March 30, 2017 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 30.03.2017, 20:05
SPEECH Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday said Romania does not support the idea of a Europe of concentric circles of integration or a multi-speed Europe, which might lead to increased social and economic gaps between member countries. In a speech delivered at the Summit of the European People’s Party in La Valletta, Malta, the Romanian head of state said that at present the EU is seeing a watershed moment with complex crises of unprecedented intensity. Terror attacks, migration, nationalism, populism, Brexit and growing Euroscepticism have become major challenges. I hope this congress in Malta — a country currently holding the EU rotating presidency — will strengthen cohesion at the level of the EU, the Romanian president has also added.
VISIT Romania’s Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Thursday received the Crown Prince Charles of Great Britain on a formal visit to Bucharest. The two tackled the bilateral relations particularly from the military and political point of view, foreign policy issues and the situation of the Romanian community in the UK. Prince Charles agenda also included meetings with members of the Romanian royal family with the patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Daniel, as well as a visit to the village museum. On Wednesday Romanian president Klaus Iohannis awarded Prince Charles ‘the Star of Romania’ National Order in token of appreciation for promoting Romania’s image abroad. On the occasion Prince Charles of Wales said that everything he had done in the past 20 years since he started visiting Romania was to help the Romanians remember how special and unique their country was, their architectural heritage and above all, the potential they have in today’s world. This is the second formal visit Prince Charles has paid to Romania.
MEMORANDUM The leftist government in Bucharest is preparing a memorandum related to the impact of Brexit on Romania, deputy Prime Minister Sevil Shhaideh announced on Thursday. The minister said that every ministry had been analyzing for a week the impact the UK’s leaving the Union would have on their domain of activity. This memorandum, which is to be presented in two weeks time, will include measures that are to be taken after the Brexit, the deputy Prime Minister has explained. In another move the government in London has presented details of the legislation aimed at ending the supremacy of the EU laws over the British ones including those taking the country out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May officially launched the start of Brexit talks after 44 years of membership and a privileged status inside the community. In turn the European Council president Donald Tusk said he would present on Friday a proposal on the main lines of the negotiation process.
TENNIS– Romania’s number one woman tennis player, Simona Halep (no. 5 WTA) was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the WTA tennis tournament in Miami, Florida, with 6.9 million dollars in prize money. She was defeated on Wednesday by the British player Johanna Konta, 3-6, 7-6 , 6-2. The two tennis players had earlier met only once, in 2015, in the eights finals of the Wuhan Tournament in China, when the victory was secured by Konta, too. Simona Halep was the last Romanian woman tennis player performing in this edition of the Miami Tournament.
