p>\n
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GAS – Romania’s gas storage capacity reached 90.9% on
\nSunday, the equivalent of some 2.8 billion cub meters, the national company
\nTransgaz announced. Romania met the 80% minimum level of gas reserves imposed
\nby the European Union ahead of the cold season on September 17. Back then, the
\nEuropean Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the EU’s
\ntotal gas reserves stood at 84%. <\/p>\n
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FAC – Romania’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is
\ntoday attending the Foreign Affairs Council meeting held in Luxembourg. EU
\nForeign Ministers will exchange views over the effects of Russia’s aggression
\nin Ukraine. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, will also attend the
\nproceedings in videoconference. The agenda of the meeting also includes
\nEU-China relations and other hot topics on the international agenda, such as
\nthe developments in Iran, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and the effects of
\nclimate change. <\/p>\n
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SESSION – The European Parliament starts a new session in
\nStrasbourg today. One of the priorities of the new session is a vote on the
\nSchengen accession of Romania and Bulgaria. The proposal was debated on October
\n5, when most MEPs urged Member States to acknowledge both states have fulfilled
\nSchengen criteria and must be allowed to join the visa-free travel area as soon
\nas possible. Bucharest has repeatedly pointed out it has fulfilled technical
\naccession criteria and is de facto a
\nmember of Schengen. Parliament is also expected to debate, alongside the
\nCommission and the Council, the issue of internal border controls at Schengen
\nlevel. In April, the European Court of Justice decided to introduce border
\ncontrols within EU borders over a period of six-months after reported breaches
\nof border security. The period may be extended only if a new threat is
\nconfirmed. MEPs are expected to call on Member States to observe normal
\ntravel-free regulations. The agenda of the new Parliament session also includes
\nthe war in Ukraine, the EU budget for 2023 and climate change. <\/p>\n
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HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s handball team defeated Ukraine
\n34-26 on Sunday at home in the 2024 EHF European Championship preliminary Group
\nB. This is the first win for Romania in the current preliminaries, after
\nRomania lost the first match 32-26 to Austria away from home. Also on Sunday,
\nthe Romanian women’s vice-champions, CSM Bucharest, won 40-25 against DHK Banik
\nof the Czech Republic in a match played in Bucharest, counting towards Champions
\nLeague Group A. CSM thus remains undefeated in Group A with 4 wins and a draw.
\nBietigheim of Germany is also ranked first in the group tables along CSM. On
\nSaturday, the Romanian champions Rapid Bucharest drew 30-30 against Buducnost
\nPodgorica of Montenegro away from home in Group B. Rapid is also undefeated in
\nthe last five fixtures, with three wins and two draws, and remains top of the
\ngroup tables. Bucharest is the only European capital with two teams performing
\nin the most important women’s European inter-club competition. (VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[28963,37123,32673,37121,37122,37124,30130,36617,36572],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-bogdan-aurescu","tag-ep-session","tag-fac-meeting","tag-lucian-bode","tag-romanias-gas-reserves","tag-romanias-handball-teams","tag-simple-motion","tag-vasile-dincu","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n