April 1, 2017

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 01.04.2017, 13:55

GAS PRICE – The liberalization of the purchase
price of natural gas for domestic consumption has come into force today, and
the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has already announced a 2%
increase in the coming invoices. Also as of today, domestic consumers will be
able to choose their provider of natural gas. The ANRE President Niculae
Havrilet has stated for Radio Romania that the price liberalization for
domestic consumers will bring more competitors into the market and will
eventually lead to domestic consumers paying less.

PROTEST – On Friday evening, dozens of people gathered in
front of the Russian embassy in Bucharest, in solidarity with the
anti-corruption protesters who took to the streets late last week in Moscow and
in other big cities in Russia. Hundreds of Russian citizens, including
opposition leader Aleksei Navalny were arrested last Sunday for protesting
without an authorization. We recall that in the past two months, hundreds of
thousands of Romanians protested in Bucharest, across the country and abroad
against the Romanian Government’s attempt to amend the criminal codes under an
emergency decree. According to the protesters, the amendments would have
decriminalized some corruption acts and would have exonerated big names in the
Romanian politics from criminal liability.

COMMEMORATION – The village of Fantana Alba, in the Cernauti
region, western Ukraine, is today hosting events commemorating the victims of
the massacre committed by the Soviet troops on April 1st, 1941, when
some 2,000 ethnic Romanians were executed for attempting to find refuge in
Romania. There are some 500,000 ethnic Romanians currently living in Ukraine,
most of them along the common border, on the territories annexed in 1940,
following an ultimatum given by Stalin’s regime, and then taken over by Ukraine
in 1991, as a successor state.

MOLDOVA -
The European Commission encourages the Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet
country with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, to use the
mechanisms provided by the Association Agreement with the EU in order to
develop regional projects. The message was conveyed to the Moldovan Prime
Minister Pavel Filp by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina
Cretu, during a meeting held in Brussels. The pace and quality of
implementation of the reforms undertaken by Chisinau is the barometer of the
relationship between the EU and the Republic of Moldova, the Romanian
Commissioner said. According to a communiqué, Mrs. Cretu stressed the
importance of Moldova’s taking active part in the territorial cooperation
programmes, including the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. We recall that,
while the pro-West Government headed by Pavel Filip promotes European
integration, the president of the Republic of Moldova, the pro-Russia socialist
Igor Dodon, wants the cancellation of the association and free-trade agreements
with Brussels, and a reorientation towards the Eurasian Economic Union.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL – The US has taken over
the monthly presidency of the UN Security Council, and the new US Ambassador to
the United Nations Nikky Haley has announced she will put human rights on the
agenda of the council. According to our correspondent in Washington, Mrs. Haley
is determined to bring the issue of human rights under debate, and this might
render relations with China and Russia tenser. Moscow and Beijing insist that
such discussions should only be held at the UN Human Rights Council, based in
Geneva, a forum which Washington has announced it might leave.

WRESTLING -
The Romanian athlete Krista Incze (aged 20) on Friday won the bronze medal in
the 63 kg category of the Under-23 European Wrestling Championship
underway in Szombathely, Hungary. She defeated the Turkish Sinem Topcu. Incze
is a Balkan and European junior champion and winner of a golden medal at the
World University Championships. At the current edition of the European
Championship, she has won the second bronze medal, after the one won on
Thursday by Alexandra Nicoleta Anghel, in the 69 kg category.