24 December 2016, UPDATE

The Romanian authorities take special measures for the winter holidays./ Moldovas new president Igor Dodon to meet Russias Vladimir Putin on 17 January.

Newsroom, 24.12.2016, 12:30

Romania holidays. The Romanian authorities have taken special measures for
the winter holidays. An additional 22,000 police troops, fire-fighters and
gendarmes will be on duty every day over the Christmas holidays across the
country. The interior ministry in Bucharest said the border police would work
overtime at the border crossing points to minimise waiting time. Also, nine
hospitals and the Bucharest ambulance service will provide emergency medical
assistance in the capital city on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Across the
country, emergency departments in all state hospitals will be open. At least
one pharmacy will be open in every big city in the country.

Prosecutions. Romania’s first
post-communist president Ion Iliescu said he has nothing to blame himself for
after being indicted for crimes against humanity, alongside other former
dignitaries, as part of an investigation into miners’ riots of 13-15 June 1990.
According to prosecutors, the defendants ordered, planned and coordinated a
generalised and systematic attack on the people protesting in central Bucharest
against the left-wing government that came to power after the fall of the
communist dictatorship in December 1989 and against the citizens of Bucharest.
Prosecutors say the attack involved forces of the interior and defence
ministries and the Romanian Intelligence Service, as well as more than 10,000
miners and workers from other parts of the country. After some violent
incidents which the army had already managed to control, Ion Iliescu said a
right-wing coup was being staged and called on the population to defend the
democratic institutions. The miners’ arrival in Bucharest, where they attacked
the University building and the headquarters of opposition parties and a number
of independent newspapers, left 4 dead and over 1,200 wounded.

Republic of Moldova. The new
president of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon on Friday night met the Russian
deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin who was due to attend Dodon’s swearing-in
ceremony but whose flight was delayed because of the fog. According to Radio
Chisinau, Rogozin told the Moldovan president that Vladimir Putin would meet
him at the Kremlin on the 17th of January. Dodon had already
announced that his first visit abroad would be to Moscow, where he would try to
restore his country’s strategic partnership with the Russian Federation. As far
as his domestic policy is concerned, Dodon said he would be in opposition to
the pro-European government in Chisinau and even try to dissolve Parliament and
call early elections. One of his priorities is to ban organisations calling for
the union of the Republic of Moldova with Romania.

Migrants. The Romanian border police have caught ten Iraqi citizens, including
nine adults and one child, who were trying to cross the border illegally from
Bulgaria to Romania through the green border, near Darabani, in the
south-east. The migrants were handed over to the Bulgarian border police for
further investigations. According to the Romanian authorities, the ten
migrants, aged between 12 and 50, identified themselves as Iraqi and said they
were planning to reach a country in Western Europe. They were carrying
documents showing they had applied for asylum in Bulgaria.

Christmas message. Princess Margaret, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown,
sent a Christmas message to the Romanians at home and abroad on behalf of her
father, King Mihai I. She emphasised that the values her father has been
promoting all his life are more important today than at any other time in
history, namely kindness, loyalty, a sense of duty, love of country, competence
and restraint. Princess Margaret also said the events in Europe and the world
show that democracy is facing a moment of instability and weakness, and that
prosperity does not automatically ensure balance and security.

Berlin attack. Three Jihadists suspected of links with the Tunisian
national Anis Amri, who is believed to have carried out the terrorist attack at
a Christmas market in Berlin, have been arrested in Tunisia. The three,
including Amri’s nephew, were part of a terrorist cell. In the meantime, the
German authorities have come under increased criticism over the fact that the
alleged attacker has managed to flee the country, all the more as he had been known to the German police for a long time. German chancellor Angela Merkel said the authorities would
tighten security measures in the wake of the attack claimed by the Islamic
State, in which 12 people were killed and 48 wounded.

Israeli settlements. The UN Security Council passed a resolution asking Israel
to put an end to its illegal settlement building in the Palestinian
territories. The Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu called the UN’s decision
shameful and said his country would not abide by it. The resolution was
approved after the US, Israel’s traditional ally, abstained from vote instead
of using its veto powers. The Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas has
hailed the resolution, which Jordan has described as a historic decision.