December 2, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.12.2019, 14:00

NATIONAL DAY – The Chamber of Deputies
and the Senate are today convening in a solemn joint session to mark the
National Day of Romania. Addressing Parliament will be President Klaus
Iohannis, Senate Speaker Teodor Melescanu, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marcel
Ciolacu, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban as well as representatives of
parliamentary groups. The list of guests includes former heads of state, the
Custodian of the Royal Crown, Margareta, Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch
Daniel, the archbishops of the Roman-Catholic and Eastern-Catholic Churches,
the presidents of the Constitutional Court, the High Court of Cassation and
Justice, the Romanian Academy, the Court of Accounts and the Legislative Council.
Attending will also be National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu, Ombudsman Renate
Weber, Bucharest City Hall Mayor Gabriela Firea, the directors of the Romanian
Intelligence Service, the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service, the Protection
and Guard Service, the Special Telecommunications Service as well as members of
the Government. December 1 became Romania’s National Day after the December
1989 anti-Communist revolution and it marks the completion, at the end of WWI,
in 1918, of the process of creating the Romanian unitary nation state, when all
the provinces included in the neighboring multinational empires, with a
majority Romanian-speaking population, came under the authority of Bucharest.

JHA – The Justice and Home Affairs
Council of the European Union is convening in Brussels on December 2-3. High on
the agenda are topics such as the future EU policies on migration and asylum,
home security, combating terrorism, environmental crime and alternative
detention measures. On Tuesday, the new EU chief prosecutor, Romanian Laura
Codruta Kovesi will present her vision and plans for the European Public
Prosecutor’s Office. The institution is set to start its activity in November
2020, by which date the chief prosecutor must coordinate the setup and
functioning of the new structure. The EPPO will investigate cross-border fraud
cases at community level. So far 22 Member States have officially adhered to
the EPPO.

BILL – Save Romania Union leader Dan
Barna said the draft law on the organization of local elections in two separate
rounds should be adopted by the end of Parliament’s current session. Prime
Minister Ludovic Orban claims the Liberals support the bill, warning however it
requires the vote of at least 165 MPs, while the Liberal Party is supported by
a fragile majority in Parliament.

UNEMPLOYMENT – The unemployment rate in
Romania stood at 2.98% in October, a slight decrease compared to the same month
in 2018 and to the previous month this year, the National Employment Agency
announced on Monday. The total number of unemployed was below 260 thousand,
most of whom were reported in rural areas. Most of them are aged 40-49,
followed by those above 55 years of age. Broken down in terms of training,
unemployed people without any diplomas and those with basic education had the
largest share of total number of unemployed.

NATO – London on Tuesday and Wednesday
is hosting the NATO summit, celebrating 70 years of NATO existence. High on the
agenda are the fight against terrorism, arms control and relations with Russia
and China. Representing Romania will be president Klaus Iohannis. According to
the presidency, Klaus Iohannis will highlight Romania’s contribution as a NATO
member and the need to continue determent and security efforts on the eastern
flank and in the Black Sea region.

HANDBALL -
Romanian champions Dinamo Bucharest on Sunday defeated GOG Gudme of Denmark
32-31 in Group D of the men’s Champions League. Dinamo is undefeated at the end
of the group phase, with 7 wins and 3 draws. They are top of the tables with 17
points, followed by Orlen Wisla Plock of Poland with 11 points, GOG of Denmark
with 9 points, IFK Kristianstad of Sweden with 9 points, Cehovskie Medvedi of
Russia with 8 points and Kadetten Schaffhausen of Switzerland with 6 points. In
the playoff, Dinamo will play Sporting Lisbon of Portugal. The first leg will
be played away from home in February, with the return leg scheduled in
Bucharest. The two teams faced off in last year’s edition of the playoffs as
well, when Sporting won 32-31 in the first leg and 27-26 in the return leg. In
women’s handball, at the World Cup in Japan, Romania will play Kazakhstan on
Tuesday. Romania so far lost 16-31 to Spain and defeated Senegal 29-24.

(Translated by V. Palcu)