October 7, 2016

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 07.10.2016, 12:00

TALKS Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is having talks today in Bucharest with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. The talks agenda includes the latest developments in the EU’s eastern vicinity with emphasis on the best ways of granting support to the EU partners, migration and the EU’s response to the phenomenon. The two officials will also be tackling the process of applying the EU’s Global Strategy for Foreign Policy and Security and the Romanian representation at the level of the European External Action Service. This is the first visit paid by the EU official to Bucharest. Mogherini is expected to also have talks with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu and participate in the international conference Bucharest Forum with a speech on Europe’s new strategic world vision.

F-16 Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos went to an airbase in southeastern Romania to participate in a ceremony occasioned by the arrival of the first six F-16 Fighting Falcons out of the total 12 bought from Portugal. The six fighters were taken over in late September from the Portuguese airbase of Monte Real. Romania decided to upgrade its air fleet and replace the ageing MiG 21s.

PRIZE The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the countrys more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220 000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people. Last year the prize went to the National Dialog Quartet in Tunisia for having built a pluralistic democracy in that country. The Nobel Prize in Economics is to be awarded next Monday and that for Literature on Thursday October 13th.

FOOTBALL Romania’s national football squad this coming Saturday take on Armenia in an away fixture counting towards the World Cup preliminaries in 2018. Three days after the match in Yerevan, Romania face Kazakhstan, also away from home. Last month the national team were held to a 1-all draw by Montenegro on home turf, in what counts as the debut game for the newly-appointed manager of the national team, the German Christoph Daum, the first foreign manager to have been appointed at the helm of the national team. In the same group, E, Denmark grabbed a 1-nil home win against Armenia, while Poland were held to a 2-all draw by Kazakhstan, away from home. This autumn, Romania also takes on Poland on home turf, on November 11th.

EXODUS Millions are fleeing the coastal regions of Florida and South Carolina before the arrival of hurricane Matthew, thought to be the strongest in the United States in the past decade. With gusts as high as 215 kilometer per hour, Matthew, which killed 340 people in Haiti, is a category 4, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm could have a disastrous impact in the two states, where president Obama has already declared the state of emergency.

FRIGATE The French frigate Le Premier-Maitre L’Her has today moored in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta in order to participate in a bilateral military exercise on Monday. The King Ferdinand frigate, two corvettes, two missile boats and three MIG-21 Lancers are to also take part in the exercise from the Romanian side. Le Premier-Maitre L’Her is a patrol ship that first saw service in 1981.

POUND The pound has today dropped to a 31-year low against the US $ and to a 7-year low against the euro. International press agencies believe the fall takes place amid fears of the ‘hard Brexit’. According to a survey published by Reuters, Britains financial industry might lose up to 38 billion pounds ($48.34 billion) in revenue in a so-called hard Brexit that would leave it with restricted access to the European Unions single market. Prime Minister Theresa May last Sunday confirmed that Britain would trigger the article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in the first quarter of 2017.