19 – 25 March

A roundup of the week's main stories

Leyla Cheamil, 24.03.2018, 11:46

Harsh winter in early spring

After a mild winter, Romania is struggling, at the end of March, with extremely unsettled weather. Early this week meteorologists issued a code yellow alert for rainfalls, wind and low temperatures, valid in the eastern part of the country. Temperatures were considerably below the season average, so the rain quickly turned to sleet and snow. The freezing rain caused black ice to form, particularly in the south of the country, and disrupted road, railway and air traffic. Problems were reported at the Henri Coanda Airport in Bucharest, where freezing rain kept aircraft from taking off for hours. Many trains were also delayed because of the bad weather, some for as long as hundreds of minutes, and several national road segments were closed down. In turn, hydrologists issued code yellow and code orange alerts for floods, including along the Danube, and warned that after temperatures go up, the situation will be even worse.

Towards the end of the week, weather experts launched code yellow and orange warnings against snow falls and snow storms in the southern part of the country. In Bucharest and several counties in the south, schools were closed down on Friday. Scores of trains were cancelled, speed restrictions were imposed for safety reasons, and some national and county road sectors were closed.

Romania marks Francophonie Day

On Tuesday, Bucharest marked the International Francophonie Day, and PM Viorica Dancila said Romania was recognised in Central and Eastern Europe as a flagship of La Francophonie. She also emphasised that the group of French-speaking countries was one of the first international structures that Romania joined after 1989. Romania will remain part of La Francophonie, because it is closely tied to its values, Romanian officials said in a conference on “The Francophone cultural model of 100-year old Romania, devoted to the celebration of 25 years since Romania joined the organisation.

The event was organised jointly with the OIF Central and Eastern Europe Regional Bureau and the University of Bucharest. In 1991, Romania became an observer and in 1993 it got full membership of the International Organisation of La Francophonie. In September 2006 it hosted a summit of the international group.

Between December 2018 and July 2019 the Romania-France Cultural Season will take place, a large scale joint project focusing on contemporary culture as well as on areas such as education, economy, sports and tourism.

The Chamber of Deputies passes the modified justice laws

The bills on the organisation of courts, the status of magistrates and the functioning of the Higher Council of Magistracy, amended to comply with Constitutional Court rulings, were adopted by the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday. The ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania backed the modifications, whereas the opposition voted against, claiming that they were an attempt to politicise the judiciary.

A major change is that the president of Romania no longer has a role in the procedures to appoint the chiefs of the supreme court, the decision-making power being transferred to the Higher Council of Magistracy. The bills are to go next to the Senate for the final vote.

Some of the changes originally operated on the justice laws sparked massive street protests, as well as criticism among magistrates.

Romania is preparing for the adoption of the single currency

The Government of Romania on Wednesday passed an emergency ordinance concerning the setting up of a special committee which will draft a national plan for adopting the European currency. According to the Government, the committee will come up with a roadmap for Romanias joining the mechanism for the switch to the single currency, and will define all the measures required in order to get the Romanian economy and society ready for this move. By November 15, the committee will make public both the roadmap and the action plan, which will have to get political endorsement.

The committee will comprise members of governmental agencies, the presidential administration, the National Bank of Romania, trade union and employer confederations, as well as NGOs, and it will be chaired by the Prime Minister and the president of the Romanian Academy. The two deputy chairs will be the central bank governor and a deputy PM.

The Romanian government takes over the majority stake in the Mangalia Shipyard

The Romanian state and the Dutch company Damen have made a deal on taking over the shipyard in Mangalia, south-eastern Romania, one of the largest in the region, from the current owner, the South-Korean group Daewoo. Alexandru Macoveiciuc, spokesman for the Economy Ministry, has announced that a joint venture will be set up, in which Damen will hold 49% of the stock and the Economy Ministry 51%.

It is the first time since the post-communist revolution in 1989 that the state takes control over a previously privatised strategic industrial unit.

Damen is the largest ship builder in the Netherlands and it can secure new clients for the Mangalia shipyard. The authorities have promised that no jobs will be lost. Still, employees are worried, because their incomes have dropped since they stopped being required to work extra hours, and the companys financial situation forced over 700 people to leave. The Mangalia Shipyard has been in difficulty since 2016, when Daewoo Group decided to divest, in a larger-scale effort to restructure its international operations.