May 18, 2016 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 18.05.2016, 12:15
The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, held talks on Wednesday, in Vilnius, with his Lithuanian counterpart, Dalia Grybauskaite, on regional security and the common position their two countries will have at the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw. The Romanian head of state said that a balanced approach was needed to consolidate NATO’s eastern flank, with measures targeting both its northern and southern sides. Speaking about the refugee crisis, the Romanian head of state said that sanctions against EU states that oppose the refugees’ relocation did not solve anything. As an alternative, Klaus Iohannis proposed strengthening the EUs external borders, referring mainly to the FRONTEX agency, in charge of controlling the external borders of the union, to which Romania is the second largest contributor after Germany. In turn, the Lithuanian leader said that Romania and Lithuania had similar positions on this issue, in the sense that the EU had to protect its borders and give migrants the possibility to integrate.
The US supports Romania in its effort to modernize and re-technologize the Army, the American ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, said on Wednesday. He added that Romania and the US had a tight cooperation relations through the bilateral Strategic Partnership and their NATO membership. The American diplomat made these statements on the inauguration, in Bucharest, of the Black Sea Defense & Aerospace Exhibition. Open until May 20, the international exhibition is devoted to the aeronautical industry, to defense, national security and private security.
The Romanian education trade unionists are expected to start talks with government officials on the issue of the emergency ordinance regarding the salaries of state employees, the Government’s spokesman, Dan Suciu, announced on Wednesday. The invitation for talks follows the announcement made Wednesday by the education trade unionists to organize a protest rally on June 1, against the backdrop of their discontent with the draft emergency ordinance regarding the salaries of state employees, which has been launched for public debate. The PM Dacian Ciolos explained that this draft law will correct only part of the system’s irregularities.
The secretary of state for strategic affairs within the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Daniel Ionita, headed Romania’s delegation at the meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers held in Sofia, on Wednesday, under the presidency of Bulgaria. He reiterated Bucharest’s commitment to contributing to the effort of the international community to fight international terrorism, mentioning the Romanian-Spanish initiative to set up an International Criminal Court for judging terrorist crimes. The Council of Europe has to promote fundamental values such as the universality of human rights, of democracy and of the rule of law, which Romania supports and promotes, Daniel Ionita added. The meeting in Sofia also marked the take over by Estonia of the 6-month rotating presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The Romanian tennis player Adrian Ungur (204 ATP) on Wednesday defeated the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (205 ATP), 2-0 in the sets, in the 2nd round of the qualifiers in Roland Garros, the 2nd Grand Slam tournament of the year. Marius Copil (190 ATP) won, in two sets, the match against the Belgian Kimmer Coppejans (196 ATP). In the women’s competition, also in the 2nd round of the qualifiers, the Romanians Sorana Cirstea (99 WTA) and Andreea Mitu (114 WTA) will face the Slovak Jana Cepelova (134 WTA) and the Chinese Jia-Jing Lu (208 WTA) respectively. Another 4 Romanian tennis players are on the main table of the Roland Garros singles: Simona Halep (6 WTA), Irina Begu (28 WTA), Monica Niculescu (35 WTA) and Alexandra Dulgheru (129 WTA).
(news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
