Romania

RUSSIA, ROMANIA The Russian and Romanian Foreign Ministries have expressed their concern with the situation in Kosovo. Andrei Nesterenko from the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “considerable conflict potential“ persisted in Kosovo, and that he expected international community representatives to act impartially to prevent “new anti-Serb provocation.“

ROMANIA Romania’s Prince Radu Duda has withdrawn from the country’s presidential race. Radu – the son-in-law of former Romanian monarch King Michael – pulled out of the race because he feared the election campaign wouldn’t be “fair”. Writing on his blog, the royal said: “I withdraw with regrets but with …

ROMANIA Romania is currently in a deep recession that is expected to last into 2010, and even so, the nation’s economy is unlikely to return to its recent lofty growth rates in the near term, the long-term prospects remain good, according to a new Moody’s report on Romania, cited by …

NETHERLANDS The Dutch government has dealt another blow to the new EU member states Bulgaria and Romania, saying they are still doing too little to tackle corruption and organized crime, and their management of EU funds is still below par. The conclusions were announced on Wednesday in response to the …

ROMANIA Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu on Wednesday cancelled a visit to the Netherlands in protest at Dutch criticism of his country’s judiciary reform, officials said. A foreign ministry spokesman said it was an “unfriendly gesture” on the part of the Dutch government to make public the report, which contained …

HOLLAND The new EU member states Romania and Bulgaria are still doing too little to tackle corruption and organised crime, and their management of EU funds is still below par, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes. The government will continue to press for improvements in both countries at European …

ROMANIA The Romanian government is engaged in intensive lobbying as it looks to snare a key European Commission post for the country’s former agriculture minister. Dacian Ciolos is Bucharest’s candidate for the post of EU Agriculture Commissioner, President Traian Basescu confirmed on Wednesday.Basescu stressed that Romania is willing to accept …

ROMANIA Despite uncertainty over the number of commissioners in the next EU executive, which stems from the as yet unfinished ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, Romania has announced that it will propose a former agriculture minister as its next commissioner. Dacian Cioloş (pronounced Dachian Chiolosh) is Romania’s candidate for the …

ROMANIA On Monday, Romania’s ruling coalition set November 22 as the date for the country’s presidential elections and established new rules to improve the voting process. The ruling centre-right Democratic Liberal Party, PD-L, and leftist Social Democratic Party, PSD, decided not to make any changes to the current election law, …

TURKEY Turkey’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Turkey and Romania, the two most important countries in Black Sea region, were determined to turn the region into one of the most powerful and developed economic basins in the world. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Romanian Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu …