November 18, 2013 UPDATE
A roundup of news from Romania.
România Internațional, 18.11.2013, 12:00
Descentralisation The government in Bucharest will call for a vote of confidence on Tuesday in Parliament on its descentralisation bill. The document provides for administrative descentralisation in areas such as agriculture, education, culture, healthcare, the environment and tourism. Institutions currently run and financed by the central government will from now on be coordinated by county and local councils. Deputy prime minister Liviu Dragnea said this process does not involve additional spending. The Liberal Democratic Party in opposition said it would challenge the bill before the Constitutional Court.
Diplomacy Romania’s foreign minister Titus Corlatean travels to the Republic of Moldova on Tuesday for talks with president Nicolae Timofti, prime minister Iurie Leanca and other Moldovan officials. Corlatean goes to Chisinau from Brussels, where he is attending a meeting of the EU External Affairs Council. On Monday, he told the Council the signing of the association and free-trade agreements with the European Union at the summit in Vilnius later this month is vital for the European future of the Republic of Moldova.
Football Romania’s national football team will be taking on Greece on Tuesday at home in the last leg of its Brazil 2014 qualifying play-offs. In the first leg, hosted by Piraeus last week, Romania lost 1-3. Romania hasn’t played in a world championship since 1998, and its last qualification play-offs were in 2001. In the preliminaries of the World Cup in Brazil, Romania finished second in Group D, behind world vice-champions Holland, but ahead of Turkey, Hungary, Estonia and Andorra.
Gymnastics Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache won the beam event at the recent Elite Gym Marseille, in France. Iordache also came in second in the vault event, while another Romanian gymnast, Andreea Munteanu, got the second place in the beam event. Romania’s team won the first place by a wide margin, competing with seven other teams. The two Romanian gymnasts also got the top two places in the all round event.
