Thursday, July 7 2022

A former Romanian agriculture minister may return to the job

Romania’s governing Social Democrats (PSD) have decided to support Petre Daea as Agriculture Minister – a position he already held five times before. The PSD proposal is expected to go to Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă for approval, and then to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis who is expected to ratify the decision. Former Agriculture Minister Adrian Chesnoiu resigned following an alleged corruption scandal. Mr. Daea, 72, has been an MP since 2004 as representative of the left-wing Social Democratic Party before becoming an Agriculture Minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Adrian Năstase (2004) and then in 2017 and 2019 as Agriculture Minister in succesive governments of former PMs Sorin Grindeanu, Mihai Tudose, and Viorica Dăncilă.

Romanian PM Nicolae Ciucă on a visit to Athens

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolea Ciucă is in Anthens on Thursday for a meeting with Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Both politicians are expected to attend an event marking the commissioning of a gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria. Crossing a remote border area of Greece and Bulgaria, the new pipeline will help countries in the region dependent on Russian imports get greater access to the global natural gas market. The interconnector project faced several hurdles in recent years though it’s importance for Bulgaria is crucial as the country lost its Russian gas access after refusing to pay in rubles. The two PMs are also expected to hold private talks at the Mr. Mitsotakis’ residence in Athens.

Opening of Gărâna Jazz Festival

An international jazz festival opens in Gărâna, a small village in south-western Romania, on Thursday. The four-day event was established in 1996 before allegedly becoming the most relevant jazz event in Central and South-Eastern Europe. The lineup of the 2022 edition includes Romanian jazz artists along with jazz stars in Northern Europe (Sweden, Norway, and Finaalnd), and similar stars in France, Australia and the US. Hidden in the heart of the Western Carpathians, the small village of Gărâna has developed, during the last decades, into an international artists’ colony.

Alexandru Danga