October 30, 2018 UPDATE

3 years since the Colectiv fire / Parliament discusses simple motion against Minister Toader

Newsroom, 30.10.2018, 18:52

COLECTIV – Tuesday marked 3 years since the fire at the
Bucharest-based club Colectiv where 64 people lost their lives. Subsequently,
after one year and a half, a young man injured in the fire committed suicide.
To commemorate the dead two religious services, a commemoration rally and the
screening of a thematic movie were held. The film is called ”We get off at the
next stop’ and is directed by Tedy Necula, who tells the story of the
passengers in a subway carriage, the next day after the fire. The Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis brought a floral tribute at the place of the tragedy,
lit a candle and observed a short moment of silence.

MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest on Tuesday debated a
simple motion initiated by the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania
Union Party against the justice minister, in which they ask for his
resignation. The opposition accuses Minister Tudorel Toader that through his
attitude he abandoned the judiciary and left it in the hands of criminals, thus
taking Romania way back in the past when criminal files used to be solved
during party meetings. The motion will be submitted to the vote on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Minister Toader announced he would make public the appointment
procedure and grid as well as the candidacy file of Romania’s prosecutor
general Augustin Lazar. Last week, the justice minister had asked for the
dismissal of Augustin Lazar, one of the reasons being the alleged existence, in
his candidacy file of 2016, of a classifying verdict in a case involving the
country’s president Klaus Iohannis, at the time when he was a mayor. The
Superior Council of Magistracy claims that the file does not include such a
document.

VISITS – The European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Gunther
Oettinger, on Tuesday paid an official visit to Bucharest. He met with the
Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, with whom he discussed hot topics on
the European agenda, particularly the multiannual financial framework. Also
present in Bucharest was the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina
Cretu, who said that the lack of transport infrastructure is the legacy of
Romania’s history. Attending a top-level conference on the future of the
Cohesion Policy, the European official said Romania had no projects to
implement when it joined the European Union. The EU official said the European
Commission is providing an additional 10% increase in the funds to be allotted
to Romania, Bulgaria and Greece in the period 2021-2027. Commissioner Cretu has
drawn attention to the fact that the Romanian authorities are not accessing the
money made available to it by Brussels, which should be used for infrastructure
and healthcare projects.

EXERCISE – The American air forces announced that they transported
an important amount of armament to Europe. This was the largest such operation
after the war in Kosovo, when the US played a key role in NATO’s intervention
in the former Yugoslavia. The American transport of armament coincides with the
largest NATO military exercise after the Cold War. The exercise called Trident
Juncture 18 is taking place in Norway. Participating are tens of thousands of
military from 31 member and allied countries. Romania is represented in the
military drill by military with the general staff and the Psychological
Operations Centre. The Chief of the General Staff of the Romanian
Armed Forces, General Nicolae Ciuca, attended the
Distinguished Visitors’ Day in Norway.

COMMEMORATION – President Klaus Iohannis on
November 10 and 11 will be attending a series of events in Paris devoted to the
Armistice Centenary that marked the end of hostilities in World War I, the
presidency reports. The head of state will join leaders of countries that
participated in the Great War as well as countries that supported war efforts
at the ceremony held at the Triumphal Arch in Paris. The president will also
attend the opening of the Peace Forum, an initiative of the French President
Emmanuel Macron, aimed at generating concrete projects to support
multilateralism and contemporary cooperation towards peace. Klaus Iohannis will
also meet with BA, MA and doctoral students in Paris involved in scientific
research. Hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Paris, the meeting is devoted to
Romania’s contribution to the advancement of science and technology in the year
of the Great Union Centennial.

IMF – An IMF mission will arrive next week in Bucharest for talks
with the authorities and representatives of the business sector and civil
society. The agenda for talks was presented on Tuesday by IMF Resident
Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, Alejandro Hajdenberg. The agenda includes the macroeconomic
framework, the budget for 2019 and progress in implementing structural reforms.
The IMF official announced that the economic forecast for this year is 4%,
below the estimate for 2018. Alejandro Hajdenberg also said that the IMF
expects the inflation to drop to 3.5% towards the end of 2018, and the budget
deficit to stand at 3.6% of the GDP.

AFRICAN SWINE FEVER – A new African swine fever outbreak was
confirmed in a household in Dolj County, southwestern Romania, the National
Sanitary, Veterinary and Food Safety Authority announced. So far a thousand
outbreaks have been reported in 15 counties, and over 350,000 animals were
culled. Romania has called for EU support to provide financial compensations to
pig farmers. The first outbreak was reported in July 2017.

(Translated
by L. Simion & V. Palcu)