3 years since the Colectiv fire / Parliament discusses simple motion against Minister Toader
COLECTIV - Tuesday marked 3 years since the fire at the Bucharest-based club Colectiv where 64 people lost their lives. Subsequently, after one year and a half, a young man injured in the fire committed suicide. To commemorate the dead two religious services, a commemoration rally and the screening of a thematic movie were held. The film is called ''We get off at the next stop' and is directed by Tedy Necula, who tells the story of the passengers in a subway carriage, the next day after the fire. The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis brought a floral tribute at the place of the tragedy, lit a candle and observed a short moment of silence.
MOTION - The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest on Tuesday debated a simple motion initiated by the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union Party against the justice minister, in which they ask for his resignation. The opposition accuses Minister Tudorel Toader that through his attitude he abandoned the judiciary and left it in the hands of criminals, thus taking Romania way back in the past when criminal files used to be solved during party meetings. The motion will be submitted to the vote on Wednesday. Meanwhile Minister Toader announced he would make public the appointment procedure and grid as well as the candidacy file of Romania's prosecutor general Augustin Lazar. Last week, the justice minister had asked for the dismissal of Augustin Lazar, one of the reasons being the alleged existence, in his candidacy file of 2016, of a classifying verdict in a case involving the country's president Klaus Iohannis, at the time when he was a mayor. The Superior Council of Magistracy claims that the file does not include such a document.
VISITS - The European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Gunther Oettinger, on Tuesday paid an official visit to Bucharest. He met with the Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, with whom he discussed hot topics on the European agenda, particularly the multiannual financial framework. Also present in Bucharest was the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu, who said that the lack of transport infrastructure is the legacy of Romania's history. Attending a top-level conference on the future of the Cohesion Policy, the European official said Romania had no projects to implement when it joined the European Union. The EU official said the European Commission is providing an additional 10% increase in the funds to be allotted to Romania, Bulgaria and Greece in the period 2021-2027. Commissioner Cretu has drawn attention to the fact that the Romanian authorities are not accessing the money made available to it by Brussels, which should be used for infrastructure and healthcare projects.
EXERCISE - The American air forces announced that they transported an important amount of armament to Europe. This was the largest such operation after the war in Kosovo, when the US played a key role in NATO's intervention in the former Yugoslavia. The American transport of armament coincides with the largest NATO military exercise after the Cold War. The exercise called Trident Juncture 18 is taking place in Norway. Participating are tens of thousands of military from 31 member and allied countries. Romania is represented in the military drill by military with the general staff and the Psychological Operations Centre. The Chief of the General Staff of the Romanian Armed Forces, General Nicolae Ciuca, attended the Distinguished Visitors' Day in Norway.
COMMEMORATION - President Klaus Iohannis on November 10 and 11 will be attending a series of events in Paris devoted to the Armistice Centenary that marked the end of hostilities in World War I, the presidency reports. The head of state will join leaders of countries that participated in the Great War as well as countries that supported war efforts at the ceremony held at the Triumphal Arch in Paris. The president will also attend the opening of the Peace Forum, an initiative of the French President Emmanuel Macron, aimed at generating concrete projects to support multilateralism and contemporary cooperation towards peace. Klaus Iohannis will also meet with BA, MA and doctoral students in Paris involved in scientific research. Hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Paris, the meeting is devoted to Romania's contribution to the advancement of science and technology in the year of the Great Union Centennial.
IMF - An IMF mission will arrive next week in Bucharest for talks with the authorities and representatives of the business sector and civil society. The agenda for talks was presented on Tuesday by IMF Resident Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, Alejandro Hajdenberg. The agenda includes the macroeconomic framework, the budget for 2019 and progress in implementing structural reforms. The IMF official announced that the economic forecast for this year is 4%, below the estimate for 2018. Alejandro Hajdenberg also said that the IMF expects the inflation to drop to 3.5% towards the end of 2018, and the budget deficit to stand at 3.6% of the GDP.
AFRICAN SWINE FEVER - A new African swine fever outbreak was confirmed in a household in Dolj County, southwestern Romania, the National Sanitary, Veterinary and Food Safety Authority announced. So far a thousand outbreaks have been reported in 15 counties, and over 350,000 animals were culled. Romania has called for EU support to provide financial compensations to pig farmers. The first outbreak was reported in July 2017.
(Translated by L. Simion & V. Palcu)
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved