22 January 2018 – World news for this week
Very hard work forming governments after elections these days…
Czech Republic still without a prime minister
This week, the minority government of the new Czech Republic Prime Minister, Andrej Babis (of the ANO movement), was not granted a parliamentary majority (117 against out of 195). At the elections last October, Babis had won by setting out his ANO stall entitled – “Dissatisfied citizens” – a new populist styled party that had promised to fight corruption within the political establishment. Having obtained 30% of the vote and thus not in a position to set up a government on his own, he had then been assigned the task of forming a coalition government. The discussions with the other parties had however soon proven to be an uphill struggle, seeing as the controversial (and vastly rich) prime minister elect was under investigation for tax evasion and is watched closely by the press. Now a new stage in the consultations will take place, during which Babis will try to form a coalition government that might secure a majority in parliament. Theoretically he should be forced to resign, but the head of state, Milos Zeman (Social Democratic Party) has promised Babis a second throw of the dice, on condition that he can deliver a list of 101 members of parliament prepared to vote him in. Even if he is not successful, he will still remain in power until a new executive can be formed, which could be some time yet seeing as the negotiations could last weeks if not months.
Romania: third prime minister in seven months, finally a woman
In the meantime in Romania, seven months after the resignation of former Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu (Social Democratic Party), history has repeated itself: the same fate has befallen his successor, Mihai Tudose (Social Democratic party) – who will retain his position as Deputy Prime Minister. He resigned as a result of the political infighting and the corruption scandals that are not so uncommon in Romanian politics: this time, the bone of contention was apparently a clash with Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the SPD and the party actually in power. As soon as Tudose handed in his resignations, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis (Independent party) appointed Mihai Fifor (Social Democratic Party), formerly the Minister of Defence, as interim prime minister. After the elections held on Wednesday January 18, Iohannis has given Viorica Dancila (Social Democratic Party) – a former euro-parliamentarian – the chance to form a government. Dancila is the first woman in the country’s history to become prime minister.
EUROPEAN UNION – More energy efficiency
This week, the EU parliament in Strasbourg approved new and ambitious goals in term of energy efficiency and the development of renewables. On the first point, the members of the European parliament have suggested that by 2030 energy savings should amount to 35%, while 35% of energy production should be green compared to the previous target of 27%. In order to achieve the objective of 35% efficiency and 35% renewables, the governments are invited to outline the actions required, nationally, to meet these targets, which will be monitored according to the new governance rules set by the Energy Union, which are outlined in the third document approved this week as part of the clean energy packet.
