August 1, UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 01.08.2015, 12:19
The Israeli media hails the promulgation, by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, of laws punishing neo-fascist propaganda and Holocaust denial. Israeli newspapers have reported that the new Romanian laws ban fascist, racist and xenophobic organisations and their symbols as well as the praising of people guilty of crimes against humanity. Also punished under the law is praising the interwar extreme-right movement as well as denying the Holocaust, which includes contesting Romania’s role in the extermination of around 280 thousand Jews and 11 thousand Gypsies during the pro-fascist regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu.
The international community remembers with respect the genocide against the Roma, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said in a post a day before the Roma Holocaust is commemorated. Romania’s Government, the PM says, hails the initiative of the Roma civil society in Romania to commemorate together this tragic moment in modern history. In August 2nd, 1994, almost 30 thousand Roma men, women and children were sent to the gas chambers in Auschwitz.
The Democratic Union of the Turkish-Muslim Tartars in Romania are taking part in the second World Congress of Tartars, held in Ankara, Turkey, with 70 delegates with the right to vote and 20 guests. Around 500 delegates of Tatar organizations from all over the world participate in the event. Romania’s Ambassador to Turkey, Radu Onofrei, also attends the congress. High on the meeting’s agenda is the situation of the Tartars in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia last year. On Saturday, the leaders of the Tartar organisations worldwide called on international institutions to put an end to the Russian Federation’s undemocratic actions against the Crimean Tartars. In Romania, most of the 25-thousand Tartar community live in Dobrogea, in the south-east, a province which had been under Ottoman rule for hundreds of years.
The new prime minister of the Republic of Moldova, Valeriu Strelet, has asked the International Monetary Fund to send an expert delegation to the country as soon as possible, to negotiate a new agreement. Chisinau hasn’t had an agreement with the IMF since 2013, which also triggered the suspension of a financial support of 200 million euros from the EU. Moldova is going though a severe economic and financial crisis, in the context of 1 billion dollars having disappeared from three major banks and of foreign financing being halted. An IMF delegation was due to travel to Moldova in mid-June, on a monitoring mission, but the visit was cancelled following the resignation of the former prime minister Chiril Gaburici. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has committed himself to supporting the new Chisinau Government overcome economic difficulties and continue its the European path.
Romania’s team won four medals at the 27th edition of the International Olympiad in Informatics held in the Kazach town of Almaty — one gold, two silver and one bronze. According to a release by the Romanian Education Ministry, Romania rankes 10th this year out of the 84 competing countries.
Romania won one silver medal and one bronze at the women’s tennis torunament on Saturday, on the last day of the European Youth Opympic Festival in Tibilisi, Georgia. Stefania Selma Cadar and Andreea Prisacariu won silver in women’s doubles while the first also won the silver medal in women’s singles. At this year’s edition of the European Youth Opympic Festival, Romania won a total of three gold medals, five silver and two bronze.
Romanian tennis player Patricia Maria Ţig, no. 154 in the world, managed to qualify to the final of the WTA tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, after defeating the competition’s favourite, Russian Anastasia Pavliucenkova, (ranked 42nd), 6-3, 6-2. In the final, the Romanian player will be up against another Russian, Margarita Gasparian.
