April 28, 2017 UPDATE
Romanian defence minister Gabriel Les on Friday met in Bucharest with his Polish counterpart, Antoni Macierewicz/ Bucharest authorities will ban vaccine exports against the backdrop of a measles epidemic, which has affected some 5,000 people
Newsroom, 28.04.2017, 20:11
ROMANIAN POLISH PARTNERSHIP – Romanian defence minister, Gabriel Les, met in Bucharest on Friday with his Polish counterpart, Antoni Macierewicz. On this occasion, minister Les has deemed the Strategic Partnership with Poland as strong and viable. He has also added that boosting bilateral relations should be based on co-operation within the EU and NATO. In turn, the Polish official has said Romania is a strong point of defence in southern Europe, just like Poland in the Baltic region. The Polish ministers agenda also included a visit to the NATO Centre of Excellence in Oradea, north-western Romania.
PLANE INCIDENT – An airliner operated by the Romanian company TAROM on Friday was intercepted by military aircraft in Hungarys airspace. The plane, en route from Munich to Sibiu (central Romania), observed its flight path, but it hadnt managed to establish contact with Hungarys air traffic control, ATC. The TAROM airliner was escorted to the Hungarian-Romanian border.
VACCINES – Romania is to notify the European Commission of its intention to put on hold its export of vaccines against the background of a measles epidemic currently affecting 5,000 people in this country, health minister Florian Bodog has announced. The Romanian official has added that the authorities intend to also ban exports in the case of other medicines including those stipulated in the national health programmes, medicines used in the treatment of various types of cancers. Minister Bodog has also said that he wants the Romanian patients not to be disadvantaged in comparison with patients from other countries where these medicines are selling at higher prices.
DIGITAL MARKET – The digital single market is an objective in the EU region and the yearly costs for its creation stay around 415 billion euros, the vice president of the European Commission, Andrus Ansip, said in Bucharest on Friday, during a conference entitled Eurosfat 2017. According to the EU official, one of the digital single markets benefits is the coming into effect as of June 15th 2017 of the new regulations concerning the service of roaming at EU level. On the other hand, the EU official has underlined that the European Commission is working on liberalizing the citizens access to digital content as well as the online purchase of goods and services.
PRESIDENCY – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis will represent Romania at the special meeting of the European Council due in Brussels on Saturday. According to the Presidential Administration, the Romanian head of state will stand for the unity of the 27 member states in the Brexit negotiation process. Maintaining the integrity of the single market and a gradual approach in the negotiation process are some of the elements the Romanian president will touch upon during the meeting with the European leaders. Protecting the rights and interests of the Romanian citizens in Great Britain will also be a priority for Romania during the negotiations, the Presidential Administration also says. The agenda of the high level meeting includes three major issues: the fate of the approximately three million EU citizens living in the UK and also the fate of some one billion Britons residing in the EU, the bill that great Britain should pay for exiting the EU, which is estimated at some 60 billion Euros, and the issue of the frontier between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is British territory.
US-ROMANIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP – According to Romanias ambassador in Washington, George Maior, the 20 years of Romanian-US Strategic Partnership have confirmed the fact that the US doesnt have a better and closer partner in south-eastern Europe than Romania. The Romanian diplomat on Thursday hosted a special dinner, which brought together several Republican members of the US House of Representatives, devoted to celebrating 20 years of Romanian-US strategic partnership. The tight cooperation in the field of security and the latest positive developments in the fields of economy, trade and investment have been underscored on this occasion. The US officials have mentioned the US Congress and administration appreciate the evolution and progress registered in terms of bilateral cooperation, which have turned Romania into a staunch partner for the USA. (Translated by D. Bilt and D. Vijeu)
