PARLIAMENT The Parliament of Romania on
\nThursday rejected the second no-confidence motion filed by the opposition
\nagainst the Government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance
\nof Liberals and Democrats, and headed by Viorica D\u0103ncila. The motion did not
\ngather the necessary number of votes to pass, namely 233. Only 161 MPs cast
\ntheir votes. The opposition claims the current Cabinet is a threat to Romania’s
\nnational interests, to its economic and political stability. The authors of the
\nmotion criticize the laws on the judiciary and claim the Prime Minister failed
\nto comply with the governing programme undertaken at the start of her term. In
\nreply, the PM claimed that the alternative the Opposition offers to the
\ncitizens is to suspend income increases and even to slash salaries and pensions.
\nViorica Dancila also defended the justice laws, emphasizing that they were
\nendorsed by Parliament, rather than by an emergency decree as it was the case
\nwith the Ciolos Cabinet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
STOCK EXCHANGE The Association of Capital Market
\nProfessionals says the prospective endorsement of a recent government decree on
\nfiscal and budgetary measures is the most brutal and irrational attack against
\nthe Romanian capital market since its re-establishment in 1995. The Bucharest
\nStock Exchange opened on a slight increase today, but plunged back down, after
\nexperiencing its worst day so far on Wednesday.
\nSubstantial losses were reported by banks, energy and utilities companies,
\nafter on Tuesday the Finance Minister
\nEugen Teodorovici announced that by the end of the year a government decree
\nwould be passed introducing certain fiscal and budgetary measures. These
\ninclude a so-called tax on greed charged on banking revenues, and a package
\nconcerning energy companies, such as a 3% of turnover contribution, a cap on
\nnatural gas prices and electricity price control. The business community
\nin Romania warned against the negative effects of the new taxes announced by
\nthe Government for 2019. President Klaus Iohannis urged the Cabinet to
\nreconsider the decree, to negotiate it with employers and trade unions and to
\nendorse a more sustainable version after thorough analysis and review.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EU The President of Romania, Klaus
\nIohannis, receives in Bucharest on Friday the Chancellor of Austria Sebastian
\nKurz, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
\nRomania will symbolically take over the presidency of the EU Council, which it
\nwill hold as of January 1. The 2 officials will discuss the priorities on the
\nEuropean agenda, such as the future of the Union, the EU budget after 2020,
\nBrexit, and the elections for the European Parliament. On Wednesday in a
\nmeeting with the EU ambassadors to Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis said
\nRomania’s goal during its presidency of the EU Council is to begin as soon as
\npossible the negotiations on the future relations between the Union and
\nBritain, if the withdrawal agreement is ratified by London and approved by the
\nEuropean Parliament. Iohannis also said that Romania supports a stronger
\nEuropean Union, which is closer to its citizens and able to guarantee their
\nsecurity and prosperity. He also emphasized the importance of the informal
\nmeeting of European leaders in Sibiu on May 9, 2019, when the EU strategic
\nagenda for 2019-2024 will be discussed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
JUDICIARY Romania’s Supreme
\nCourt suspended the serving of prison sentences received by several high-level
\nofficials under corruption charges. Among them are the former Minister of
\nRegional Development, Elena Udrea, the former chief of the anti-terrorism and
\nanti-mafia directorate Alina Bica, who requested asylum in Costa Rica, the
\nformer head of the tax authority, Serban Pop, and former Social Democratic
\nministers and MPs Dan \u015eova and Constantin Ni\u0163\u0103. They have been released, until
\nfinal rulings are passed on their appeals. The argument put forth for the
\nsuspension of their sentences was that the membership of the 5-judge panels
\npassing the rulings had not been correct. The supreme court held drawing of
\nlots sessions for the 5-judge panels 3 times this year, when the Law on the
\norganisation of courts was modified, further to a Constitutional Court
\ndecision, at the request of the Government and following an objection by the
\nSocial Democratic Party president Liviu Dragnea, who is tried for corruption at
\nthe Bucharest Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
COMMEMORATION Sirens sounded for 3
\nminutes in Timisoara on Thursday, in memory of the day of December 20, 1989.
\nThis was the moment when, 29 years ago, Timisoara was proclaimed the first city
\nfree from communism in Romania. The largest plants went on strike back then,
\nand workers gathered in the city centre, alongside tens of thousands of other
\nlocals. The Army withdrew from streets, the protesters who had been arrested
\nwere released, and the people’s demands were read out from the famous Opera
\nHouse balcony. Also on December 20, the first revolutionary committee, called
\nThe Romanian Democratic Front, was set up. Members of the families of the
\nTimisoara victims travelled to Bucharest to commemorate one of the most
\nimportant events in modern Romanian history. They arrived at the place where
\nthe bodies of 44 Timisoara heroes, shot dead on December 17, were cremated. The
\nuprising that started in Timisoara spread on December 21 to Bucharest and other
\nRomanian cities. Over 1,000 people died and some 3,000 others were wounded in
\nthe shootings in Romania, the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist
\nregime was toppled violently and where the communist leaders were executed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FOOTBALL Romania’s national
\nfootball team will end the year on the 24th position in the ranking the
\nInternational Football Federation (FIFA) made public on Thursday. Romania
\nstarted the year on the 40th place. This year’s 24th
\nplace is the best ranking Romania’s football team has held since 2016. The
\nteam’s future opponents in the EURO 2020 qualifiers are Spain, in 9th
\nplace, Sweden – 14, Norway – 46, Faeroe – 98, and Malta – 182.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nA.M. Popescu & Vlad Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[28945,29122,29650,34301,34302,33035],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-romanian-parliament","tag-romanian-revolution","tag-the-high-court-of-cassation-and-justice","tag-the-romanian-stock-exchange","tag-viorica-dancila"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n