CRISTIAN LUPASCU

Romania's Defence Minister Mihai Fifor on Monday welcomed UK ambassador to Romania Andrew Noble to discuss Romanian-UK defence co-operation, according to a press statement released by the Defence Ministry (MApN).

Fifor and Noble emphasised NATO relations as well as current European affairs at their meeting at the MApN headquarters.

Romania's Defence Minister Mihai Fifor had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Canada, Italy and Turkey as part of his participation in Brussels in a meeting of the NATO defense ministers whom he invited officially to participate in the events to be organised in Bucharest on December 1, the National Day of Romania, as 100 years since the Greater Union are celebrated.

Social Democratic party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea on Sunday announced the possibility of a Government reshuffle by early October at the latest.

He told private TV broadcaster Antena 3 that Prime Minister Viorica Dancila will assess all ministers by then, and the PSD leadership will decide the ministers to be replaced.

The protest on 10 August in Bucharest "must be handled with all responsibility", said the Social democrat Senator Ecaterina Andronescu on Saturday, at the ruling party, PSD, reunion of the National Executive Committee (CExN).

She said that the social democrats should rule for both the ones who have voted them and the ones who haven't, as well as for the Romanians abroad.

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will participate in air policing missions in Romania over the next four months.

Minister of Internal Affairs Carmen Dan said Saturday, at the seat of the Ministry, that the gendarmes will not report to the politicians, but that if required, she will present national security aspects related to Friday's anti-government rally at a meeting of the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT).

Florin Ianculescu, commander of the C-27 J Spartan aircraft dispatched by Romania to extinguish wildfires in Greece, says he was unpleasantly surprised by the magnitude of the fires in the vicinity of Athens.

He told the Romanian public radio broadcaster on Thursday that that the Romanian Air Force's aircraft already participated in containing outbreaks in western Athens.

The international security context, the risks and threats emerging globally and regionally, as well as the measures to be taken at both NATO and EU levels, were discussed in Bucharest on Thursday by State Secretary for Defence, Policy, Planning and International Relations with Romania's Defence Ministry (MApN) Mircea Dusa and Portuguese Defence Minister Jose Alberto Azeredo Ferreira Lop

Photo exhibition "Romania: Evolution" organised by the AGERPRES National News Agency on the centennial of the December 1, 1918 Greater Union opened on Thursday in the foyer of the Iasi Athenaeum, on the second evening of the Romanian Film Evenings.

On a two-day visit to Greece, Romania's Defence Minister Mihai Fifor on Monday discussed with his Greek counterpart Panos Kammenos the consolidation of defence co-operation between Romania and Greece.