April 6, 2015 UPDATE
A selection of the main stories in Romania today
Newsroom, 06.04.2015, 12:15
Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Dusa is in Tbilisi, for talks with his Georgian counterpart, Mindia Janelidze. The two discussed the security situation in the greater Black Sea region and bilateral relations between their armed forces. The Romanian official expressed his country’s willingness to consolidate cooperation with Georgia in the field of special operations forces, with emphasis on joint training and exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between Georgian and NATO forces.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry continues to evacuate Romanian citizens from Yemen, a country torn by civil war, where more than 500 people have been killed in the last two weeks alone. At the weekend, 6 Romanian nationals were evacuated, adding to the 17 evacuated in late March. A crisis group created by the ministry continues efforts to grant assistance and consular protection to the Romanians affected by the deteriorating situation in Yemen.
The authorities in Bourkina Fasso announced they would expand to neighbouring Mali and Niger the search for the Romanian national kidnapped on Saturday. The man was working as a security officer at a manganese mining project in northeastern Bourkina Fasso, close to Mali. He was abducted by five armed assailants while on patrol together with two other colleagues. The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has created a crisis group to tackle the situation. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack in Bourkina Fasso, the first of its kind in the last 10 years.
The law on cyber security is a necessity, said the minister for information society Sorin Mihai Grindeanu. In an interview to Radio Romania, he said 80 million cyber threats were reported in 2014, 30% more than in the previous year. Parliament passed the law on cyber security at the end of 2014, but the law was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. The latter noted that the legislation in question allows for possibe abuse because it grants secret services access to personal data without a court warrant, thus violating the secret of correspondence and fundamental privacy rights.
The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania will rule on Tuesday on an application from the outgoing finance minister Darius Valcov for his pre-trial detention to be replaced with house arrest. He is suspected of awarding preferential contracts in exchange for 2 million euros as a mayor of the southern town of Slatina in 2008 and 2009. Last week, the Senate approved a prosecutors’ request to extend criminal investigations against Valcov. This time, he is accused of conducting commercial transactions that were incompatible with the office of minister and member of Parliament.
Approval procedures initiated by the Kiev authorities for the agreement on small-scale cross-border trade are soon to be finalised, said the Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin in a telephone conversation with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu. According to a press release published by the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, the two officials also talked about the possibility of the Mixed Committee on national minorities to resume its activity. The ethnic Romanian community in Ukraine is estimated at over 400,000 people.
Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians began Holy Week, also known as Passion Week. On Sunday, they celebrated Palm Sunday, while Roman-Catholic and Protestant Christians celebrated Easter. Church services are being held this week from Monday to Friday, to commemorate Christ’s suffering and sacrifice. During the Holy Week, Christians are to forgive and reconcile with all their trespassers, as this is a time of repentance and preparation for Easter.
