GREAT
\nUNION CENTENNIAL – Some 150,000 Romanians celebrated the Great Union Centennial in Alba
\nIulia, with events ending with an open air concert. Some 450 events were held
\nall over the country on this occasion. Despite the freezing cold, tens of
\nthousands of people attended the military parades organized on Saturday in
\nBucharest, Alba Iulia and Focsani. Attending the events, President Klaus
\nIohannis said he was honored to be president in the year of the Great Union Centennial.
\nIn turn, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila called for unity in her speech in
\nFocsani. The military parade in Bucharest was the largest event of its kind in
\nthe last decades. Some 4,000 military, of whom 500 from 20 partner and allied
\nstates, paraded in Bucharest. More than 200 pieces of military equipment were
\npresented to the public, while 50 aircraft flew over the capital city. The combat
\nequipment included for the first time the Patriot missile air-defense system
\nand the Piranha 5 armored vehicles which, starting this year, are being
\nmanufactured in Romania. Millions of Romanians in the Diaspora celebrated the
\nNational Day of Romania as well.<\/p>\n
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DANCILA – Prime Minister Viorica
\nDancila on Monday is attending the Central-European Initiative Summit in Zagreb,
\nwhich marks the end of Croatia’s one-year term at the helm of this institution.
\nThe Initiative was founded in 1989 as a regional inter-government forum engaged
\nin supporting European integration and sustainable development by means of
\ncooperation among member states and the EU, international and regional
\norganizations, as well as other public or private institutions and NGOs. The
\nmain topic on Monday’s agenda is ensuring security, supporting the economy and
\nboosting progress. Italy on January 1, 2019 will take over the rotating
\npresidency. Attending the summit will be the president of the European Bank of
\nReconstruction and Development and European Commissioner for Enlargement,
\nJohannes Hahn. On Tuesday, a business forum on the role of innovation in competitiveness
\nwill be hosted by Croatia’s Chamber of Commerce on the sidelines of the summit.<\/p>\n
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BUSH – US Stock
\nMarkets on Monday will observe a moment of silence in homage to the former US
\nPresident George H.W. Bush, who passed away on Friday aged 94. Stock markets
\nwill be closed on Wednesday, declared a day of national mourning in the US.
\nRomania’s President Klaus Iohannis conveyed a message of condolences to his
\ncounterpart, Donald Trump. Iohannis said President Bush was a great leader and
\nstatesman, whose political legacy holds tremendous importance for Eastern
\nEurope. Due to his efforts, Romania and other states from the former Soviet
\nbloc found their liberty and started the path towards European and
\nEuro-Atlantic integration. It was also Bush, Iohannis argues, who laid the
\nfoundations of what was to become the Strategic Partnership between the United
\nStates and Romania. <\/p>\n
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PENSION
\nLAW
\n– The new pension law could be passed in Parliament by the end of the year,
\nLabor Minister Marius Budai has announced. The Senate has already voted the
\ndocument and submitted it to the Chamber of Deputies for approval. Under the
\nnew law, the pension point will be increased in stages until 2021. The minimum
\nperiod of contribution stays at 15 years, while MA and doctoral studies are now
\nremoved from the standard period of contribution. At the same time, the periods
\nof early retirement were reduced from six years to 12 months for extraordinary
\ncircumstances and from 2 years to 1 year for special circumstances. Women who’ve
\ncompleted their minimum period of contribution and given birth to three children
\nbenefit from a six-year reduction of their early retirement age. The Government
\nassures there will be no drop in pensions. <\/p>\n
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PROTESTS – French
\nPresident Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called on Prime Minister Edouard Philippe
\nto receive leaders of Parliamentary parties and representatives of protesters after
\nParis saw violent clashes between the riot police and protesters for the 3rd
\nweekend in a row as part of rallies caused by increased fuel prices. The
\ninitiative reflects the Government’s constant concern for dialogue, the
\npresidency reports. During Sunday’s morning emergency meeting, the president
\nalso called on the Interior Minister to see to the adjustment of the security
\ndetail. The violent protests turned to street violence in Pairs, after the
\npeaceful protest was taken over by groups of hooligans looting stores and
\nsetting cars and private lofts on fire. Emmanuel Macron promised the guilty
\nwould be identified and brought to court. Over 100 people were injured and the
\npolice detained some 400 people. The protest surfaced after the Government in
\nearly October announced they would levy an environment tax on fuel starting
\nnext year. Protesters also expressed disgruntlement with the low purchase power
\nand the increasing number of taxes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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HANDBALL – The Romanian
\nwomen’s handball team on Saturday grabbed its first win at the European
\nChampionship in France, defeating the Czech Republic 31-28 in Group D. In the
\nother group fixture, Germany surprisingly defeated Norway 33-32. Romania will
\nnext play Germany on Monday. The first three teams will advance to the main
\ngroup phase. This is the 13th time Romania takes part in the European
\nChampionships. In 2015 our team ranked 5, while its best performance was in
\n2010 when they scooped bronze. <\/p>\n
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FOOTBALL – Romania will
\nplay in Group F in the EURO 2020 preliminaries alongside Spain, Sweden, Norway,
\nthe Faeroe Islands and Malta. National Arena stadium in Bucharest will be
\nhosting matches in the final tournament, three in the group phase and one round
\nof 16 match. The semi-finals and finals will be played in London on Wembley
\nstadium. The first two teams in each group will qualify to the European
\nChampionship.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
(Translated
\nby V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[31256,32760,34258,34036,34260,31286,33035],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-alba-iulia","tag-euro-2020","tag-george-h-w-bush","tag-great-union-centennial","tag-new-pension-law","tag-romanias-handball-team","tag-viorica-dancila"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n