March 11, 2017 UPDATE

A multi-speed Europe for an indefinite period of time might lead to the Unions split, Romanian President Klaus Johannis has warned at the European Summit in Brussels

Newsroom, 11.03.2017, 18:46

EUROPEAN COUNCIL– The EU leaders have made public their intention to re-launch the Union after the Brexit, and a document on the Unions future, the so-called White Paper, is to be adopted at a meeting due in Rome on March 25. The joint declaration and the prospective inclusion in the text of the concept of a multi-speed Europe have been among the issues discussed at the Brussels summit, where Romania was represented by President Klaus Iohannis. He said he had told some of his peers attending the Council meeting that a multi-speed Europe for an indefinite period of time is not a good solution, because it might lead to the Unions split. Romania shouldnt however have fears relative to multi-speed projects, such as the one regarding the European Prosecutor, the president also said. The European Council President, Donald Tusk, and the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, have explained that the formula “a multi-speed Europe has been misunderstood. Donald Tusk has said that everything can actually be reduced to the formula “if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, we go together.

UNIFIED PAY LAW – Fresh talks will be held in Bucharest next week between the government and trade unions on the unified pay law for state sector employees. The draft is to be finalised by the end of the month. So far, the government has held talks with trade unions in the education, healthcare and social assistance, with those in the domain or public order and safety, with representatives of cultural institutes as well as with trade unions with the Labour Ministry. The first to benefit from pay-rises will be doctors and nurses. Some of the novelties included in the draft law include granting the equivalent of two minimum national wages per year, to buy foodstuffs, to all state sector employees and a so-called holiday gift voucher.

EXERCISE – An extensive international intervention exercise in case of heavy flooding is unfolding until Sunday in Timis County, western Romania. The exercise enjoys European financing and the participation of trainers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Attending are also support teams from several countries like Austria, Germany, France and Latvia. According to the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, the exercise is like a test to see whether teams from several countries can cooperate to intervene in case of disaster.

COMMEMORATION – Spaniards on Saturday commemorated the victims of the terror attacks of March 11, 2004, in Madrid, which killed 191 people, among whom 16 Romanians, and left some 2,000 others injured. On the same day, several bombs went off in 4 commuter trains in the stations of Atocha, El Pozo and Santa Eugenia. The masterminds of the attacks are still unknown to the present day. The trial came to a close in 2007, with the victims relatives and the survivors saying the sentences were much too easy. It was the severest terror attack in Spain which led to the withdrawal of Spanish forces from Iraq. After this bloody attack, the European Parliament declared March 11 the European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism.

RUGBY – Romanias national rugby team on Saturday defeated Belgium, 33-17, in the fourth round of the Rugby Europe Championship, a competition which, as of this year, replaces the former European Nations Cup, the second most important continental rugby tournament, after the Six Nations Tournament. In the matches played so far, Romania defeated Russia away from home, outperformed Spain on home soil, but it surprisingly lost to Germany, away from home. In the world classification, Romania ranks 16th and Belgium 27th.

JUDO– Romanian woman judoka Larisa Florian has won the gold medal in the 52 kg category, at the Grand Slam tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to the official site of the Romanian Judo Federation. After grabbing a bronze medal in Dusseldorf, Germany, Larisa Florian manages to score a new exceptional result, thus joining the Top 10 of the best athletes in the world in the 52 kg category. Larisa Florian is among the Romanian young talents considered to stand high chances to get a medal in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (Translated by D. Vijeu)