EU Romania’s
\nfirst mandate at the presidency of the EU Council represents a good opportunity
\nfor Bucharest to reiterate its commitment to consolidating the European project
\n– Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has today said during his meeting with the
\npresident of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and with members of
\nthe College of Commissioners. According to Iohannis this mandate will highlight
\nRomania’s desire to have a successful, result-oriented mandate that will move
\nthe European agenda forward taking into account the complex background of the
\nfollowing six months. Romania’s presidency of the EU must provide hope as it
\ntakes place at a difficult moment for Europe and for this reason it will unfold
\nin several different stages, the head of the head of the European Commission
\nhas said. Jean Claude Juncker and the members of the College of Commissioners
\nwho arrived in Bucharest on Thursday are to be received today by the country’s
\nPrime Minister Viorica Dancila and other ministers. Their visit to Bucharest
\ncomes against the backdrop of Romania’s taking over the EU rotating presidency
\nmarked last night through a series of speeches about the importance of this
\nevent and about Romania’s place inside the EU. <\/p>\n
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VISIT Pope Francis will be paying a visit to Romania over May 31st
\nand June 2nd, the presidential administration in Bucharest has
\nannounced. According to the same sources, the Pope will be visiting capital
\nBucharest, the cities of Iasi, in north-eastern Romania, and Blaj, in the
\ncentre. We recall that in 1999 Pope John Paul ll paid a historic visit to
\nRomania, being the first visit paid by a Pontiff to a country with an Orthodox
\nmajority after the Schism of 1054. Pope John Paul thanked the Romanian Orthodox
\nChurch for inviting him to pay an unforgettable ecumenical visit to a country,
\nwhich he described as a bridge between the West and East and which is, as
\ntradition has it, ‘The Garden of the Mother of God. <\/p>\n
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TRANSPORTATION The Transportation
\nCommission in the European Parliament has given up on passing a number of
\nmeasures considered discriminatory by Eastern European transportation entities,
\nincluding Romanian ones. They protested yesterday in Brussels against changing
\nrelevant legislation against the background of growing protectionism in Western
\nEuropean states. In the opinion of easterners, the new proposals would place a
\nsignificant cost burden in terms of operations, restricting international road
\ntransportation within the EU. One measure was supposed to ban the weekly rest
\nperiod being spent within vehicles, another dictating a mandatory home rest
\nperiod every four weeks. One other contested measure was equipping vehicles
\nwith smart speedometers by late 2024. <\/p>\n
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WEATHER Bad weather wreaked havoc on eleven counties in Romania’s east and
\nsouth-west. A yellow weather warning has been issued for seven counties in
\nRomania where trees have been broken by the heavy snowfalls or the gale-force
\nwind. Road traffic has been disrupted on various highway sections, but
\naccording to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, no victims have
\nbeen reported. 52 hundred firefighters are ready to take part in rescue
\noperations all over the country. The weather is cold in most of the regions
\nwith moderate snowfalls in the center and the mountains. Temperatures are
\nranging between -7 and 3 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of
\nzero degrees. <\/p>\n
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EUROPE CARES An initiative entitled ‘Europe Cares’ which is meant to become a
\nmouthpiece for parents with disabled children in 7 European countries, Romania
\nincluded, has been launched today. Through this initiative parents are calling
\nfor inclusionary education for their children. At present the EU’s legislation
\ndoes not provide for the education of the disabled children, a fact that
\nfosters a series of issues such as exclusion or segregation. 70 million
\ndisabled people are living in Europe at present. <\/p>\n
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(translated by
\nbill)<\/p>\n
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