October 12, 2019 UPDATE

EP president says EC might take over prerogatives on December 1, Campaign for presidential election in Romania kicked off Saturday

Newsroom, 12.10.2019, 19:15

EC — The president of the European Parliament, the Italian David Sassoli, said Saturday that it would be probably impossible for the future European Commission to take on its prerogatives as of November 1 and that the takeover would be postponed for December 1. He explained that Romania, Hungary and France need to propose another 3 commissioners whose candidacies have to be analyzed by Parliament. The confirmation vote of the entire team made up of the German Ursula von der Leyen was scheduled for October 23 in the EP during a plenary session in Strasbourg. The candidates of Romania and Hungary were rejected by the Legal Affairs Committee JURI due to suspicions of possible conflicts of interest. France’s candidate also caused integrity-related suspicions in the context of investigations into alleged fictitious jobs when she served as an MEP.

Election campaign — Saturday saw the start of the election campaign for the November presidential election in Romania. 14 candidates are running in the presidential race among whom the incumbent president Klaus Iohannis representing the National Liberal Party, the interim prime minister Viorica Dancila from the Social Democratic Party, Dan Barna representing the Alliance Save Romania Union-PLUS, Theodor Paleologu representing the People’s Movement Party, Mircea Diaconu, supported by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and Pro Romania party and or Kelemen Hunor from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Running for the presidential seat and representing extra-parliamentary parties are Cătălin Ivan, Ninel Peia, Sebastian-Constantin Popescu, John-Ion Banu, Ramona-Ioana Bruynseels and Viorel Cataramă. Bogdan Stanoevici and Alexandru Cumpănaşu are running as independents. The first round will take place on November 10, and the second round will be held on November 24. Under a government decision, the Romanians abroad will vote in the first round of the election for 3 days, from November 8 to 10, and from November 22 to 24 in the second round.

Handball – Romania’s national men’s handball team Dinamo Bucharest on Saturday defeated 30-20 (16-10), away from home, Russia’s team Cehovskie Medvedi in a Champions League Group D match. With two wins and a draw in the previous matches, Dinamo Bucharest accumulated 7 points and consolidated their position as group leaders. They managed to obtain 12 consecutive victories in all competitions. (update by L. Simion)