January 20, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 20.01.2017, 20:12

ANTI-GOVERNMENT
PROTESTS Romania’s President Klaus
Iohannis has stated that there are sufficient arguments for the Government to
withdraw its ordinances amending the blanket pardon legislation and the
Criminal Code. In a message posted on a social networking site, the President
says the measures are ‘ineffective’ and ‘targeted’. On Thursday, protests
continued in Bucharest and other large cities against the Government’s plans.
Thousands of protesters fear these changes are only meant to benefit some big
influential politicians and lawmakers, whose sentences will be thus written
off. Opposition parties, civil society and magistrates’ associations have
voiced the same concerns. However, the Government claims these amendments are
necessary to solve the issue of prison
overcrowding as well as to harmonize the existing legislation with
Constitutional Court rulings.

2017 BUDGET
The Romanian Government discussed on Friday the draft budget for 2017. The session was chaired by the Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development Sevil Shhaideh, who serves
as interim Prime Minister until Monday, pending Prime Minister Sorin
Grindeanu’s return from Washington, where he attended the official swearing-in
of Donald Trump as President of the United States. According to a communiqué
issued by the Government, the draft budget was built by taking into account the
measures adopted by Government in keeping with the governing program, among
which maintaining the budget deficit below 3% and earmarking 2% of the GDP to
the army. The Government will convene again on January 25th to
debate and adopt the 2017 budget. A delegation of the International Monetary
Fund, led by the mission chief for Romania Reza Baqir, on Thursday held a first
meeting with the Finance Minister Viorel Stefan on the 2017 state budget. At
present Romania has no ongoing agreement with the IMF.

RESCUE OPERATIONS Rescue
teams in Italy have found another ten survivors among the debris of a hotel in
Pescara province, which was destroyed by an avalanche on Wednesday. Four people
have been reported dead so far. The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on
Friday that, according to official information, two Romanian citizens, one
adult and one child, reported missing after the avalanche, had been found
alive. They are now in a hospital in Pescara and are no longer in danger. The
Ministry has stated that representatives of the Romanian Embassy in Rome stay
in touch with both the family of the Romanian citizens and the Italian
authorities, who are managing the rescue operations, in order to get more and
accurate information about other Romanians who might have been affected.

PARTNERSHIP To Germany, Romania is a strategic economic
partner, and trade exchanges between the two countries exceeded 24 billion
Euros in the first 11 months of 2016, up by 13%, reads a communiqué issued by
the Romanian – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Romania). Some
8,000 German companies are active in Romania. According to AHK estimates,
German companies have more than 250,000 employees in Romania and German direct
investments stand at 8 billion Euros.

WASHINGTON On Friday, the Republican billionaire Donald
Trump became the 45th President of the United States, taking the
oath of office in Washington, during a ceremony attended by several hundreds of
people. In his speech, the new White House leader said that January 20th
would remain in the memory of the US citizens as the day when power was
transferred not from one administration to another, but from Washington to the
people. Trump also promised America would always come first and all decisions
would be made for the US citizens. We will eradicate radical, Islamic
terrorism completely from the earth, the President also said. The ceremony was
held against the background of protests in Washington and other US cities, but
also outside the US, in London, Paris, Berlin and Sydney.

EXHIBITION Romania will participate in the
international exhibition titled ‘Future Energy’ hosted by Astana, Kazakhstan,
between the 10th of June and the 10th of September 2017.
The participation contract was signed in Bucharest on Friday, by
representatives of the two countries. According to the Romanian Foreign
Ministry, the Romanian pavilion will promote Romanian traditions, services,
tourist offers, as well as the prospects of Romania’s energy industry. 100
countries will be represented at the fair this year, and organisers expect some
5 million visitors.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea, Romania’s last
representative in the women’s singles at the Australian Open, will play against
the Spanish Garbine Muguruza Blanco in the fourth round of this year’s first
Grand Slam. On Friday, for the first time in her career, Cirstea qualified for
this round by defeating the American Alison Riske. In the men’s doubles, the
Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean Julien Rojer beat the pair made up of
the Australian Matt Reid and Jordan Thompson going straight into the quarter
finals, where they will take on the Dutch pair Wesley Koolhof – Matwe
Middlekoop. The pair made up of the Romanian Florin Mergea and the British
Dominic Inglot has too qualified for the quarter finals, where they will play
against Julien Benneteau and Jeremy
Chardy of France.