October 27, 2017 UPDATE

Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, has held talks in Bucharest with Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue/ Spains Senate approved the request of PM Mariano Rajoy to impose direct rule over secessionist Catalonia

Newsroom, 27.10.2017, 20:05

PRESIDENCY – Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, on Friday received Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. During the talks, the two officials approached issues related to the future of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), as well as about Romanias process of accession to the Euro zone. Klaus Iohannis expressed his countrys support for further consolidating the EMU and underlined that the future of the Euro zone is of special importance to Romania, considering its strategic objective to switch to the Euro as soon as possible. In turn, the European official briefed the Romanian President on the Commissions intention to come up in December with a package of proposals on the consolidation of the Economic and Monetary Union. It will also include the proposal to create a new financial assistance instrument for the member states willing to switch to the Euro.

CATALONIA – Spains Senate on Friday approved the request of PM Mariano Rajoy to impose direct rule over secessionist Catalonia, a decision made just a couple of minutes after the Parliament in Barcelona unilaterally declared the regions independence from Spain. Rajoy will hold a cabinet meeting shortly to decide what measures to take. They could include the firing of the Catalan leaders, and the Spanish government taking control of the region’s finances, police and public media. All regional-political, economic and security structures will be directly subordinated to Madrid. Mariano Rajoy has launched an appeal for calm and warned that the Spanish state will soon restore constitutional order in Catalonia. Earlier, the Parliament in Barcelona adopted a resolution calling for “the beginning of a process of the creation of an independent Catalan state in the form of a republic. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and other members of the regional government attended the vote.

COMMEMORATION – On October 30th Bucharest commemorates two years since the devastating fire that ripped through the Colectiv night club in the capital city where 64 people were killed and 100 wounded. The event is marked in Bucharest by the Colectiv Association through a procession called “the March of Guitars and two days of concerts. On October 30th, Radio Romania will broadcast a programme inspired from the tragedy, which is symbolically entitled ‘64. On this occasion, people are expected to voice their discontent for the belated court trial that has been postponed for the month of November, a decision that caused dissatisfaction among the victims families. We recall that the clubs owners and representatives of the company that had provided the pyrotechnic devices for the concert hosted by the club have been sent to court for manslaughter and violation of fire safety regulations. The former district mayor has also been sent to court for abuse of office along with employees from the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations for having failed to sanction the club for the absence of a fire safety certificate. We recall the tragedy sparked off large-scale anti-corruption rallies, which forced the Social-Democratic cabinet led by Victor Ponta to step down.

DAVIS CUP – Israel has a 2-0 lead on Romania, after the first single tennis matches of the Davis Cup tie, with the winning team remaining in Europe/Africa Zone Group I. On Friday, in Ramat Hasharon, Dragos Dima (463 ATP) was defeated by Edan Leshem (285 ATP) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and Dudi Sela (70 ATP) defeated Nicolae Frunză (600 ATP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. In the doubles, the first match between Israels Dudi Sela/Jonathan Erlich and Romanias Vasile Antonescu /Bogdan Borza will be played on Saturday. On Sunday, in the singles, Sela faces Dima, and Leshem-Frunză. Romania lost both rounds played earlier this year 2-3 to Belarus and 1-4 to Austria, whereas Israel lost 5-0 to Portugal and 5-0 to Ukraine. Israel is trying to avoid relegation from Group I for the first time in the past 16 years, and Romania for the first time since 1993.

TENNIS – First seeded and no.1 WTA, Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, on Friday failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions Tournament in Singapore. In her last Red Group match, Halep sustained a 6-3, 6-4 defeat from Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. Also on Friday, in the other match of the Group, Frances Caroline Garcia defeated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 and reached the semi-finals, where she will face American Venus Williams. In the other semi-final, the Czech Karolina Pliskova will face Caroline Wozniacki.