November 3, 2016 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 03.11.2016, 12:30
ORDER The activity of the National Anti-corruption Directorate ‘is annoying many people who believed they were untouchable’, the head of Romania’s anti-corruption agency (DNA), Laura Codruta Kovesi, said in Bucharest on Thursday, while receiving the Order of the Polar Star granted by the king of Sweden. Kovesi added that the Order is equally the merit of her colleagues, being a constant recognition of their efforts to fight high-level graft with professionalism and correctness. Sweden’s ambassador in Bucharest, Anneli Lindahl Kenny said the Order is being granted to the DNA chief ‘for bravely and consistently fighting corruption.’
BREXIT Parliament in Britain must vote on launching the procedures for leaving the European Union, the High Court in London on Thursday ruled. Under the ruling, the government cannot trigger article 50 on its own. Judges in London ruled the Prime Minister does not have the right to use the Royal Prerogative to invoke Article 50 to leave the EU without involving MPs and peers, a decision, which throws into confusion whether the Prime Minister can stick to her timetable to trigger Article 50 by the end of March.
STRIKE The strike mounted by the state hospital employees in Romania is illegal, the Bucharest Court ruled on Thursday. The ruling isn’t definitive but is enforceable. So, the magistrates ruled in favour of the Health Ministry, which pointed to the fact that the trade unions had failed to comply with the legal conditions needed for the strike. We recall that medical workers in Romania went on a strike on October 31st claiming better pay and improved conditions. The protest was suspended on November 1st after Parliament committees had approved higher pays for the employees in the system and trade unions had been given assurances the amendments would be endorsed next week. Labor Minister Dragos Paslaru has cautioned the latest pay rises could bear on the country’s economy.
FORUM Romania will become a major actor on the European digital market and will contribute to the plan to have a vibrant European Union, according to statements made in Bucharest on Thursday by the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Gunther Oettinger. The European official attended the opening of the Digital Romania — Industry 4.0 International Forum, joining President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos. The event brings together around 250 representatives of the IT field from both the public and the private sector. The Romanian head of state believes that digitization is not only a means for growth in industry and agriculture, but also an instrument for better public policies to the benefit of citizens.
