September 19, 2015 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 19.09.2015, 12:06
The head of the Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu, had talks in Bucharest on Saturday with his Dutch counterpart, Bert Koenders. On this occasion, the Romanian Foreign Minister reiterated that Romania was prepared to become part of the Schengen area. The agenda included topics related to the eastern border of the EU, including the situation in Ukraine, the European prospects of the Republic of Moldova, the Western Balkans, developments in the refugee crisis. The two officials also looked at aspects concerning the forthcoming Dutch presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2016. Special attention was given to security issues, with a focus on the preparations for the next NATO Summit, due in Warsaw in 2016, and on fighting terrorism.
An exercise designed to test the Romanian authorities operational response capacity in terms of migration flow dynamics is taking place in Timis County, in western Romania, the Foreign Ministry announced. In the past few weeks the Romanian authorities have strengthened security measures at Romanias border with Serbia, where the Interior Ministry sent additional personnel and equipment. The exercise is part of the pro-active measures taken by the National Committee for Special Emergencies. In Budapest, the Hungarian Defence Ministry announced the fence on the Croatian border designed to stop the migration influx is in place. Meanwhile, Hungarys Defence Minister, Istvan Simicsko, ordered the mobilisation of some of the countrys voluntary reserve corps to help handle the “mass migration crisis. According to Reuters, Hungary is increasingly at odds with its southern neighbours, as Serbia and Croatia struggle to deal with the wave of migrants that flee Middle East countries and transit the region en route to western Europe.
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, supports a number of demands made by the leaders of the Dignity and Truth Civic Platform, who organised large-scale anti-governmental protests in the capital city Chisinau, and promised that, “within the limits of his constitutional powers, he would try to have them implemented. Originally, the leaders of the protests in which thousands of Moldovans took part, demanded the resignation of all the countrys leaders, including the president, and early parliamentary elections in spring. Later on the protesters changed their minds about the president stepping down. The image of the pro-Western ruling coalition in Chisinau was severely affected when one billion US dollars, accounting for around 15% of the countrys GDP, mysteriously vanished from the Moldovan banks. The protesters mounted tents downtown Chisinau and vowed not to leave until the regime is ousted.
