DEFENSE – Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, on Tuesday said that
\nthe presence of Portuguese military with the South-East Multinational Brigade
\nin Caracal alongside other servicemen from North Macedonia and other NATO
\nstates plays a key role to strengthening Romania’s defense and security. During
\na visit paid by his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Caracal,
\nthe Romanian president said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has once again
\nhighlighted NATO’s capacity to act firmly, unitarily and coherently to support
\nthe Ukrainian people and to strengthen and reinforce allies on the eastern
\nflank. Talks between the two heads of state focused on security developments in
\nUkraine and providing humanitarian assistance to this country ahead of the cold
\nseason, as well as on facilitating grain exports. At bilateral level, the two
\nofficials tackled the possibility of boosting Romanian-Portuguese cooperation
\nin the fields of defense, economy, trade, digitization, renewable energy,
\nhealthcare and education. <\/p>\n
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STRATEGY – The Government of Romania has adopted the 2022-2027
\nNational Strategy on promoting equal opportunities and combating domestic
\nviolence. The document stipulates measures and actions in such fields as
\nhealthcare, education and the labor market, by making national policies reflect
\ngender prospects. To prevent and combat domestic violence, the government seeks
\nto create more safe housing and to provide psychological and legal counseling to
\nthe victims. Other measures target marginalized groups such as Roma women,
\nwomen in rural areas and women with disabilities. <\/p>\n
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REVOLUTION – The city of Timi\u0219oara in western Romania on Tuesday marked a solemn moment
\ncelebrating the day when Timi\u0219oara became
\nthe first city in Romania free of communism. In line with recent tradition, a
\ngroup of former participants in the revolution stepped on the balcony of the
\nOpera building to reenact the events of 1989, when on December 20, tens of
\nthousands of people took to the streets of Timi\u0219oara to protest against Nicolae Ceau\u0219escu’s dictatorship. The anti-communist revolution quickly spread
\nto Bucharest and other cities. 1,000 people were killed and another 3,000 were
\nwounded in clashes with security forces. Romania is the only country in Eastern
\nEurope where the transition from communism resulted in bloodshed. <\/p>\n
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EUROSTAT – The EU’s natural gas consumption dropped by 20.1% over
\nAugust-November 2022 compared to average for the 2017-2021 period, the Eurostat
\nreports. The EU plans to cut by 15% its natural gas consumption over August
\n2022 – March 2023, compared to the average of the last five years, in order to
\ncurb the bloc’s dependency on fossil fuels from Russia. According to Eurostat,
\nover August-November 2022, natural gas consumption went down in most EU member
\nstates. The sharpest decline, 40%, was reported in Finland, Latvia and
\nLithuania. Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania and Estonia reported a 30%
\ndecrease. Despite curbing their consumption, six EU members have failed to meet
\nthe target, while consumption actually went up in Malta and Slovakia.<\/p>\n
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TOURISM – The village of R\u0103\u0219inari in central Romania was
\nshortlisted by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) among the
\nbest tourism villages of 2022. R\u0103\u0219inari
\nwas included on a list of 32 villages in 18 countries across the world
\nthat are embracing tourism as a driver of development and new opportunities for
\njobs and income. The mayor of R\u0103\u0219inari
\nsaid the village is located at the foot of the mountain. The air here is
\nclean, the village is surrounded by fir tree forests, and there are many
\nguesthouses and guided tours. There are plenty of things to do and see, the
\nofficial added. The Best Tourism Villages award ceremony will take place in
\nFebruary, and comes in recognition of the villages’ commitment to innovation
\nand sustainability in all its aspects – economic, social and environmental. (VP)<\/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":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[31344,29594,28945,30988,37265,29645,37266,36572],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-anti-communist-revolution-of-1989","tag-eurostat","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-nato-multinational-brigade","tag-rasinari","tag-timisoara","tag-unwto","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n