February 25, 2014
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România Internațional, 25.02.2014, 12:00
The Chamber of Deputies in Romania is today voting on a simple motion tabled by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Party of the People, in opposition, regarding the management of snow clearing operations this winter. Discussed on Monday, the motion claims that in December and January, the National Road and Motorway Corporation allegedly signed contracts worth around 22 million euros through non-transparent procedures, favouring companies close to leading members of the ruling Social Liberal Union. The initiators want the government to check the awarding of these snow clearing contracts.
In Bucharest, the leaders of the National Liberal Party, the second largest party in the ruling coalition, are to decide today whether they step out of the government. A meeting was convened after the government reshuffling negotiations with the Social Democratic Party failed. The PM Victor Ponta announced that if the Liberals withdrew from the government, he would nominate interim ministers to replace them, and only after the interim term expired would he go to Parliament with a new government. The divergences between the two parties started early this month, when the Liberals nominated the Mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, for the vice-premier and interior minister posts, and the Social Democratic Party set up, together with the junior ruling partners, the Conservatives and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, a Social-Democratic Union within the ruling coalition.
The president of Romania, Traian Basescu, has today signed the book of condolences opened at Ukraine’s diplomatic mission in Bucharest. On this occasion, the Romanian president said Ukraine would only manage to stay united if ethnic minorities are given due respect by the central authorities. The statement was made after the Parliament of Ukraine abrogated legislation that recognised the languages of national minorities, including Romanian, as regional languages. We’ll have more on this after the news.
Originally scheduled for today, the formation of a transition government in Ukraine was deferred to Thursday. The announcement was made by the interim president Olexandr Turchinov. A government is particularly needed, given that the country is on the verge of bankruptcy, and Moscow threatens to suspend financial aid. Russia questions the legitimacy of the transition authorities, which requested immediate financial support from the West and placed the fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych on a wanted list for mass murder. Today, in Moscow, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has voiced opposition to the organisation of early presidential elections on May 25th. Meanwhile, after the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the deputy US Secretary of State, William Burns, will also send Kiev a message supporting the new authorities and pleading for political and economic recovery. Ukraine’s interim finance minister, Yuriy Kolobov, estimated that Ukraine needs around 35 billion USD in 2014 and 2015.
The new head of the government of Italy, Matteo Renzi, Monday night secured Parliament’s vote of confidence on his government programme, aimed at immediate and radical change. Matteo Renzi undertook to govern in citzens;’ service, by reducing fiscal pressures, creating new jobs, attracting investments and making education one of the immediate priorities of his cabinet. Once sworn in, Matteo Renzi, aged 39, will be the youngest prime minister in the European Union.
Thousands of people took part in a rally in Iceland’s capital city Reykjavik on Monday, demanding a referendum on the country’s EU accession. On Friday, the two Euro-sceptical parties in power in the country decided to withdraw the country’s EU candidacy. Accession talks have been stuck for years, because of the fisheries quota issue. Polls indicate the majority of Iceland’s voters are against the EU accession, while its supporters argue that the main gain would be the adoption of the euro, which would contribute to the stability of the country’s economy.
