COMMEMORATION – On Thursday, Romania celebrated the day
\ncommemorating the victims of fascism and communism. On the occasion, President
\nKlaus Iohannis said that people should never forget these victims, and that the
\npresent generation has to actively fight for democracy and the rule of law. The
\npresident recalled that recently there have not been any regimes more
\nbloody than fascist and communist dictatorships, which had a major impact on
\nthe development of states in Central and Eastern Europe, destroying the lives
\nof millions of people. Forgetting these victims, the president said, would be
\nan affront to history and humanity. The day of August 23rd is also the day when
\nthe Ribbentrop-Molotov pact was signed.<\/p>\n
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MIGRATION – The annual net migration of EU
\ncitizens to Great Britain dropped in March this year to the lowest level since
\n2012, with Romanians and Bulgarians accounting for half of the total number,
\naccording to data made public on Thursday by the British Office for National
\nStatistics. The figures show that, for the first time in the past 10 years, the
\nnumber of EU citizens leaving Great Britain is higher than that of people going
\nto that country. In all, net migration has reached 271,000 people, by 28,000
\nmore than in the previous year, due to a record migration of citizens from
\noutside the EU. The number of EU citizens migrating to Great Britain has
\ndropped significantly after the British voted for the country’s separation from
\nthe EU, in June 2016. Employers’ associations are worried that companies will
\nfind it difficult to hire the personnel they need. <\/p>\n
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BUCHAREST – The Romanian Prime Minister
\nViorica Dancila has accused what she termed as an assault against state
\ninstitutions and an attempt to divide the country and has called on the Cabinet
\nmembers to avoid the spiral of conflict. This is the first reaction of the head
\nof the Executive since the violent events of August 10, during the
\nanti-Government protest of the Diaspora. Hundreds of people, mostly
\nparticipants in the protest, but also gendarmes, needed medical care. Hundreds
\nof complaints have been filed at the Prosecutor’s Office in relation to the way
\nin which security forces reacted during the meeting. The right-wing opposition
\nhas called for the resignation of the Interior Minister Carmen Dan, who, they
\nsay, is politically responsible for the disproportionate reaction of the
\ngendarmes. In turn, the Social Democratic Party has stated that the whole thing
\nwas an attempt to topple the country’s legitimate government by force. <\/p>\n
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AMCHAM – The American Chamber of Commerce in
\nRomania, AmCham, has called on Romanian decision-makers and holders of public
\noffices to show responsibility both in action and in statement and to stop
\ndiscriminating against certain categories of Romanians depending on their
\nemployers. On behalf of the business community it represents, approximately 430
\nAmerican, Romanian and international companies, AmCham states in a communiqu\u00e9 that
\nfor 25 years it has mediated the dialogue between Romanian authorities and
\ncompanies that have helped develop the Romanian economy by means of investments
\nworth more than 22 billion dollars and have created some 250,000 jobs. The
\nprivate sector put Romania on the global map of investments and it’s the most important
\ncontributor to the state budget, the communiqu\u00e9 also reads. We recall that the
\npresident of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, has stated on a
\nTV station that there are multinationals that finance protests in Romania and
\nsome companies have interests that run counter to the interest of the Romanian
\nstate. <\/p>\n
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ARMY PROGRAM -
\nOn Thursday, the Romanian Government approved a new army equipping program,
\ntitled ‘Mobile anti-ship missile system’. According to the Executive, the
\nsupply contract, which will be multi-annual and will cover the 2018-2022
\nperiod, is worth 137 million Euros. The documents approved by the Romanian
\nGovernment on Thursday include a simple ordinance promoted by the Ministry of
\nRegional Development and Public Administration, under which local public
\nauthorities are helped to finalize projects that benefit from European funding.
\nIt’s a support mechanism that allows local administration to access loans from
\nrevenues from privatizations, registered with the Treasury, up to a maximum of
\n170 million Euros. Also, the Government approved an ordinance that completes
\nseveral provisions in the field of education. <\/p>\n
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DIPLOMACY – The
\nRomanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu received on Thursday the Ambassador
\nof the United Kingdom Andrew Noble. According to a communiqu\u00e9 issued by the
\nForeign Ministry, the two officials discussed the excellent relations between
\nRomania and the United Kingdom and cooperation prospects. Also, they agreed
\nthat the strategic partnership between the two countries should be strengthened,
\nby adapting it better to the current European and bilateral realities, including
\nRomania’s taking over the presidency of the Council of the EU on January 1st,
\n2019. <\/p>\n
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WEST NILE VIRUS – The number of people infected by the West Nile virus, which is
\ntransmitted by mosquitoes, has doubled in the past two weeks, according to the
\nNational Centre of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control. The cases
\nreported include 56 cases of meningitis or meningoencephalitis and also 6
\ndeaths caused by the virus. Most cases were reported in the counties of Dolj,
\nIasi and in Bucharest. Doctors warn that the infection is not transmitted from
\nhumans to humans, only through the bites of infected mosquitoes. The Health
\nMinistry has announced that, in order to eliminate the risk of transmission
\nthrough transfusion, safety measures have been put in place in all transfusion
\ncenters in the country. Also, local
\nauthorities have been urged to take carry out disinfection in order to prevent
\nthe spread of the virus. <\/p>\n
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ATTACK
\n– The Islamic State terrorist organization has claimed the attack on Thursday
\nin Trappes, in the western suburbs of Paris. A man stabbed to death his mother
\nand sister and seriously injured another person, before being apprehended by
\nsecurity forces. According to the police, some 50 people from the area have
\nbeen recruited to fight in Iraq and Syria. The town, which has 30,000
\ninhabitants, is one on the list of 30 areas that need additional police forces
\nand logistics.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[30112,33867,33888,32479,29561,29207,33294,29000,33889],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-102967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-amcham","tag-august-10-protest","tag-british-ambassador-andrew-noble","tag-foreign-minister-teodor-melescanu","tag-islamic-state","tag-migration","tag-pm-viorica-dancila","tag-president-klaus-iohannis","tag-west-nile-virus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n