Page 3 - bne_newspaper_November_16_2018

Top Stories
November 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 3
Infighting in Bucharest as president says Romania “not ready” to take over EU presidency
Negrescu unexpectedly resigned, but claimed that Romania’s preparations to take over the EU presidency are going according to plan.
However, unnamed sources from the foreign ministry told Adevarul daily the organisation of the presidency is a "fiasco" and Negrescu did not want to be held responsible for it.
Other unnamed sources from the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) told the daily that Negresu resigned due to increasing tensions between himself and PSD leader Liviu Dragnea.
According to the sources, Negresu has sent Romanian officials in Brussels a series of messages in which he complained he had been “sabotaged” by Dragnea, EU Funds Minister Rovana Plumb and Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici. Diplomatic sources indicated that Dragnea was unhappy that Negrescu was too close to some EU leaders and has not supported the PSD’s cause in Brussels.
Romania's first EU Council presidency comes at a critical time as it will oversee the UK's expected departure from the union. The latest scandal has fuelled speculation that despite Bucharest's high hopes of the upcoming presidency, the spotlight it places on the country could backfire. There were
similar problems in neighbouring Bulgaria which held its first EU Council presidency in the first half of this year. Mass protests over plans to develop the Pirin national park, and a racist jibe made by one of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's far-right junior coalition partners to a German MEP turned the opening weeks of the presidency into a PR disaster.
Adding to the problems facing Bucharest, the country’s judicial overhaul and backsliding in the fight against corruption were slammed by EU institutions on November 13. The European Com- mission urged Romania to suspend implemen- tation of the country’s controversial new justice laws in the latest Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) report on the country released on November 13.
The same day, the European Parliament also expressed “deep concerns” at the redrafted legislation relating to the judicial and criminal legislation in a resolution adopted by MEPs on the rule of law in Romania.
Indicating that the concerns over Romania’s lack of readiness have spread beyond Bucharest, Fin- land’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä said on Novem- ber 13 that Finland — which is due to succeed Romania as the holder of the six-month rotating presidency in the second half of 2019 — raised its readiness level in response to Iohannis’ comment and started preparing for a possible request to bring forward its presidency to the first half of the year. However, Sipilä told local media, the Roma- nian government has confirmed that Bucharest will take on the presidency in the first half of 2019 as scheduled.