Tuesday, July 16th

Romanian government reshuffle

Two Romanian ministers are expected to be removed from office. The country’s Interior Minister Carmen Dan and Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu will be replaced, according to sources. Carmen Dan, an Interior Minister since January 2017, already filed her resignation while the fate of Mr. Meleşcau was still uncertain at the time. Nicolae Moga, a senator of the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) will replace Ms. Dan as Interior Minister while Ramona Mănescu of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE), the junior party in the governing coalition, is expected to replace Mr. Meleşcanu as Foreign Minister. Both Ms. Dan and Mr. Meleşcanu were harshly criticised by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis for their performance. The governing PSD is still expected to announce its candidate for the presidential elections in autumn.

New bridge over river Danube

A third bridge over river Danube is expected between the Romanian southern town of Zimnicea and the Bulgarian northern port of Svishtov, according to a statement made by Romanian Transport Minister Răzvan Cuc on Monday. The announcement comes after months of negotiations between delegations led by minister Cuc and his Bulgarian counterpart Rosen Zhelyaskov. They also agreed that three years was a realistic time to build the bridge also expected to include a railway. The project is part of a larger plan also including a future Southern Motorway connecting the two countries. Formerly known as the Friendship Bridge, the first Danube bridge between the two countries links the Romanian port of Giurgiu to the Bulgarian town of Ruse. It opened in June 1954.

New cases of African swine fever in southern Romania

New cases of African swine fever were discovered in Romania’s southern county of Giurgiu, local sources told Radio Romania on Tuesday. Some 120 animals are affected in the villages of Singureni, Stejaru and Crânguri. The announcement comes after other swine fever cases were confirmed in recent days in Izvoru, Bulbucata and Hodivoaia – three villages in the same county. The swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a haemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs. In 2018, Romania’s food safety authorities said the country was facing its biggest outbreak of African swine fever since World War II with more than 123,000 animals have been slaughtered as a result of the outbreak.

Alexandru Danga/adanga