President Klaus Iohannis declared that the first negotiation topic with the UK, in the Brexit context, is that regarding citizens and their rights, adding that he would get strongly involved in this process to make sure that the rights of Romanians living in the UK are respected.  He underscored that the discussions on this topic will be carried out by the EU27 in one single, unitary voice, in a team format....more »

The accession to the Eurozone is one of Romania's strategic objectives, however we need to set a clear calendar on this topic among the factors in charge, namely the Government and Parliament, President Klaus Iohannis said quoted by Agerpress.  "I have an assessment both political and somewhat technical. (...) It is an important strategic objective of Romania to join the Eurozone. From a technical stand, Romania has met, for a while, the Maastricht criteria, and this way, we could start the construction of an accession calendar; however things aren't very clear among the factors that must set this calendar which must also be seen through, namely the Government and the BNR [the National Bank of Romania]. It will probably last a little until this new Government understands its role in the state architecture and starts evaluating these things," Klaus Iohannis told an interview to Calea Europeana online media platform....more »

Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said that Romania taking over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council in first half of 2019 is a national project, pointing out that there are logistics as well as protocol problems in doing that.  "This is a national project and we, together with Parliament and the Government, have to understand that each and every one is involved in the project. This is a project that indeed provides us with an opportunity to be somehow visible on Europe's map and for six months to be those facilitators that, starting from our national positions as well as the interests of the EU overall, find good solutions to the problems facing the EU," Melescanu told a debate on Wednesday in Bucharest called "Romania's 2019 European Council Presidency - Together to consolidate the European design."...more »

The uniform pay law for the public sector is necessary to stabilize the currently chaotic payroll system, the more so as one can never know what effects a court ruling could produce, which renders the budget's staff expense part unmanageable, M...more »

The National Defence Ministry (MApN) aims to sign, this year, all eight endowment programmes of the Romanian Army, for which the approval of Parliament was requested, National Defence Minister Gabriel Les stated, quoted by Agerpress.  "All the programmes that we have on endowment exceed a very large amount. We receive approval for all the eight letters that we sent, and we will start procedures for purchasing them, and during this year, we hope to sign as many as possible of the eight programmes," Minister Les told at the end of discussions which were carried out with members of the joined committees of the Senate and the Deputies' Chamber on matters related to the Army's endowment programmes. ...more »

Justice Minister Tudorel Toader declared that starting off procedures to dismiss from office the attorney general and the chief prosecutor with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) is currently inopportune. "Given the context, and after considering all constitutionality, legality and opportunity factors I have mentioned, (...) I believe that this is not an opportune time to start off the institutional mechanisms to dismiss from office the attorney general and the DNA chief prosecutor," Toader told a news conference quoted by Agerpress.  ...more »

Chief Prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi stated on Monday, after the meeting with Justice Minister Tudorel Toader that she wasn't requested to resign and she is not intending to resign.  "I wasn't requested to resign, I don't intend to resign, I don't have any reason to resign, the DNA did its job. It was a discussion about which I don't want to share many details, you will find out after this stage is completed," Laura Codruta Kovesi stated upon exiting the Justice Ministry....more »

The US strongly condemns the detention of the hundreds of peaceful protesters, observers on human rights and journalists in Russia, reads a message published on Monday on the US Embassy in Bucharest Facebook page. The diplomatic mission's messag...more »

Brigadier General Razvan Ionescu is the new first deputy to head of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) Eduard Hellvig. According to SRI, Ionescu will take over beginning 24 March. SRI specifies that Razvan Ionescu is 45 and has a more than two-decade long experience in the SRI's operative work. The new first deputy of SRI is a graduate of the Physics Faculty of the University of Bucharest. ...more »

Minister of Justice Tudorel Toader said that terminating the protocols of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) with the prosecution authorities is not enough, but that they should also be declassified in order to shed light on the prosecutors' collaboration with intelligence services.  "As a principle, intelligence services are structures of the rule of law state. Their powers complement other state competencies. I mean we cannot deny the public utility of these services, but we cannot allow them to interfere with the judicial activities of criminal prosecution or the trial, either....more »