December 29, UPDATE
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România Internațional, 29.12.2014, 12:15
The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday signed the decree for the promulgation of Romania’s state budget law and social security budget for 2015. The move takes places after the Constitutional Curt had previously decided that the budget law was in line with the Romanian Constitution. The court rejected the notification made by the center right opposition regarding the unconstitutionality of the budget law. The opposition claims that the state budget law was not adopted within the deadline stipulated by law and that it does not include a fiscal-budgetary strategy. Approved by Parliament on December 21st the budget law for 2015 provides for a deficit of 1.8% of the GDP, an inflation rate of 2.2% and an economic growth rate of 2.5%.
Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, on Monday signed the decree regarding the appointment of lieutenant general Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca as chief of general staff as of January 1st. Commander of the 1st Romanian battalion sent to Afghanistan in 2002, Ciuca replaces general Stefan Danila, who has finished his term in office. Also on Monday President Iohannis met with the PM Victor Ponta, with the deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea, who is also interior minister, and with the defense minister Mircea Dusa. The meeting follows last week’s first meeting of the President, who was sworn in on December 21st, with the PM. The meeting with the ministers focused on the future cooperation between the presidency and the government.
In the next 24 hours temperatures in Romania will continue to drop, the weather being extremely cold in the morning. Half of the counties in the south and east of Romania will be under code orange and yellow alert for snowstorms, snowfalls and glazed frost until Monday night. 3 counties in the south east were temporarily under code red alert for snowstorm. Tens of villages and communes have been left without electricity, and several national roads and a highway have been closed. Tens of trains have been cancelled and air traffic has been disrupted. The ports on the Black Sea have been closed due to the strong wind.
The bad weather continues to create problems in many European countries. The snowstorms have disrupted road and air traffic in Great Britain. In Germany heavy snowfalls and glazed frost have been reported. In Belgium road and rail traffic have been affected by massive snowfalls while Serbia is under code red alert for snowfalls. Heavy snowfalls and snowstorms have been announced for Monday in Croatia and Hungary, the bad weather making victims in Slovenia and France.
The Republic of Moldova must carry on reforms, and modernization has to accelerate for that country to come closer to EU democratic and living standards, according to its president, Nicolae Timofti, who spoke to the new parliament meeting on Monday in its first session after the November 30th elections. Timofti thanked the new legislative assembly for bringing the country closer to Europe. The three pro-European parties present, Liberal Democratic, Democratic and Liberal are under prolonged negotiations for forming a new ruling coalition. The three hold 55 out of 101 seats, enough for a parliamentary majority to vote in a government, but not enough to vote in a president or change the Constitution.
The Greek PM Antonis Samaras on Monday suggested that the early legislative elections in Greece should take place on January 25th. The announcement follows the Greek Parliament’s 3rd failed attempt to elect a new president of the country. A former European Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, the only candidate for the presidency, got only 168 votes of the 180 minimum number of votes. The failure the elect a new president has resulted in the dissolution of the Greek Parliament in the coming 10 days and the holding of early elections. Analysts say that a prolonged political crisis could lead to the victory in elections of the radical leftist party Syriza, which wants to break the agreement Greece signed with the international lenders, a move that could have a major impact on the whole Euro zone. The stock exchange in Athens on Monday reported a drop of almost 10%.
The passengers on board the ferryboat that caught fire on Sunday in the Adriatic Sea have been evacuated. The announcement was made Monday on Twitter by the Italian coast guards. The Italian, Greek and Albanian maritime authorities did their best to save the hundreds of people on board the ferry that linked the port of Patras, in the south west of Greece to the port of Ancona, in the east of Italy. According to the passenger list the ferry transported 478 people — 56 crew members and 422 passengers. 8 people have lost their lives.
