March 9, 2016

Click here for a round-up of news from Romania

Newsroom, 09.03.2016, 12:01

VISIT– Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, who is currently on an official visit to Israel, is today going to the Wailing Wall. He is also due to meet representatives of the Israeli community of Romanian origin. On Tuesday, Klaus Iohannis met with the Knesset Speaker, Yuli Edelstein. The focal points of the talks included, among others, the situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa. The Romanian President has also said all institutions should get involved in the common efforts to fight terrorism and extremist ideologies. Also in Jerusalem, Klaus Iohannis said that, back home, he will have talks with the Romanian government on the setting up in Bucharest of a museum dedicated to Jews and the Holocaust. On Thursday, the Romanian President will go the Palestinian territories, for talks with President Mahmoud Abbas.

DIPLOMACY — Romanian Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos, is currently on a visit to the Netherlands, a country which is holding the rotating presidency of the EU. The agenda of the talks held in the Hague with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Dutch MPs covers such issues as migration, Schengen accession, the European Commission’s report on Romania, issued under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, and bilateral cooperation. On Monday, the PM attended in Brussels, the EU-Turkey Summit devoted to the common plan on the refugee crisis. On Tuesday, the Romanian PM said, during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, that Romania is ready to contribute resources and to concretely commit itself to increasing NATO’s presence on the eastern flank.

KING — The last sovereign of Romania, Mihai I (1940-1947), continues to be in a severe but stable condition, news agencies quote sources close to the Royal House as saying. They said no major changes have occurred since the previous medical report was released on March 4, when medical doctors said his evolution was relatively stable. King Mihai, 94, underwent cancer surgery and announced his withdrawal from public life, on March 1, saying that his first born of his five daughters, Princess Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown, will represent him and will replace him in accomplishing his public duties. On August 23, 1944, during WWII, the King ordered the arrest of the de facto leader of the country, marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania’s withdrawal from the alliance with Nazi Germany and the country’s return to the side of its traditional allies, the United States and Great Britain. According to historians, his decision shortened the war by at least 6 months, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Three years later, when the country was practically under Soviet military occupation and was led by a communist government, the King was forced to abdicate and to go into exile in the West. He could return to the country only after the 1989 anti-communist Revolution.

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION— The plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies is today deciding by vote whether or not it endorses the request by the national anti-corruption prosecutors regarding the detention and preventive arrest of Social Democrat MP Cristian Rizea. He is accused of influence peddling, money laundering and subornation of perjury. The prosecutors claim that Rizea reportedly received 300,000 Euro worth of bribe from an American citizen to intervene in a case of land property return. The MP is rejecting the accusations levelled against him, saying that, in the run up to the June 5 elections, pressure has been put on him to withdraw from the electoral race for the position of mayor in one of Bucharest’s districts.

MULTIPLE STABBING ATTACK — The Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced there is a Romanian national among the persons who have been injured in the attack which occurred in Tel Aviv on March 8. The Romanian citizen is stable, undergoing treatment in a hospital in the Israeli capital city. We recall that a US citizen has been killed in the multiple stabbing attack by a Palestinian militant on the Jaffa suburb of Tel Aviv. 6 other people were injured in the same attack. The attacker was shot dead by the Israeli security services.

TEHRAN — Iran has tested a series of ballistic missiles to prove “the nation’s capacity to face any threat”. According to the BBC, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says the missiles are designed to be able to hit Israel. In another move, although Iran’s nuclear agreement, ratified last year, eased tensions between Tehran and Washington, the Americans consider Iran’s developing missiles as a threat to security. Tehran responded, saying that the U.S. put into jeopardy security in the Middle East, by the massive selling of armament to the allies in the region.

HANDBALL — Romania’s national women handball team is today meeting on home turf, in the central city of Cluj Napoca, the defending world champion, Norway, in a Group 1 match of the European Championship qualifiers. The return game is due in Stavanger on Sunday. Ahead of this match, Norway and Romania stood on the first two positions in the group, with 4 points each, whereas Belarus and Lithuania, ranked 3rd and 4th, respectively, with zero points. The two teams met last year in the World Championship semi-finals, and the match was won by the Norwegian players after extra time. In the bronze final, Romania defeated Poland and grabbed the bronze medal.

(Translated by Diana Vijeu)