December 13, 2017

The coffin carrying the body of the late Romanian King Michael I was flown to Romania

Newsroom, 13.12.2017, 13:57

KING MICHAEL I – The coffin carrying the body of the late Romanian King Michael I was flown to Romania from Switzerland on Wednesday, ahead of his funeral this weekend. A military plane transported the coffin, covered in the royal coat of arms. At the airport in Bucharest flags were flown at half-mast and Orthodox priests performed a religious service in the presence of King Michael’s five daughters. The coffin was then taken to Peles Castle in the mountain resort of Sinaia, the birthplace of King Michael I. The road was lined with people who wanted to say good-bye to their last King as the cortège travelled to Sinaia. Romanian and Moldovan officials are expected to pay their respects at the Peles Castle. Later this evening, the coffin will be brought to the Royal Palace in Bucharest, where people can pay their respects. King Michael I will be buried with state honours on Saturday, December 16 at Curtea de Arges, where all Romanian kings were interred. King Michael, who died in Switzerland on December 5th, aged 96, was forced to abdicate and leave the country in 1947, when Romania was ruled by a Soviet puppet government and was under Soviet military occupation.

LAWS — The amendments to the justice laws regarding judicial organisation and the functioning of the Higher Council of Magistracy are today debated and voted on by the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, only two days after the magistrates’ new status was endorsed. It was decided that the Judicial Inspection be further subordinated to the Higher Council of Magistracy, although the ruling coalition initially proposed that it should be an autonomous body. Also, the special parliamentary committee in charge of amending the laws in the judicial sector has decided to set up a special department for the investigation of crimes in the justice system. The amendments to the justice laws have come to the attention of the Council of Europe, that has called on Romania to offer clarifications on the controversial draft laws, after the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has for the first time activated a procedure for exceptional circumstances in this case.

BUDGET BILL – The 2018 state and social security bills are being debated in the joint budget and finance committees of Romania’s Parliament, with the final vote on the bills scheduled for December 21. The budget for 2018 was based on a 5.5% economic growth rate, a 3.1% inflation rate, an average exchange rate of 4.55 lei for the Euro and an increase in the average number of employees by 4.2%. Healthcare, education and investments are the priorities of the government in Bucharest if we look at the amount of funds these areas have been allocated in the 2018 budget bill. The budget bill is contested by the Opposition that has filed almost 4 thousand amendments to it.

PROTEST — The Romanian Confederation of Authorised Transporters and Operators has suspended the protests announced for today in Bucharest and other Romanian cities. Early this week, the confederation announced that 35 thousand transporters will protest against piracy and fiscal evasion but its representatives have stated that all their demands have been met. They say that road transport accounts for 4.7% of the GDP every year but argue that state authorities tolerate piracy so that the number of illegal transporters is almost equal to that of legal ones.

WORLD BANK – The World Bank will end its financial support for oil and gas exploration within the next two years in response to the growing threat posed by climate change. After 2019, the WBG — which includes the World Bank and three other institutions — will stop investing in upstream oil and gas, according to an announcement made at the One Planet Summit in Paris on Wednesday. The World Bank said it will continue to lend “in exceptional circumstance” but only in the very poorest countries and if the project does not conflict with the 2015 Paris climate change accord. French president Emmanuel Macron hosted the summit attended by 164 world leaders, government members, business leaders and prominent figures.

(Translated by Elena Enache)