Romania to Appoint New Spy Chief

Romania's parliament is to vote on Monday whether to appoint Hellvig as the director of the country's intelligence service, SRI, after he was nominated for the post by President Klaus Iohannis.

He is to replace former director George Maior, who resigned at the end of January.

His approval by the parliament seems to be a foregone conclusion, as all political parties have already announced that they are supporting him.

Hellvig, 40, is currently vice president of the opposition National Liberal Party, PNL.
He holds a doctorate in political studies, and was minister of development for a few months in the first government led by Prime Minister Victor Ponta. At the time, the PNL had a governing alliance with Ponta's Social Democratic Party, PSD.

Hellvig, who belongs to Romania's German minority, got elected to the Chamber of Deputies, in 2012, but resigned one year later to become a member of the European Parliament.

In several posts published on his blog, Hellvig has argued in favour of strengthening Romania's military capacity and increasing military spending by two per cent, a goal supported by President Iohannis.

He also argued in favour of new, stricter legislation on internet security in Romania.

Former SRI director George Maior unexpectedly resigned on January 26 after running the service for nine years. 

Analysts said that the reasons for Maior's resignation remain unclear.