January 10, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 10.01.2020, 20:07

ELECTION After talks with the country’s president, Romanian Prime
Minister Ludovic Orban has announced their decision to kick off procedures for
staging snap elections. According to Orban, a working group has been set up for
talks with the other parties in order to muster support for this initiative.
The Prime Minister said that the Social Democratic Party, PSD, which has a
relative majority, is acting like a stopper in Parliament and the only solution
to this situation is to stage early election as close to the local election as
possible. Romania is going to see local election in May this year. In another
development, the Social Democrats are taking into consideration a no-confidence
vote, but criticized the idea of snap election saying that such a move would
throw Romania into a superficial political crisis.

MINISTER Romania is in favour of an increased NATO role in the Middle East
and in fighting terrorism, the country’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said
on Friday. The Romanian minister said that the speech of the US president
Donald Trump on Wednesday proved that de-escalation is possible. According to
the Romanian official, it is extremely important that the members of both NATO
and the EU be united and act in solidarity. Aurescu made his statements in
Brussels, before the special proceedings of the Foreign Affairs Council
summoned against the latest developments in the Middle East. The event is also
being attended by NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.

DIPLOMACY Iran’s ambassador in Bucharest Morteza Aboutalebi on Friday said
that Romania, as an ally of the USA, is not targeted by any of Iran’s aggressive
actions. The Iranian diplomat added that neither is the NATO anti-missile
shield in Deveselu, southern Romania. According to Aboutalebi, an increased
NATO presence in the Middle East is not perceived by the regime in Tehran as in
any way related to Iran and that Tehran has always been ready for talks with
the international community, including the United States.

AIR CRASH The USA, Canada and Britain said that information from multiple
sources indicates that the Ukrainian aircraft that crashed on Wednesday near
Tehran has been taken down by Iranian armed forced. 176 people died. Iran may
have accidentally shot down the plane in which 63 Canadian citizens were
traveling, among other nationals, Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau said. The US
president Donald Trump and British PM Boris Johnson confirmed the hypothesis.
All parties now ask Iran to initiate a detailed and thorough investigation. The
Iranian authorities dismissed the latest intelligence as ridiculous
and part of an American psychological maneuver. The Ukraine International Airlines flight to Kiev crashed shortly after
taking off from the Tehran airport, just hours after Iran had launched
ballistic missiles against 2 US military bases in Iraq, with the Iranians
subsequently on alert for prospective American retaliation. According to
American intelligence, the infrared signature from two suspected missile
launches was identified, followed shortly afterwards by the infrared blip from
the burning Boeing 737-800. On
Thursday Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation said the 3-year old plane faced
technical problems shortly after take-off.

(translated by bill)