February 16, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 16.02.2020, 14:08
SECURITY CONFERENCE – The acting PM Ludovic Orban, who is attending in Munich the 56th International Security Conference, has today pleaded for an Europe open to enlargement and has stated that Europe should protect its foreign borders, without having internal borders. Ludovic Orban has taken part in a debate titled “A Europe that Protects”. He has denied the idea according to which Romania is not ready to join the Schengen area because of corruption and has stated that Bucharest plans to put an end to the Verification and Cooperation Mechanism on Justice by curbing corruption and increasing the independence of the judiciary. The Romanian PM has also stated that earmarking 1% of the GDP of each member state for the Unions multiannual budget is not enough, especially since there are now new fields that need to be funded.
TSI – The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu has hailed at the Security Conference in Munich the announcement made by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US will earmark one billion dollars for investments in energy projects, under the Three Seas Initiative. Bogdan Aurescu has told Radio Romania that these are energy interconnection projects that are in line with the objectives promoted by Romania as part of this initiative at the summit it organized in Bucharest, in 2018. The Three Seas Initiative is an informal political platform, launched in 2015. It includes the 12 EU countries located between the Adriatic, the Baltic and the Black Seas: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Its aim is to boost connectivity and facilitate real convergence and cooperation in fields such as energy, infrastructure and security.
UN – The Romanian Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca has reaffirmed, during a meeting with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Romanias commitment to strengthening security at international level, by means of an active participation in the missions and peace operations carried out under the aegis of the UN. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Defense Ministry, Jean-Pierre Lacroix reiterated the appreciation of the organizations leadership for Romanias participation, with a helicopter detachment, in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali over October 2019 – October 2020. The meeting between the two officials was held on the sidelines of the Security Conference in Munich.
GOVERNMENT – The ministers proposed to form the Orban II Government will be heard on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by the joint specialized committees of the Romanian Parliament. The investiture of a new Government will take place on February 24th. The Liberal PM designate Ludovic Orban has stated that he will present the objective of triggering early elections, in order to give the Romanian citizens the power to elect a new, fairer and more representative Parliament. On Tuesday, he held talks with some of the parliamentary parties, in a bid to get support for early elections. Such elections can be called only if two proposals for government are rejected within two months since the submittal to Parliament of the first list of ministers and the governing programme. Orban, whose cabinet has been recently dismissed under a no-confidence motion, sent the list on Monday. The opposition Social Democratic Party has challenged the nomination of a dismissed PM at the Constitutional Court, saying that its a violation of Parliaments will. The idea of early elections is mainly supported by the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union.
COVID-19 – Some 1700 people have been killed by the COVID-19 coronavirus and 70,000 cases of infection have been reported so far, mostly in continental China and Hubei province. In Bucharest, the Health Ministry has announced there is no case of coronavirus infection in Romania. One Romanian on board the Diamond Princess cruiser, in the Japanese territorial waters, was tested positive and transferred to a specialized Japanese hospital. His condition is good.
TENNIS – Two Romanian players, Sorana Cirstea and Ana Bogdan, have made it to the last round of qualification for the Premier tournament in Dubai, with some 2.6 million dollars in prize money, which starts on Monday. Today, Cirstea has defeated the German Julia Goerges, and Bogdan has won the match against the Chinese Shuai Zhang. Worlds no.2 Simona Halep goes straight into the second round, where she will play against the winner of the match between Alison Riske of the US and Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. Halep won the Dubai title in 2015.
