11 July, 2016
Defense Minister Motoc: NATO summit success; Romania, Canada talk visas
Valentin Țigău, 11.07.2016, 00:00
NATO SUMMIT – Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc said today that the Romanian delegation to the recently concluded NATO summit in Warsaw has covered all the issues it was mandated to cover by Romania’s Higher Defense Council. He emphasized the fact that NATO’s new deterrence posture, with a strong forward presence, which is of major interest to Romania, is manifest on the eastern flank of the Alliance in the Baltic area, and in the Black Sea region.
CANADA VISAS – Dragos Tudorache, Chief of Staff to Romania’s PM, holds talks today in Brussels with the Canadian minister for migration, John McCallum, alongside representatives of the EC, on the issue of removing visa requirements for Romanians traveling to Canada. Romania and Bulgaria announced they would not sign the EU trade treaty with Canada until the visa requirement was removed. In April, Canada and the US got three additional months to comply with EU policies regarding reciprocal visa requirements. According to this principle, countries whose citizens can travel without a visa to any EU member country have to remove that requirement for citizens of the given EU country. Right now, Canada requires visas for Romanians and Bulgarians, while the US requires visas for citizens of five European members, including Romania. PM Dacian Ciolos had previously stated that PM Justin Trudeau, whom he met in Ottawa recently, said he was open to any mutually agreeable political solution.
ASSASSINATION – Romania’s general honorary consul to El Salvador, Ricardo Emanuel Salume Barake, was assassinated on Sunday in his residence in the capital of that country, according to the authorities in San Salvador. Nothing is yet known about the motives of the killing and the circumstances. This is the second diplomat assassinated in the Central American country this year. On 26 May, Panama’s honorary consul, Carlos Armando Lemus, was found dead in a car on a road in the capital. Violence has erupted once again in El Salvador, claiming the lives of 2,900 people this year alone in what is seen as one of the most violent countries in the world.
EURO 2016 – Portugal’s national football team on Sunday claimed the title of European champion, defeating France 1-0 after extra time in Paris. This is Portugal’s first such title, after they came very close in 2004, losing in the final played at home. France has two European titles, in 1984 and 2000, and one world title, in 1998. It also made it to the finals in 2006, but lost. The next European championship will be held in 2020 on 13 stadiums in as many countries, among them Romania.
RETAIL LAW – President Klaus Iohannis endorsed today a law that compels supermarkets to stock their shelves with at least 51% Romanian products, and forbids them from requiring fees and services from suppliers. Retailers with an annual net turnover of below two million Euro are exempt from the new regulations.
MILITARY EXERCISE – Three Romanian warships take part in a multinational exercise in Bulgaria’s territorial waters and international waters in the Black Sea for a week, starting today. The ships are the Queen Marie, a frigate with a crew of 240, the minesweeper Sublieutenant Alexandru Axente, and the missile ship Lastunul, with a crew of 60. The Romanian ships are part of the package provided by Romania to NATO forces. The exercise is meant to enhance interoperability between NATO partners.
