PRESIDENCY – President Klaus Iohannis has
\ncondemned the latest anti-Semitic gestures and actions and called on the relevant authorities to take firm action to sanction
\nthem. In a press release the presidency recalls Romania stands out as a
\nregional successful model in terms of preserving the memory of the Holocaust,
\nowning to the past, combating anti-Semitism, negationism, xenophobia, hatred,
\nracism, populism and discouraging hate speech. Prior to this statement, Israeli
\nPresident Reuven Rivlin condemned the vandalization of some 70 tombs in the
\nJewish Cemetery in Husi, northeastern Romania, one of the most serious such
\nanti-Semitic offences this year. The Israeli official recalled that Bucharest
\nauhtorities are taking measures to coutneract anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
\nMeanwhile, the Israeli media has quoted the president of the Federation of
\nJewish communities in Romania, Aurel Vainer, who said such anti-Semitic events
\nare unacceptable and are affecting democracy in Romania. The US Embassy in
\nBucharest has in turn unequivocally condemned the act of violence in Husi,
\nclaiming this is not just an attack on the Jewish community, but on the
\ndiversity of the entire Romanian society. <\/p>\n
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REFERENDUM – Also on Friday President Iohannis has called a round of consultations
\nwith political parties on April 11 and 12 over the referendum on the judiciary.
\nOn Thrsday, the President announced that the themes which he would submit to
\nthe vote at the May 26 referendum, held simultaneously with the European
\nParliament elections, are related to forbidding amnesty and pardon of
\ncorruption crimes and forbidding the government to pass emergency decrees
\nrelated to criminal offences and punishments, correlated with the right of
\nother authorities to notify the Constitutional Court over such decrees. <\/p>\n
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VISIT – Two-way trade between Romania
\nand Slovakia has for the first time exceeded 3 billion euros at the end of
\n2018, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said Friday after meeting with Slovakian
\nPrime Minister Peter Pellegrini. Talks focused on developing bilateral
\ncooperation in various fields such as education, energy, culture, home affairs,
\npublic administration, tourism, environment, healthcare and agriculture. In
\nturn, Prime Minister Pellegrini expressed hope that bilateral economic and
\npolitical relations would intensify. The two officials met in Banska Bystrica,
\nwhere the Romanian official paid a floral tribute in the National Insurrection
\nSquare. Viorica Dancila then travelled to the city of Zvolen for a visit to the
\nlocal military cemetery where the remains of 10 thousand Romanian soldiers, who
\nfought for the liberation of Czechoslovakia in WWll, are buried.<\/p>\n
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B9 INITIATIVE – Romania’s Defense Minister Gabriel Les was
\nin Warsaw to attend a meeting of Defense Ministers from countries, which are
\nmembers of the Bucharest 9 Initiative. The meeting, staged jointly by linr
\nministries from Poland and Romania, was attended by Defense Ministers from
\nBulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania,
\nSlovakia and Hungary as well as by NATO officials and representatives of the US
\nDepartment of Defense. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the meeting
\nin Warsaw tackled the contribution of B9 states to strengthening NATO deterrence
\nand defense, with a focus on the coherent implementation and full
\noperationalization of the Advanced Allied Presence on the Eastern Flank. On the
\nsidelines of the meeting, Les met with his Polish counterpart, Mariusz
\nB\u0142aszczak, stressing the major
\nrole of the two countries as promoters of the B9 Initiative, in establishing a
\nunified position of NATO’s Eastern Allies that should be promoted on NATO’s
\ncommon agenda. In another development, Minister Les met with Romanian military
\nfrom the Blue Scorpions Anti-Air Defense Unit deployed in Poland as part of
\nNATO’s Combat Group. <\/p>\n
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DRILL – Over April 5-13 the Romanian
\nnavy is staging the biggest international drill in Romania’s territorial waters
\nand in the international waters of the Black Sea. 14 Romanian warships and six
\nfrom Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey are taking part in
\nthe drill during which over 2000 servicemen will be training to respond to attacks
\ncoming from under the sea, air or surface. The drill’s scenario implies a
\ncoordinated crisis response carried out under a UN Security Council resolution.
\nThe aforementioned drill also involves the participation of the NATO Permanent
\nBlack Sea Force. <\/p>\n
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DISTINCTION- The Royal House of Britain on
\nFriday decorated Romanian Florin Morariu for the courage he displayed during
\nthe terrorist attack of June 2017, which killed 8 people and wounded 48.
\nMorariu is the first Romanian to receive the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery. At
\nthe time of the attack Florin Morariu worked in a bakery close to the bridge in
\nLondon and helped a few people to take shelter and stood up to the attackers. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
(Translated
\nby V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/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":[34641,34638,32159,34325,34642,30633,29000,33530,34643,34644],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-anti-semitism","tag-b9-initiative","tag-florin-morariu","tag-gabriel-les","tag-husi","tag-military-drill","tag-president-klaus-iohannis","tag-prime-minister-viorica-dancila","tag-referendum-on-the-judiciary","tag-romania-slovakia-relations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n