Press Review - June 23, 2017

06.23.2017 By Oana Gavrila

Iohannis: Future PM Must Be Backed by Parliament Majority

President Klaus Iohannis said Thursday in Brussels the prime minister to be designated must be someone upstanding, with no corruption record and backs by a parliamentary majority.

The president called all parliamentary parties to consultations on Monday.

"I will discuss with all the parties Monday and then I will make my own assessment. (…) I want to hear all opinions and then I will designate someone,” said Iohannis.

He said early elections are an option, but to get there the country would have to go through a deep crisis and that is undesirable.

Liberal Party Calls on Shhaideh To Explain Allocations Under Local Development Program

Liberal deputies' leader Raluca Turcan required the Chamber of Deputies to summon regional development minister Sevil Shhaideh to explain how she allotted funds from the local development program to local authorities.

"For nearly six months we have constantly asked for transparency concerning the selection of projects, how they are financed and details on beneficiaries and selected contractors. Now that Grindeanu admitted the Social Democratic Party's crass incompetence and the fact that projects under the program are traded on political criteria, we decided to call minister Shhaideh in Parliament Monday to answer our questions,” said Turcan.

She said the feud inside the Social Democratic Party, which toppled its own prime minister, shows the program is not meant for actual development but is merely a tool to siphon public money.

Football Club Dinamo Makes EUR200,000 Profit in FY 2016

Football club Dinamo Bucharest ended the 2016 fiscal year with a profit of around EUR200,000, according to Finance Ministry data.

The club managed to exit insolvency and may once again compete in European championships. Dinamo will enter the third round of Europa League and a long stay would translate into significant revenue for the club.

Dinamo still has debts of EUR3.74 million.

Justice Ministry Announces Public Debates on Abuse of Office Threshold

The Justice Ministry announced it will hold public debates on setting a threshold over which abuse of office is tried under the Criminal Code, to observe a Constitutional Court ruling.

Debates will take place on June 28, with representatives of the civil society and business environment, and on July 3, with representatives of institutions in the justice sector, magistrates, academics and law practitioners.

Wizz Air Opens First Western European Base at London's Luton

Budapest-based airline Wizz Air has opened a new base at Luton airport, its first in western Europe, part of plans to expand its capacity, Reuters reported.

Luton was the destination for Wizz Air's first ever flight in 2004, and the airline said that the base would help to serve its routes from the airport more effectively. It will allow the airline to keep aircraft at Luton overnight and will create 36 jobs.

"London Luton has been a very important part of our story, and it remains so," Owain Jones, chief operating officer at Wizz Air, told Reuters.

"We've got 13% growth (in traffic) here this year, and having the aircraft based here, having the local crew, it will enable us to keep that strong growth going."

Wizz Air already flies about a third of the flights from Luton, and some months it has more flights from the airport than rival easyJet, which is headquartered there.

CEO Jozsef Varadi has said the new base reflected the size of the Luton operation, where it served 5 million passengers last year, making it the second largest airline there behind easyJet.

The two airlines generally compete on different routes, with Wizz Air focused on Central and Eastern Europe, while easyJet's focus is more towards western Europe and the Mediterranean.