NEWS OF THE DAY - AUGUST 12

*The candidate of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL, made up of National Liberal Party PNL and Democratic Liberal Party PDL) Klaus Iohannis announced on Monday night the start of his pre-campaign for Romania's presidency, with collection of the mandatory signatures of voters to allow him running.

'Tomorrow [Tuesday] morning we enter the pre-campaign. Starting tomorrow, I will visit every county chapter, and meet people from both parties [PNL and PDL]. We are going to start the pre-campaign with a wide-scale signature collection action, which will occasion direct contacts with people,' Iohannis said at Realitatea TV.

* The candidate of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL, made up of National Liberal Party PNL and Democratic Liberal Party PDL) Klaus Iohannis announced on Monday night that he is going to visit the Republic of Moldova sometime in the coming weeks.

*Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) leader Vasile Blaga, co-chairman of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL), was designated campaign manager for the 2014 presidential campaign of Klaus Iohannis, ACL's presidential candidate.

The announcement was made by National Liberal Party (PNL) chairman Iohannis on Tuesday at the PDL headquarters in Bucharest, where the ACL leadership is holding talks about the campaign strategy.

*Romania has officially submitted to the European Commission a report on the situation of its fruit and vegetables sector following the embargo imposed by the Russian Federation on food products from the European Union, but proposals for financial aid to Romanian producers will be unveiled at a meeting in Brussels on August 14, State Secretary with Romania's Ministry of Agriculture Daniel Botanoiu told Agerpres on Tuesday.

*The...