November 12, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 12.11.2015, 12:15

COLECTIV – Three more people suffering from severe burn injuries caused by the fire that broke out at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, on October 30th, died on Thursday. Some 70 people are still in hospital care in Bucharest, but the number of those in critical condition has dropped to approximately 15. Some 40 patients are receiving medical care in hospitals in Europe and Israel, with travel and treatment costs covered by the Romanian state. Also, the Romanian Government has earmarked additional funds for the hospitals in Bucharest where there are victims under treatment. Also, the patients and their families are receiving psychological counseling.

CABINET – Romanias Prime Minister Designate, Dacian Ciolos, is these days working on establishing the members and program of his Cabinet. At the consultations held on Wednesday with representatives of the parliamentary parties, the National Liberal Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the National Minorities Group announced their unconditional support for the new Cabinet. On the other hand, the Social-Democratic Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania are waiting for the list of names and the governing program to be made public before making a decision. The Speaker of the Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, has stated that the Prime Minister Designate is expected to present his team and program on Monday, and the new Cabinet might be sworn in on Tuesday. Social-Democrat Victor Ponta stepped down as Prime Minister last week after mass protests across the country in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub tragedy.

MIGRATION SUMMIT – The EU is in a race around the clock to save the Schengen agreements on the free movement of people, and a proper control of Europes external borders is the top priority, said the European Council President Donald Tusk at the EU-Africa summit in Malta. At the end of the summit, the EU announced a package of measures aimed at reducing the inflow of migrants traveling towards Europe, from Africa. Also at the end of the summit, where Romania was represented by president Klaus Iohannis, Donald Tusk said that the EU would set up a 1.9 billion dollar emergency fund for vocational training projects, the setting up of small businesses and fighting food scarcity. African leaders, however, among whom the PM of Somalia, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, said that the amount was too small to solve the problem that triggered the migration crisis. After the EU-Africa summit on migration, the European leaders gathered again to analyze the way in which the measures agreed upon in September and October have been implemented so far, especially with regard to cooperation with third countries, such as Turkey.

SALARY RISE – Salaries in the Romanian public sector will go up by 10% as of December 1st, after the Chamber of Deputies passed the bill with 311 votes in favour, seven abstentions and one vote against. The proposal of the Social-Democratic Party was voted by MPs on both sides of the political spectrum, including the Liberals who had initially criticized the bill. 2016 is an election year and the law on fiscal accountability forbids any salary rise during an election year.

MOLDOVA – The Republic of Moldova might soon cease to exist as a state, the Moldovan Defence Minister Anatol Salaru has warned. The Moldovan official says the republic is faced with two imminent threats: corruption at domestic level and Russias appetite for expanding its influence. “We have no Government, external funding has been put on hold and the political class is destabilized”, said Anatol Salaru, a Liberal MP known for upholding Western and Romanian values. Salarus warnings follow the demise of the Strelet Cabinet in the wake of a no-confidence vote spearheaded by the Socialist and Communist opposition and backed by the Democrats, which led to the break-up of the pro-Western ruling coalition made up of the Liberal, Liberal-Democratic and Democratic Parties.

INVESTIGATION – Russia must conduct its own investigation into the allegations of organized doping levied by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Russian president Vladimir Putin has stated, as the country risks being banned from all competitions. The statement was made after WADA concluded in its latest report that the Russian anti-doping system was corrupt, involving top-level cover-ups. The President of the Russian Athletics Federation and several coaches have been sacked and several athletes have been suspended. The scandal raises questions about the very participation of Russian athletes in the Rio 2016 Olympics. Russia is the second best-performing nation in world athletics after the United States.

STRIKE – The strike of the cabin crew of Germanys Lufthansa airlines has been extended until Friday. Cabin crew unionists went on strike on November 6 to protest against the early retirement conditions. Lufthansa started negotiations with various categories of employees in an attempt to curb its expenses and to be able to compete with low-cost airliners and carriers from the Persian Gulf. 1,800 flights were cancelled in the first four days of the strike, including from Romania, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers. The strike is staged in airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf. In the last 18 months, Lufthansa pilots have called 13 strikes, which have not affected the low-cost branches of the German company: Eurowings, Germanwings, Swiss and Austrian Airlines.