January 24, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 24.01.2014, 12:00
INQUIRY– Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has announced he required checks to be carried out by its Control Unit, alongside experts from the Romanian Transport Ministry, at the Romanian Air Traffic Administration, ROMATSA, relating to Monday’s plane crash which left two people dead and 5 others injured. The Prime Minister has said data collected by experts show more clearly that ROMATSA and the Special Telecommunication Service, STS are responsible for the severe errors because of which rescuers were wrongfully dispatched, far from the crash site. Both ROMATSA and STS had the legal obligation and the technical possibility to identify the wreck and consequently the crash site.
ECONOMY– A joint delegation of the IMF, the World Bank and the European Commission is currently in Bucharest, for further talks with the Romanian authorities. Yesterday, experts of the troika met Romanian President Traian Basescu, who reiterated he would not support the introduction of an additional excise duty on fuel. Representatives of the Romanian Investors’ Council have also expressed discontent with the envisaged increase in the excise duty on fuel, which has been postponed until April the 1st, and with the introduction of new taxes, to be levied on special constructions and energy. Representatives of the business environment have called on the troika to postpone the timetable used to liberalize natural gas and energy prices.
CELEBRATIONS– Romanians should understand the importance of solidarity within the big family that Romania represents, says president Traian Basescu in the message he conveyed on the Day marking the Union of the Romanian Principalities, on January the 24th. The president underlines that the Union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia is a historical event, which still has a powerful spiritual force for all citizens living in Romania or in communities around the world. In Romania, the Republic of Moldova and other countries hosting Romanian communities, the event is marked by a series of cultural events, evoking the day of January the 24th 1859, which preceded the Great Union of December the 1st 1918, when all Romanian provinces united, forming a unitary state.
JHA COUNCIL– Romanian Justice Minister, Robert Cazanciuc is currently in Athens, where he is attending the proceedings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, (JHA). The talks of the EU ministers focus on such issues as the protection of natural persons, in terms of personal data processing and the free circulation of these data, developing the future JHA area and solving low value cross-border requests. The European Commission will also make a presentation of the new legal proposals on the protection of several categories of vulnerable people, the presumption of innocence and legal assistance during criminal procedures.
WEATHER-Romanian meteorologists have issued Code Yellow and Code Orange alerts against heavy snow falls and blizzard, valid as of today until Sunday evening, for 27 counties in southern and south-eastern Romania, including the capital city, Bucharest. It will snow heavily during this period of time, with the snow layer being likely to exceed 30-40 cm in places. Gusty wind will exceed 70 km/h. Light snow falls are expected elsewhere in Romania. In the areas situated within the Carpathians’ curvature, temperatures are slightly higher than normal for this time of the year. The highs of the day range from minus 13 degrees to plus 8 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was minus 4 degrees.
KIEV-The situation is still tense in the Ukrainian capital city, Kiev, where street protests staged by supporters of the pro-European opposition continued. No compromise has been reached during the negotiations between opposition leaders and the regime of president Viktor Ianukovici. The political crisis which has been ravaging Ukraine since late November, when the authorities decided not to sign the EU Association Agreement seemed to reach its peak last week , following the adoption by the ruling power of a set of laws toughening penalties against those taking part in rallies and protest movements. 5 protesters were killed in clashes with the riot police, and some 300 others got injured. The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has made public her intention to go to Kiev next week, for talks with Viktor Ianukovici and the Ukrainian opposition. The EU has called for the immediate cessation of violence.
MONTREUX– The Geneva 2 international peace conference devoted to the situation in Syria continues in Montreux, Switzerland. The envoys of the regime in Damascus and those of the opposition didn’t sit at the same table. UN mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, has announced he will have separate talks with the sides involved in the conflict.
CAIRO– At least four people died and 50 others got injured in a series of car bombings carried out in the Egyptian capital city, Cairo.
