October 30, 2016 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 30.10.2016, 12:15

CETA – The EU and Canada on Sunday signed in Brussels the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) after the objections raised by the Belgian region of Wallonia were eventually solved. The agreement, which eliminates 99% of the customs duties between the EU and Canada, will be applied provisionally and partially following ratification by the European and the Canadian parliaments in the coming months. Signed after 7 years of negotiations, the agreement will then have to be approved by all the national and regional parliaments of the EU in order to become full fledged. We recall that Bucharest was opposed to CETA until Ottawa agreed with the gradual lifting of visas in 2017 for the Romanian citizens traveling to Canada. The Romanian government has hailed the Canadian government’s decision to completely lift visas for the Romanian citizens as of December 2017, which has been mentioned in the declaration of the EU-Canada summit. At present the Romanians and Bulgarians are the only EU citizens who still need visas to travel to Canada.

ITALY QUAKE – Several people have been injured and many buildings have collapsed following the 6.5 magnitude quake that hit central Italy on Sunday morning, the authorities announced. The epicenter of the quake was 68km southeast of the regional center of Perugia and close to the small town of Norcia, the same location as in the case of August’s quake that killed almost 300 people. Sunday’s quake was followed by several aftershocks and was felt in the capital Rome. The Romanian Embassy in Rome and Romania’s General Consulate in Bologna continue to take the necessary steps to gather updated information on the existence of Romanian citizens among possible victims and are ready to grant consular assistance if the case may be.

COLECTIV MARCH – Thousands of people participated on Sunday in a march of silence in downtown Bucharest to commemorate the 64 victims killed in the terrific fire that occurred in 2015 at the Colectiv club. Paying homage to the victims at the place of the tragedy on Sunday were the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and the representatives of the Romanian Royal House, Princess Margareta and Prince Radu. On October 30, 2015 the Colectiv club in Bucharest caught fire during a rock concert, killing 64 people and injuring more than 100. Three files have been opened at civil and military courts in this case. Under investigation are the owners of the club, the owners of the company that provided the pyrotechnic devices that caused the fire, the former mayor of the sector where the club was located as well as employees of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations who are supposed to have known of the irregularities at the club. Last year’s fire at the Colectiv club triggered off large-scale protests which denounced the corruption in the administrative system. Following the street’s pressure the then leftist government led by Victor Ponta resigned.

STRIKE – Trade unions in the healthcare field announced the medical units would go on an all-out strike on Monday. According to Sanitas Federation which has around 100 thousand members working in the healthcare field, only one third of the employees will continue working and will deal mainly with cases of emergency. The trade unions’ federation announced the strike was caused by the authorities’ lack of interest in working out solutions to their requests and by the growing discontent of the healthcare staff following the implementation of the ordinance on the state employees’ salaries. (translation by L. Simion)