May 7, 2015
News from Romania and the region
Newsroom, 07.05.2015, 12:00
CEREMONIES-Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, is today attending in Poland the ceremonies marking 70 years since the end of WWII. Alongside Polish President, Bronislaw Komorowski, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the EC President Donald Tusk and other political leaders, Klaus Iohannis will attend an overnight ceremony in Gdansk, the place where the Solidarity Movement took shape. The event organised in Poland is regarded as a gesture of disconsideration for the Victory Day parade, which will be organised in Moscows Red Square on Saturday, the BBC reports. Several western leaders have announced they will not attend the events in Moscow, because of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
VISIT- Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is today having talks in Budapest with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, on issues related to national minorities, the situation in Ukraine and cooperation within NATO. Aurescu has underlined that one of the focal points on the agenda of the visit is the Protocol of the Specialised Romanian-Hungarian Committee on Cooperation in the field of national minorities. He has expressed concern about the situation of the Romanians living in Hungary, whose “cultural identity is threatened, AGERPRES news agency reports. Bogdan Aurescu had a similar meeting with Peter Szijjarto in December, on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting held in Basel. On that occasion, Peter Szijjarto said that boosting relations with Romania is of strategic significance to Hungary, taking into consideration the large Hungarian community living in Romania and the fact that Romania is Hungarys second largest export market. On the sidelines of the visit, Aurescu is also due to have talks with representatives of the Romanian community in Hungary.
SPECIAL OPERATION FORCES– Romanian defence minister Mircea Dusa has today held talks in Bucharest with the Commander of NATO Special Operations Headquarters, lieutenant general Marshall Webb. The Romanian minister has hailed the good cooperation between Romanias special operation forces and similar NATO structures, during drills and particularly on missions on theatres of operation. In turn, general Webb has underlined the excellent cooperation relation with the special operation forces, saying that Romania is a regional leader in the field. General Webb, who is currently on an official visit to Romania, has taken part in a planning exercise in the field of special operations.
ELECTION– Polling stations opened in the United Kingdom this morning, for a legislative vote held under the sign of suspense, as polls show the Conservatives of Prime Minister David Cameron and Ed Milibands Labourites stand equal chances to win the vote, FP reports, adding that the election campaign has been intense and rather dull. The Conservatives have been in power for five years, in a coalition with the Liberal-Democrats. David Cameron has said during the election campaign that his government has re-launched the economy, which has faced problems because of the previous Labour governance. Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, rejects the idea that his party would be responsible for the economic crisis, as this is a global phenomenon. According to Radio Romanias correspondent, immigration and EU membership have been two other important issues debated during the election campaign. Over 45 million voters are called to the polls, to elect their 650 MPs.
CYBER SECURITY SUMMIT– Representatives of 17 Central and South-East European countries, both EU and NATO member and non-member states on Monday and Tuesday will attend the Regional Cyber Security Summit in Bucharest. The event, organised by the Ministry for the IT Society, jointly with the US Trade Department will bring together companies and government officials, cyber security experts from both the public and private sector from Central and South-Eastern Europe, the USA and Romania. The participants will present the cyber security policies pursued in their countries and will approach such issues as cyber threats and vulnerabilities, in an attempt to identify international and regional cooperation opportunities and to exchange good practices in the field.
TENNIS– Romanian tennis player Irina Begu is today playing against 4th seed Czech Petra Kvitova, in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, with 4.2 million Euros in prize money. Begu, 37th WTA, defeated Czech Barbora Strycova in the previous tour, whereas Kvitova defeated Russian Anastasia Pavliucenkova. This is the first match between Irina Begu and Petra Kvitova. In the mens double, Romanian Florin Mergea and Indian Rohan Bopanna have qualified for the quarters, after defeating the pair made up of French Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
