KEY STORIES TODAY Budget deficit increases / Key investigation on August 2018 violence passed around

The Finance ministry in Bucharest revealed a bigger deficit for first 5 months of the year than a year ago. A major investigation into violence during the August 10, 2018 anti-government protests has been passed from one investigative body to another. Changes are being done to how Romanians abroad are voting.

Romania’s Finance ministry has published its budget report for 5 months into 2019. A week late, the report shows a budget deficit of 1.43% of the GDP (RON14.7 billion), way above the 0.83% reported a year ago. More on this in Romanian here

A major investigation into violence during the August 10, 2018 protests, when the riot police intervened forcefully against largely peaceful anti-government protesters in Bucharest, was passed by military prosecutors to the key body investigating terrorism and organised crime, DIICOT. DIICOT had requested the case, but now its top prosecutor Felix Banila told HotNews.ro that military prosecutors delivered the file despite DIICOT only asking for it for study purposes. The case is a sensitive one for the governing Social Democrats (PSD), as it seeks to set responsibility for the violence committed by riot police under the authority of PSD officials. More on this in Romanian here

Romania’s Senate on Monday adopted a bill saying that voting abroad can be done throughout a period of three days and that voters who have spent time in queues by 9 p.m. the night of closing polls should be able to vote until midnight. The Senate is the first chamber to discuss the bill, which is set to be decided by a future vote in the House. The bill came around as the last European elections – but also Presidential elections in 2014 – were marred by problems with voting among the numerous Romanian Diaspora, with thousands of people queuing to vote at polling stations organised abroad, many of them prevented from casting their ballot due to organisational irregularities. More on this in Romanian here

An European Commission delegation is expected to arrive in Bucharest on Tuesday to discuss the situation of Romanian justice as part of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) – a key tool of the Commission to keep Romania in check when it comes to Justice reform. More on this in Romanian here