September 16, 2015 UPDATE

Click here for a round-up of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 16.09.2015, 12:20

ROMANIAN PRIORITIES – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis, who attended a joint session of Parliament on Wednesday, expressed his wish for Romania to have a strong and reliable Parliament, an institution which should enjoy the Romanians confidence. Iohannis underlined that in order to reach this goal, Romania should have good quality laws and the legislature should have functional relations with the other structures of power. Romanias president pointed to some existing problems with respect to the quality and coherence of laws, adding that 80% of the Romanians are dissatisfied with a series of clumsy laws. Iohannis criticized the repeated changes made to some key laws, such as the Fiscal Code, the Education Law and the law on the reform of the healthcare system, delivering a pointed warning over the fact that the way laws change has a negative impact on the efficiency of the public systems, eventually undermining peoples confidence in Parliament. Klaus Iohannis stood for a stable, coherent and predictable legislation, also launching a national debate on education. As regards the refugee crisis, Klaus Iohannis expressed Romanias full support for the countries affected by this crisis, saying our country takes action in the spirit of human rights observance. Iohannis pleaded for a realistic approach, based on dialogue and consultations with the EU countries, also openly opposing a bureaucratic approach. Romanias President also said the next steps Romania should further take with respect to the refugee crisis will be agreed upon during Thursdays meeting of the Countrys Supreme Defence Council.

REFUGEE CRISIS – Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has announced he will meet his Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann on Thursday, for talks on the refugee issue. He has expressed his countrys readiness to receive refugees, most of whom having the intention to reach Germany and the Nordic countries. Some 300 immigrants crossed the border into Croatia, from Serbia, on Tuesday to Wednesday night, the Croatian Interior Ministry has announced. These are the first refugees to take this alternative route, after Hungary closed its border with Serbia. Hundreds of immigrants protested against the closure of the Serbian-Hungarian border, with Hungary using water cannons to spread the protesting refugees. Meanwhile, the flow of migrants on the Hungarian-Austrian border has almost stopped after the enforcement of the new anti-immigration law adopted by Budapest. Reuters quotes Hungarian police sources as saying the number of refugees has been reduced significantly, to several hundred people, as compared to the record high of some 9,400 people registered on Monday.

IMMIGRATION STRATEGY – The Romanian Government on Wednesday endorsed the National Strategy on Immigration for the 2015-2018 period and the Action Plan for the current year. The strategy is aimed at managing more efficiently the phenomenon of immigration and includes general and specific strategic objectives and action guidelines which mirror the policies established at European level and adjusted to national realities. Referring to the Action Plan for 2015, the Government says it represents “a means to establish concrete activities to lead to the setting up of a flexible system to curb the phenomenon of migration which is gaining ground.

MILITARY DRILLS – The “Histria 2015 military drills got underway in several firing grounds across Romania. Some 7,000 employees of the countrys defence, public order and national security institutions took part in the exercise. For the first time ever, live rounds sessions were performed in a firing ground in the western county of Arad, with Europe-based US marines taking part in the exercise. Underlying the joint military undertaking was a complex scenario, tailored for todays security environment, so that Romanian military can accomplish their missions under war conditions and in crisis situations.

FINANCIAL – The European Commission has decided to resume payments to Romania under two programs, “Economic Competitiveness and “Environment, both suspended in late April. Following this decision, around 120 million Euros will be transferred to the Romanian authorities in the ensuing period of time. The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, has hailed the efforts made by the Romanian authorities to improve the two programs management and control systems. The European Commission announced in April 2015 that it had found indicators of fraud in the management of the two programs.

MUSIC – The George Enescu International Festival, one of Europes most prestigious classical music festivals continues in Bucharest and in other cultural centres across the country. For the first time ever, a performance tailored for children and youngsters, “Munchhasusen, the Master of Lies was presented to the public during this edition of the festival. The show is a production of the Comic Opera for Children. It was composed by Dan Dediu and stage-directed by Cristian Mihailescu. On Tuesday, the famous violinist David Garrett gave a concert in Bucharest, being accompanied by the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. Garrett performed George Enescus Ballad for violin and orchestra, a work he also took on concert stages worldwide.

SPORTS – Romanias national rugby team on Wednesday left for England, where it is scheduled to play the World Cup fixtures. Romania joins France, Ireland, Canada and Italy in Group D of the competition that kick-starts on Friday. Also known as the Oak Leaf Knights, the Romanian rugby players have taken part in all the seven previous editions of the World Cup, yet they failed to go past the competitions group stage.