March 2, 2014
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Roxana Vasile, 02.03.2014, 12:00
The opposition Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, UDMR, is currently having talks with the Social Democratic Party, the main political force in the present ruling coalition on becoming part of it and joining the other allies, the Conservatives and the National Union for the Progress of Romania. The talks come after the National-Liberals, former number two in the ruling coalition, have withdrawn from it amid divergences with the Social Democrats. The UDMR is interested in getting seats of ministers, state secretaries and prefects in three of Romania’s counties with a major community of ethnic Hungarians. At the same time, they want a political agreement focusing on the rights of the minorities as well as economic and social issues. If the talks lead to a merger, Romania’s Prime Minister, Social Democrat Victor Ponta will introduce the new cabinet to Parliament early this week. According to him, the new coalition will continue the programme of the former Social-Liberal Union, the USL.
Amid profound concern for the situation in Ukraine, the international community has reacted firmly as thousands of Russian-speaking soldiers wearing uniforms without insignia remained deployed in the autonomous region of Crimea and after Parliament in Moscow on Saturday approved a military intervention in that country. Western powers, like the United States, France, or Great Britain have called on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Crimea, while during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council last night, US ambassador Samantha Power said that ‘the Russian military must stand down’. Ukraine’s interim president Aleksandr Turcinov has put the country’s military on combat alert and called on the Ukrainians to keep calm and remain confident irrespective of their political opinions or political affiliation. He underlined there is no reason to justify the Russian intervention. The situation in Ukraine is being discussed by the 28 NATO ambassadors, who have been summoned in an emergency meeting at the organization’s headquarters. The EU foreign ministers are also to convene in an emergency meeting tomorrow.
Romania’s security situation would not change in the event of a Russian military intervention in its northern neighbor, Ukraine, Romanian president Traian Basescu has told a TV channel today. President Basescu added that Romania’s borders are safe and that the Russian Federation doesn’t want a conflict with any NATO member. Last night, at the end of Basescu’s meeting with national security officials, the presidency office in Bucharest announced that the national security structures had not been put on alert, but the situation in Ukraine would be closely monitored, just like the breakaway attitudes in the neighboring Republic of Moldova. At the same time in his address, president Basescu explained that any presence of the Russian troops in Ukraine, outside the bilateral agreements, could be considered an aggression.
Paula Seling and Ovi will again represent Romania at the Eurovision music awards. A national poll run on Saturday night designated their song, ‘Miracle’, to represent us in the prestigious European music Awards due to be held in early May, in Copenhagen, Denmark. We recall that Paula Seling and Ovi also represented Romania in 2010, when they ranked third with a song entitled, ‘Playing with Fire’.
Romania’s national water polo side qualified for the European Championship 2014 after outperforming Britain’s representative 18-8 in an away match last night. The Championship, due in Budapest, Hungary between July 14th and 27th will also be attended by the selections of Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Georgia and Croatia. The last team to participate in the competition will be decided today after the game pitching Russia against the Netherlands.
