June 16, 2017 UPDATE

The ruling coalition will next week hold a no-confidence vote against its own government / Former PM Victor Ponta appointed Secretary General of the Government.

Newsroom, 16.06.2017, 19:20

GOVERNMENT – The former Social Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta was appointed Secretary General of the Government headed by Sorin Grindeanu. The decision was published on Friday in the Official Journal. Ponta’s appointment is seen by pundits as an attempt made by Grindeanu to get allies from among influential people in the Social Democratic Party, party from which the latter has just been expelled. PM Grindeanu has refused to resign, so the ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats decided to initiate a no-confidence vote in Parliament against its own government, which is to take place next week. The leader of the Social Democrats Liviu Dragnea and that of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Calin Popescu Tariceanu blame the prime minister for lack of efficiency in the implementation of the governing programme, an accusation Grindeanu has rejected. President Klaus Iohannis has called on the ruling coalition to solve its problem internally.

GERMANY – Helmut Kohl, who served as German chancellor from 1982 to 1998, and presided over the end of the Cold War, has died at the age of 87. The so-called “father of reunification” was modern Germanys longest serving chancellor, coinciding with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall that separated the communist East from the capitalist West.

VISIT – Luxembourgs prime minister Xavier Bettel accompanied by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will travel to Sibiu, in central Romania, on Saturday, to attend events celebrating 10 years since the city held the title of European Capital of Culture. In 2007, when Romania joined the EU, Klaus Iohannis was mayor of Sibiu and the city was European Capital of Culture, together with Luxembourg. On Friday, Xavier Bettel also met his Romanian counterpart Sorin Grindeanu.

LIBERAL PARTY — The EMP Cristian Busoi and the former Transport Minister Ludovic Orban run for the position of president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the most important right-of-centre party in Romania’s Parliament. Both candidates have promised to reform the party after the defeat at the parliamentary elections last year. The Liberals’ congress will be attended by the European People’s Party president Antonio Isturiz White. PNL joined EPP in 2014.

THEATRE – The International Theatre Festival continues in Sibiu, where the citys mediaeval streets and historic centre have been turned into outdoor stages for shows and circus performances from companies from around the world. More than 40 different performances are scheduled on Day 8 of the festival. The famous dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov will again give his one-man show based on the poems of Nobel Prize winner Iosif Brodski. The biggest performing arts festival in Romania and one of the biggest in the world, the Sibiu International Theatre Festival comes to an end on Sunday.

INFLATION – The annual inflation rate dropped in May to 1.4% in the eurozone and to 1.6% in the European Union from 1.9% and 2%, respectively, in April, the Eurostat announced on Friday. Ireland, Romania, Denmark and Holland saw the lowest inflation rates in the European Union. The highest levels were reported in Estonia, Lithuania and the UK. According to Eurostat, the inflation rate in the eurozone is moving further from the target level of the European Central Bank, which wants to maintain price increases to around 2%, a level it sees as beneficial to economic activity.

TOURISM – The number of foreign visitors who used accommodation in Romania in the first quarter of the year stood at around 450,000. They spent around 220 million euros in the country, according to the National Institute for Statistics. Last year, Romania received 2.4 million foreign visitors, who spent 530 euros per person on average. Business was the main reason for the trips by non-residents visitors in the first quarter of the year, followed by congresses, conferences, courses, fairs and exhibitions, while the amount they spent in the country accounted for 66% of the total.

TENNIS — The best Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 2 in the world, has announced she will not take part in the tournament in Birmingham between June 19 and 25. She has taken this decision in order to protect her ankle after the injury she suffered last month in the final in Rome.

(Translated by Elena Enache)