August 27, 2018 UPDATE
Annual meeting of the Romanian diplomats in Bucharest, Romanias Prosecutor General disapproves of manipulation of the public opinion to destabilize the activity of prosecutors
Newsroom, 27.08.2018, 19:02
Diplomats’ meeting — Bucharest is hosting, as of Monday, the annual meeting of the Romanian diplomats, under the motto Diplomacy — a pillar of Centennial Romania”. On the occasion, the Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu stated that the Romanian diplomacy should remain a fundamental bond in society. He said that Romania’s modernization was possible thanks to the consensus of the entire political class over the objectives of Romania’s integration into NATO and the EU. Romania has reached its historic objectives and is now benefiting from an unprecedented level of security and prosperity, minister Melescanu added. The special guest of the meeting is the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Also attending the meeting are, among others, the Romanian Minister delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu and representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps accredited to Bucharest. The main issues under discussion are Romania’s future mandate as president of the EU Council, bilateral and strategic relations, regional cooperation, the Eastern neighborhood, the UN and the economic diplomacy. The diplomats’ meeting will come to an end on Wednesday.
Prosecutor’s Office — Romania’s Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar on Monday said that the manipulation of the public opinion is frequently used to destabilize the activity of prosecutors. He added that the Public Ministry’s actions were all transparent and took place in the spirit of truth. Augustin Lazar also said that the justice system and the rule of law are currently going though difficult times and made public the correspondence the Public Ministry had with the Justice Ministry and the Superior Council of Magistracy on the issue of the protocols concluded with the Romanian Intelligence Service. He made these statements after on Saturday the justice minister Tudorel Toader announced the start of procedures for the assessment of the prosecutor general’s managerial activity in the context of the protocols concluded with SRI. Previously, the General Prosecutor’s Office had informed that in December 2016 it had concluded two cooperation protocols with SRI that were in force for only 3 months. One of them was made public and set the conditions for access to the technical systems belonging to the National Centre for Interception of Communications, while the other, which was classified, was related to cooperation regarding crimes against national security, terrorism as well as crimes made by the military staff within the Intelligence Service.
Paris — The French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced in Paris that, in the coming months, he would present a project for the consolidation of security in Europe, which can no longer rely on the US alone. He said he wanted to launch a new dialogue, mainly with Russia, on several topics, among which cyber security, chemical weapons, conventional weapons, territorial conflicts and space security. The European security and defense architecture needs to be reconsidered, Macron also said in his speech delivered on the occasion of the annual conference of French ambassadors. (news update by L. Simion)
