December 17, 2021 UPDATE

MOURNING A day of mourning was observed on Friday in memory of the people killed 32 years ago in Timişoara, the city that sparked the Romanian anti-communist revolution. Commemoration events included religious services, laying of flowers and special exhibitions. ON 17th December 1989 army and security forces opened fire against the people protesting against Romania's communist regime in the city of Timişoara in the west of the country. More than 60 people were killed that evening, and several hundreds were wounded. 17th December is considered the darkest day in Timişoara's contemporary history.

SUMMIT EU leaders who met for the winter summit in Brussels called for a boost in vaccination levels amid concerns over the Omicron variant. Romania was represented at the meeting by its president, Klaus Iohannis. EU leaders also discussed the rise in energy costs and the tensions between Russia and Ukraine. According to the Romanian president's office, the meeting of the European Council was followed by the Euro summit in extended format, where EU leaders adopted a declaration reiterating the EU's commitment to provide vigorous, rapid and coordinated response for post-pandemic economic recovery.

TRIAL Prosecutors have called for maximum penalties for all those indicted in the 'Colectiv' file. They have also referred to the small damages awarded by the court in comparison to the suffering of those wounded or the relatives of those who died in the blaze that destroyed the Colectiv night club six years ago. The Colectiv tragedy can repeat any time and society has been scarred by it, one of the prosecutors says. We recall that two years ago a court in Bucharest ruled that the former mayor of district 4 in Bucharest Cristian Popescu together with another employee of the city hall, the owners of the aforementioned club and a couple of employees of the fireworks company involved in the incident should serve prison sentences between 3 and 12 years.

NATO The North Atlantic Alliance remains vigilant about Russia's military buildup at the border with Ukraine, NATO's deputy secretary general Romanian Mircea Geoana told Radio Romania on Friday. According to Geoana, NATO doesn't know Moscow's final intention, which might reiterate the situation in 2014, when it occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The NATO official has made an appeal for Russia's resuming talks adding that at present there are no major security risks for the allies in the eastern flank.

POLL 61% of Romanians hope 2022 will be better in terms of jobs, with 69% saying 2021 was harder than the first pandemic year in terms of personal and professional challenges, according to a survey conducted by BestJobs online recruitment platform. Six in ten respondents are considering changing their job for higher pay or are expecting a promotion or pay rise from their current job. 26% of Romanian employees say 2021 was better than 2020, with 25% saying this improvement was recorded on a private level, 17% on a professional and 15% on both. The BestJobs survey was conducted between 20th November and 10th December using a sample of 1,041 Internet users. BestJobs is one of the biggest online recruitment platforms in Romania.