December 22, 2013 UPDATE
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România Internațional, 22.12.2013, 19:15
COMMEMORATION – Bucharest hosted events commemorating 24 years since the anti-communist Revolution in Romania. Commemorations were held at the Memorial of Revolution Heroes, and at the buildings of the public television and radio stations. On December the 22nd, hundreds of thousands of people stormed the headquarters of the Romanian Communist Party, forcing dictators Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu to flee the capital city. The event marked the de facto collapse of the communist regime. Romania was the only eastern European country where the fall of communism was accompanied by bloodshed, with over one thousand people killed. Representatives of the Revolution participants however express their discontent and say the change expected for 24 years is yet to take place.
DIPLOMACY – The Romanian foreign minister, Titus Corlăţean, will be on an official visit to Israel between December the 23rd and 26th. The Romanian official will discuss the Romanian-Israeli relations with the Israeli deputy PM and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, and with the head of state, Shimon Peres.
EU – The president of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev, warned the British PM David Cameron that the measures aimed at restricting the access of European immigrants to unemployment aid risk harming the reputation of Great Britain. In an interview in the online edition of The Observer, the Bulgarian president mentions that the UK should stay true to its legacy as a great global power that pioneered integration, and resist nationalist calls for tougher legislation against immigrants. As of January the 1st, Romanians and Bulgarians, who currently may only be employed in a limited number of professions, will have free access to the British labour market. For fear of a so-called “invasion,” some British tabloids and politicians circulate alarmist information about an alleged threat pose by Romanian and Bulgarian workers.
UKRAINE – Mikhail Khodorkovsky has called on the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, to release the ex-PM Yulia Timoshenko. The former head of the oil giant YUKOS made this statement in a press conference in Berlin, when he expressed hopes that the Ukrainian leader will follow the model of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. On December the 20th, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, pardoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky and on the same day, after 10 years in detention, the former businessman was released and he left for Germany. One of the richest businessmen in Russia in the 2000s, Khodorkovsky was also one of Vladimir Putin’s most fierce critics.
SYRIA – At least 42 people, including six children, were killed on Sunday in an air raid on the Syrian town of Aleppo, in the north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced. According to this source, another 17 people were wounded. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had previously said that tens of people died after helicopters operated by pro-regime forces dropped explosives on various parts of Aleppo.
