May 16, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 16.05.2015, 12:15
Pope Francis has accepted President Klaus Iohannis’s invitation to visit Romania. The event might take place in 2018, but it has to be prepared carefully said the Romanian President upon his return from Italy on Saturday. He stated that during the talks he held at the Vatican on Friday, the Pope was very much interested in the general situation in Romania and the Black Sea area. The meeting with Pope Francis occurred on the day celebrating 25 years since the resumption of diplomatic ties between Romania and the Holy See. During his visit to Italy, Klaus Iohannis went to the Romanian pavilion at the Universal Exhibition in Milan and met with representatives of the Romanian community in the peninsula.
NATO MPs have gathered for 3 days in Budapest to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and measures to fight hybrid conflicts, which combine the military component with cyber attacks and political, economic and propaganda actions. These are issues of concern for NATO, which were also tackled at the previous NATO foreign ministers’ summit. The participants will also discuss prospects regarding Afghanistan and its security forces, after NATO passed from a fighting to a training mission in the area. Other topics on the agenda of talks are negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, the developments in the Balkans and the conflicts in Syria, Libya and Iraq, which have triggered an increase in the number of refugees. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly has 257 representatives from the parliaments of the 28 countries that are members of the Alliance.
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Saturday promulgated the law on the funding of political parties and election campaigns. Initially, the law had been sent back to Parliament for re-examination, and the legislative made the changes requested by the head of state. According to the law, loans to parties will have to be returned within 3 years at the most, the money will be lent and returned only via a bank account, and the amounts that are not returned within a set timeframe shall be regarded as donations.
Ukrainian President Petro Porosenko on Friday promulgated the laws banning any type of communist propaganda and glorifying nationalist combatants, laws that made Moscow furious, France Presse reports. Voted by Parliament on April 9th, the laws are aimed at breaking up with Ukraine’s Soviet past for good, at a time when the authorities are fighting against the pro-Russia separatists, in the east of the country. The laws in question forbid any Soviet symbol, condemn the Communist regime and open the archives of the Soviet special services. Passed almost a quarter of a century after the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, these laws draw an equal sign between the communist and the Nazi regimes. There are similar laws in Poland and the Baltic countries.
The former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to death on Saturday, together with another 100 defendants. The penalty is to be either confirmed or denied on June 2nd. Morsi and the others are accused of plotting mass prison escapes, as well as for perpetrating violence during people’s revolt of 2011 against the former number one in Cairo, Hosni Mubarak. Morsi, who was the first president elected democratically in June 2012, was ousted in 2013 through a military coup. In April he was already tried for violence and instigation of violence and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Amnesty International has stated that the death penalty has become the Egyptian authorities’ favourite tool to remove the political opposition.
The best Romanian tennis player at the moment, Simona Halep, has failed to qualify for the final of the WTA tournament in Rome, with over 2 million dollars in prize money. She was defeated in the semi-finals held on Saturday by the Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Simona Halep will get a check of 100 thousand Euros and 350 WTA points. The next tournament that Simona Halep will participate in is the French Open, due to start on May 24th in Paris.
