September 25, 2018
President Iohannis attends the 73rd UN General Assembly; Defense Minister Fifor reiterated Romania's commitment to NATO cooperation
România Internațional, 25.09.2018, 13:25
BRUSSELS – Romanian PM Viorica Dancila is on an official visit to Brussels starting Tuesday, meeting representatives of political groups in the European Parliament. The talks will include priorities on the European agenda relevant to Romania’s turn at the European Council presidency. The Prime Minister will reaffirm Romania’s willingness to actively participate in the process of building the European Union’s future.
UN – President Donald Trump speaks in the opening of the 73rd UN General Assembly on Tuesday, a gathering attended by 130 heads of state and government. Romania is represented by President Klaus Iohannis. This session’s theme is making the UN relevant for all people, global leadership and shared responsibility for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies. On Wednesday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will hold a speech underlining the need for an effective response to challenges in terms of international peace and security, and the need to identify their underlying causes.
BUCHAREST – On Tuesday in the Senate the Defense Committee held hearings on the 10th of August protest in Bucharest, demanded by the opposition in order to clarify the violent intervention of the gendarmes. Among the people who were deposed were Bucharest Prefect Speranta Cliseru, Interior Minister Carmen Dan, and the head of the contingent of gendarmes deployed at the event, Laurentiu Cazan. This is the third attempt at a hearing, after the committee was dismissed once for a lack of a quorum, and a second time, when the ruling Social Democrats dismissed the session on procedural grounds. Meanwhile, the opposition Liberal Party took over the leadership of the Defense Committee in the Senate. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed by the people injured in the events of August 10. On Friday, the head of the gendarmes corps and his deputy were indicted for the violence that ensued at the protest. Recently, Interior Minister Carmen Dan said that the forceful intervention of security forces was in response to a threat to public order, and that the intervention was legal.
WASHINGTON – Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor held a speech on Monday in Washington at the Center for European Policy Analysis, on what he referred to as the strategic maturity that Romania shows in the Black Sea area, according to the Romanian Defense Ministry. The minister focused on the commitments made by Bucharest in equitable sharing of responsibility within the North-Atlantic alliance, and the Romania- US strategic partnership. Fifor said that Bucharest is a solid ally, meeting all requirements as a member of the alliance, in terms of finances, troops, and capabilities. Minister Fifor is on an official visit to the US, where he is slated to meet Defense Secretary James Mattis, with an agenda to discuss enhancing cooperation in defense and security.
TENNIS – Romanian tennis star Simona Halep, number one in the WTA, plays her first game in Wuhan, China, in a tournament with 2.7 million dollars in prize money. She is playing in the second round against Slovak Dominika Cibulkova. In the previous round, Cibulkova defeated Romanian Monica Niculescu in two sets.
