November 2, 2019 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 02.11.2019, 19:10
Vote – On Monday, the Romanian Parliament will hold a vote on the investiture of the Liberal Government proposed by the prime minister designate Ludovic Orban. 233 yes votes are needed for the new government to take office. To secure this outcome, Orban has concluded political agreements and deals with the Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the Peoples Movement Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the group of ethnic minorities. The Social Democratic Party and the Pro Romania party both said their members would be absent from the vote. Orbans cabinet would replace Viorica Dancilas Social Democratic government which was brought down following a no-confidence vote. Ludovic Orban has proposed a government with fewer ministries (16), whose priorities include picking Romanias candidate for the position of EU commissioner, the final budget adjustment this year and the budget for next year.
Election – The Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced that it has finalized the sending to the Romanian consulates and diplomatic missions abroad of all the materials necessary for voting in the presidential elections this month. For the 835 polling stations that will be set up outside Romanias borders, the ministry sent 4,483,907 ballots and 7,739 VOTED stamps for the first round. The Romanians in the Republic of Moldova will have 27 polling stations, of which 12 in Chisinau. As a first, voting abroad will be held over three days for each round, on the 8th, 9th and 10th of November, and then on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th respectively, in order to avoid queuing. Also, the Romanians who have registered online will be able to resort to postal voting. The president of the Permanent Electoral Authority has announced that the total amount earmarked for this years presidential elections is 150 million Euro, the biggest so far.
Protest – Miners from two mines in the Jiu Valley, in the centre-west, on Saturday continued the protest started on Monday, when around 100 people barricaded themselves underground. They are about to lose their jobs at the beginning of next year when the mines are closed. They say that if their demands are not taken into consideration, they will go on hunger strike and have requested the presence of the outgoing prime minister Viorica Dancila. Miners want legislation that guarantees social protection after lay-off. The process to close the two mines began at the end of 2017.
Mission – The King Ferdinand frigate of the Romanian Navy, together with a Puma helicopter and a Navy Special Operations unit are taking part until November 7th in a new NATO mission in the Mediterranean. The goal of Operation Sea Guardian 19 is to deter illegal activities on the southern flank of NATO and the EU, through sea and air traffic monitoring. During the mission, the Romanian frigate will have stopovers in Haifa, Israel, and Limassol, Cyprus. The first stop was in the port of Aksaz, in the south of Turkey, followed by another one in Alexandria, Egypt, where a meeting was held on board the ship with members of the Romanian community in Egypt.
Impeachment – The American President Donald Trump has stated that an angry majority of voters will support him during the impeachment inquiry started by the Democrats, a year before the presidential elections. The Democratic Speaker of the House of Representative Nancy Pelosi has announced that the hearings will start this month. The House of Representatives has endorsed legislation to formally proceed with the impeachment inquiry against president Donald Trump. Its the third time in Americas modern history when such a vote is held. President Trump is essentially accused of using his office to obtain personal political gains through a foreign state, in this case Ukraine. He is accused of making military aid for Ukraine conditional on the Ukrainian governments starting an investigation into Trumps Democratic rival Joe Biden. The White House said in a statement that Trump did nothing illegal and described the investigation as “unfair, unconstitutional and fundamentally un-American”.
Tourism. Arrivals in tourist accommodation facilities in Romania in the first nine months of this year amounted to more than 10 million, up 4.4% compared with the same period last year, according to data published on Friday by the National Statistics Institute. The same report shows that Romanian tourists accounted for 79.8% of arrivals. Among foreign tourists, around 74% came from Europe, the majority from the European Union.
