November 13, 2015 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 13.11.2015, 12:15

CABINET – The Prime Minister designate of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, has announced that by the end of the week he will make public the membership of his Cabinet. Before that, however, he will have a new round of consultations with the parliamentary parties. After the first talks, the National Liberal Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the group of national minorities in Parliament announced their unconditional support for the new government. The Social Democrats, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians however are waiting to see the list of new ministers and the government programme. According to the Senate Speaker, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, a vote is scheduled for next week for the validation of the new cabinet.

COLECTIV – Two weeks after the tragedy that hit the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, the death toll has reached 55. Another patient with burn injuries died on Friday in a hospital in Germany, where she had been transfered. Over 60 patients are still in hospitals in Bucharest, while 30 others receive care abroad. The tragedy took place during a rock concert attended by several hundred people. During the fireworks show, a support pillar caught fire, and the flames spread quickly across the ceiling. Many of the victims suffered burn injuries, but one of the causes of the large number of deaths is the inhalation of the deadly mix of toxic gases in the smoke, doctors said.

GROWTH – Romania reported the biggest economic growth at EU level in the third quarter of the year, as compared to the previous one, the Eurostat reports. Due to a 1.4% growth, Romania is the leader at EU level followed by Poland and Slovakia, each wtih a 0.9% growth. Romanias GDP rose by 3.6%, the second biggest increase at EU level, after the 4.3% growth rate of the Czech Republic. The Eurostat data are similar to the estimate made public by the National Statistics Institute. On the other hand, foreign direct investment in Romania went up by 215 million euros, exceeding 2.5 billion euros after the first nine months of the year, 1 billion more than the same period of 2014, shows the latest data published by the National Bank of Romania on Friday.

SUMMIT – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, emphasised the need for further efforts and better cooperation between EU member states, towards more efficient control of the Unions external borders. The statement was made in Malta, where Iohannis attended the EU – Africa summit on migration and an informal meeting of the European Council. According to a news release issued by the Presidential Administration, the informal meeting focused on the measures already decided at European level with respect to migration, with a view to strengthening cooperation with third countries, particularly Turkey, and to improving the security of the EU foreign borders.

ATTACK – The Romanian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the double suicide attack in Beirut that killed more than 40 people on Thursday. The Foreign Ministry reiterated its support for the peace, stability and unity of Lebanon, as well as the importance of carrying on the joint efforts to fight terrorism. The attack was claimed by the IS group. According to the BBC, it is the deadliest attack since the end of the civil war in that country. The two bombings took place in the south of the Lebanese capital city, where the attackers detonated their explosive vests in busy areas as believers were coming out of mosques. This was the first attack in the last 12 months to target a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon, in a period when the group, backed by Iran, strengthened its involvement in the war in neighbouring Syria.

TENNIS – The ATP World Tour Finals begins on Sunday in London, with the 2015 seasons top 8 players and 8 top teams in the doubles. For the first time, two Romanian players take part in the doubles competition. Horia Tecău will play together with the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer, and Florin Mergea with Indias Rohan Bopanna. Tecău and Rojer play in Group B, against Seed No. 3 Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, No. 6 Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut and No. 7 Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjici. Mergea and Bopanna play in Group A, and will be facing Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan (USA), Jamie Murray/John Peers (UK/Australia) and Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini (Italy). World leader Novak Djokovic is also the No 1 seed in the tournament which has 7 million USD in prize money.

(translation by Vlad Palcu)