November 7, 2015 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.11.2015, 21:13

COLECTIV (UPDATE) — Another nine people who sustained injuries and burns in the Colectiv nightclub fire passed away on Saturday, raising the death toll to 41. 48 people are in critical condition. So far several skin-grafting surgeries have been made, while in some cases doctors were forced to operate to clear the patients airways. Two planes of the Mobile Emergency Service for Resuscitation and Extrication (SMURD) transported two patients in critical condition to Vienna, Austria, where they will receive specialised treatment. Several other patients were transferred to hospitals in the Netherlands, Belgium and Israel.

Interim Prime Minister Sorin Cimpeanu has said that several countries in Europe have offered to help Romania, by either taking in patients or sending medical teams to Bucharest. The Romanian official added the Government would cover the costs of transporting and hospitalising patients and a member for each family abroad.

In another move, the former mayor of Bucharest District 4, where the tragedy occurred, Cristian Popescu-Piedone on Saturday was placed under 30-day pre-trial arrest, being charged with abuse of office and forgery. He is being accused of having issued operation permits for the club’s functioning in spite of the fact that its owners did not get the approval of the Department for Emergency Situations beforehand.

The club’s three owners have been taken into pre-trial custody on suspicion of aggravated manslaughter and involuntary bodily harm. The firm contracted to ensure the pyrotechnics show at Colectiv on the night of the tragedy is also being investigated, its owners having been arrested.

Also on Saturday, interim Prime Minister Sorin Cimpeanu said only 7% of schools in Romania have been greenlighted for functioning by the Department for Emergency Situations.

PROTESTS — For the fifth consecutive day Romanians took to the streets in Bucharest and other large cities, calling for a top-down sweeping reform of the Romanian political class. Protesters chanted slogans against corrupt politicians, whom they see as responsible for the tragedy. Following this week’s protests Prime Minister Victor Ponta has stepped down. President Klaus Iohannis had the first round of consultations with parliamentary factions and with representatives of the civil society to appoint the new Prime Minister. The president is expected to make a nomination by the end of next week.

MEASURES — 140 Romanian citizens in the tourism resorts of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada in Egypt were repatriated on Saturday, the Romanian Foreign Ministry reports. The decision was taken against the escalating security context in the region and the security measures adopted by Egyptian authorities after a Russian airliner crashed while flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to Sankt Petersburg, carrying 224 people onboard. Previously the Ministry has called on Romanians to take additional security measures to ensure the safety of travellers, their luggage and the process of loading luggage on board flights incoming from Egypt. Several countries have called off or modified the flight routes over the Sinai Peninsula. On Friday, following the recommendation of the Russian Intelligence Service (FSB), Moscow authorities decided to ground all passenger flights to Egypt. Press agencies write the measures were taken against the emergence of new evidence that confirms that a bomb onboard had caused the Russian airliner to crash.

GROWTH — The European Commission estimates that Romania’s economy will continue to grow at an accelerating pace to 3.5% this year and to 4.1% in 2016. The growth will be the result of fiscal relaxation measures, boosting internal demand on the one hand and deepening the budget deficit on the other. This estimate might even be surpassed if Romania absorbs EU funds beyond its expectations. At the same time, the Commission has upgraded its forecast for the budget deficit, to 1.2% this year and to 2.8% next year, as against the spring forecast of 1.6% for 2015 and of 3.5% for 2016. Against the backdrop of waning unemployment and the 4% slash in VAT, private consumption will hit an all-time high in 2016, but will be balanced out in 2017, reads the European Commission forecast. In turn, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also expects an economic growth in Romania of 3.5% this year and of 3.7% in 2016.

CALL — The British air-defence destroyer HMS DUNCAN is making a call in the port of Constanta between November 8-11. Romanian and British sailors will carry out joint training drills with a view to agreeing on common operational procedures during planned exercises in the territorial waters of Romania and in international waters of the Black Sea over the coming period. HMS DUNCAN is the sixth and last Type-45 or Daring-class British destroyer fitted with state-of-the-art radar and air-defence systems. Ongoing missions in international waters of this kind of battleships are aimed at combating piracy and drug trafficking, but also at providing humanitarian aid to people affected by the national catastrophes in various regions of the world. When integrated in naval battle formations, type-45 destroyers ensure anti-submarine and anti-air support.