October 8, 2016

Slovak President Andrej Kiska pays a two-day state visit to Romania, as of Monday, at the invitation of President Klaus Iohannis/ Romanian colonel Marius Dogean will lead the EU Civil Protection Team assessing the damage produced by hurricane Matthew

Bogdan Matei, 08.10.2016, 12:00

VISIT– Slovak President, Andrej Kiska, will pay a two-day state visit to Romania, as of Monday, at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Presidential Administration, the main aim of the visit is to consolidate bilateral ties, at political, economic and sectoral level and to boost cooperation on European issues of topical interest, in a context marked by many challenges. Given that Slovakia is currently holding the half-yearly presidency of the EU Council, the talks will mainly focus on the European agenda, and President Iohannis will present Romanias stance on the future of Europe- the aforementioned source also says. Iohannis will also underline the need to further strengthen economic cooperation, starting from the historical record high of two-way trade exchanges reported in 2015, worth 2.4 billion Euros, which is on the rise. On Tuesday, the two presidents will open the Romanian-Slovak Business Forum and will meet, in the western town of Nadlac, with representatives of the Slokav community in Romania.

ROMANIAN DIASPORA – The town of Slatina in the western Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia (a.k.a. Zakarpattia) is today hosting the first meeting of the Romanian cultural associations in Ukraine. Initiated by the Dacia Union of the Romanians living in Transcarpathia, jointly with the Department for the Romanian Diaspora with the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the meeting is devoted to the problems encountered by these organisations in their activity, particularly financing. Almost half a million ethnic Romanians are living in the neighbouring state of Ukraine, most of them residing in localities along the common border, in the Romanian eastern territories annexed by the former USSR in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine in 1991, as a successor state.

COLECTIV TRAGEDY – Approximately one year after tragedy struck the Bucharest-based Colectiv nightclub, justice takes its course, with a trial being opened into the case. 64 people died and over 100 others got injured in the fire which accidentally broke out on the night of October 30 to 31, 2015. The three owners of the club are accused of manslaughter, bodily harm and of not taking the legal work health and safety measures. The indictment compiled by the Prosecutor Generals Office shows, among others, that they encouraged and permitted the access of a large number of people, far beyond the allowed limit, in the absence of emergency exit ways, also accepting the organisation of an indoor pyrotechnical show, in spite of improper insulation. The owners of the pyrotechnical company, one of their employees and two legal persons are being tried in the same case. The huge collective emotion produced by the Colectiv tragedy generated massive anti-corruption rallies in Romania, which led to the resignation of the coalition cabinet led by Social-Democrat Victor Ponta, on November 4, and its replacement by the technocratic government led by Dacian Ciolos.

PARTY LEADER – The National Council of the National Liberal Party, the second largest party in the Romanian Parliament on Saturday confirmed Alina Gorghiu as the Liberals only president, following the resignation tendered by Vasile Blaga from the position of party co-president. On September 28, Blaga stepped down, after anti-corruption prosecutors announced he was subject to legal restrictions pending trial in a corruption case. The acts of corruption were reportedly carried out in the 2009-2012 period, when Blaga was interior minister and later on Senate Speaker, and he favoured the preferential granting of contracts. In exchange for this influence peddling, he would have received commissions worth 10% of the value of contracts, that is 700,000 Euros for himself and the party he was a member of, the Liberal Democratic Party, which later merged with the National Liberal Party.

HURRICANE MATTHEW – A Romanian officer from the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations will lead the team which will assess the damage produced by hurricane Matthew in Haiti. Colonel Marius Dogean will also coordinate international assistance, including aid relief operations to the disaster-affected population. Boasting an extensive experience in the field of civil protection, with a career spanning over 15 years, Marius Dogean was designated by the European Commission head of the EU Civil Protection Team which will go to that Caribbean island, where approximately 900 were killed by the hurricane. Colonel Dogean also travelled to and worked extensively in Jordan, in 2012, during the crisis caused by the massive flow of refugees from Syria, and a year later in the Philippines, following Typhoon Hayian. He was also one of the national experts dispatched by the European Commission to the conflict area in Southern Sudan, on an assessment mission.

FOOTBALL Romanias national football squad will take on Armenia this evening in an away fixture counting towards the World Cup preliminaries in 2018. In the same group, E, Poland take on Denmark and Montenegro face Kazakhstan. Three days after the match in Yerevan, Romania face Kazakhstan, also away from home. Last month the national team were held to a 1-all draw by Montenegro on home turf, in what counts as the debut game for the newly appointed manager of the national team, the German Christoph Daum, the first foreign manager to have been appointed at the helm of the national team. This autumn, Romania also takes on Poland on home turf, on November 11th. (Translated by D. Vijeu)