12 September 2019, UPDATE

Romanian government approves draft order providing to extend deadline for registration to vote of Romanian citizens abroad./ President Klaus Iohannis rejects reshuffle proposed by prime minister Viorica Dancila.

Newsroom, 12.09.2019, 19:56

Voting. The Romanian government has approved
a draft order tabled by the Permanent Election Authority under which the
registration term for the Romanian citizens living abroad as voters has been
extended until Sunday, September 15th. Under the previous
legislation, the term was Wednesday, September 11th for all the
Romanians abroad willing to cast their ballot in the presidential election of
November 10th and 24th. 34,600 applications have so far
been received for polling stations whereas 36,500 people have applied for
postal voting.

Reshuffle. President Klaus Iohannis
said on Thursday he would reject the reshuffle proposed by prime minister
Viorica Dancila, which he considers invalid and inappropriate. The latter on Wednesday
presented the president with a proposal in which she nominated representatives
of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the Social Democrats’ former
coalition partner, for the positions left vacant following the Alliance’s withdrawal
from the government last month. President Iohannis says the reshuffle requested
by the prime minister is unconstitutional because the government’s make-up has
changed and in this case the prime minister must call for a vote of confidence
in Parliament. After the president’s statement, the prime minister accused him
of abuse of power, saying she is not afraid of a vote in Parliament and that
she would do everything to overcome this deadlock.

Business.
Romania boasts 105 companies in the Fortune Global 500 (an annual ranking
of the top 500 corporations worldwide
as measured by revenue present in Central and Eastern Europe, reads a communiqué by Colliers
International Group Inc. published by Romanian news agency AGERPRES. The first
places are occupied by Poland and the Czech Republic with 139 and 111 companies
respectively, while Slovakia and Bulgaria are on the last positions with 60
companies. Numerous companies from this region of Europe listed in Fortune
Global 500 are active in the automotive industry, the sectors of food,
beverages and tobacco, telecommunications and media as well as transports.
Romania is following the region’s trend with most of the companies active in
the car-making sector, with producers of food, beverages, tobacco and technology
coming next.

Agriculture. Officials from the agriculture ministry in Romania together with representatives of the agricultural sector in the neighbouring Republic of Moldova and 17 business people are on a working mission in the US. According to the ministry in Bucharest, the purpose of the trip is to develop the strategic partnership in the field and consolidate bilateral ties. The concrete objectives of the mission are the modernisation of Romanian farms through the strategic transfer of top agricultural technologies from the US to Romania, the exchange of information and know-how to boost agricultural output and the local processing of quality organic and ecological agri-food products so that they can be supplied to the US market, where demand for such products is on the rise.

Enescu festival. Four concerts were scheduled on Thursday on Day 13 of
the 24th edition of the George Enescu International Festival. The Evgeny
Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia gave their second
performance, this time under the Romanian conductor Gabriel Bebeselea. The day’s programme also
featured performances by the La Grande Chapelle ensemble from Madrid and by the
Arditti Quartet, one of the oldest and most celebrated contemporary music
groups in the world, as well as a performance by the Philharmonic Orchestra of
Monte-Carlo conducted by Gareth Jones and featuring the bass-baritone Sir Bryn
Terfel as a special guest. The George Enescu International Festival is taking
place between the 31st of August and the 22nd of September and
brings together more than 2,500 of the world’s greatest musicians in 84
different concerts and recitals. Events as part of the festival are held in the
capital Bucharest and other cities across Romania, as well as in Germany,
France, Italy, Canada and the Republic of Moldova.