October 3, 2015
For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.
Newsroom, 03.10.2015, 12:00
VISIT – Prime Minister Victor Ponta is as of Saturday on a two-day visit to Jordan responding to the invitation of his counterpart Abdullah Ensour. The visit is aimed at reasserting the good level of political and diplomatic relations, as well as security cooperation between the two states. Additionally, the two countries want to identify better solutions for an effective economic cooperation. Joining the PM is an important Government delegation. Victor Ponta will meet with high-ranking Jordanian officials, as well as with a group of Iraqi businessmen whose companies operate in Jordan and Iraq. Agriculture, energy, health care, tourism and telecommunications are key topics on the agenda for talks. The refugee crisis also ranks high on the agenda, the Romanian state being prepared to earmark some 250,000 euros worth of emergency humanitarian aid, thus joining the list of countries supporting local communities in Jordan, a country hosting a large number of Syrian refugees.
EXERCISE – NATO is today conducting its largest military exercise in the last 13 years. For a month, 36,000 military from NATO Member States, including Romania, 60 battleships and 200 fighter jets will take part in military applications held concurrently in Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, Canada, Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Through this exercise, NATO wants to showcase and to extend its capability to respond to current and future threats.
GERMAN UNITY DAY – Germany on Saturday celebrated 25 years since its reunification, which ended all state divisions in Europe after the end of World War II. Divided by the Allies after the collapse of the Nazi regime, Germany was made whole again on October 3, 1990, when the former German Democratic Republic adhered to the laws and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The decisive shift to democracy came earlier on November 9, 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The two states negotiated the Reunification Treaty, with the consensus of the four European victorious superpowers, which came to known as the 2+4 Treaty, whereby Germany became an internationally sovereign state.
PROTESTS – The “Dignity and Truth civic platform, the organizer of anti-government protests in the capital city of Moldova, has called on foreign embassies to Chisinau to delegate representatives to monitor the protests of October 4, calling on the foreign media to watch this event very closely. Organizers expect of turnout of over 100,000 people. Protesters call on their leaders to step down and to organize snap elections, which the current power rules out, saying these claims would sink Moldova into a prolonged political and economic crisis. The pro-Western government coalition has lost all credibility after a billion dollars mysteriously disappeared last year from the banking system, accounting for nearly 15% of the countrys GDP.
SYRIA – US President Barack Obama has condemned Russias military intervention in Syria, naming it a “recipe for disaster, which will consolidate the position of the Islamic State. Russia has again confirmed its airstrikes in Syria as of Thursday to support the regime of president Bashar al-Assad. The US President said Washington was ready to cooperate with Russia only if Moscow changed its attitude. Several countries of the International coalition in Syria (the US, the UK, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey) called on Russia on Friday to immediately cease strikes against the Syrian opposition and civilians and to concentrate efforts against the IS. Russian PM Dmitri Medveded told a television station that the Russian Air Forces in Syria are targeting the Islamic State and are meant to protect Russian citizens against the terrorist threat. The Russian head of government also said that the Syrian conflict should be solved peacefully, which requires the Syrian power and opposition to sit together at the negotiations table.
IMMIGRANTS – The Czech Government proposes to dispatch the police and the army to help Hungary strengthen its Schengen borders to prevent immigrants from crossing. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the idea would be discussed next week at the meeting of Visegrád Group Interior Ministers. The Red Cross on Friday signalled that most migrants in Hungary and the Western Balkans are not ready to face the approaching winter, and are in need to clothing, footwear and other apparel lest the humanitarian crisis should risk further deterioration. At present UN officials said the unfavourable weather in the Mediterranean has triggered a drop in the flow of refugees, while Radio Romanias correspondent in Hungary says the number of migrants coming in from Croatia has halved in the last days.
