October 27, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 27.10.2015, 12:15
Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday voted through new rules that will scrap mobile roaming charges in the 28 EU countries as of June 15, 2017. Users will instead pay the same rate for calls, texts and data that they pay back home. Before that happens though, roaming charges will be capped at 0.05 euros per minute for outgoing calls, 0.02 euros for texts, and 0.05 euros for each megabyte of data as of April 30, 2016. A cap for incoming calls will be confirmed at a later date. Andrus Ansip, European Commission vice-president in charge of the digital single market, hailed the MEPs decision to scrap roaming charges, calling it an “historic achievement.”
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis green lighted on Tuesday the prosecutors’ request to start criminal proceedings against three former officials involved in the miners’ riots in June 1990. They are former prime minister Petre Roman, former deputy prime minister Gelu Voican Voiculescu and former defence minister, Victor Atanasie Stanculescu, all of them charged with crimes against humanity. Last Wednesday, prosecutors also indicted the former head of state Ion Iliescu and the former chief of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Virgil Magureanu. Prosecutors hope to bring justice in this case, the most serious event to have ever occurred in Romania after the anti-communist revolution of December 1989.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Victor Ponta met on Tuesday at the Cotroceni Palace to discuss ways to handle the wave of refugees in the Western Balkans, Romania’s official stand as to the migrant crisis and the stage of preparations for receiving the migrants. According to a release by the Presidency, the two officials also discussed about strengthening cooperation among the states in the region.
The main opposition party in Romania, the National Liberal Party, tabled on Tuesday a simple motion with the Senate against the deputy prime minister and interior minister, Gabriel Oprea, one week after the tragic accident that killed a policeman that was part of his official motorcade. The document entitled “Gabriel Oprea dismissed for contempt, arrogance, abuse and disdain in exercising his public function” is signed by 49 Liberal and non-affiliated deputies. They ask for the resignation of the interior minister because of the way in which the Interior Ministry has managed the situation. On Monday the Romanian President called on Gabriel Oprea to resign following the flawed manner in which the ministry communicated on the issue. Oprea said he would not resign.
Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday received the Ambassador of the Republic of India to Romania, Riva Ganguly Das, on a presentation visit. The two officials discussed about the Romanian-Indian ties, which have been consolidated over the past few years at a political and diplomatic level as well as at an economic level. Minister Aurescu and Ambassador Riva Ganguly Das also tackled aspects of the excellent bilateral cooperation within the United Nations.
Romanian Simona Halep, no. 2 in the world, was defeated by Maria Sharapova, seed no. 4, at the WTA Finals in Singapore. The Russian withstood a Halep fightback to win 6-4 6-4 and move top of the Red Group. In her debut game on Sunday, Halep outperformed Italian Flavia Pennetta in two sets 6-0, 6-3, while Sharapova obtained a three-set win against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
