FORUM – On Thursday, President
\nKlaus Iohannis attended the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, marking 75 years since
\nthe liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, titled
\nRemembering the Holocaust, Fighting Antisemitism. This is the
\nwidest public event ever hosted by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in
\nJerusalem. Previously, President Iohannis ensured his Israeli counterpart, Reuven
\nRivlin, that Romania would continue to support the preservation of Holocaust
\nmemory, combat anti-Semitism, prevent discrimination and any means of violence.
\nRomanian Crown custodian Margareta on Thursday sent a letter to the Israeli
\npresident, recalling the Romanian Royal Family’s contribution to eradicating
\nanti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia. HM Margareta and Prince Radu were the
\nfirst members of the Romanian Royal Family to visit the State of Israel in April
\n2014. Representing King Michael I, the two visited the Yad Vashem Memorial
\nMuseum, observed a moment of silence before the engraved tomb stone devoted to
\nQueen Elena, while Margareta lit the eternal flame in the Hall of Remembrance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
JHA – Justice Minister
\nCatalin Predoiu is attending a two-day informal meeting of the Justice and Home
\nAffairs (JHA) Council hosted by Zagreb, Croatia. This is the first ministerial
\nmeeting hosted under the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European
\nUnion. In the justice section, line ministers will address progress on
\nstrategic policies in the fields of liberty, security and justice, legal
\neducation and the importance of legal networks in the civilian and trade
\nsectors. According to a Romanian Justice Ministry release, talks focus on civil
\nand criminal law cooperation, border protection, modernizing and digitizing
\njudicial systems and adapting to the impact of AI.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
UKRAINE – The Romanian State Secretary with
\nthe Romanian Foreign Ministry, Dan Neculaescu, on Thursday met with the
\nUkrainian ambassador to Bucharest, Olexandr Bankov. According to a communiqu\u00e9
\nissued by the ministry, the Romanian official reiterated the special importance
\nlaid on ensuring the rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine, in keeping
\nwith the international norms and standards in the field. Bucharest has voiced
\nconcern for the effects of the new law on secondary education, adopted on
\nJanuary 16th 2020, on the right to education in Romania of the
\nmembers of the Romanian community in Ukraine and the Romanian side’s interest
\nin boosting dialogue with Ukraine. The Romanian Foreign Ministry asked for
\nclarifications regarding the mentioning of Romania in the speech of the
\nUkrainian president Volodimir Zelenski, who said that in 1918 North Bukovina
\nwas occupied by Romanians, and Czechoslovakia took Transcarpathia. According to
\nAmbassador Bankov, the president’s statement was wrongly translated from
\nUkrainian into English on the Presidency’s official page. He voiced regret for
\nthe unpleasant situation and stated that it had been remedied. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
DEFICIT -
\nRomanian PM Ludovic Orban has given assurances that there is no risk for the
\nbudget deficit to grow in 2020. He has stated he understands the worries of the
\nFiscal Council, which has warned that the deficit might be higher than 3.6% of
\nthe GDP, as estimated by the Govenrment. Ludovic Orban has also said that there
\nis a plan meant to improve the collection of taxes and fees and to fight
\nagainst tax evation. On Thursday, the Fiscal Council spoke of a deficit of
\n4.6-4.8% of the GDP. The council’s analysis took into account the budget
\nimplementation in 2019 and the construction of the budget this year, but also
\nthe lowering of some taxes and fees. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FUNDS – Romania has so
\nfar absorbed 11.04 billion euros from EU structural funds over 2014-2020 under
\nthe Cohesion and Common Agricultural policies. Adding to this sum is another
\n7.92 billion euros in direct payments to farmers, Carmen Moraru, State
\nSecretary with the Romanian Ministry for European Funds, has said. Romania’s
\nabsorption rate has thus reached 36%, 3% below the European average. The
\nRomanian official has stated that in the 2014-2020 period Romania was allotted
\n22.4 billion euros under the Cohesion Policy. As regards the 2021-2027
\nfinancial framework, Romania will be earmarked 30.6 billion euros. Carmen
\nMoraru has attended a series of meetings in Brussels at the European Commission
\nand European Parliament, and has paid a visit to the Orsi Academy in Ghent,
\nBelgium, a pioneering research project funded under the Cohesion Policy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FLU VIRUS – A
\n78-year-old man from Arges County has died to the flu virus , raising the death
\ntoll to 3 since the start of the winter season. Arges is one of the most
\naffected counties, alongside Brasov and Cluj and the capital city, where
\nhundreds of cases have been reported. Classes are temporarily suspended in
\nseveral schools and kindergartens. At national level, over a quarter of the patients
\npresenting symptoms have been officially diagnosed as having the flu. Doctors
\nwarn the only real prevention measure is vaccination. The number of Romanians
\nwho have taken the anti-flu shot this year is higher compared to 2019, when
\nsome 200 people died to complications caused by the flu virus.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BREXIT
\n– Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal became law on Thursday, after it received assent
\nfrom the Queen, having cleared all its stages in parliament. The deal became
\nlaw after three years of fiery talks on when, how and even if Brexit should
\ntake place. Boris Johnson is to officially signed the withdrawal agreement in
\nthe coming days. The royal assent for the bill means that UK is set to leave
\nthe EU on January 31st, as long as the European parliament approves
\nthe deal as well, on January 29th. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TENNIS – Romanian tennis
\nplayer Simona Halep, seeded fourth at the Australian Open, on Thursday defeated Harriet Dart of Great Britain (173
\nWTA), in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 in the competition’s second round. In the
\nthird round, on Saturday, she will take on Iulia Putinteva of Kazakhstan. A finalist in 2018 in Melbourne, Halep is the
\nonly Romanian left in the competition. Romania is also represented in the
\nwomen’s doubles.<\/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":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n