September 14, 2017
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 14.09.2017, 13:53
Supreme Council of National Defense — Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defense is meeting today under the chairmanship of President Klaus Iohannis. The participation of the Romanian Army with naval capabilities in a NATO mission in the second half of 2017 and the national strategy for preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are two of the topics on the agenda of talks. Also, during the meeting, the PM Mihai Tudose, might ask for the approval of the members of the Supreme Council of National Defense to transfer the Cantacuzino Institute under the authority of the National Defense Ministry.
European summit Sibiu — The Romanian authorities have already started preparing the organization, in Sibiu (central Romania), of a special summit of European leaders in the spring of 2019, the minister for European Affairs Victor Negrescu has announced today. The summit is scheduled for March 30th. The agenda of talks will focus on the future of the community bloc after Brexit. The proposal to organize such a summit in Romania was made Wednesday by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker in the speech he delivered before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the state of the Union. In his speech he also said that the Schengen Space should be immediately opened for both Romania and Bulgaria. Consequently, minister Negrescu has pointed out that Bucharest will intensify efforts to join the free movement area.
Counter-air defense — The “Piatra Craiului” counter-air defense detachment from Brasov (in central Romania) are today heading for Poland. The 120 Romanian soldiers will be deployed in this country between September 2017 and March 2018, where they will join a US-led NATO combat group. The soldiers’ mission will be to ensure the rotating advanced and consolidated presence in the northeast of the Alliance, in order to discourage any potential aggression, in line with the measures adopted at the Warsaw summit. The Romanian soldiers will replace their colleagues from the “General Gheorghe Pârvulescu” Counter-air Defense Battalion no. 205 from Craiova (southwest), who have been in Poland on a 6-month mission.
Moscow — Russia has today launched, at the EU’s gates, large-scale military exercises jointly with Belarus, which were presented as “purely defensive”. However, some NATO members have denounced them as a show of force, according to France Press. Moscow is trying to calm down the international community regarding these exercises called Zapad-2017 (“West-2017”), involving the participation of almost 12,700 soldiers for one week. Drills are taking place in the Kaliningrad enclave and in several regions in northwestern Russia, near Poland and the Baltic States, which, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the breakout of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, have promptly denounced Moscow’s actions, seen as a potential threat to their sovereignty. Some NATO states have expressed serious doubts as to both the scope and purpose of the military drills. NATO currently has more than 4 thousand soldiers deployed in the Baltic States and Poland.
Football — Romania’s sole representative in the European football competitions, FCSB (formerly known as Steaua Bucharest) are today taking on, in Bucharest, the Czech team Viktoria Plzen, in the first match of the Europa League groups. The two teams have previously met in the beginning of the current European football season, when the Romanian eleven got qualified to the playoffs of the Champions League, after a 2-all draw on home ground and a 4-1 win in the away match against the Czechs. Hapoel Beer Sheva (Israel) and Lugano (Switzerland are also playing in the same Europa League group. (translation by L. Simion)
