June 19, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 19.06.2017, 19:45

BUCHAREST – In Bucharest, less than 6 months after
taking office, the cabinet led by PM Sorin Grindeanu is faced with its first
motion of no-confidence, initiated by the parties that formed the government in
the first place, the Social Democrats and ruling coalition partners ALDE. The
text of the motion was read in full Parliament session on Sunday, and will be
debated and submitted to a vote on Wednesday. The initiators of the motion
claim that withdrawing their political support means the end of the government’s
mandate, and that PM Grindeanu should have resigned when the government
coalition made the decision, after an evaluation of the executive’s activity.

BERLIN – To Romania, the relationship with Germany is not
just strategically important, but also a privilege, said in Berlin Romania’s
President Klaus Iohannis during a press conference he held alongside Chancellor
Angela Merkel on Monday. Germany, the Romanian head of state also pointed out,
has remained Romania’s most important trading partner. As regards the
trans-Atlantic relation, Romania and Germany agree that there should be no
choosing between the EU and NATO, and that the Union is important to the US,
just like the US is important to the EU. In turn, the German chancellor sated
that Bucharest and Berlin share the same view on Brexit, border security,
terrorism and migration. According to the German Chancellor, Romania has made
significant progress in defending the rule of law and in the fight against
corruption, also stressing that slowing the pace would not be a good thing. On
Monday, the Romanian president also held talks with his German counterpart
Frank Walter Steimeier. The Romanian president’s three-day visit to Germany
bears particular significance, as 2017 is the
year when Romania celebrates 50 years of diplomatic ties with Germany on
embassy level, 25 years since the signing of the partnership and cooperation treaty
with Germany and also 10 years since Romania joined the EU.

BRUSSELS – Negotiations have begun in Brussels for
Britain’s exit from the European Union. British voters stood in favour of the
so called Brexit in a referendum held in June last year. Almost three months
ago, PM Theresa May activated Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which regulates
a member state’s exit from the community.
The negotiation process, which is supposed to end before 30 March 2019, is
expected to be convoluted, considering the different perspectives of the
parties on essential issues, such as Europeans living in Britain, and Brits
living in the EU. Other points of contention are the Irish frontier, and the
debts that the UK may have to pay on account of its EU commitments.

PARIS- French PM Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party En
marche and its ally, MoDem, have emerged victorious in the second round of
Parliament elections on Sunday. They now hold the majority in the National
Assembly, which would allow the implementation of the social liberal platform
of the newly elected head of state. The two parties won 350 seats of the total
of 577. However, the elections were marred by absenteeism, with only 43% of
voters showing up to the polls. The first law to be voted in the Paris
legislative assembly will be on reducing privileges for dignitaries. Changes
are also expected to be proposed in terms of labor regulations and taxation. At
the same time, President Macron wants to bolster security contingents, in order
to support the fight against terrorism.

LONDON – British PM Theresa May has stated that the
police are treating the latest attack in London as a potential terror attack,
and has called an emergency cabinet meeting. One man was killed and ten people
were injured after a van plowed into a group of people in the north-east of
London exiting a mosque after a religious service for Ramadan. The victims are
all Muslim. The driver, 48 years old, was immobilized by by-standers and then
arrested. The mosque was known since the early 2000s as a place favored by
Islamists in London, who came there to attend sermons by Egyptian cleric Abu
Hamza, who was in the meantime given a life sentence by the United States for
terror related activities. The fresh attack came against high tensions, as the
UK is in the aftermath of three terror attacks in three months, two of which
have involved vehicles driven into crowds of pedestrians.