22 October, 2019

A roundup of some of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 22.10.2019, 14:00

Enthronement. Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis and his wife Carmen Iohannis on Tuesday attended emperor
Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony in Tokyo. Naruhito proclaimed his ascension to
the throne in the presence of 180 foreign dignitaries, including Prince
Charles, the heir to the British throne, and King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen
Letizia. President Iohannis is also attending the imperial banquet in honour of
the enthronement. On Monday, the Romanian president had talks with the Japanese
prime minister Shinzo Abe and the Finnish president Sauli
Niinisto, and will meet today his Latvian counterpart Egils Levits. Emperor
Naruhito, who is the 126th monarch of his dynasty, took over
imperial duties in May this year after the abdication of his father Akihito,
now known as emperor emeritus.

Government. Ludovic Orban, prime minister
designate and leader of the National Liberal Party in Romania, is today holding
fresh talks with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the Save Romania
Union, the People’s Movement Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
in Romania and Pro Romania, the parliamentary parties that voted in favour of a
no-confidence motion against the minority government led by the Social Democrat
Viorica Dancila. Orban held a first round of talks last week and says the
parties would be willing to support a Liberal government. He says he intends to
make public a list of proposed cabinet members and the governing programme on
Friday at the latest, hoping an investiture vote could be held in Parliament
next Wednesday. He has underlined that Romania needs a legitimate, fully
functional government as soon as possible.

Checks. The National Anticorruption Directorate in Bucharest
has begun checks following recent accusations in the media relating to the
leader of the Save Romania Union and presidential candidate Dan Barna, judicial
sources have told Radio Romania. The checks refer to EU-funded projects involving
one of Barna’s companies a few years ago. Barna has said he will put all the
information he possesses at the disposal of the anticorruption prosecutors.
Last week, the government’s anti-fraud department also began checks against Dan
Barna, which he described as political actions. Acting prime minister Viorica
Dancila, who is herself a candidate for president, is also facing problems.
Razvan Cuc, the transport minister in her cabinet, is accused by the former
director of the Tarom national airline company, Madalina Mezei, of asking her
to keep the planes on the ground to prevent certain MPs from flying to
Bucharest on the day of the no-confidence vote against the government. Madalina
Mezei was heard by the National Anticorruption Directorate as a witness.
Minister Cuc says he is considering filing a criminal complaint against her for
misleading investigators.

Military exercise. More than 1,000 military and nine
vessels of the Romanian navy and NATO allies are taking part in Fall Storm 19,
one of the most important exercises carried out in south-eastern Romania,
including the Black Sea territorial and international waters. The exercise is
aimed at enhancing interoperability and the planning and management of forces
at multinational and inter-institutional level. Fall Storm 19 also involves
Romanian air and land troops and will come to an end on the 27th of
October.

Tourism. Romania had 38 5-star hotels on the 31st of July this year,
two more than the previous year, according to a report published today by the
National Institute for Statistics. More than 75% of Romania’s hotels are 3 and
4-star. Hotels are the preferred choice in terms of tourist accommodation,
followed by agri-tourist guesthouses and tourist villas, as well
as hostels. According to the National Institute for Statistics, the highest
number of accommodation facilities are to be found in the capital Bucharest and
the county capitals and the resorts on the Black Sea coast, in the mountains,
spas and the Danube Delta.

Football. The Romanian football champions CFR Cluj
have left for France today ahead of Thursday’s match against Rennes as part of
the Europa League Group E. In their first group matches, CFR won 2-1 at home
against Lazio Rome and lost nil-2 to Celtic Glasgow in Scotland.