October 24, 2019

CABINET Romania's Prime Minister-designate, Ludovic Orban is expected to formally present today a list of candidates for the positions of ministers and the ruling programme after their validation in a session of the National Liberal Party PNL. The Liberals may not muster the necessary majority for the investiture vote after the first round of talks with the Pro Romania party, led by Romania's former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, ended in a deadlock yesterday. The cabinet cannot rely on support from the People's Movement Party as the PMP do not agree with the Prime Minister's decision to forge a single-color cabinet. On the other hand the USR and ALDE have announced they have reached a political agreement with the Liberals. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) says that the cabinet stands good chances to get the investiture vote while the representatives of the national minorities have announced their support for a PNL government. Prime Minister Orban has also voiced optimism saying that he hopes to convince the other undecided MPs. We recall that the National Liberal Party rallied support from the other political parties in opposition to bring down the PSD government led by Viorica Dancila on October 10th.

EPPO A decision to appoint Laura Codruta Kovesi, Romania's former anti-corruption chief prosecutor as head of the future European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) was signed by European Parliament President David Sassoli and by the Finnish Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen on Wednesday. The idea for setting up the aforementioned institution has been launched and promoted by another Romanian, former minister and MEP, Monica Macovei. The EPPO is expected to become operational at the end 2020 as an independent institution in charge of investigating and prosecuting crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or cross-border fraud. 22 member countries have so far joined the EPPO. Five other countries like Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Ireland and Denmark are expected to join any moment now.   

NATO Defence ministers from NATO countries are to convene on Thursday and Friday in Brussels for talks over key issues for the organization. Before the meeting, the Alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presented the talks agenda, which includes NATO latest operations and missions, ways to improve the training of NATO troops, the progress made in the process of sharing tasks and the resilience of the alliance's communication systems. According to the same sources, the meeting is expected to settle divergences sparked off by the military operations Turkey launched in northern Syria. NATO hasn't so far condemned the military operation Turkey launched on October 9th against the Kurdish militias in northern Syria, which are allies of the international anti-ISIS coalition.

FOOTBALL Romanian football champion team CFR Cluj tonight faces French team Rennes in an away fixture counting towards Europa League's Group E. CFR Cluj's record so far includes a 2-1 home win against Lazio Rome and a nil-2 defeat by Scottish opponents Celtic Glasgow. Celtic are at the top of the table with 4 points, followed by CFR Cluj and Lazio, with 3 points each. Rennes are fourth-placed, with one point on their record sheet.

(translated by bill)