February 16, 2016, UPDATE
PM Dacian Ciolos has meeting with EP President Martin Schulz; ex-UN chief Butros Butros Ghali dies
Newsroom, 16.02.2016, 12:05
As of Tuesday the President of the Republic of Moldova Nicolae Timofti is on an official visit to Bucharest. On Wednesday he is to have talks with his counterpart Klaus Iohannis, with PM Dacian Cioloş, with the Senate Speaker Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, as well as other Romanian officials. The topics to be discussed in Bucharest include bilateral relations, the European accession efforts of the Republic of Moldova, and the economic, political and social cooperation between the two countries. Timoftis visit comes after on Friday the Moldovan PM, Pavel Filip, announced that Romania would provide aid to Moldova in the context of the economic and social crisis that this country is struggling with. The aid will consist in food products intended for underprivileged people and heavy fuel to increase Moldovas reserves in case its natural gas supply is discontinued.
The Romanian PM Dacian Cioloş presented the priorities of his term in office to the head of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, during a visit to Brussels on Tuesday. On this occasion, PM Ciolos said Romania must be a more active EU member state and become more deeply involved in the issues on the EU agenda. In turn, in the joint press conference after the meeting, the EP President said that talks had approached, among others, the refugee crisis and the situation in the Republic of Moldova. On Monday, the first day of his visit to Brussels, the head of the Romanian government had a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.
The head of the National Centre for Infectious Disease, Dr. Adriana Pistol, said on Tuesday that Bucharest requested international assistance for the hospitalised children from Arges County in the south. The cases involve severe digestive infection followed by complications in children aged up to two years, but the source is yet unknown. Three children died since the beginning of the month, and ten are treated in Bucharest. The Prime Ministers Control Corps announced it would initiate its own investigation in the case. Meanwhile, the Health Minister, Patriciu Achimaş-Cadariu, will present a report on this case to the Committee on healthcare and family in the Chamber of Deputies.
The Government of Romania will present on Wednesday, in a public debate, a programme designed to fight poverty. The plan, entitled “Integrated Package on Poverty Reduction, consists in around 50 measures, primarily addressing children. These measures include the funding of ultrasound tests for pregnant women, of vaccines, the set-up of day-care facilities for pre-school children and the granting of facilities to reduce school dropout rates. According to the Government, some 1.7 million children in Romania are threatened by poverty, especially in rural communities.
The former UN Secretary General, Butros Butros Ghali, has died at the age of 93. He had been admitted to a hospital in Cairo, last week. The Egyptian Butros Butros Ghali was the first African to hold the post of secretary general of the United Nations, and served between 1992 and 1996.
