December 29, 2016 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 29.12.2016, 12:15

RESPONSE – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis is expected to make a
decision regarding the second proposal made by the Social-Democratic Party and
the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, which hold the majority in Parliament,
for the position of Prime Minister. The first nomination, Sevil Shhaideh, was
turned down. Sorin Grindeanu, the second nomination, met with the president on
Thursday. Aged 43, Grindeanu is currently the president of the Timis County
Council and has been a member of the Social-Democratic Party for 20 years. He
was Minister of Transportation in the Government led by Victor Ponta. The
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which has concluded a
cooperation protocol with the Social-Democrats and the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats, has not yet expressed its support for this second name. Opposition
parties on the other hand say they will not vote for a Cabinet led by Sorin
Grindeanu.

COLECTIV – On
Thursday, the Bucharest tribunal ruled that the trial should commence in the case
concerning Colectiv, the Bucharest club where, on October 30th 2015,
a fire broke out during a rock concert, killing 64 people and wounding more
than 100. The three owners of the club are charged with manslaughter, bodily
injury and failure to take the necessary occupational health and safety
measures. Also on trial are the owners of the company that took care of the
fireworks show, one of their employees and two legal advisors. We recall that
the tragedy triggered large-scale rallies denouncing the corruption in the
public administration. At the pressure of the protesters, the then Social
Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned.

CURRENCY – Romania’s national currency, the Leu, has
these days hit its lowest value in the last three years against the top hard
currencies. Specialists however say that this trend is no reason to worry, as
Romanian economy is currently stable. They expect the Leu to go up, especially
against the Euro, once the domestic political turmoil settles down, a new
Government is sworn in and the budget for 2017 is adopted. In turn, the US
dollar has gone up against the rising optimism in American society, which in a
few weeks is due to have a new president and administration. This tendency
might continue over the first months of 2017, experts say. In Romania, the
Leu-dollar exchange rate has triggered a hike not only in fuel prices, but also
in the price of house appliances made in Asia, of vegetable and fruit imported
from Turkey, and raw materials imported from other continents.

TOURISM – The number of foreign tourists who visited Romania in
2016 stands at some 1.3 million, which is 20% more than in 2015. Most tourists have come from Germany,
France, the UK, Italy and Spain. Representatives of the travel industry say
this good figure is the result of the favourable position Romania enjoys at
European level, as our country has been one of the safest countries in the
region this year. 2016 was also the best year for the Romanian seacoast, where
the number of tourists went up by as much as 15%. 11% more Romanians visited
the seacoast this year, while the number of foreign tourists also increased by
10% as compared to 2015, standing at around 50,000 people. Ranking at the top
of tourists’ preferences was the resort of Mamaia.

NATO – The Dutch Minister of Defense Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert has
announced that the Netherlands will contribute two chiefs of general staff to
the Multinational NATO Brigade in 2017, which will be rendered operational in
Craiova, southern Romania, the Romanian Defense Ministry reports. At the same
time, the Dutch Minister spoke of the possibility of Dutch troops taking part
in other multi-purpose military drills which the brigade is to carry out. We
recall that the Rovine 2nd Infantry Division, stationed in Craiova,
southern Romania, will become a NATO Multinational Brigade, a decision taken as
part of a series of measures adopted at the NATO Summit of Warsaw this summer.
The announcement follows the commitments of other states to contribute to the
NATO brigade. Germany will deploy chiefs of staff, Bulgaria will contribute 400 soldiers, and Poland will deploy
some 250 military. Romania will in turn deploy 250 soldiers to be part of the
brigade in Poland. The brigade will also be cooperating with a military unit
from the United States.

REACTION – The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
condemned and termed as biased a recent speech delivered by the US Secretary
of State John Kerry, whose mandate is coming to a close. In his speech, Kerry
defended the Obama administration’s decision to allow the UN Security Council
last week to adopt a resolution whereby Israeli colonies were declared illegal.
John Kerry warned that Israeli settlements were a danger to the two-state peace
solution. Netanyahu has stated that
Kerry’s speech focused obsessively on Israeli settlements, making hardly
any reference to Palestinian violence. The Israeli Prime Minister has said the
Palestinians’ refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a state remains
the crux of the problem.

CRASH – The crash of the Russian military plane in the Black Sea
was caused by a technical malfunction, the Russian Transport Minister Maxime
Sokolov said on Thursday. Preliminary
data decoded from the aircraft’s two black boxes suggest the pilots lost
control over the plane due to the faulty wing flaps, which put the plane at a
critical angle. The 154 Tupolev aircraft was headed to Latakia, Syria and was
carrying 92 people on board, of whom 83 were passengers, most of them members
of the Russian Army Choir. They were scheduled to hold a holiday concert at the
Syrian base in Khmeimim.