May 14, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 14.05.2024, 19:43
Friendship. Romania’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate held a joint session to mark the National Day of Friendship and Solidarity between Romania and the State of Israel. We support Israel’s fundamental right to exist, to defend itself and to protect its citizens, said the Senate speaker Nicolae Ciucă. Romania has never ceased to stand by the people of Israel in these difficult times, said prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. The solidarity of the Romanian Parliament was welcomed by Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message: “Thank you for standing up with Israel; standing up with Israel on that horrible day of the October 7th massacre, standing with Israel after the massacre, standing with Israel on the celebration of our independence. We welcome and cherish you friendship”.
Human trafficking. Romania has launched a Strategy to combat human trafficking, given that hundreds of Romanians, half of whom are children or young people, are identified annually as victims of this phenomenon. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Strategy against human trafficking is built on four pillars: prevention, punishment, protection and partnership. The authorities say they have identified ways of intervention, that partnerships are in place and that the necessary resources will be allocated to combat this scourge.
Legislation. A law imposing tougher penalties for drug trafficking and illegal drug use was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday. The law also bans delaying serving the prison sentence in the case of motorists convicted for causing deadly accidents while driving under the influence of alcohol or psychoactive substances. In the future, they will face between 15 and 25 years in prison. The law stipulates that people found to have ingested banned substances will no longer receive a fine, but time in prison. The law complements the so-called Anastasia law that came into force last year and which provides for time in prison without suspended sentence, in the case of motorists driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs and who cause accidents leading to the death of the victims. Romanians caught driving while drunk or under the influence of drugs face losing their driving licence for a period of ten years. Deputies also adopted an updated list of high-risk drugs, on which six more substances were added.
Cannes. The 77th edition of the Cannes festival got under way on the French Riviera. Two Romanian films have also been selected for the festival: the feature film Three Kilometres to the End of the World, directed by Emanuel Pârvu, and the documentary film Nasty, by Tudor Giurgiu, dedicated to the Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase. The festival director Thierry Fremaux lamented the increased focus in recent years to political and social issues in the film industry, which, in his opinion, distracts from the films themselves.
