January 30, 2019 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 30.01.2019, 20:18
DEFENCE Romania is strongly committed to finding a peaceful solution to all crises currently facing the international community, as it has done in the past 27 years, during which it contributed with troops to various UN missions. Since 1991 up to now about 10 thousand Romanian servicemen took part in 25 suchlike missions in many world regions, Romania’s Defence Minister Gabriel Les said during the talks he had with Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Undersecretary for Peackeeping Operations. Les also went on to say that Romania had four mandates as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and applied for another one for the period 2020-2021. The Romanian Defence Minister also met Jorge Domecq, the Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency. Talks focused on the consolidation of the security and defence dimension at the EU level in full coordination with NATO.
MEETINGS The partnership between the European Union and NATO is essential and has been consolidated in recent years while strengthening European defence and the EU-NATO cooperation is a reason of pride, says the High EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini who has come to Bucharest to participate in the informal meetings of the EU defence and foreign ministers, events staged by the Romanian presidency of the EU Council. High on the agendas are topical issues for the EU, NATO and the UN including the stage and perspectives for the implementation of the EU’s global strategy for foreign and security policy. Attending the meeting are also NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg and the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix.
BREXIT The president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker on Wednesday said the Brexit agreement would not be renegotiated after the British Parliament had sent Prime Minister Theresa May to Brussels to renegotiate the ‘Irish backstop’. “The Withdrawal Agreement remains the best and only deal possible and the debates and votes in the House of Commons will not change that. The Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated,” Juncker told the European Parliament. The statement comes after British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced, two months before the Brexit her intention to reopen withdrawal negotiations with the EU. On Tuesday, the House of Commons voted on a series of amendments on the Prime Ministers withdrawal deal. MPs approved an amendment seeking “alternative arrangements” to replace the Irish backstop. An amendment rejecting a no-deal Brexit was also passed, although the vote is not binding on the government. On the other hand, EU leaders have insisted that negotiations on the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be reopened.
(translated by bill)
