October 28, 2016

Prime minister Dacian Ciolos meets survivors of last year's tragic fire at Bucharest nightclub.

Newsroom, 28.10.2016, 12:00

Romanian prime minister Dacian Ciolos on Friday met
survivors and relatives of people wounded in the fire that broke out a year ago
at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest in which 64 people were killed and more
than 100 injured. On Wednesday, the government decided to prolong by two years
the reimbursement of the expenses incurred by the wounded for their treatment
abroad. The court has recently begun a trial in the case. The three owners of
the nightclub are accused of manslaughter, bodily harm and for failing to take
the required legal health and safety measures. The owners of the company that
supplied the pyrotechnics, an employee and two legal persons will also stand
trial. The tragedy was followed by large-scale street demonstrations that led
to the resignation of the then Social Democrat prime minister Victor Ponta and
the appointment of Dacian Ciolos’s technocratic cabinet.

Independent
parties and candidates in Romania have submitted their candidate lists for the
parliamentary elections of December 11th. Most political parties
have candidates for all counties and say they propose many new names alongside
experienced parliamentarians. The election campaign takes place between the 11th
of November and the 10th of December.

Today is the final day of the election campaign ahead of
the first round of the presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova, an
ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population. The country’s
president will be elected by direct vote instead of Parliament for the first
time in 16 years. Commentators say these elections are crucial for Moldova’s
geopolitical orientation, given that the pro-Russian Socialist leader Igor
Dodon is leading in all opinion polls. His main rival is the former reformist
education minister Maia Sandu, who campaigns for a reform of the state and
accession to the European Union and who enjoys the support of other pro-western
candidates, who pulled out of the race. Moldova’s ambassador to Bucharest Mihai
Gribincea said polling stations have been set up in neighbouring Romania at the
Moldovan embassy and the consulate in Bucharest, in Iasi, Galati, Bacau and
Suceava, all of which are in the east, close to the Romanian-Moldovan border,
as well as in Timisoara, in the west, Brasov, in the centre, Cluj, in the
north-west, Constanta, in the south-east and Craiova, in the south. The
government in Bucharest has decided to provide free railway transportation to
and from polling stations for Moldovan students in Romania wishing to cast
their votes.

Belgium’s regional parliaments are today to sign the
revised text of the EU-Canada free trade agreement. Yesterday, the federal
prime minister Charles Michel said the leaders of the Belgian regions reached
an agreement on CETA. The revised document must also be approved by the other
27 EU member states and Canada before being signed. The agreement, initially to
be signed on Thursday in Brussels, has been blocked by the regional government
of Wallonia, who was unhappy with a number of provisions, in particular the
rules of trade arbitration between private companies and governments. Romania
also made the signing of the agreement conditional on Canada’s lifting of visas
for Romanian citizens. Canada agreed to a gradual lifting of visas starting
next year, but only if the free trade agreement with the European Union is
signed.

On Saturday
night, Romania will turn the clocks back, with 4 am becoming 3 am. The 30th
of October will thus have 25 hours, being the longest day of the year. The move
corrects for summertime changes, when clocks turned forward to make full use of
natural light and reduce electricity consumption. Romania will return to
summertime on the last Sunday in March. The practice was initiated in 1916,
during World War One, by several countries in Europe and adopted by Romania in
1931.

The Romanian women’s handball
champions CSM Bucharest today face the Hungarian side Gyor in the Champions
League Group C. The two sides last met in the competition’s final in May in a
dramatic match eventually won by the Romanian side after overtime and 7-m
throws. This is the fourth time CSM Bucharest face Gyor, with the latter
leading their head-to-head meetings 2-1. In the first two group matches, CSM
defeated the Russian side Rostov Don and lost to the Danish side FC
Midtjylland. Gyor currently top the group with 4 points, followed by CSM and
Midtjylland, each with two points, while Rostov are yet to collect a single
point.