November 11, 2015

Newsroom, 11.11.2015, 13:43

The independent
prime minister designate Dacian Ciolos has started talks with political parties
to secure parliamentary support for his cabinet. The National Liberal Party has
already promised its support, urging Dacian Ciolos to make a careful selection
of his ministers and state secretaries. The latter has told the Liberals his
cabinet will not include party members, but only specialists. A former European
commissioner for agriculture, he was nominated for the position of prime
minister following the resignation of the coalition government led by the
Social Democrat Victor Ponta in the wake of massive street demonstrations
against the political elite after the tragic fire at a Bucharest nightclub on
October 30th.

The death toll has risen to 50 following the deadly fire in Bucharest.
More than 70 people, including 20 in critical condition, are still in hospital.
36 other people have been transferred to hospitals in Austria, Belgium, The
Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Norway, Israel and Switzerland. All expenses
related to transport and treatment are covered by the Romanian state. A crisis
group made up of specialist doctors has also been created to provide
psychological counselling to the injured and the families of the victims.

The Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis is in Malta until tomorrow to attend a summit tackling the root causes
of illegal migration. European leaders and representatives of 30 African
countries are discussing the situation of the people fleeing conflict areas and
the repatriation of refugees. On Thursday, an extraordinary council meeting
will look at ways to strengthen control on the European Union’s external
borders and the management of the refugee flow and the refugee reception
centres. Romania’s president conveyed his country’s solidarity with the other
EU states, saying it wishes to find the best solutions to the refugee problem.
He gave assurances that Romania conducts tight border controls and is involved
in actions to tackle the migration crisis. He also said that keeping the refugee
crisis under control should involve close cooperation with both the transit
countries and the countries of origin.

Military and
religious ceremonies are taking place today in garrisons in Romania to
celebrate Veterans Day in the theatres of operations. Tribute is paid to the 26
Romanian military killed in action in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia Hertegovina.
11th of November 2003 saw the first death of a Romanian soldier in
the theatre of operations in Afghanistan in an attack on his armoured vehicle.
A government decision has declared 2015 War Veterans’ Year.

The annual inflation rate in
Romania has remained negative in October at minus 1.6%, up from minus 1.7% in
September, according to the latest figures published by the National Institute
for Statistics. The National Bank has revised its inflation forecast for this
year down to 0.7% and up to 1.1% for next year. The inflation turned negative
as a result of this summer’s cut in the VAT for food products to 9%.

Russia will strengthen the
potential of its nuclear strategic forces to counteract the US missile defence
programme, said the Russian president Vladimir Putin. He said the Russian
military industry has created and successfully tested a number of prospective
weapons systems capable of counteracting any missile defence system. Earlier,
the Kremlin called on the US and Romania to abandon the installation of missile
launchers as part of the missile defence system in Romania. Recently, the US
ambassador in Bucharest Hans Klemm said Washington’s defence actions are not
intended to affect the strategic balance with Russia.