January 3, 2017 UPDATE
Moldova's President Igor Dodon stripped former Romanian President Traian Basescu of his Moldovan citizenship.
Newsroom, 03.01.2017, 12:15
CITIZENSHIP– Moldova’s president, the pro-Russian Igor Dodon, on Tuesday signed a decree withdrawing the Moldovan citizenship to the former president of Romania, Traian Basescu. Dodon motivated his decision by saying that the procedure for granting citizenship had been violated. Traian Basescu and his wife were granted Moldovan citizenship last June via a decree signed by the country’s president at that time, Nicolae Timofti. Basescu said recently that if Dodon cancelled his citizenship he would take the matter to Court.
GOVERNMENT – The ruling coalition in Romania, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, announced the nominations for PM Sorin Grindeanu’s cabinet. The new government will be made up of 24 ministers. Representing the Social Democratic Party (PSD) as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development is Sevil Shhaideh, whose nomination as prime minister was rejected by President Klaus Iohannis. PSD representatives will also be appointed ahead of the economy, education, health, justice, transports and interior ministries. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) on the other hand, will have four ministries — the foreign ministry, the ministry for the relation with parliament, and also the energy and environment ministries. The ALDE co-leader, Daniel Constantin, has been proposed as deputy prime minister and environment minister. The future ministers might be sworn in on Wednesday.
GOVERNING PROGRAMME — In Romania, the governing programme which is to be endorsed by Parliament on Wednesday will be implemented as of February 1. The PM designate, Sorin Grindeanu, promised that all the measures announced in the election campaign would be implemented. The promises made by the Social Democrats, which won the elections, include an increase of the minimum national wage from 280 euro to around 320 euro, eliminating the health insurance contributions for all pensioners and the income tax on all pensions below 445 euro. Sorin Grindeanu also said that the state budget for this year might be endorsed by February 1.
AUTOMOTIVE — In 2016 the brand Dacia sold a record 110,000 automobiles in the French market, up 13.4% compared to the previous year, according to data made public by the French carmakers association. In turn, Renault reports its best performance in France since 2011, with a 6.6% increase in sales, to 407,000 units. In 2016, Renault accounted for 20.2% of the French automobile market, and Dacia had a 5.48% market share. In Romania, the Dacia plant in Mioveni was taken over by Renault in 1999. Re-launched in 2004 with Logan, Dacia has grown into a notable player in the European automobile market.
BORDER POLICE — The Romanian border police takes part in the EPN POSEIDON SEA joint operation, organised by Frontex, the European border agency. Romania is contributing a Coast Guard patrol and intervention vessel. The operation takes place in the Aegean Sea in January – April. With 23 border police on board, the vessel is to carry out patrol, research, search and rescue missions, together with other EU member states. The operation continues the activities organised by Frontex to manage irregular migration flows.
ISTANBUL ATTACK — Counter-terrorism forces in Turkey carry on searches for the perpetrators of the New Year’s Eve attack at the Reina nightclub, in which 39 people died and nearly 70 were wounded. More than half of the victims were foreign citizens, from Israel, India, Lebanon, France, Tunisia, Belgium, Kuwait and Canada. The attack was claimed by the IS terror group, in retaliation to Turkey’s intervention in Syria. Twelve suspects have been retained so far. According to analysts, unlike in previous years, the more recent attacks in Turkey particularly targeted places popular with foreigners, such as tourist sites in Istanbul and the Ataturk airport. In July, an attack at the Ataturk international airport near Istanbul killed 45 people.
TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea (no 78 WTA) was defeated on Tuesday in two sets (0-2) by Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska (3 WTA), in the 8th-finals of the Shenzhen tournament in China, with over 625,000 US dollars in total prize money. Another Romanian player, Monica Niculescu (38 WTA) was outperformed in the same stage of the competition by the Chinese Wang Qiang (73 WTA). Also in the 8th-finals, the best-ranking Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, no 4 in the world, will play on Wednesday against the Czech Katerina Siniakova (52 WTA). Simona Halep won the Shenzhen tournament in 2015.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
