Klaus Iohannis is traveling to the Republic of Moldova in its first official trip as Romania’s President. Iohannis scheduled a two-day state visit to Chisinau between February 24 and 25 where will meet with his Moldavian counterpart, Nicolae Timofti, the newly-appointed Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici, as well as with leaders of the liberal and democrat parties in our neighboring country....more »

MEPs today approved the new college of 27 commissioners, as presented by its President, Jean-Claude Juncker, by 423 votes to 209, with 67 abstentions.  Subsequently, the new Commission will be appointed by EU heads of state or government and will take up duty on November 1 for a five-year term....more »

The European Commission is taking Romania to Court for a failure to comply with EU legislation on mining waste. The case concerns the Bosneag pond, a 102-hectare tailing pond that holds waste extracted from copper and zinc mines in Moldova Noua, the Caras-Severin County, and which is currently in a state of almost complete abandonment. The Commission opened infringement proceedings against Romania on this matter with a letter of formal notice in October 2012, followed by a reasoned opinion in February this year. Subsequently, Romania agreed that the Bosneag pond remained a source of pollution during windy periods and admitted the need for remedial measures. While some measures have been proposed, including for example a watering system, no tangible action has yet been taken....more »

The EU Commission has adopted a report assessing the situation of non-reciprocity with certain third countries, such as the USA or Canada, in the area of visa policy. As citizens of these countries along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam and Japan enjoy visa-free travel to the EU, whereas citizens of certain Member States are required visas, the countries concerned – Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Poland notified the EU institution in this regard. However, after nearly ten months since introducing the revised visa reciprocity mechanism, the Commission does not consider appropriate at this stage to re-impose a visa requirement for certain categories of nationals of countries that still impose it on EU citizens, states a press release....more »

Prime Minister Victor Ponta today starts the United States visit for the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations and he will take occasion to meet with representatives of the Romanian community, as well as with the leadership of US companies....more »

Romanian MEP Corina Cretu was included on the list of Commissioner-designate sent by EU Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the President of the Council of the European Union, shows a press release of the Commission....more »

The Newport NATO summit started on September 4 with the Ukrainian crisis being the most critical subject on the agenda of the 60 leaders attending the talks. Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s President, announced that an agreement on a peace plan will be signed on September 5 in Minsk conditioning the ceasefire on both sides. He also stated that NATO supports the state-members prepared to provide military assistance to Ukraine, reads Mediafax....more »

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta started on August 30 his five-day official visit to China after his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, invited him as a response to the visit paid to Romania in November 2013, states a press release from the Government....more »

The four days of elections across the 28 Member States of the European Union have ended with the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) scoring the victory and taking about 28.23 percent of the vote, followed shortly behind by the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, as per the provisional results. Hence, the two major groups within the European Parliament account for 399 of the 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) seats (EPP, 212 and S&D, 187 seats)....more »

Joe Biden’s two-day visit in Romania ended after meetings with President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The Vice President of the United States discussed with the Romanian leadership on energy security in the context of the Ukrainian crisis, on American investments in our country and trade commerce, also reinforcing their support as partners in the NATO alliance....more »