Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is visiting the Holocaust Memorial in Washington
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is visiting the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, on Thursday and is scheduled to participate in the dinner hosted by the US President, Barack Obama, at the White House, to welcome heads of delegations that will take part in the Nuclear Security Summit. On Friday, President Iohannis will attend the opening session of the summit, a working lunch and will also take part in a discussion that will follow a video presentation of a hypothetical case of nuclear terrorism. The Romanian President will also meet representatives of Romanian community in Washington.
Five months since the deadly fire in Colectiv club
Five months after the deadly fire in the Colectiv club, dozens of people gathered on Wednesday evening in front of the building, to commemorate the victims of this tragedy. Survivors, relatives and friends of those who perished brought flowers and lit candles in front of the photos showing the 64 youngsters who lost their lives.
„I feel as if it happened yesterday. I’ve been coming here every month and I’ll keep coming. It is a promise I made to myself and to those who died”, one young man said. „Every time I come here, I think of how that night might have been for them; it’s like a piece of you has broken”, said another.
In the meantime, the prosecutors’ investigation has reached its final phase. As far as the emergency intervention in the night of the fire is concerned, the Prime Minister’s Control Body has recently reported that it was improper, but the head of Emergency Situations Department, Raed Arafat, says that it was adequate. Mr. Arafat and representatives of the Control Body were heard in Parliament on Thursday.
Mayor of Romanian city of Craiova was placed under house arrest for 30 days
The Bucharest Tribunal has ruled to place the mayor of the Romanian city of Craiova, Lia Olguta Vasilescu, under house arrest for the next 30 days. The sentence is not conclusive and can be appealed. Prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate accuse Lia Olguta Vasilescu of illegally financing the electoral campaign in 2012, after which she became a mayor from the Social Democratic Party.
Romanian National Bank keeps the key interest rate at 1.75%
The Administration Council of the Romanian central Bank has decided, in Thursday’s session, to keep the annual key interest rate to 1.75%. It also decided to maintain the current levels of mandatory minimum reserves, namely those sums that commercial banks are bound to keep in the Central Bank, a statement by the Romanian National Bank says. Moreover, the bank will continue to properly manage the liquidity in the banking system.
Mădălina Brotăcel, Rador
