August 27, 2019

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Newsroom, 27.08.2019, 14:02

CELEBRATION The Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking country today
celebrates 28 years of independence. On August 27th 1991 after the
abortive neo-communist coup in Moscow, under the pressure of thousands,
Parliament in Chisinau proclaimed the country’s independence from the Soviet
Union. The Republic of Moldova consists of Romania’s eastern territories
annexed by Stalin in 1940 through an ultimatum. The country’s new pro-Western Foreign
Minister Nicolae Popescu voiced hope in Bucharest that a new statement would be
adopted for the strategic cooperation between Bucharest and Chisinau for the
following ten years. Popescu has also said that Chisinau has been politically
independent for almost thirty years now and that it hopes it will also become economically
and commercially independent thanks to the Association agreement signed with
the European Union five years ago. In turn, the country’s pro-Russia president
Igor Dodon said the republic would not join the EU and he pleaded instead for
tightened relations with the Moscow-dominated Eurasian Economic Union.

TENNIS Romania’s best tennis player Simona Halep
will today take on US challenger Nicole Gibbs in the first round of the US
Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. Also today, Sorana Cirstea will be
playing Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, while Mihaela Buzarnescu,
also from Romania, will be up against Andrea Petkovic of Germany. On Monday,
Ana Bogdan qualified for the competition’s second round after a two-set win
against Harriet Dart of Britain, while Monica Niculescu was eliminated by Daiana
Iastremska 4-6, 6-1, 2-6. In the men’s competition Marius Copil will be taking
on Ugo Humbert of France in the first round today.

ALDE
Three Liberal-Democrat ministers from the coalition government in Bucharest are
today tendering their resignations after on Monday night the Alliance of
Liberal and Democrats in Romania ALDE decided to break with their ruling
allies, PSD, and join the opposition. ALDE leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu announced
he would step down from the position of Senate president. Social-Democratic
leader Viorica Dancila said the PSD remains in power in order to apply the
ruling programme with which it won the parliament election of 2016. She said
the PSD ministers would provisionally take over all the vacant seats, whereas Foreign
Minister Ramona Manescu, promoted by ALDE, will keep her position after having
rejected Tariceanu’s request to step down.

DIPLOMACY During the Annual Reunion of the Romanian
Diplomacy on Tuesday, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said that Romania’s
accession to Europe’s border-free area Schengen and the Eurozone are still
objectives to meet adding that Romania should capitalize on the confidence it
got while assuring the EU rotating presidency. Iohannis has also said the
strategic partnership with the United States is a pillar of Romania’s foreign
policy and the political relations are at their best after the two visits he
paid to the White House in 2017 and 2019. The event, which is staged by
Romania’s Foreign Ministry, is being held from Monday until Thursday and has high
on the agenda, the future of the EU and its global role, Trans-Atlantic relations
and the EU’s relations with it eastern neighbours, the European affairs, as
well as Romania’s political and economic relations with countries in Asia-Pacific,
the Middle East, Africa and South America, humanitarian assistance and the
development of peace and security at global level. The Romanian Foreign
Ministry and the United Nations’ Programme for Development signed a memorandum
of cooperation on Monday

(translated by bill)