October 10, 2019 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 10.10.2019, 20:31
MOTION Romania’s right-wing president Klaus Iohannis announced that Friday
would see the first round of talks with Parliament parties because Romania is
in dire need of a government after Parliament on Thursday passed a
no-confidence motion against the Social Democratic government led by Viorica
Dancila. Iohannis, who had described the former government as failed and
confused said that after learning the suggestions of the parties, he would come
up with a government formula and a clear mandate to provide a responsible and
efficient ruling until the Parliamentary election. In Iohannis’ opinion, snap
election is the best solution to the political crisis currently affecting
Romania. The outgoing Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila, has said that her
cabinet leaves with its duty done and made an appeal to the president, whom she
blames for the present political chaos, to quickly appoint a capable
government, ‘if he has any’. The National Liberal Party, which initiated the
motion through its president Ludovic Orban, said that Romania needs serious
projects and a government, which can show fairness. 238 senators and deputies
have voted in favour of the no confidence vote, which needed 233 votes to pass.
The political struggle intensifies less than a month ahead of the presidential election. We recall that both Klaus Iohannis and Viorica
Dancila are running for the presidential seat.
NOBEL Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk was given the 2018 Nobel Prize for
Literature while Austrian Peter Handke reaped this year’s edition of the
prestigious award. According to the
Swedish Academy, Tokarczuk, was given the
prize for a narrative imagination that with encyclopaedic passion represents
the crossing of boundaries as a form of life, while Handke, was recognized for
a body of work including novels, essays and drama that with linguistic
ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience.
GROWTH The National Institute of
Statistics has revised slightly downwards from 4.6% to 4.5% its estimates regarding
the growth of the country’s GDP in the 2nd half of 2019 as compared
to the same period of last year. In another development, the World Bank has
slightly improved estimates regarding Romania’s economic development for the
coming years but draws attention to the risk of a rise in pay inequities. The
WB recommends the government to include on its priorities agenda measures aimed
at curbing the high unemployment rate among young people and people with low
qualification and at making reforms in the public administration and the
state-owned companies.
(translated by bill)
