June 3, 2016 UPDATE
Click here for an update of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 03.06.2016, 12:15
Two people have died and almost 300 have been temporarily evacuated or rescued from emergency situations following flooding that has affected 90 localities in seven counties in eastern and central Romania. According to the interior ministry, more than 7,000 police, gendarmerie and fire fighter troops have been deployed to help the local population. Power cuts have also been reported and rail and road traffic has been disrupted in some areas.
Torrential rain falling in recent days has wrought havoc in Europe. Nine people died in southern Germany, where several towns have been flooded. In Paris, the river Seine will exceed its normal level by 6 metres. The museums of Louvre and Orsay, as well as a metro station, have been closed. Belgium and Poland have also been affected. More torrential rain is forecast for this weekend in several countries in central Europe, with flooding expected to become worse as a result.
Friday was the last day of the election campaign ahead of Sundays local elections in Romania. More than 250,000 candidates are running for the positions of mayor and local and county councillor across the country. For the first time this year, the winners will be decided in one round of voting. Another first is the use of a computer voter identification system to prevent multiple voting. In a Facebook post, President Klaus Iohannis urged Romanians to go to the polls on Sunday and elect the right people.
A day of national mourning has been declared in the majority Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova in memory of the four Romanian nationals killed in a helicopter crash almost 20 km from the capital Chisinau. The helicopter belonged to a Romanian emergency rescue service and was on its way to Cahul to collect a patient. Investigators from Romania and the Republic of Moldova have started an inquiry into the cause of the crash.
The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, reiterated at a conference on regional security issues organized by the presidency that NATO’s eastern flank had to be consolidated. The Romanian official underlined that there should be no competition between the allied states in this process and that a balanced strengthening of the Alliance’s eastern border had to be made. Otherwise, the allied countries would become vulnerable, president Iohannis warned. The Romanian Foreign Minister Lazăr Comănescu said that it was essential for Romania that NATO’s and the EU’s actions should converge. Also he highlighted the special significance of the NATO summit due in Warsaw on June 8th and 9th in reconfirming the solidarity and unity of the allies and in ensuring the credibility of NATO’s commitments, including the long-term adaptation of strategies from a political, military and institutional point of view.
The Norwegian justice decided to reunite with their parents all the 5 children of the Bodnariu Romanian- Norwegian family, after the children had been previously taken away from their parents. The children had been taken into the custody of the Norwegian state in the month of November 2015 after the family’s two daughters had told at school that at home they were subjected to corporal punishment. The Bodnariu case triggered off heated comments, polemics and even protests all over the world. The Romanian authorities initiated talks with their Norwegian counterparts at parliamentary, governmental and diplomatic levels.
