In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, we felt the Romanians by our side, the Belgian ambassador to Bucharest, Thomas Baekelandt has said. And it was not only the Romanian officials who expressed their compassion and support, but the Romanians in general! Thursday was a day of national mourning in Romania, in token of solidarity with all those who lost their relatives or friends. Just like in many other cities, the Romanian Government\u2019s headquarters was lit up with the Belgian flag colours, black, yellow and red, in solidarity with Brussels. <\/p>\n
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Politicians and prominent figures of the Romanian society, foreign ambassadors accredited to Bucharest, as well as ordinary citizens, came to Belgium\u2019s Embassy in Romania\u2019s capital city to write a message in the book of condolences, pay floral tributes or light candles, in solidarity with the Belgian people, severely hit by Tuesday\u2019s attacks. The first to sign the book of condolences was the French ambassador to Bucharest, Fran\u00e7ois Saint-Paul, whose country was severely hit two times last year: in January, the terror attacks at Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and in November, when a string of Jihadist attacks took 130 lives.<\/p>\n
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Other heads of diplomatic missions who signed the book of condolences opened at the Belgian Embassy in Bucharest included the ambassadors of Germany, Spain, Japan, Greece, Bosnia, Serbia, Cyprus, Poland, Turkey and Cuba. Romania\u2019s President, Klaus Iohannis, upon returning from a state visit to Turkey, urged people to show solidarity and courage:<\/p>\n
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Klaus Iohannis: \u201cI am confident that we can combat this scourge of attacks, only if all countries work closely together. The words which come to my mind when I\u2019m thinking about what should be done are solidarity, calm, unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In his turn, the Prime Minister, Dacian Ciolos, has launched an appeal for solidarity in the fight against terrorism:<\/p>\n
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Dacian Ciolos: \u201cI firmly believe that only by boosting cooperation among us, the EU member states, we can we further preserve the freedom area we have within the Union, and which is worst tried. At present, each member state has the tendency to be in retreat, with the aim of protecting itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Valeriu Zgonea, stood for tightening security: <\/p>\n
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\u201cFreedoms are extremely important. But in order to have liberties, you should first ensure people\u2019s welfare, well-being and security. Security is extremely important to us, at home and in the street.\u201d <\/p>\n
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Religions, dialogue and peace, are the terms of a theoretical equation, which however turns out to be far from reality, because bombs are detonated in the name of religion and the situation degenerates into major conflicts. Muslim and Christian religious leaders on Thursday attended a forum organised by the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest, reiterating that extremism and fanaticism emerge out of a lack of education and as a result of manipulation. And, they agreed that dialogue should be the religious authorities\u2019 response to Islamic radicalism, as dialogue can promote and herald a culture of peace and tolerance.<\/p>\n
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(Translated by D. Vijeu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania has joined the international community in firmly condemning the Brussels attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":67979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29330,29288,29483,28945,33339],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-67978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-attacks","tag-brussels","tag-dacian-ciolos","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-solidarity"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n