\n
<\/p>\n
COUNCIL
\nMEETING – Romania wants consistent financing for cohesion and agriculture
\npolicies, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday in Brussels on the
\nsidelines of a special session of the European Council, which has high on its
\nagenda the EU Multiannual Financial Framework for the period between 2021 and
\n2027. Other topics the President mentioned were digitization, artificial
\nintelligence, research and student mobility. Klaus Iohannis also wants the EU
\nbudget to be bigger than the previous one. Statements by several European
\nleaders on Wednesday suggest that negotiations over the EU’s multiannual
\nbudget, the first after Brexit, are going to be tough and complicated. The
\npurpose of the meeting is to reach consensus on the proposals elaborated on
\nFebruary 14 by European Council president, Charles Michel. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
MEETING
\n– Foreign Minister designate Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday met in Berlin with his
\nGerman counterpart, Heiko Mass, in the context of celebrating 140 years of
\nbilateral diplomatic relations. Aurescu recalled Romania’s legitimate goal of
\njoining the Schengen Area, highlighting our country’s fulfillment of all
\ntechnical criteria and the important contribution to EU security. The Romanian
\nofficial said the functioning of the Schengen Area will not be complete without
\nRomania’s accession. The two officials expressed convergent views regarding the
\nstrategic importance of the EU’s enlargement policy, the Romanian Minister
\nreiterating Romania’s support for opening EU accession negotiations with
\nAlbania and North Macedonia. The two also discussed the Three Seas Initiative,
\nwith the Romanian official expressing Romania’s support for Germany becoming a
\nfull member. Heiko Mass expressed his gratitude for Romania’s full observance
\nof the rights of ethnic Germans living in Romania. Bogdan Aurescu also met with
\nthe head of the Presidential Administration in Berlin, Stephan Steinlein. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
ATTACKS
\n– Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has firmly condemned the violent attacks
\nagainst innocent people in the German city of Hanau. Iohannis has expressed
\ncondolences to those who lost relatives and friends adding that Romania stands
\nin solidarity with Germany, Iohannis wrote on Twitter on Thursday. Nine people
\nwere killed in a shooting in Hanau, close to Frankfurt, on Wednesday. The
\nculprit who was found dead in his house, allegedly expressed far-right views in
\na letter of confession.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
FLU VIRUS
\n– The number of people who’ve died to the flu virus this flu season in Romania
\nhas reached 44. The last 4 victims are women aged 41-79, none of whom had taken
\nthe anti-flu shot. Some 7,600 new cases have been reported in Romania, a number
\nabove experts’ estimates. Medical professionals say the number of acute
\nrespiratory disease and flu virus infections will continue to rise over the
\ncoming period. Dozens of schools and kindergartens are partially or fully
\nclosed down due to the flu. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
CORONAVIRUS
\n– China on Thursday reported the most significant drop in the number of
\ninfections with the new coronavirus in the Hubei province, the centre of the
\nepidemic. This is the lowest rate in the past month although at national level,
\nChina has reported 114 new deaths, which bring the death toll up to 2,118 and
\nthe total number of infections to 74,500. In another development, two elderly
\npeople from the cruise liner Diamond Princess, where 600 people have been
\ninfected with the new virus, have also died, authorities in Japan have
\nannounced. The ship was quarantined in the port of Yokohama in early February.
\nThose infected, including two Romanian nationals, are being treated in
\nhospitals in Japan. The other 15 Romanians on board, who are healthy, will be
\nrepatriated under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. So far 6 of them, two
\npassengers and 4 crew members, have expressed their willingness to return to
\nRomania, the Foreign Ministry reports. The ship was quarantined until
\nWednesday, when disembarking procedures commenced.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TRAVEL FAIR
\n– The spring edition of Romania’s Travel Fair is underway in Bucharest from Thursday
\nuntil Sunday. The event has brought together over 300 travel agencies offering
\nholiday packages in Romania and abroad including for the upcoming Easter
\nholidays. Operators are pledging significant price cuts, even down to 50%. The
\nmost sought-after destinations are Turkey, Greece, Spain, Tunisia and Egypt but
\nthere are also exotic destinations like Bali or Thailand. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
WEIGHTLIFTING
\n– Romania will host the Under-20 World Weightlifting Championships in Bucharest
\nover March 14-21. The competition is rated Gold in the run-up to the Olympic
\nGames in Tokyo. Some 350 athletes from up to 70 countries have enrolled, the
\npresident of the Romanian Weightlifting Federation, Nicu Vlad, has said. Representing
\nRomania will be 15 athletes. <\/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":[28963,35339,29654,33229,28945,35379,35380,31595,32854],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-bogdan-aurescu","tag-coronavirus","tag-european-council-meeting","tag-flu-virus","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-multi-annual-financial-framework","tag-romania-germany-relations","tag-travel-fair","tag-weightlifting-championships"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n