October 29, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

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Newsroom, 29.10.2019, 20:00

COMMISSIONER Outgoing prime minister Viorica Dancila has proposed former minister-delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu, for the position of European Commissioner. President Klaus Iohannis has reacted to the decision, saying the dismissed prime minister has no legitimacy to propose a candidate on Romania’s behalf. On Tuesday, the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has submitted to the Council for approval the candidates of France and Hungary and called on Romania to present their candidate as soon as possible.

CEC BANK The European Commission has found Romanias plans to inject 200 million euros of capital in fully state-owned CEC Bank, to be free of any state aid. The Commission found that the recapitalization will be carried out on market terms and therefore involves no state aid in favor of the bank, within the meaning of EU rules. In October 2019, Romania notified to the Commission its intention to recapitalize state-owned CEC Bank. The objectives of the recapitalization are to enhance the banks lending capacity in particular taking into account the domestic markets potential and launch a substantial upgrade of the banks information technology systems in order to continue servicing its customers, improve efficiency and decrease operational risk.

IAEA Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been elected as the new Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Grossi succeeds Yukiya Amano of Japan, who passed away in July. The Argentinean received the support of 24 members of the Board, ahead of Romania’s Cornel Feruta with 10 votes. The Board of Governors’ decision will be submitted for approval to the agency’s General Conference, which consists of representatives of all 171 member states.

GOVERNMENT The Romanian Prime Minister designate, the Liberal Ludovic Orban, has signed political agreements with several parliamentary parties, to secure the necessary support in Parliament for his new Cabinet. Parliament is scheduled to vote on the matter on Monday, November 4. In order to be endorsed, the new government needs at least 233 votes. The specialized committees in Parliament are hearing the candidates. Ludovic Orban’s Liberal government follows the Social Democratic cabinet headed by Viorica Dancila, which was dismissed on October 10th through a no-confidence vote.

WEATHER Meteorologists have warned against bad weather across all of Romania from Tuesday afternoon until Friday morning. It will get very cold and snow will be present in the mountains. Minimum temperatures will range from 1 to 10 degrees Celsius and maximum temperatures will range from 6 to 14 degrees C.

PROTESTS In Romania, trade unionists in the forestry sector picketed the Chamber of Deputies headquarters in Bucharest on Tuesday, against the backdrop of the growing number of attacks against forestry workers. The 6 foresters killed over the past few years by wood thieves were commemorated, but apart from them, the protesters say, over 650 employees have been assaulted, threatened, and attacked by criminals caught during illegal logging attempts. The unions lobby for immediate changes in the legislation regulating the forestry professions, to the effect of strengthening the authority of foresters.

MINING In Romania, over 100 coal workers from Paroşeni and Uricani, in the Jiu Valley area in the centre-west of the country, continue to protest underground, for the second consecutive day. They are unhappy with the lack of redundancy packages for the employees to be made redundant early next year. A shut down and renaturation programme at the Paroşeni and Uricani mines was initiated in late December 2017. In 2018 and 2019, operations were conducted to secure the coal deposits and to drain the water from galleries. In 2020 the main ventilation unit is scheduled to shut down, and access to the underground will be sealed.

AGEING Population ageing is deepening in Romania, with 471,000 more citizens over 65 than children under 14 on July 31st 2019, the National Statistics Institute announced today. The total population by domicile has reached 22.155 million people, 0.1% less than on July 1st, 2018. Urban population and women account for the majority of the Romanian population (56.4% and 51.2% respectively).

(Translated by Elena Enache)