July 15, 2018 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 15.07.2018, 18:34

NOMINATION – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will next week take a decision regarding the leadership of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), for which Justice Minister Tudorel Toader proposed prosecutor Felix Banila. As for the new head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), the President has said he waits for Minister Toader to make a proposal. Anca Juma is at presemt interim head of DNA, after Laura Codruta Kovesi was revoked on Monday, through presidential decree, in keeping with a previous Constitutional Court decision in this respect.

MEETING – Russian president Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron met on Sunday at the Kremlin to tackle bilateral relations. President Putin emphasised the fact that, in economic terms, there has been a positive tendency, given the fact that bilateral trade went up 15% in 2017 and 19% since the start of 2018. In turn, President Macron voiced his wish to continue the dialogue started in May, when the two leaders met in Sankt Petersburg, on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum.

EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY – Getting young people involved in the process of preparing for and holding the EU Council Presidency is vital, Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu said on Saturday at a news conference about the young people’s participation in public policies. The conference, that focused on drawing up Romania’s agenda at the helm of the EU Council, highlighted topics such as consolidating European instruments for the improvement of the education and training system, equal opportunities for the young people and increasing their capacity to adjust to the labor force challenges.

BREXIT – British Prime Minister Theresa May warned her divided party on Sunday that there may be “no Brexit at all” if they undermine her plan to forge a close relationship with the European Union after leaving the world’s biggest trading bloc. “My message to the country this weekend is simple: we need to keep our eyes on the prize,” May wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. “If we don’t, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all.” Two senior ministers resigned last week in protest at Mays plans for trade with the EU after Britain leaves the bloc next March. May also wrote in the Mail on Sunday article that Britain would take a tough stance in its next round of negotiations with the EU.

PROJECTS — The Agency for the Financing of Rural Investment will open between July and September this year several sessions for project applications, worth a total of 846 million euros, the Romanian Agriculture Ministry reports. The Agency has so far received, for the 2014-2020 timeframe, applications for financing worth more than 7.20 billion euros and signed over 49 thousand financing contracts for which 3.85 billion euros have been allocated. Under the 2014-2020 National Programme for Rural Development, non-repayable funds from the EU and the Romanian Government are being granted, for the economic and social development of Romania’s rural area. The financial allocation exceeds 9 billion euros.

ABDUCTION — A Romanian engineer is believed to have been abducted on Saturday from one of Libya’s largest oilfields, local media reports. The Romanian is believed to have been taken hostage alongside another three people, by an armed group. Two of the hostages are said to have been released, but it’s uncertain whether the Romanian is among them. The Romanian Foreign Ministry on Saturday activated a crisis cell to deal with the situation. The Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said that the top priority was to verify whether a Romanian citizen was indeed taken hostage, what his situation was and what group is involved in the abduction.

BRD OPEN – Romanian tennis players Mihaela Buzarnescu and Raluca Olaru are the main favourites of the BRD Bucharest Open, worth over 226 thousand dollars, to be held at Arenele BNR in Bucharest between July 16 and 22. Buzarnescu and Olaru, who together won a WTA title in Strasbourg this year, will play in the first round of women’s doubles against the team made up of Alena Fomina (Russia) and Elena Rîbakina (Kazakhstan). Buzarnescu and Olaru won the junior doubles title at US Open in 2006. (Translated by Elena Enache)