June 20, 2017 UPDATE
Parliament to vote on no-confidence motion against Grindeanu Cabinet on Wednesday
Newsroom, 20.06.2017, 20:00
POLITICAL CRISIS – The Parliament of Romania is to vote on Wednesday on the no-confidence motion that the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania tabled against their own Government. Although the Cabinet has lost the political support of the coalition, and most ministers have resigned, PM Sorin Grindeanu will not step down. The Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea, and the president of ALDE Călin Popescu Tăriceanu said the replacement of the governing team was necessary, considering the delays in the implementation of the governing programme. The accusation is denied by the PM, who claims the report drawn up by the Social Democrats to assess his work is biased. The Grindeanu Cabinet was sworn in after the legislative election of December 2016. Should the motion pass, it will be for the first time in post-communist Romania that a ruling party brings down its own government.
VISIT – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, was awarded on Tuesday the Dresden Medal of St. George of the Semper Opera Ball, at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin. He dedicated the medal to the Romanian-German friendship. In his address on the occasion, the President reiterated Romanias commitment to the future of the European project. Also on Tuesday, he took part in Berlin in a commemoration of refuge and expulsion victims at the German History Museum. The World Refugee Day, marked on June 20, is a time to reflect on the challenges that humanitarian organisations must handle, in order to identify sustainable solutions to the refugee problems, Iohannis said. He added that Europeans must not forget what brought them together, namely cultural diversity, tolerance and inclusive societies. On the first day of his official visit to Germany, President Iohannis had talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Germany Frank Walter Steinmeier.
REFUGEE DAY – The Romanian Foreign Ministry hails the celebration, on June 20, of the World Refugee Day, and mentions in a news release that Romania granted over 1.5 million euros in 2015-2016, for refugee programmes. Since 1991, around 27,000 people have applied for a form of protection in Romania. Of them, nearly 5,000 have received protection as refugees. Since the beginning of this year, 1,700 people applied for asylum, most of the applicants coming from Syria, Iraq and Pakistan. The number of refugees at world level last year reached a new record, of 65.6 million. The top country of origin remains Syria, with 5.5 million people fleeing that country since the start of the conflict.
DANUBE SWIM – A Romanian librarian, Avram Iancu, has set out to swim the 2,860 km long River Danube, from its spring to the Black Sea. He started on Tuesday in Germany, and is going to swim 50 km per day, to arrive in Sulina port in south-eastern Romania on August 20, crossing 10 countries and 4 European capital cities. Only two people have so far managed to swim the entire length of the River Danube: the Slovenian Martin Strel, in 2000, and the Canadian Mimi Hughes 6 years later. The Romanian librarian is known for having managed to swim across the English Channel, last August, reaching France from England in nearly 18 hours.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
