December 30, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 30.12.2014, 12:00
The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis talked Tuesday in Bucharest with the Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, on Romania’s foreign policy as well as on the unfolding of the November presidential election in the Diaspora. Previously Iohannis, who was sworn in on December 21st, had talks with the interior and defense ministers about the direct responsibilities of the President, as part of a first meeting with the representatives of the interior and defense ministries. On Monday President Iohannis talked with the PM about the state budget and the allocation of a supplementary 0.3% of the GDP for the defense ministry.
The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday signed the decree for the promulgation of Romania’s state budget law and social security budget for 2015. The move takes place after the Constitutional Court had previously decided that the budget law was in line with the Romanian Constitution. The court rejected the notification made by the center right opposition regarding the unconstitutionality of the budget law. The budget law for 2015 provides for a deficit of 1.8% of the GDP, an inflation rate of 2.2% and an economic growth rate of 2.5%.
In the last meeting of 2014 the Romanian government introduced in the education law the concept of ‘dual education’, which involves both theoretical and practical education of students. Another amendment to the education law refers to how doctor of science titles are granted. Giving up such a title entails not only the cancellation of the diploma but also of the period of studies. The amendment was introduced less than 2 weeks after the PM Victor Ponta announced he gave up his title of doctor of law, after his PhD thesis was the focus of a plagiarism scandal.
The weather in Romania is very cold. The lowest temperature this winter, minus 25 degrees C, was reported in the village of Apa Neagra, in Gorj county, in southern Romania. The highs of the day will range from minus 10 to minus 4 degrees C. More than one thousand people have been rescued from extreme situations caused by the recent heavy snowfalls and snowstorms affecting the south and east of Romania, shows the latest communiqué made public by the interior ministry. At present 15 national and county roads are closed and 17 trains have been cancelled. The bad weather has created problems in many European countries. The snowstorms have disrupted road and air traffic in Great Britain. In Germany heavy snowfalls and glazed frost have been reported. In Belgium road and rail traffic have been affected by massive snowfalls while Serbia was under code red alert for snowfalls. Heavy snowfalls and snowstorms were reported in Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria, the bad weather making victims in Slovenia and France.
The Indonesian officials announced Tuesday that the debris found near the Kalimantan island belonged to the AirAsia plane that crashed Sunday with 162 people on board. They also announced they found the first bodies. The plane was flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. The plane disappeared from radars after the pilots had asked for permission to take the plane higher due bad weather conditions. Most of the passengers, namely 155, were Indonesian. Singapore and Malaysia have also participated in the rescue operations. AirAsia is the biggest low cost airlines in Asia.
