March 22, 2018

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Newsroom, 22.03.2018, 13:47

EUROPEAN COUNCIL SUMMIT — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is taking part in the European Council Summit underway in Brussels. According to the Presidency, Klaus Iohannis will highlight Romania’s plea for a close partnership between the EU and Great Britain post-Brexit, which should include an economic and trade component and cooperation in the fields of security, defense and foreign policy. European leaders will discuss the post-Brexit transition agreement, which covers the March 2019-December 2020 timespan. Moreover, the agenda for talks also includes the latest measures adopted in the US on the introduction of taxes on steel and aluminum imports, EU-Turkey relations and the situation for the former Russian spy Sergey Skripal.

PROTEST — Some 100 police officers are today protesting in front of the Interior Ministry building in Bucharest, disgruntled with work conditions and low salaries. Trade union representatives say the whole system needs to be reworked so that citizens should benefit from quality services. Unions have announced a 10-thousand-strong protest on Saturday, which will be followed by a march on the Government headquarters.

RULING — The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest today postponed a final ruling on the corruption investigation of Social-Democrat Mircea Cosma, the president of the Prahova County Council and his son, Vlad Cosma, for Monday, March 26. The two were sentenced in a court of first instance at 8 years and 5 years in prison respectively. The two Social Democrats were prosecuted by the anti-corruption prosecutors for bribe taking, abuse of office and influence peddling. Subsequently, Vlad Cosma accused the prosecutors of having used him to fabricate evidence against former Social-Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta and former Social-Democrat MP Sebastian Ghita, which caused a huge political and media scandal in Bucharest.

EXTREME WEATHER — Interior Minister Carmen Dan called a winter task force meeting of all the authorities that deal with winter-related problems. Previously local authorities decided to shut down all schools and kindergartens on Friday in Bucharest and other counties in the south. A similar measure was adopted in late February. Meteorologists have issued a code yellow alert against strong wind and heavy snowfall in place since Thursday afternoon until Friday evening for southern Romania. On Thursday evening a new code orange alert against heavy snowfall and strong wind will take effect. Temperatures are expected to range 10 degrees below the normal average for this time of the year. The noon reading in Bucharest was 0 degrees Celsius.

COMMEMORATION — Great Britain today marks 1 year since the March 22, 2017 terrorist attack in London, which killed 35 people and wounded scores of others. A Romanian woman was also killed in the attack. Also today, 2 years ago, the Islamic State staged two attacks, on Zaventem International Airport in Brussels and at the Maelbeek subway station, killing 32 people and wounding some 300. According to a survey, one in three Belgians are still afraid to use the public transportation system.

SARKOZY — Former right-wing French President Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted and subjected to legal restriction as part of the ongoing investigation into the financing of his 2007 presidential election campaign. Sarkozy had been previously detained for 26 hours. Accusing the lack of hard evidence against him, Nicolas Sarkozy claims the case against him is purely defamatory. A May 2012 investigation suggested Sarkozy was the beneficiary of a €50-million grant from Muammar Ghaddafi’s regime to fund his election campaign. Meanwhile the investigation has brought to light new evidence. During his term as president Nicolas Sarkozy received the former Libyan leader in Paris. Sarkozy was also one of the Ghaddafi’s staunch opponents, prior to his demise and death in 2011.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player WTA no. 1 Simona Halep is today playing Oceane Dodin of France, 98 WTA, in the second round of the Miami tournament, totalling some $8 million in prize money. Also today, Monica Niculescu is playing Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, while Sorana Cirstea is going up against Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan. Irina Begu and Mihaela Buzarnescu were knocked out in the first round.

FOOTBALL — Romania’s under-19 team on Wednesday trounced Serbia 4-nil on home turf, in Group 4 of the elite round of the European Championship. In the other group fixture, also in Ploiesti, Sweden drew nil-all against Ukraine. The next two games, Romania vs. Sweden and Ukraine vs. Serbia will be played on Saturday. The first-ranked team will qualify to the European Championship scheduled to take place in July. In another development, Romania’s senior football team is preparing for the two friendly matches against Israel on Saturday away from home and against Sweden at home on Tuesday. We recall Romania missed the chance to qualify to the World Cup this year hosted by Russia.

(Translated by V. Palcu)