CONTROVERSY – King
\nAbdullah II of Jordan has cancelled his three-day visit to Romania, which
\nshould have started today. The decision was made after the Romanian Prime
\nMinister Viorica Dancila has announced that Romania will move its embassy in
\nIsrael from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Klaus Iohannis has stated that the
\nmove will take place only after the completion of the analysis that is
\ncurrently being made, and which has not been submitted to the president yet.
\nThe final decision lies with the president of the country, who, according to
\nthe Constitution, is the one that makes Romania’s foreign policy decisions and
\nis Romania’s representative abroad, reads a communiqu\u00e9 issued by the
\npresidential administration. Viorica Dancila announced in Washington, on
\nSunday, that the Romanian Embassy in Israel would be moved from Tel Aviv to
\nJerusalem. At the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Romanian PM also said that a law would be drafted granting the Romanian citizenship to the Jews
\nwho left the country during the communist regime and pensions for the survivors
\nof the Holocaust. The Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has congratulated Ms.
\nDancila for the statement. The Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation
\nOrganization, Saeb Erekat, on the other hand, has criticized the Romanian
\nofficial and has called on the EU to take measures. In October 2018, the
\nRomanian Foreign Ministry sent to the Government an analysis on the effects of
\nmoving the Romanian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The idea was launched
\nby the first man in the ruling coalition in Romania, the president of the
\nSocial Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, in late 2017. In reaction to that, the
\nPalestinian Authority has temporarily recalled its ambassador to Bucharest. <\/p>\n
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MEETING – Over March 26th-27th, EU transport ministers
\nand secretaries of state will attend in Bucharest the informal transport
\nministers’ meeting, against
\nthe background of Romania’s holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the
\nEU. Among other things, the participants will discuss topics relating to
\nmobility in the EU and strengthening connectivity and cohesion through the
\nTEN-T network. According to a communiqu\u00e9 issued by the organizers, the building
\nof an extended and connected trans-European transport network helps strengthen
\nterritorial cohesion and ensures the accessibility and connectivity of all EU
\nregions, including the peripheral ones, which will in turn boost investment and
\nbridge development gaps. <\/p>\n
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PROTEST – The Romanian Transport
\nOperators’ Federation (FORT) has
\nannounced it will hold protests in Strasbourg, on March 27th, alongside
\nother trade unions from Romania and the eastern countries, against Mobility
\nPackage 1. Among other things, the federation is against the provision stating
\nthat drivers must return home at least once every four weeks or, in case the driver
\nopts for shorter weekly breaks, after three weeks on the road. FORT is also
\ncalling for a reassessment of the normal weekly rest period in the vehicle’s
\ncabin and it also stands against applying the rules of posting to road
\ntransport. <\/p>\n
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FINANCES – This
\nweek, the Romanian Government is adopting changes to the famous Emergency
\nDecree no. 114. The ROBOR index (the Romanian Interbank Offer Rate) will be
\ndisconnected from the tax on bank assets and will be established based on
\nactual transactions, not on quotas, as it is now, the Romanian Finance Minister
\nEugen Teodorovici has explained. As regards the provisions concerning energy,
\nmore specifically the cap on the price of gas and the contribution of 2% of the
\nturnover, Eugen Teodorovici has stated that talks are still being held on
\nwhether the decision should be applied as of April 1st. If everybody
\nagrees, these provisions too might change next week. Another issue is that
\nconcerning the pension fund known as Pillar II. The finance minister has stated
\nthat if the administrators of pension funds accept what’s been discussed so
\nfar, the new emergency decree will stipulate a prorogation of the
\nimplementation deadline, which means that the administrators will have time until
\nthe end of the year to increase the registered capital and will be able to
\ninvest 2% of this capital in state projects. <\/p>\n
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PSD – The
\nNational Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party gathers today in
\nBucharest to decide upon the list of candidates for the European Parliament
\nelections, due on May 26th. Among the potential candidates are the
\nMinister of European Funds Rovana Plumb, the leader of the Romanian Social -
\nDemocratic Euro-deputies Dan Nica, or the former Minister Delegate for European
\nAffairs, Victor Negrescu. According to a recent poll, the ruling Social Democratic
\nParty and the opposition National Liberal Party are almost on the same position
\nin terms of voting intentions for the European Parliament elections, with 26.9%
\nand 26.3% respectively. Next comes the Alliance 2020 USR-PLUS with 15.3%, the
\nco-ruling Alliance of Liberals and Democrats with 9.3% and the Pro Romaia
\nParty, made up of Social Democrat dissidents with 9.1%. The only party above
\nthe electoral threshold would be only the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
\nwith 5%. <\/p>\n
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MEDALS – Romania has won two medals
\nat the European Shooting Championship in Osijek, Croatia. Athlete Laura Coman
\nwalked away with gold, and the women’s team won the bronze. Laura Coman won the
\n10 meter air rifle event, followed by the Swiss Nina Christen and the Austrian
\nFranziska Peer. The women’s team ended the competition on third place, in the
\nsame event. The gold went to the Russian team. <\/p>\n
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TENNIS
\n– World’s number three tennis player, the Romanian Simona Halep, today takes on the American Venus Williams (WTA 43rd-placed), in a match counting towards the
\nround of 16 at the Miami tournament, an event with more than nine million USD
\nin prize money. Simona Halep and Venus Williams have previously faced off six
\ntimes, with the head-to-head level at three wins apiece, yet the Romanian has grabbed clear-cut wins
\nin the last three confrontations. In the women’s doubles, the Romanian
\n-Croatian pair made of Raluca Olaru and Darija Jurak reached as far as the
\nquarterfinals, having defeated the Spanish – British couple made of Lara Arruabarrena and Heather Watson. Also in the
\nwomen’s doubles in Miami, Simona Halep and Germany’s Julia Goerges will face
\nMonica Niculescu, also of Romania, and the American Abigail Spears, in a match
\ncounting towards the tournament’s round of 16. <\/p>\n
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FOOTBALL
\n– Romania’s Under-21 national team, currently in a training stage in Spain,
\ntoday takes on the similar team of Denmark, in a friendly confrontation. This
\npast Thursday, the Romanian lineup sustained a nil-1 defeat by host country
\nSpain. We recall that Romania’s Under-21 team is part of Group C at the
\nEuropean Championship 2019, alongside England, France and Croatia. This past
\nSaturday, in its debut fixture as part of the 2020 European Championship’s
\npreliminaries, the Romanian seniors’ team sustained a 1-2 away defeat, in a
\nGroup F match against Sweden. This coming Tuesday, the Romanians are scheduled
\nto play a home match against the Faeroe Islands, in the north-western Romanian
\ntown of Cluj. Also part of Group F are Spain, Norway and Malta. The first two
\nteams in descending order go through to the final tournament. Romania’s capital
\ncity Bucharest on November 30 will host the drawing of lots for EURO 2020.
\nBucharest will also host four fixtures of the final tournament, three in the
\ncompetition’s group stage and another one, counting towards the round of 16. <\/p>\n
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\n(translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n