June 27, 2017
PM Tudose to establish government membership/ King Mihai's health condition fragile but stable/ Tennis tournament in Eastbourne
Newsroom, 27.06.2017, 14:06
PM designated in Romania — The Social Democrat Mihai Tudose, designated by President Klaus Iohannis to form the future government, will establish the government membership, which is to be validated on Wednesday by the Social Democratic Party’s executive committee. After nominating Tudose as PM, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis asked the parliamentary parties to urgently draft an agenda that should allow the finalization of parliamentary procedures during this week. He argued that the current political crisis seriously affects Romania’s economy and image. The Tudose cabinet will replace the Grindeanu government, which was removed following a no confidence motion filed by the majority coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.
King Mihai — The health condition of the former King of Romania, Mihai I (who ruled between 1940- 1947) is fragile but stable, the Royal House of Romania has announced. Crown Princess Margareta of Romania and Prince Radu are on a family visit to Switzerland as of Monday. They will spend a few days with the king at his private residence. After undergoing cancer surgery, King Mihai I announced his withdrawal from public life on March 1, 2016. He also announced that his first born of his 5 daughters, Princess Margareta, who is the Crown Princess, would represent him and fulfill all his public duties.
Tennis — Three Romanian women tennis players are today playing in the 2nd round of the tennis tournament on grass court of Eastbourne (Great Britain) which has prizes up for grabs worth 750 thousand dollars. World’s no. 2, Simona Halep, will take on the Chinese player Ying-Ying Duan, Monica Niculescu (51 WTA) will play against Ţvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria (149 WTA) while Sorana Cîrstea (62 WTA) will face British Johanna Konta (7 WTA). In the first round, Cîrstea on Monday defeated Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic (39 WTA) in two sets. The grass court tournament in Eastbourne is the last preparation stage ahead of the Wimbledon tournament, the year’s 3rd grand slam tournament.
Strasbourg — The draft law on the modification of the election system in the Republic of Moldova (an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population) will continue to be submitted to public debate, and the authorities will take into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission in order to pass the best possible law – the Moldovan PM Pavel Filip promised at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg. According to the Venice Commission, the modification of the election law and the adoption of the uninominal voting system for half of the Parliament members were inopportune. Analysts say that replacing the current, party-list voting system with the uninominal voting system, would be to the advantage of big parties, namely the pro-western Democrats of PM Filip and the Socialists of the pro-Moscow president Igor Dodon. Also in Strasbourg the Moldovan PM thanked neighboring Romania for the constant support it provided to the Republic of Moldova.
Romanian- Bulgarian cooperation — The Bulgarian President, Rumen Radev, will pay an official visit to Romania on Wednesday and Thursday, when he will meet with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis. The aim of his visit is to deepen political dialogue between Romania and Bulgaria on the main issues of common interest of the bilateral agenda, as well as of the regional, European and international agenda. The talks will focus on economic relations, as well as on sectoral cooperation in such domains as energy and transports, in the context in which Romania is Bulgaria’s 3rd trade partner in the EU. The two presidents will also look into concrete ways to coordinate the promotion of common interests and targets within the EU. Bulgaria and Romania will hold the presidency of the European Council in the first half of 2018 and the first half of 2019 respectively. High on the agenda of talks are also cooperation within NATO and the security challenges in the Black Sea area, the Eastern Neighborhood and regional cooperation.
File closure — Romania’s General Prosecutor’s Office has closed the file regarding the adoption of the emergency government decree no. 13, which brought several amendments to the Criminal Codes. Prosecutors motivated their decision by saying that it was not their prerogative to establish the legality and appropriateness of passing that ordinance, as the issues that could not be part of a criminal trial, according to a decision by the Constitutional Court of Romania. The decree was considered an attempt to relax the anti-corruption legislation and was repealed by another emergency decree following massive street protests. (translation by Lacramioara Simion)
