August 27, 2017 UPDATE
Romania stands a chance to host the European Medicines Agency, says the Romanian minister delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu/The Republic of Moldova on Sunday celebrated 26 years since it proclaimed its independence
Florentin Căpitănescu, 27.08.2017, 20:00
EMA – Romania stands a chance to host the European Medicines Agency, EMA, the Romanian minister delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu said on Sunday. According to Negrescu, the relocation of the agency in Bucharest from London, after Brexit, would bring significant advantages to Romania. Minister Negrescu has also added it is important for all Romanian officials to support Romanias candidacy, also by pursuing an intense diplomatic campaign. Romanias capital city is competing with 18 cities, including Amsterdam, Bonn, Brussels, Dublin, Milan, Stockholm, Vienna, Warsaw, Sofia and Zagreb. With 900 employees, the European Medicines Agency is a decentralised body of the EU, responsible for the protection of public and animal health through the scientific evaluation and supervision of medicines.
REP. OF MOLDOVA – The Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet country with a predominantly Romanian speaking population on Sunday celebrated 26 years since it proclaimed its independence. On August 27, 1991, after the failure of the Neo-Bolshevik coup in Moscow, Parliament, picketed by hundreds of thousands of protesters voted the declaration of independence from the Soviet Union of the republic set up on the Romanian territories annexed by Stalin in 1940. On the same day, Romania was the first country in the world to recognise the independence of its new neighbour. On Sunday, the Romanian Foreign Ministry reiterated Romanias wish to support the Republic of Moldova on its European path, as well as all its citizens. After the signing in 2014 of association and free trade agreements between Chishinau and Brussels, Moldovan citizens can travel freely to the EU, and firms can export and sell their products on the community market in advantageous conditions. At present, the coalition government led by PM Pavel Filip continues to be a promoter of Moldovas EU rapprochement, whereas the pro-Russian Socialist president, Igor Dodon, wants the republic to return onto Moscows orbit.
THE ROMANIAN LANGUAGE DAY – Preparations for the Romanian Language Day, celebrated on August 31, started in the communities of Romanians living outside the borders of the country. The main organiser of the event is the Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi Institute for the Romanians Around the World, subordinated to the line ministry. The series of events continues until September 6. They are aimed at promoting Romanian language and identity in the historical Romanian communities in neighbouring Serbia, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Initiated in 2013 by the Romanian Parliament, the Romanian Language Day overlaps the national holiday of the Republic of Moldova, and is an homage to the national awakening movement in the neighbouring state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population. On August 31, 1989, during the Soviet regime, the Moldovan Parliament, picketed by some 750 thousand people, accounting for one sixth of the republics population, decided to declare Romanian the state language, also adopting Latin script instead of the Cyrillic one, imposed by the occupiers after the armed annexation of 1940.
MIGRANTS – The Romanian border police have stopped six Iraqi citizens while trying to illegally cross Romanias border with Hungary. They were asylum seekers in Romania and declared their intention to reach a country in Western Europe. According to the Border Police Territorial Inspectorate, a surge in the illegal migration attempts has recently been registered along Romanias western border. This week, border police officers found over 100 migrants, of which 42 children, in a guest house in Timisoara. Most of them came from Serbia and tried to cross the border into Hungary and then to continue their way to Western Europe.
PARIS –France and Germany are expected to propose a new tax on Internet Giants in September. The announcement was made on Sunday by the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, who claims these companies, mostly American should pay a fair contribution to the public finances in the countries where they earn money. The French official said that at the future Council of the EU finance ministers a new proposal will be made to tax “GAFA, the acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. According to FP, thanks to their profile and field of activity, the Internet giants are champions of fiscal optimisation through financial arrangements which reduce the taxes they pay in Europe.
