February 28, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 28.02.2014, 19:11
The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania is analysing the offer received from the Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the ruling alliance, to be part of a new government alongside the Social Democrats and their allies, the Conservative Party and the National Union for the Progress of Romania. The vice president of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania , Laszlo Borbely, told Radio Romania that the party is sure to enter the new government and confirmed they are interested in the ministries of culture and environment. The new ruling structure will be settled by Tuesday, March 4, when Prime Minister Victor Ponta must submit the configuration of the new Government to Parliament for validation. According to Ponta, although the Liberals have withdrawn, the program of the Union still stands.
Police and gendarme mistreatment, and harassment of detainees and Roma, societal discrimination against sexual minorities, persons and individuals with HIV/AIDS, particularly children, continue to be some of Romania’s major problems in terms of human rights practices, according to the US State Department report for 2013. According to the report, other human rights problems reported during the year included poor prison conditions and continued attempts by some political figures to compromise the independence of the judiciary. The government failed to take effective action to return the Greek Catholic churches confiscated by the former communist government. Personal and professional threats to journalists undermined media freedom. There were some anti-Semitic acts and statements. Government agencies provided inadequate assistance to persons with disabilities and neglected persons with disabilities in institutions. The judiciary took steps to prosecute and punish officials who committed abuses. According to the US State Departments report, authorities repeatedly delayed lawsuits involving alleged police abuse, which in many cases resulted in acquittals.
After having been occupied, a night before, by pro-Russian partizans, two airports in Crimea are again controlled by the Ukrainian central authorities, according to sources in Kiev. Ukraine has accused Russia of armed invasion and has asked the West to guarantee its security. The parliament in Kiev has requested a UN Security Council meeting to deal with the crisis in the country. Fugitive former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, speaking at a conference in Rostov, Russia, has insisted that the new government is illegitimate and made up of young nationalists and pro-fascists.
Romanian President Traian Basescu on Friday said he was deeply worried about the situation in Crimea. The separatist movement in this pro-Russian autonomous region in southern Ukraine has amplified. President Basescu has called on all international decision-makers not to support and encourage separatism, as Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity are granted under the international public law, which all states that recognised Ukraine’s independence in 1991 should observe. Romania, Basescu has said in a release, is ready to assist the new government in Kiev with everything it needs to help stabilise Ukraine and start this country’s reconstruction.
The United States opened on Friday in Romania a transit centre for the American soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of military, most of them on their way back to the US, will pass through the new transit hub. The base, near Romania’s Black Sea port town of Constanta, can accommodate about 2,000 transiting personnel at a time and maintains a contingent of roughly 350 service members and civilians to operate the transit centre.
