February 15, 2014 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.

Mihai Pelin, 15.02.2014, 12:05

NEGOTIATIONS – Prime Minister Victor Ponta has said that the ruling Social Liberal Union can offer political and governmental stability in the 2014-2016 period. Ponta went on to say he wanted the good results Romania obtained in 2013 to continue over the coming period. The Social Liberals are seeking to overcome disagreements within the Union. The Liberals seem to oppose Ponta’s proposal to have 4 positions of deputy prime minister, one for each party in the ruling coalition, as well as the distribution of portfolios among the coalition parties. On his part, Prime Minister Ponta agrees with Liberal Klaus Iohannis taking over as interior minister and deputy prime minister, as well as with the Liberals’ nominations for the Health, Finance and Economy ministries. Despite dissensions, Social Liberal leaders claim they want the alliance to remain in place.

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – Romania’s Constitutional Court on Sunday will look into the draft bill on the amendment of the Constitution submitted by the Parliamentary special committee. Talks kicked off on Friday and continued on Saturday. Court judges have so far examined over 100 articles. Constitutional Court president Augustin Zegrean has said that at least 10 articles in the bill go against the Constitution. Moreover, judges intend to recommend Parliament revisit and subsequently rewrite some of the articles. The Court is due to make public its decision in this matter by Monday.

SYRIA – The second round of peace talks between the Syrian power and opposition in Geneva came to an end without any result and without scheduling a new round of talks, the UN and Arab League special emissary for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has announced. On the other hand, president Barack Obama said that during his talks with Jordan King Abdullah, Washington was considering the possibility of increasing pressure on Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The situation in Syria has worsened since the beginning of the year. A series of violent clashes between rebel groups and security forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad gas killed between 100,000 and 130,000 people according to various estimates.

BIOFACH – 40 Romanian producers attended this year’s edition of the BioFach ecological products trade fair in Berlin, which came to a close on Saturday. The offer included cereals and oleaginous seeds, tea products, aromatic herbs, wild berries, mushrooms and spices, homemade jams, dairy products, honey and apicultural products, cosmetics, milling and bakery products as well as wines. BioFach is the largest trade fair in the world selling agricultural and organic products. Attending this year’s edition were 130 countries. Romania was designated Country of the Year in last year’s edition.

SEVERE WEATHER – The violent blizzard that paralysed eastern US this past week is now headed towards Canada. Strong wind and heavy snowfalls have killed at least 20 people in the US, cancelled or delayed thousands of incoming and outgoing flights and cut off hundreds of thousands of homes from the electric grid. In another development, the heavy rainfall in the UK has killed two people and left 140,000 homes in blackout. Road and railway traffic is severely disrupted by strong wind and flooding. Water levels on the river Thames might reach a record high.

THE LEBANON – As of Saturday the Lebanon has a new Government, which comes to end a year-long political stalemate that saw conflicts between rival factions, heightened by the conflict in neighbouring Syria, which have divided the entire country, France Press reports. The new Government will function based on a power-sharing agreement ensuring eight ministry seats for each of the two opposing factions, namely the pro-Damascus faction controlled by Hezbollah, and the pro-Western faction called “March 14”, led by the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Another eight ministry seats will be given by Lebanese president Michel Suleiman. The Lebanon is affected by the crisis in Syria, where Hezbollah members are supporting president Bashar al-Assad, while “March 14” fighters are helping the rebels.