February 16, 2016
PM Dacian Ciolos is holding talks in Brussels with the President of the European Parliament / The UN envoy for Syria is paying unscheduled visit to Damascus
Newsroom, 16.02.2016, 12:00
Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos is today holding talks in Brussels with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and with other European officials on topics such as Romania’s joining the Schengen area, migration and the European energy union. On Monday, the first day of his visit to Brussels, PM Ciolos discussed his priorities with the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, among which reforms of the administration as means of fighting corruption.
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, is paying a two-day official visit to Bucharest starting on Tuesday. Timofti will hold talks with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis, with PM Dacian Ciolos, the Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu and other Romanian officials on bilateral ties and Moldova’s European agenda. Timofti’s visit to Bucharest follows the announcement on Friday of Moldova’s PM Pavel Filip that Romania will grant Moldova humanitarian aid, to help it cope with the economic and social crisis. The aid will consist in food for vulnerable people and heavy fuel oil to supplement Moldovas reserves in case its natural gas supply is disconnected.
The Romanian Health Minister, Patriciu Achimaş-Cadariu, has said that Romanian authorities are doing their best to find out what made a number of newborn children in Arges county get sick. Several newborn babies and toddlers of up to 2 years have been treated for serious digestive infection but its source is still unknown. According to the latest Health Ministry report, three of the children were infected with the E. coli bacteria and with several viruses. Two children have died since the beginning of the month and one is in a very serious condition. 16 children from Arges county are being treated in a hospital in Bucharest. Of them, 10 are in the intensive care unit.
The United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is today paying an unscheduled visit to Damascus to follow up on commitments made in Munich by the world powers, who agreed on Friday to a cessation of hostilities that would let humanitarian aid be delivered in Syria, Reuters reports. Mistura suspended last week’s talks peace negotiations in Geneva after only three days, but he hopes negotiations will be resumed on February 25th. Over 260,000 people died since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.
The Romanian women’s handball champions, CSM Bucharest can qualify to the Champions’ League quarterfinals if they defeat Macedonia’s Vardar Skopje today. On Sunday, HCM Baia Mare has grabbed a win in the Champions League’s main Group One. In the French city of Orleans HCM Baia Mare snatched an 18-17 win against French side Fleury Loiret. It was the Romanian team’s fourth win running in the competition’s main group stage, which brought the Romanians one step closer to making headway into the Champions League’s quarterfinals.
(Translated by E. Enache)
