July 22, 2019
Social Democrats to have talks with ALDE, Pro Romania for common presidential candidate
Newsroom, 22.07.2019, 14:00
CANDIDATE The president of the Social Democratic Party, in power in Romania, PM Viorica Dăncilă, is to have talks with the leaders of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, also in the ruling coalition, and of Pro Romania, the party headed by the former leftist prime minister Victor Ponta. The negotiations concern the forming of a coalition with a common candidate in the forthcoming presidential election. Viorica Dăncilă has recently said she would like a much broader support platform, including non-parliamentary parties, trade unions and NGOs, for the November election. Next week, the Social Democrats are scheduled to nominate their presidential candidate, who will be validated at a special congress on August 3rd.
EXPORTS Romanias exports to the other 27 EU member countries went up 4.9% in January – April 2019, as compared to the corresponding period of last year, whereas imports from the Union grew by 7.5%, the National Statistics Institute reports. Romanias top 3 EU export markets were Germany (23.3%), Italy (11.1%) and France (7.4%). As for imports, the 3 largest partners are Germany (19.9%), Italy (9.2%) and Hungary (7.2%). In the first 4 months of the year, Romanias total FOB exports amounted to 23 billion euro, and total imports to 28.1 billion euro, up 8.3% since January – April 2018. The trade deficit was little over 5 billion euro, i.e. 1.3 billion euro more than in the corresponding period of last year.
UKRAINE With more than half of the votes counted on Monday, the Central Election Committee in Kiev announced that president Volodymyr Zelenskys party, Servant of the People, won 42.47% of the votes in Sundays snap election, whereas the Opposition Platform for Life came second with 12.91%. Third-ranking are ex-president Petro Poroshenkos European Solidarity party and former PM Yulia Timoshenkos Batkivshcina party with around 8% each, followed by the newly formed Voice party founded by rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, with over 6% of the votes. The other 15 parties in the race failed to meet the 5% threshold to get into parliament. Kiev also announced that the turnout was 49.84%, the lowest in the history of independent Ukraine.
BREXIT The European Commission prepares a huge aid package for Ireland, in order to make up for the economic loss entailed by a no-deal Brexit, Reuters reports, quoting The Times. The EU is ready to ‘spend whatever is necessary to support the Irish government in case of any disruption of trade, a high-ranking source has said. Over the weekend, thousands of anti-Brexit protesters marched in London ahead of the expected announcement of Boris Johnson as the new prime minister. On Tuesday, the Conservative Party in power will announce the winner of the race for Theresa Mays replacement, and the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is largely viewed as the frontrunner. The Chancellor Philip Hammond, who is against a no-deal Brexit, announced his intention to step down if Boris Johnson becomes the new prime minister. The UK is set to exit the European Union on October 31st.
MILITARY The 10th ‘Eurasian Partnership MCM Dive’ multinational exercise begins today in Constanta and along the Romanian Black Sea coast. Until Thursday, tens of military divers from Romania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia and the US will take part in explosive device search and identification drills, will conduct open, semi-closed and surface-supplied diving missions and target searches using underwater drones. This is the only annual multinational exercise organised in the west part of the Black Sea, designed to improve the training of NATO divers and of diving units from Peace Partnership member countries.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
