Radio România Internațional

Tag: Colectiv nightclub

  • A year on from the Colectiv tragedy

    A year on from the Colectiv tragedy

    Thousands took to the streets of Bucharest on Sunday to participate in a march of silence held to commemorate the victims of a devastating fire that killed 64 young people in a nightclub in Bucharest a year ago. Many died in the following weeks as a result of the wounds and hospital-acquired infections. The tragedy sparked off mass-protests against high-level corruption and eventually forced the Ponta government to step down. The disaster has also revealed a series of the flaws in the system and had numerous destinies changed. A year after the tragedy, questions are still unanswered and there are many unhealed wounds in the families mourning for their loved ones and many suffering for those over 100 wounded, most of whom are still fighting to recover.



    The blaze was caused by the fireworks during a concert given by a rock band named Good Bye to Gravity. The non-fireproof insulating material used in the construction led to the rapid propagation of fire turning, the Colectiv nightclub into a death trap. The 350 people inside fought to escape through the club’s single access door. A year on from the tragedy, a monument was unveiled close to the place where the fire started, in front of the Colective nightclub, where people observed a moment of silence while a spotlight sent a ray of light to the sky.



    President Klaus Iohannis laid a wreath of flowers and lit a candle to the memory of those who died in the fire: “Romania has changed. Control and checking procedures are tighter and thoroughly applied in such places where events are being staged. Procedures have improved and clarified. But there are some other things that haven’t changed, in my opinion, in a series of domains. For instance, we would like to know after one year, who is responsible for this terrible accident.”



    An investigation, that hasn’t been finalized by prosecutors yet, has revealed that what happened in the Colectiv nightclub, the worst disaster in the past decades in Europe, was caused by a series of irregularities, such as allowing the access of way too many people or the way in which licenses were being granted. Three cases in the Colectiv case are still under investigation by military and civilian authorities.



    Also attending the commemorative events on Sunday, Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said quote ‘it is the duty of every man to learn from the Colectiv tragedy and not forget the harm that lies, arrogance and corruption can do.” Unquote A charity concert was held by several rock bands and the money was donated to the Colectiv survivors who still need treatment for the wounds caused by the fire.


    (Translated by Daniel Bilt)

  • October 8, 2016 UPDATE

    October 8, 2016 UPDATE

    VISIT– Slovak President, Andrej Kiska, will pay a two-day state visit to Romania, as of Monday, at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Presidential Administration, the main aim of the visit is to consolidate bilateral ties, at political, economic and sectoral level and to boost cooperation on European issues of topical interest, in a context marked by many challenges. Given that Slovakia is currently holding the half-yearly presidency of the EU Council, the talks will mainly focus on the European agenda, and President Iohannis will present Romanias stance on the future of Europe- the aforementioned source also says. Iohannis will also underline the need to further strengthen economic cooperation, starting from the historical record high of two-way trade exchanges reported in 2015, worth 2.4 billion Euros, which is on the rise. On Tuesday, the two presidents will open the Romanian-Slovak Business Forum and will meet, in the western town of Nadlac, with representatives of the Slokav community in Romania.



    GovITHub- A digital marathon, GovITHub, is held at the headquarters of the Romanian Government at the weekend. Over 100 young IT professionals are developing software and computer programs in an effort to enhance the quality of public services and improve the citizens relation with the state institutions. Among others, they develop an app meant to keep the Romanians in the diaspora updated of the latest developments in Romania, user-friendly governmental platforms or an app allowing citizens to report dangerous drivers or major-traffic related incidents. In a post on his Facebook page, Romanian PM, Dacian Ciolos, says the young peoples energy, skills, competence and passion stand proof of Romanias ability to modernise itself, and of the fact that even the most valuable resources can be mobilised if the State shows openness.



    DACIA CARS – The newly uplifted Logan and Sandero models produced by the Dacia Romanian car manufacturer will enter production line in the following weeks, when they are launched on the local market, says Yves Caracatzanis, General Manager and President of Automobile Dacia. Also, the new Duster EDC with automated gearbox is expected in the first half of 2017. Data released by Dacia show that at the European level, Duster is the second best selling compact car among natural persons, whereas Sandero ranks third. We recall the first Dacia car was produced in Romania back in 1966. The make belongs, as of 1999, to the Renault Group and accounts for 30% of the French Groups volume of sales.



    HURRICANE MATTHEW – A Romanian officer from the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations will lead the team which will assess the damage produced by hurricane Matthew in Haiti. Colonel Marius Dogean will also coordinate international assistance, including aid relief operations to the disaster-affected population. Boasting an extensive experience in the field of civil protection, with a career spanning over 15 years, Marius Dogean was designated by the European Commission head of the EU Civil Protection Team which will go to that Caribbean island, where approximately 900 were killed by the hurricane. Colonel Dogean also travelled to and worked extensively in Jordan, in 2012, during the crisis caused by the massive flow of refugees from Syria, and a year later in the Philippines, following Typhoon Hayian. He was also one of the national experts dispatched by the European Commission to the conflict area in Southern Sudan, on an assessment mission.



    COLECTIV TRAGEDY – Approximately one year after tragedy struck the Bucharest-based Colectiv nightclub, justice takes its course, with a trial being opened into the case. 64 people died and over 100 others got injured in the fire which accidentally broke out on the night of October 30 to 31, 2015. The three owners of the club are accused of manslaughter, bodily harm and of not taking the legal work health and safety measures. The indictment compiled by the Prosecutor Generals Office shows, among others, that they encouraged and permitted the access of a large number of people, far beyond the allowed limit, in the absence of emergency exit ways, also accepting the organisation of an indoor pyrotechnical show, in spite of improper insulation. The owners of the pyrotechnical company, one of their employees and two legal persons are being tried in the same case. The huge collective emotion produced by the Colectiv tragedy generated massive anti-corruption rallies in Romania, which led to the resignation of the coalition cabinet led by Social-Democrat Victor Ponta, on November 4, and its replacement by the technocratic government led by Dacian Ciolos.



    PARTY LEADER – The National Council of the National Liberal Party, the second largest party in the Romanian Parliament on Saturday confirmed Alina Gorghiu as the Liberals only president, following the resignation tendered by Vasile Blaga from the position of party co-president. On September 28, Blaga stepped down, after anti-corruption prosecutors announced he was subject to legal restrictions pending trial in a corruption case. The acts of corruption were reportedly carried out in the 2009-2012 period, when Blaga was interior minister and later on Senate Speaker, and he favoured the preferential granting of contracts. In exchange for this influence peddling, he would have received commissions worth 10% of the value of contracts, that is 700,000 Euros for himself and the party he was a member of, the Liberal Democratic Party, which later merged with the National Liberal Party. (Translated by D. Vijeu)

  • October 8, 2016

    October 8, 2016

    VISIT– Slovak President, Andrej Kiska, will pay a two-day state visit to Romania, as of Monday, at the invitation of his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Presidential Administration, the main aim of the visit is to consolidate bilateral ties, at political, economic and sectoral level and to boost cooperation on European issues of topical interest, in a context marked by many challenges. Given that Slovakia is currently holding the half-yearly presidency of the EU Council, the talks will mainly focus on the European agenda, and President Iohannis will present Romanias stance on the future of Europe- the aforementioned source also says. Iohannis will also underline the need to further strengthen economic cooperation, starting from the historical record high of two-way trade exchanges reported in 2015, worth 2.4 billion Euros, which is on the rise. On Tuesday, the two presidents will open the Romanian-Slovak Business Forum and will meet, in the western town of Nadlac, with representatives of the Slokav community in Romania.



    ROMANIAN DIASPORA – The town of Slatina in the western Ukrainian region of Transcarpathia (a.k.a. Zakarpattia) is today hosting the first meeting of the Romanian cultural associations in Ukraine. Initiated by the Dacia Union of the Romanians living in Transcarpathia, jointly with the Department for the Romanian Diaspora with the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the meeting is devoted to the problems encountered by these organisations in their activity, particularly financing. Almost half a million ethnic Romanians are living in the neighbouring state of Ukraine, most of them residing in localities along the common border, in the Romanian eastern territories annexed by the former USSR in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine in 1991, as a successor state.



    COLECTIV TRAGEDY – Approximately one year after tragedy struck the Bucharest-based Colectiv nightclub, justice takes its course, with a trial being opened into the case. 64 people died and over 100 others got injured in the fire which accidentally broke out on the night of October 30 to 31, 2015. The three owners of the club are accused of manslaughter, bodily harm and of not taking the legal work health and safety measures. The indictment compiled by the Prosecutor Generals Office shows, among others, that they encouraged and permitted the access of a large number of people, far beyond the allowed limit, in the absence of emergency exit ways, also accepting the organisation of an indoor pyrotechnical show, in spite of improper insulation. The owners of the pyrotechnical company, one of their employees and two legal persons are being tried in the same case. The huge collective emotion produced by the Colectiv tragedy generated massive anti-corruption rallies in Romania, which led to the resignation of the coalition cabinet led by Social-Democrat Victor Ponta, on November 4, and its replacement by the technocratic government led by Dacian Ciolos.



    PARTY LEADER – The National Council of the National Liberal Party, the second largest party in the Romanian Parliament on Saturday confirmed Alina Gorghiu as the Liberals only president, following the resignation tendered by Vasile Blaga from the position of party co-president. On September 28, Blaga stepped down, after anti-corruption prosecutors announced he was subject to legal restrictions pending trial in a corruption case. The acts of corruption were reportedly carried out in the 2009-2012 period, when Blaga was interior minister and later on Senate Speaker, and he favoured the preferential granting of contracts. In exchange for this influence peddling, he would have received commissions worth 10% of the value of contracts, that is 700,000 Euros for himself and the party he was a member of, the Liberal Democratic Party, which later merged with the National Liberal Party.



    HURRICANE MATTHEW – A Romanian officer from the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations will lead the team which will assess the damage produced by hurricane Matthew in Haiti. Colonel Marius Dogean will also coordinate international assistance, including aid relief operations to the disaster-affected population. Boasting an extensive experience in the field of civil protection, with a career spanning over 15 years, Marius Dogean was designated by the European Commission head of the EU Civil Protection Team which will go to that Caribbean island, where approximately 900 were killed by the hurricane. Colonel Dogean also travelled to and worked extensively in Jordan, in 2012, during the crisis caused by the massive flow of refugees from Syria, and a year later in the Philippines, following Typhoon Hayian. He was also one of the national experts dispatched by the European Commission to the conflict area in Southern Sudan, on an assessment mission.



    FOOTBALL Romanias national football squad will take on Armenia this evening in an away fixture counting towards the World Cup preliminaries in 2018. In the same group, E, Poland take on Denmark and Montenegro face Kazakhstan. Three days after the match in Yerevan, Romania face Kazakhstan, also away from home. Last month the national team were held to a 1-all draw by Montenegro on home turf, in what counts as the debut game for the newly appointed manager of the national team, the German Christoph Daum, the first foreign manager to have been appointed at the helm of the national team. This autumn, Romania also takes on Poland on home turf, on November 11th. (Translated by D. Vijeu)

  • November 25, 2015

    November 25, 2015

    The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has signed into law a bill that raises the salaries of public healthcare personnel by 25% as of October 1, and the wages of other public sector employees by 10% as of December 1. PM Dacian Ciolos says these increases must be accompanied by an investment programme.



    The PM of Romania, Dacian Cioloş, said in the government meeting today that he wants to make sure that the chiefs of the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate for Emergency Situations who had been suspended would be dismissed and would no longer be able to get back in the system. The leaders of the Bucharest-Ilfov Inspectorate were suspended nearly a month after the Colectiv nightclub tragedy. Investigations revealed that the relevant authorities had not conducted inspections at the nightclub, although the heavily attended event had been announced publicly. We remind you that a rock concert ended tragically when the soundproofing material on a support pillar caught fire, which quickly spread over the entire ceiling. Hundreds of people, 5 times more than the club was allowed to host, were caught under the burning pieces falling from the ceiling.




    Scores of cinema and theatre halls, restaurants and bars in Bucharest have been shut after last week the head of state Klaus Iohannis signed a law banning public activities from buildings with high vulnerability in case of earthquakes. Around 670 buildings, according to the Bucharest City Hall, have a heavily damaged structure, especially after the 7.2 earthquake in 1977, which killed nearly 1,600 people. The law was promulgated 3 weeks after the tragedy in Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, in which 60 people died so far and which sparked heated debates concerning public building safety.



    The National Anti-Corruption Directorate in Bucharest has today ordered the prosecution of the Social Democratic Senator Dan Sova in a new case, in which he is suspected of being accessory to abuse of office. According to investigators, in 2006-2008 Sova apparently caused the Govora Thermal Power Complex to incur losses of over 1 million euros. On Tuesday, the Senates Judicial Committee approved Dan Sovas arrest and pre-trial detention in a separate case, concerning the period 2011-2014. Sova, a former minister for transportation in Victor Pontas Cabinet, reportedly claimed and received 100,000 euros in bribes to ensure the same Govora power plant signed a contract with a particular law firm.



    21 people, of whom 18 Afghans and 3 Moldovan citizens, were captured by a Taliban group on Tuesday, after the emergency landing of a helicopter in the north of Afghanistan, the Republic of Moldovas government announced today. According to the same source, two Afghans and a Moldovan have been killed. The interim PM, Gheorghe Brega, said the Moldovan authorities requested support from the US and Romanian embassies in Afghanistan, in order to have the hostages released. The helicopter, owned by a private Moldovan company, was on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, under the UN aegis.



    President Barack Obama expressed US and NATO support for Turkeys right to defend its sovereignty, reads a news release issued by the White House. The American and Turkish presidents discussed over the telephone about the incident involving a Russian warplane downed yesterday by the Turkish Air Forces. Whereas Ankara claims to have defeated its territory, after the plane entered Turkeys air space, the Russian President Vladimir Putin labels the incident as a stab in the back by the supporters of terrorism. Kremlin warned that its relations with Turkey would be affected and that it would take concrete steps. In an emergency meeting in Brussels, NATO expressed its solidarity with Turkey and called on the parties to refrain from escalating the conflict.



    The President of France, François Hollande, is scheduled to have a meeting in Paris today with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as part of Paris efforts to rally international support in a coalition able to fight the IS terrorist group. Yesterday in Washington, François Hollande agreed with President Barack Obama to intensify air strikes in Syria and Iraq against the Jihadist group. On Monday, the head of the French State discussed the same issue with the British PM David Cameron. Hollandes diplomatic efforts to rally support against terrorism will continue tomorrow in Moscow, where the French President is to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.