Nicolae Ciuca

President Klaus Iohannis welcomed on Wednesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who is on an official visit to Romania. Egypt's head of state was welcomed with a military ceremony.

Romania's army remains leaderless after a Bucharest court annulled a presidential decree that had extended the mandate of the incumbent chief-of-staff.

The ruling on Thursday has raised fears that the conflict between President Klaus Iohannis and the ruling Social Democratic Party might undermine national security.

Secretary of State for Defence Policy, Planning and International Relations Nicolae Nasta and Chief of General Staff General Nicolae Ciuca met on Tuesday at the National Military Circle with attaches of defence of the EU member states and partner countries, accredited in Bucharest, within a reception organised on the occasion of Romania taking over the mandate of the Presidency at the European

Strengthening Romania's profile as a regional pillar of security and stability inside NATO and the European Union is a steady goal of the Ministry of National Defense (MApN), Minister in charge Gabriel Les said at the 2018 stocktaking meeting of the Navy General Staff.

President Klaus Iohannis on Monday appreciated the administrative complaint filed against the decree on the extension of General Nicolae Ciuca's mandate as Chief of the Defence Staff as "inopportune" and "risky."

The initiation of a challenge procedure in a contentious administrative court of the decree to extend General Nicolae Ciuca's mandate as Chief of General Staff is being prepared at the National Defence Ministry (MApN), official sources confirmed for AGERPRES.

According to the sources, the challenge will be most probably filed on Wednesday.

Minister of Defence Gabriel Les thinks that the decree President Klaus Iohannis signed to extend the mandate of General Nicolae Ciuca as Chief of the Defence Staff is illegal.

President Klaus Iohannis on Friday stated that the extension of the Chief of Defence Staff General Nicolae Ciuca's mandate is a very good solution "perfectly legal and according to the Constitution."

Bucharest, Dec 29 /Agerpres/ - The Official Gazette published on Saturday the decree signed by President Klaus Iohannis on extending the mandate of General Nicolae Ciuca as Chief of Defence Staff for a year.

The decree by which the mandate of the head of the General Staff was extended was sent to the Official Gazette immediately after the reunion of the Supreme Council for Country's Defence (CSAT), and president Klaus Iohannis warns that the delay in publishing this decree "has serious consequences and draws judicial liability of all persons involved", the Presidential Administration says i