The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, announced Saturday that he would resume consultations with the political parties after the Easter holidays, to end on April 13th. He said he wanted to assess the timetable of the actions set in January at the beginning of the parliamentary session. At that moment the Romanian president and the representatives of the ruling and opposition parties set as main priorities the election law package and the simplification of procedures regarding the prosecutors\u2019 requests for the arrest, taking into custody and investigation of MPs. Also in January President Iohannis and the parliamentary parties reached an agreement regarding the budget allotted for defense, which is to reach 2% of the GDP by 2017. <\/p>\n
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The Romanian Orthodox Church organized Saturday in Romania and abroad religious processions ahead of Palm Sunday. In Bucharest the Romanian Archbishopric organized a procession from the Radu Voda Monastery to the Romanian Patriarchate headquarters. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus\u2019 triumphal entry into Jerusalem and precedes Easter by one week. On Palm Sunday almost 1.4 million Romanians bearing names of flowers celebrate their name day. Also on Sunday as many as 1 million Catholic believers in Romania are celebrating Easter. <\/p>\n
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The first congress of the unionist Romanian Diaspora continued Saturday in Bucharest. Over 100 representatives of the Romanian Associations in Europe and the US are taking part in the event that comes to an end on Sunday. Also attending the congress are politicians from Romania and the neighboring Republic of Moldova. Workshops and debates have been held on the topic of the union of Romania with the Republic of Moldova and the conclusions will be included in a resolution to be adopted and read in the \u201cNicolae Iorga\u201d amphitheater of the History Faculty of the Bucharest University. <\/p>\n
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Paul Grigoriu, one of the most famous and popular radio producers in Romania died Friday, at the age of 70, in his home in Buciumeni, in the south of Romania. After 1989 he was the deputy Director-General of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation and the signature \u2018voice\u2019 of the morning program aired by Radio Romanias News and Current Affairs Channel and also of the K-drane program. Before 1989 he hosted shows for the Radio Holidays and was the head of the French Section of Radio Romania International. He received the Cultural Merit Order and the Order of Faithful Service from two of Romania\u2019s presidents. A prominent personality of Radio Romania, Paul Grigoriu has left his mark on the post- December 1989 productions of the Romanian radio. He is also the author of several prose and literary reportage books.<\/p>\n
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The Romanian defense minister, Mircea Dusa, will pay a visit to Georgia on Monday and Tuesday at the invitation of his counterpart Mindia Janelidze. According to a communiqu\u00e9 of the Romanian Defense Ministry, Mircea Dusa will lay a wreath of flowers in Tbilisi at the Heroes Square Monument and will meet with other Georgian high-ranking officials. Minister Dusa will reiterate Romania\u2019s support for Georgia\u2019s euro-Atlantic integration. This visit to Tbilisi takes place in the context in which cooperation with Georgia is a main priority for Romania, the Romanian Defense Ministry communiqu\u00e9 also shows. <\/p>\n
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US President Barack Obama said on Saturday that diplomacy was the best option to deal with Irans contested nuclear program, two days after the conclusion of a framework agreement with Tehran. He recalled that the agreement concluded in Lausanne, Switzerland, was not based on trust but on unprecedented verification. \u201cIf Iran cheats, the world will know it\u201d the White House leader added. On the other hand, the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his vehement opposition to the agreement concluded with Iran, which, in his opinion, is a serious danger for the whole world. In turn the Romanian officials hailed the agreement considering it a decisive step towards finding a final solution that should reestablish the trust of the international community in Iran\u2019s nuclear program. <\/p>\n
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