NATO – On Sunday, Bucharest hosted
\nceremonies celebrating NATO Day and 15 years since Romania joined the Alliance.
\nNATO Day is celebrated in Romania, each year, on the first Sunday in April. On
\nMarch 29th, 2004, the Romanian authorities submitted the ratification
\ninstruments to the US Department of State, the depository for the
\nNorth-Atlantic Alliance Treaty. The Romanian Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila,
\nhas stated that Romania has assumed its responsibilities as provider of
\nsecurity in the region and with regard to its participation in NATO operations
\nand has proved to be a predictable and reliable partner. Some 887 Romanian
\nsoldiers are currently involved in NATO operations abroad: 690 in Afghanistan,
\n56 in the KFOR mission in Kosovo, 120 in Poland, part of the air defense
\ndetachment and 21 staff and liaison personnel.<\/p>\n
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SEA SHIELD – The Black Sea’s largest multinational naval
\nexercise, Sea Shield 2019, continues until April 13th. The exercise involves 14
\nRomanian warships and six warships from Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, Turkey and
\nthe Netherlands, with the participation of some 2200 troops, who are exercising
\njoint combat procedures against underwater, surface and air defense threats,
\nadapted to the types of threats emerging in the Black Sea Region. The scenario
\nis fictitious and aims at planning and conducting a Crisis Response Operation
\nunder the mandate of a Resolution of the United Nation’s Security Council. The
\nChief of the Romanian Navy, Rear Admiral Alexandru Mirsu, has stated that
\nby no means Sea Shield 2019 could be seen as a provocative exercise. NATO is
\njust worried about Russia’s military actions in the region, which have become
\ncontinuous and significant.<\/p>\n
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COCAINE – Several cocaine parcels, part of the transport
\nintercepted on March 23rd in the Danube Delta, when the authorities found about
\n1,000 kg of cocaine in and around an abandoned ship on the Black Sea shore, were
\nfound on the beach on Sunday. In the past days, hundreds of police, gendarmes
\nand divers have swept 90 km of shore in search for the floating parcels. The operation
\ncontinues and the police have warned people, in case they find such parcels,
\nnot to open them and call the authorities. The concentration of the
\ncocaine is quite high, around 90%, so it can be lethal if consumed. The value
\nof the cocaine found in Romania, whose origin is South America, is estimated at
\naround 300 million Euros. <\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA – The neighboring Republic of Moldova, with a
\npredominantly Romania-speaking population, on Sunday celebrated the so-called
\n‘Freedom Day’, ten years since the protests of April 7th, 2009, against the
\npro-Russia communist power. Accused of rigging parliamentary elections, the
\ncommunists violently repressed the demonstrations of the pro-European youth.
\nDozens of people were illegally detained and beaten up by the police, and at
\nleast one of them died. There is suspicion the number of the deceased was
\nhigher. Those who ordered the violence have not been punished, and some of them
\nhave even been promoted. Following the incidents, the election was held again,
\nand the communists lost, becoming part of the opposition. At this year’s
\nelections, in February, the Communist Party did not manage to go above the 6%
\nthreshold and is no longer represented in parliament.<\/p>\n
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UKRAINE – Ukrainian authorities have banned the president of the
\nDemocratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Kelemen Hunor, access to
\nUkraine, where he intended to participate in an event organized by the
\nHungarian Cultural Union of Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, in the west. Hunor has
\nstated he was given no explanation for the ban. The Ukrainian Ambassador to
\nBucharest, Oleksandr Bankov, says that the ban was enforced in November 2017 and
\nsince then, Kelemen Hunor has tried to enter Ukraine using a Hungarian
\npassport, but he has been denied access every time. The Ukrainian diplomat has
\nstated that it’s common European practice for such decisions to not be
\nnecessarily accompanied by explanations. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry has
\ntermed the ban as unacceptable.<\/p>\n
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CULTURE – The crown of Queen Marie of Romania (1914-1927) and
\nthe liturgical flag of the Medieval ruler Stephen the Great (1457-1504), from
\nthe National History Museum, have been carried to France by a plane of the
\nRomanian Air Forces. Part of the Romania – France Cultural Season, the two
\nitems will be the central pieces of the exhibitions titled ‘Marie of Romania,
\nQueen and Artist, hosted by the Tau Palace in Reims, and ‘Romanian Liturgical
\nEmbroideries of Byzantine Tradition’, hosted by the Louvre Museum in Paris.
\nSince November 2018, until April 14th, 2019, Romania will have presented the
\nFrench public with some 200 projects aimed at promoting diplomacy through
\nculture. Between April 18th and July 14th, Romania will play host to similar
\nFrench events. Inaugurated last year by the presidents Klaus Iohannis and
\nEmmanuel Macron, the cultural season is aimed at renewing the mutual perception
\nand strengthening the economic, scientific and cultural ties between Romania
\nand France.<\/p>\n
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SPORT – The Romanian athlete Elena Andries has won three gold
\nmedals at the European Weightlifting Championships in Batumi, Georgia, in the
\n49 kg category. On Saturday Romania also won two bronze medals, thanks to
\nCosmina Pana with a 45 kg lift and Cristian Marian Luca in the 55kg clean and
\njerk event. The European Championships are a qualification criterion for next
\nyear’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. At the competition in Batumi, Romania is
\nrepresented by 14 athletes.<\/p>\n
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<\/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-103443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n