Cristina Zaharia

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila welcomed at the Victoria Governmental Palace on Friday Austria's Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who is currently paying an official visit to Bucharest.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Friday thanked Romanian President Klaus Iohannis for taking care of democracy and rule of law.

"I want to thank him for, as President, he took care of democracy, of the rule of law," the Austrian Chancellor told the Romanian head of state, at the joint press conference they held at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

Romania is taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Austria, a trustworthy and good partner, President Klaus Iohannis said on Friday.

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila announced that she will participate in Belgrade on Friday and Saturday in the quadrilateral Romania-Bulgaria-Greece-Serbia meeting, where she will present Romania's priorities during the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, focusing on advancing the European agenda referring to the Western Balkans and on projects regarding the region's

Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) head Kelemen Hunor on Thursday stated that the Opposition doesn't have a governing programme with a proposed Prime Minister, and the Union will prepare such programme in the spring and it will also bring a proposal for a Prime Minister at that point.

President Klaus Iohannis stated that the Opposition "has pretty good chances of success" when referring to the censure motion filed against the Dancila Government, that is to be debated and voted on Thursday in Parliament.

President Klaus Iohannis stated on Tuesday that he cannot give up the independence of justice and the rule of law, arguing that he won't question these two aspects in a discussion with politicians who "want to question precisely these things."

Minister of National Defence Gabriel Les on Tuesday had a meeting in Brussels with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, in which context he voiced Romania's support in strengthening the EU profile in the field of security and defence, on the coordinates of action complementarity and synergy with NATO.

Former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos on Saturday announced in Cluj that he and his supporters registered a new political party, the Liberty, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS), which will replace the Romania Together Movement (Miscarea Romania Impreuna).

President of UMDR's (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) Women Organisation on Saturday stated that among the eligible candidates of this party for the European Parliament there must be at least one woman.