NEWS OF THE DAY - JUNE 17

Prime Minister Victor Ponta stated on Tuesday, after the solemn session through which the Senate marked 150 years of activity, that regardless of whether speaking of Traian Basescu, soon to be former president, or other former heads of state in office after the 1989 Revolution, they should be senators by right in a future Senate (e.n. - The Prime Minister is referring to a model in force in inter-war Romania where several notable personalities, through the office they held or for notable tenures in certain offices, were awarded the title of senator by right, being members of the Senate without the need to be elected). "Regardless of whether we are speaking of Traian Basescu. There are three presidents, former, well, two former and one almost: Mr. Iliescu, Mr. Constantinescu and Mr. Basescu. Their name or passions they've stirred along the years do not matter. What matters is that a former President of Romania, rightfully so, through the political experience he accrued can very well be a senator by right without the need to send him in an electoral college somewhere, I don't know, in the countryside somewhere, or in some town, to fight against a young candidate seeking to make a name for himself. It wouldn't be a problem in Romania's Senate", said the Prime Minister when asked if he also sees Traian Basescu as a senator by right according to the idea he postulated in his speech at the Senate's anniversary.

* State Secretary for Strategic Affairs with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday attended an international conference on missile defence in Mainz, Germany, where he reiterated Romania's strong commitment to making the Deveslu Military base facility operational around 2015. MAE reports in a press release that in his...