NATO – Wednesday
\nmarked the close of the NATO summit in London, where the leaders of the 29
\nMember States adopted a joint declaration reiterating the solidarity, unity and
\ncohesion of the Alliance. The document also shows that Russia’s repeated
\naggressions represent a threat to Euro-Atlantic security. Attending the summit
\nPresident Klaus Iohannis said NATO must clearly identify its threats and
\nenemies as well as its position towards the rising powers. President Iohannis
\nsaid after the summit that NATO remains united and strong. NATO wants a fair
\nand equitable disbursement or resources for defense, whereas states that have
\nso far not allotted 2% of the GDP to defense spending have pledged to
\naccelerate procedures to this end, President Iohannis pointed out. According to
\nthe President, the Alliance wants to kick off a reflection process on the
\nestablishment of new strategies. On Tuesday evening, Klaus Iohannis attended
\nthe reception hosted by Queen Elisabeth II at Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
LAW – The Romanian
\nChamber of Deputies, a decision making body, on Wednesday adopted the bill for
\nthe repeal of the compensatory appeal law with 272 votes for and 5 abstentions.
\nThe law was quite controversial because it allowed for the liberation of
\nthousands of detainees ahead of due date. Some of them, who had been convicted
\nfor serious crimes, retuned to criminal behavior. Justice Minister Catalin
\nPredoiu explained recently that he supported the abrogation of the law, given
\nthat its faulty content endangered Romania’s citizens. He pointed out that the
\njustice ministry representatives drafted a document including transitory
\nmeasures to be applied in penitentiaries in the future. The bad conditions
\nexisting in penitentiaries generated lots of complaints at the European Court
\nof Human Rights. The authorities mainly want to improve the quality of
\ndetention places.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
EBRD – Prime
\nMinister Ludovic Orban wants a closer cooperation with the European Bank for
\nReconstruction and Development, which would translate into investment and
\ntechnical assistance projects in such fields as transport, energy, healthcare
\nand constructions. Ludovic Orban on Wednesday met in Bucharest with a
\ndelegation of the EBRD led by Charlotte Ruhe, managing director for Central and
\nEastern Europe. The meeting was meant at presenting the Bank’s strategy for Romania
\nfor the 2020-2025 period. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC
\nPARTY – The Social Democratic Party’s executive committee on Wednesday
\ndecided the future party leadership would be elected at a special congress on
\nFebruary 29. We recall Viorica Dancila resigned from the position of leader
\nafter her failure in the recent presidential election won by Klaus Iohannis,
\nsupported by the National Liberal Party. This was the second electoral defeat
\nof the Social Democrats after that in the EP elections of May 26. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
OSCE – Foreign Minister
\nBogdan Aurescu on Thursday will attend the 26th meeting of the Ministerial
\nCouncil of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). On
\nthis occasion Minister Aurescu will reiterate Romania’s key objectives
\nreferring to security and cooperation in Europe. Bogdan Aurescu will attend
\ndebates on the prospects of Europe’s security and will reaffirm Bucharest’s commitment
\nto observe the values of multilateralism and to support efforts to consolidate
\nthe role of the OSCE, the Foreign Ministry reports. On the sidelines of the event,
\nMinister Aurescu will have a series of bilateral meetings with counterparts
\nfrom participant states. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
HANDBALL – The
\nRomanian national women’s handball team lost 26-27 to Montenegro in Group C at the
\nWorld Championship hosted by Japan. In the previous matches the Romanian
\nhandballers lost to Spain and won against Senegal and Kazakhstan. To qualify to
\nthe main groups, Romania needs to defeat Hungary in the last group fixture. In
\nthe same group, Spain defeated Kazakhstan and advanced to the next phase.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\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":[28963,35222,29081,28945,30168,29274,29596,31286,29346],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-103994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-bogdan-aurescu","tag-compensatory-appeal","tag-ebrd","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-ludovic-orban","tag-nato-summit","tag-osce","tag-romanias-handball-team","tag-social-democratic-party"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n