CETA The European
\nParliament on Wednesday approved the comprehensive economic and trade agreement
\nbetween the EU and Canada also known as CETA. Under negotiation for several
\nyears now the agreement provides for the removal of numerous import duties. The
\nagreement still needs the approval of at least 38 national and regional
\nParliaments to take full force. Following the signing of the agreement, a visa
\nwaiver for the Romanian citizens is due to partially come into effect in late
\nApril. It will first apply to the Romanians who have been to Canada before and
\ngot visas. As of December 1st all Romanians will be able to travel
\nto Canada visa-free. In 2015 trade exchanges between the EU and Canada stood at
\nmore than 60 billion euros and sources. According to European Parliament
\nsources this exchange will continue to grow upon the signing of CETA. <\/p>\n
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NATO Neither Europe
\nnor North America can tackle the complex challenges they are facing in this
\ngeneration alone, NATO secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a joint
\nnews conference with the US Defence Secretary James Mattis in Brussels on
\nWednesday. The US official is for the first time meeting defence ministers from
\nthe allied countries in his new capacity. James Mattis said the Alliance
\nremains a fundamental bedrock for the United States and the entire
\nTransatlantic community. He mentioned the fact that the Alliance is adjusting
\nto be able to cope with the new challenges. Romania is being represented in
\nBrussels by its new Defence Minister Gabriel Les. On the sidelines of this
\nconference with his NATO counterparts, the Romanian official is also attending
\na session of the Global Coalition against Daesh staged upon the initiative of
\nthe new US Defence Secretary, James Mattis.<\/p>\n
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DECREE The Romanian
\nGovernment’s emergency decree repealing the controversial amendments to the
\ncriminal codes, which have caused a large-scale political crisis over the past
\ntwo weeks, is as of Wednesday on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies. On
\nTuesday the plenum of the Senate adopted the decree unanimously. In another
\nmove, the Government headquarters have been picketed for two weeks now by numerous
\nprotesters. Since the start of the crisis on January 31, hundreds of thousands
\nof Romanians from the country and abroad have called for the resignation of the
\ncoalition government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of
\nLiberals and Democrats, whom they accuse of having tried to amend the criminal
\ncodes to exonerate from legal responsibility certain corrupt politicians and members
\nof the local and central administration. The Social Democrats denied the
\naccusations claiming that they only wanted to harmonize the legislation in the
\nfield with rulings of the Constitutional Court. In this context, President
\nKlaus Iohannis initiated a referendum on the continuation of the
\nanti-corruption fight. But government supporters accuse the president of not
\nrespecting his role of moderator and of having embraced the cause of the
\nanti-government protesters. <\/p>\n
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RETAIL The European
\nCommission on Wednesday sent letters of formal notice to Romania and Hungary
\nbecause their national regulations on retail of farm and food products run
\nagainst the EU laws. The present legislation forces big retailers in Romania to
\nbuy at least 51 percent of food and agricultural products from local producers.
\nThe Commission believes this measure could bear on the free movement of goods.
\nThe European executive says the Romanian legislation forces retailers to
\npromote local products restricting their commercial decision on which products
\nshould be placed on offer, and that may run counter some provisions in the
\nTreaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Romanian authorities have
\ntwo months to respond to the European Commission’s arguments. <\/p>\n
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CRASH 4 people, a Romanian citizen
\nincluded, were killed and 15 were wounded in a crash involving a Romanian bus
\nin Hungary on Wednesday. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, 6 wounded
\nRomanian citizens have been transported to medical units in Szeged and Mako, in
\nsoutheastern Hungary. The pileup accident happened very close to the border
\ncheckpoint of Nadlac, in western Romania. According to investigators, the
\npileup was caused by the fog, which had cut visibility down to 50 meters.
\nRomania has deployed a couple of its emergency intervention units SMURD, after
\nthe activation of the bilateral intervention plan. <\/p>\n
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