September 11, 2015
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Newsroom, 11.09.2015, 12:00
MIGRANT CRISIS — The Vishegrad Group foreign ministers- of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia-are today meeting in Prague with their counterparts from Germany and Luxembourg, for talks on the migrant crisis, which is deepening by the day. The Vishegrad Group member states voiced dissatisfaction with the quota regime set by the EU. In turn, Romania has expressed reticence with the so-called mandatory quotas of immigrants, that the EU member states will give shelter to. In another move, Hungary has today announced it supplemented by 3,800 the number of military deployed on the border with Serbia, to cope with the growing flow of immigrants, which last night registered a record high of 3,600 people. Austria has today announced it closed the Nickelsdorf checkpoint, on the border with Hungary, because of the high number of immigrants, some 8,000, who crossed the border within 24 hours. According to an official with the UN High Commissioner’s Office for Refugees, over 7,600 other refugees, entered Macedonia, coming from Greece, over the last 24 hours.
COMMEMORATION — Romania is further firmly committed to the international effort to fight terrorism and extremism, Romanian deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea said today, in a message delivered in commemoration of 14 years since the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. According to Oprea, the terror attacks in the US as well as in other European countries have shown that terrorism can hit anywhere and anytime and that no country is fully defended against this scourge. The relationship between Romania and US gained a new significance in the wake of the tragedy that struck on September 11, Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu said. In a message to US Secretary of State, John Kerry, marking 14 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which claimed the lives of 3,000 US citizens, including members of the Romanian-US community, Aurescu reiterated Romania’s determination to carry on, alongside the US and its international partners, the efforts meant to prevent and fight this threat, irrespective of its forms of manifestation. He evoked the significant role of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the US in boosting bilateral relations and ensuring common security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region.
MOLDOVA — The prime minister of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, Valeriu Streletz, has said the country’s existence is in jeopardy. Against the backdrop of prolonged, one week long antigovernment protests in downtown Chishinau, the prime minister said the problems that prompted people to take to the street, such as corruption, poverty and the lack of confidence in the political class, are the outcomes of accumulated process which unfolded over many years. Strelets has added that his cabinet, which took office in late July, will resign only after a vote of confidence in Parliament. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people protested near the government building, demanding the resignation of the cabinet and of president Nicolae Timofti and calling for early elections. Hundreds of them decided to stage protests around the clock, placing tents in front of the government building. Declaring itself of pro-Western orientation, the three-party ruling coalition dramatically lost credibility in Moldova, after one million US dollars from the country’s banking system, the equivalent of 15% of Moldova’s GDP, vanished into thin air, in unclear, mysterious circumstances.
FESTIVAL — The “George Enescu” International Festival continues in Bucharest. Performing on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum today will be Konzerthausorchester Berlin, conducted by Horia Andreescu. Another highlight of the day is the concert given by the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of the “Great Orchestras of the World” series. The 13th day of the festival ends with a concert given by the Chamber Orchestra of Paris. Over 3,000 Romanian and foreign artists in the world musical elite will be performing on the stage of the festival, one of the largest events of its kind in Europe, which runs through September 20. Tens of indoor concerts and outdoor events are being held throughout the festival.
TENNIS — Second seeded Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep, who has qualified for the first time to the semi-finals of the US Open in New York, is today facing Italian Flavia Pennetta (WTA rank: 26). Playing the other semi-finals will be first seeded American player Serena Williams and Italian Roberta Vinci. The games, initially scheduled for Thursday, have been postponed for today by the organisers of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, because of rain.
