August 20, 2019 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 20.08.2019, 19:49

PARLIAMENT – The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest will convene next week in an extraordinary session, as requested by the Opposition, Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marcel Ciolacu announced on Tuesday. The MPs, summoned from August 26 to August 30, will be asked, among other things, to reject the law on amnesty and pardon and abrogate the Emergency Decree 114. Liberal leader, Raluca Turcan, has said that the request was signed by 118 MPs from the National Liberal Party, the People’s Movement Party, Save Romania Union and PRO Romania, with the number of signatures needed to summon an extraordinary session being 110.

DECORATION – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday decorated post-mortem Zsolt Torok with the “For Merit” National Order, in rank of Knight, in appreciation of his impressive results as mountain climber. Zsolt Török, one of the best known Romanian mountain climbers, was found dead last weekend by mountain rescuers. After climbing the highest and most dangerous mountains of the world, from the Andes to the Himalayas, reaching altitudes of more than 7 thousand meters, Zsolt Török found his death at home, on Negoiu Peak. He had gone alone for several days to climb the Făgăraş Mountains.

BRUSSELS – The Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Tuesday met in Brussels with the future president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The talks focused on the future post of European Commissioner that will be assigned to Romania, but the future priorities of the EC were also tackled. PM Dancila insisted that Romania deserves a major portfolio, such as those of transport or the environment, stating that so far Bucharest has successfully managed two very important fields: agriculture and regional development. In a statement on Radio Romania, Viorica Dancila said that the topic of who is going to be the next European Commissioner from Romania was not discussed.

MOLDOVA – The campaign for local elections in the Republic of Moldova started on Tuesday. The mayors of some 900 towns and villages are to be elected on October 20. The main stakes of these elections are the mayors offices of the two largest cities in the country, Chisinau and Balti, which have been headed by interim mayors for almost two years now. Elections for mayor of Chisinau were held a year ago, and the winner was the leader of the DA platform Andrei Nastase, but the courts invalidated the ballot, which rendered the relation with the EU tense.

FESTIVAL — The medieval town of Sighisoara, central Romania, is hosting between August 21 and 25, the 17th edition of the ProEtnica Intercultural Festival, attended by over 600 representatives of the national minorities. As many as 37 folk ensembles, representing the 20 national minorities in Romania, will take the stage. Book launches, theatre performances and exhibitions will be held at the ProEtnica Intercultural Festival.

CARS — Cars sales went up by 9.5% in Romania in the first seven months of the year, as against the same period last year, with non-polluting cars accounting for 3.7% of the total, according to a report made public by the Automotive Manufacturers and Importers Association. Unlike most EU countries, Romania has reported a constant growth in car sales in the last year, except for the month of March, when a decrease was reported. The car sale increase is mostly due to companies, which cover 57% of the car purchases reported in the first seven months of 2019.

EUROSTAT – Romania is the most dangerous country in the EU for bikers and pedestrians, according to a report made public on Tuesday by the European Statistical Office. In 2017, 10 dead bikers per one million inhabitants were reported in Romania. At the opposite pole there stand Cyprus and Luxembourg, with no deaths. The EU average is 3.9 deaths per one million inhabitants. The situation is similar with regard to pedestrians, with 37 deaths per one million inhabitants. In this category, the best ranked is Denmark, with 3 deaths per one million people. In all, in 2017 in Romania there were 1951 deaths in road accidents, of which 812 among vehicle passengers, and the rest bikers and pedestrians.

(Translated by Elena Enache)