December 31, 2016

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Newsroom, 31.12.2016, 12:00

GOVERNMENT – The new Government led by Prime Minister designate Sorin Grindeanu might be sworn in on January 4, Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea has announced, adding that representatives of the Social-Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, currently holding the majority in Parliament, will meet on Tuesday to vote the list of Ministers and the governing program. In turn, the co-leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said the first task of the new Government is adopting the state budget for 2017, to be debated in Parliament in late January. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians said it will vote in favour of the Government. The National Liberal Party in opposition expressed hope the list of nominations would include professionals with a clean slate. The Save Romania Union, also in opposition, will vote against the Grindeanu Cabinet, arguing that the Government will be de facto led by Social-Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea. The Peoples Movement Party has not yet announced how it would vote.

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY – An additional 12,000 law-enforcement officers will be deployed on Saturday night to oversee public events devoted to the New Years Eve across Romania. According to a Romanian Police release, some 147 large-scale public events are held, including concerts and winter customs shows, to be attended by some 300,000 people. In Bucharest, the City Hall is organizing an open-air party. Historical buildings downtown will be lit up, while a fireworks show will be held at midnight. The New Years Eve party in Bucharest also has a name – Bucharest Selfie. All pictures sent in by Bucharesters will be screened in the George Enescu square.

2017 – The first to welcome the New Year were the inhabitants of Christmas Island and Samoa, two islands in the Pacific, as well as the Chatham Islands in New Zealand. European countries are getting ready to celebrate the New Year against the backdrop of increased security measures, in the wake of the Berlin attack two weeks ago, which killed 12 people. Thousands of additional police officers will be deployed to cope with potential terrorist threats in London, Berlin, Brussels or Sydney. In an attempt to prevent lorry attacks, authorities in Paris, Madrid and New York will use concrete bollards to block traffic from crowds celebrating New Years Eve.

TERRORISM – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the most difficult challenge Germany must yet face is dealing with Islamic terrorism. In her traditional New Years address, Merkel promised she would do everything in her power to enhance security following the bloody attack in Berlin on December 19, when a Tunisian asylum-seeker ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market. The German official said she would not compromise on democratic values.

MIGRANTS – 48 Iraqi nationals, of whom 17 children, were caught by the Romanian border police on the Bulgarian border in Giurgiu, southern Romania. The people were hiding in a loading compartment of a lorry delivering chocolate. The driver was a Bulgarian national. The migrants said they wanted to get to Hungary, and the driver said he didnt know about the people he was carrying. The Romanian police have handed the driver over to the Bulgarian authorities, as well as the Iraqi citizens with a view to launching an investigation.

SYRIA – The UN Security Council is today meeting to discuss a Russian resolution for supporting the ceasefire in Syria, which came into force on Friday. The document provides for quick access of humanitarian aid missions to this country, supporting a political process for putting an end to the conflict and launching negotiations between the Government in Damascus and the opposition. Chaired by Russia and Turkey, the talks might be scheduled to take place next month in Kazakhstan.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis players Ana Bogdan and Patricia Tig are today starting the new tennis season. The two are playing in the preliminaries of the Shenzhen tournament in China, totaling over 600,000 dollars in prize money. In the first round, Ana Bogdan, 130 WTA, will take on Quanhui Tang, 972 WTA, while Patricia Tig, 108 WTA will go up against Nina Jovanovic, 140 WTA. Romania has another three tennis players already qualified to the main draw: Simona Halep, WTA no. 4, who is also the competitions second seed, Monica Niculescu, 38 WTA and Sorana Carstea, 79 WTA. We recall that Simona Halep won the Shenzhen tournament in 2015. (Translated by V. Palcu)