October 6, 2017

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Newsroom, 06.10.2017, 13:37

NEGOTIATIONS — Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose today held a new round of negotiations with representatives of trade union confederations, which turned out to be inconclusive. Talks focused on the transfer of social security contributions from employers to employees, a draft law the Government is unwilling to discard despite rising criticism from trade unions. Unionists also want to draft an amendment to the law on social dialogue, jointly with experts from various ministries within a month. Trade unions from the field of healthcare have today joined the protest, calling for the modification of the salary law and the reintroduction of meal vouchers starting January 1, 2018.

NATO — As of today Bucharest is playing host to the 63rd annual meeting of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly, a major international security event. Over 50 delegations of NATO member and associate countries are taking part in the event. The main topics on the agenda are NATO operations in Afghanistan, NATO-EU cooperation, security in the Black Sea region, the developments in Eastern Asia and the humanitarian crises in Syria and Iraq. Moreover, the Assembly’s special committees are due to ratify several reports that were debated in the previous meeting hosted by Georgia in spring. On Monday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will give opening addresses.

ACCIDENT — A miner died and two were injured yesterday in Lupeni, a coal mine in western Romania, after the ceiling of the gallery caved in. At the end of a 15-hour digging operation rescuers managed to reach the three miners trapped underground. 8 of the total of 11 miners who were at the time working in the mine managed to get themselves to the surface. Several investigations are ongoing.

AIRCRAFT — The 86 Air Base in Borcea, Calarasi County, southern Romania, today hosted the unveiling ceremony for another series of three F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole combat aircraft. With this purchase the Romanian Air Force has completed the last phase of a process of putting multirole aircraft into commission, one year after Romania had purchased the first six such fighter jets.

NOBEL — The Nobel Prize for Peace this year was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for its efforts to prohibit weapons of mass destruction amidst escalating international tension in Iran and North Korea. “We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time. Some states are modernizing their nuclear arsenal, and there is real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons as exemplified by North Korea”, Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said earlier today. She called on the world’s nuclear powers to engage in serious negotiations so as to discard their nuclear arsenal. ICAN is a coalition of NGOs active in over a hundred countries. It started out in Australia and officially launched in Vienna in 2007. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Economy will be announced on Monday.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTA no. 2, today qualified to the semi-finals of the Beijing tournament, totaling over 6,3 million dollars in prize money. In the previous round Halep defeated Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 6-2, 6-2. On Saturday, Halep will play Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, WTA no. 9, who ousted Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-4. Halep this year lost the Roland Garros finals to Ostapenko. After the Beijing tournament, Halep has a new chance of climbing to the top position in WTA standings.

FOOTBALL — Romania’s national football team on Thursday won 3-1 the home game against Kazakhstan, counting towards the 2018 World Cup preliminaries. Unfortunately the win is only for pride, as Romania now holds zero chances of advancing to the tournament. On Sunday, Romania will play Denmark away from home in the group’s last fixture. The match against Kazakhstan was the first for Romania’s new coach, Cosmin Contra, who replaced German Christoph Daum at the helm of our national team. (Translated by V. Palcu)