Romania

Romania's Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Brussels on Monday that discussed current foreign policy affairs such as Ukraine, Syria, the Horn of Africa and Venezuela.

Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea on Monday said he has agreed with Senate President Calin Popescu-Tariceanu to have a meeting of the ruling coalition with Premier Viorica Dancila and Public Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici to decide upon the companies that are to be included in the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund (FSDI).

The National Liberal Party [PNL, opposition] declares total war on Government Emergency Ordinance 114/2018 and will launch a campaign aimed at urging the Romanians to communicate to the MPs of the PSD-ALDE-UDMR ruling coalition their wish for them to vote against this "criminal normative act that endangers the development of Romania," Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said on Monday.

Businesses in the postal and courier sector exceeded the 4 billion lei threshold in 2018 due to the spectacular increase in product sales on the Internet, KeysFin specialists estimate in an analysis published on Monday.

The private sector in Romania contributes almost 80 percent to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) CEO Lucian Anghel told the launch on Monday of the third edition of a "Made in Romania" project.

AGERPRES special correspondent Loredana Ciobanu reports: The Competitiveness Council, which is taking place on Monday in Brussels will tackle aspects related to the single market, in view of finding solutions for its development, Economy Minister Niculae Badalau said.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said on Monday that the government has pulled Romania out of difficulties by implementing the PNDL 1 and PNDL 2 national local development programmes, adding that 70pct of the funding under the two programmes went to the countryside.

Ester Peony will represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, performing "On a Sunday" as the winner of the national selection that took place in Bucharest on Sunday.

Opening the national selection show on Sunday evening was the Eurovision 2018 winner, Israeli Netta Barzilai. She performed "Toy", her 2018 winning act.

The Prosecutor General's Office posted on Saturday evening a message on its Facebook page explaining why personal data were removed from two press releases of the Judiciary Crime Investigation Section regarding the case in which former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi was prosecuted.

World #3, Romania's Simona Halep was downed this Saturday by Belgian Elise Mertens 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Qatar Total Open tennis tournament.