December 6, 2013
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 06.12.2013, 13:48
Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela died on Thursday, aged 95. He was the first black president in the history of South Africa, after 30 years spent in prison, as political detainee. He got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. After 2004, when he officially left the political stage, he was rarely seen in public. The current south-African president, Jacob Zuma, has announced that state funerals will be held to honour Mandela. Romania has joined the international community in sending messages of condolence to the authorities in Pretoria.
The OSCE summit is drawing to an end in Kiev, Ukraine. On the first day of the summit, the Romanian foreign Minister Titus Corlatean voiced Bucharest’s worries regarding the use of force against protesters in Ukraine. He stated that Romania encouraged a political solution, based on dialogue. Almost all foreign ministers attending the summit supported Ukraine’s European integration and condemned violence against protesters. The protests in Kiev, the largest since the 2004 Orange Revolution were triggered by Kiev authorities’ decision to suspend the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, in favour of re-boosting relations with Moscow.
In October Romania registered a significant increase in the absorption of European funds due to the fact that the European Commission unblocked funds under the Increase of Economic Competitiveness Operational Program. The measure triggered reimbursements that raised the absorption rate to 14%. The biggest amount of money has been brought to Romania under the Human Resources Development Program, where the rate of absorption reached 25% in late October. As regards the total of European funds absorbed, Romania has reached a rate of 27%.
Starting January 1st 2014, along with the liberalisation of the land market, foreigners will be allowed to buy farm land in Romania. The will have the right to buy more than 100 hectares and will no longer have to prove knowledge of or experience in agriculture. Currently, the Romanian Government is drafting a law whose role is to protect Romanian citizens from being discriminated against with regard to buying farm land, the Romanian Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin has announced.
Romanian Adrian Procop, involved in the stealing of 7 paintings from the Kusthal Museum in Rotterdam, in 2012, was arrested in Manchester, Great Britain, the Romanian Police have announced. A European warrant had been issued on Procop’s name. On November 26th, Romanian judges sentenced Radu Dogaru and Eugen Darie to 6 years and 8 months in prison each, for their involvement in the same case. The decision was not final and it can be appealed. The two were tried separate from the other 4 defendants, after they pleaded guilty and will thus benefit from a one third reduction of their sentences, as provided by the Romanian Criminal Code. The thieves stole from the Dutch museum paintings by Henry Matisse, Paul Gaugain and Claude Monet. The damage is estimated at around 17 million Euros.
In the 2012- 2013 school year, the number of Romanian pupils learning in western schools increased on average by 25% according to the World Education NGO. The organization has announced that 30 prestigious private schools and colleges in Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and Austria will participate in Bucharest, on December 7th and 8th, in the secondary education fair. In another move, World Education has presented the results of the well known test PISA, which is an evaluation of the knowledge by students in national education programs. Romania ranks 45th in a total of 65 participating countries.
Currently on a visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, hopes some progress will be made in the peace negotiations, but admits that suspicion on both sides remains high. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has rejected Washington’s proposals regarding security arrangements. On his turn, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for a demilitarized Palestinian state, with Israel maintaining its troops along the border with Jordan. Palestinians, however, refuse any military presence on their territory, but would accept an international force, a solution rejected by Israel.
Starting today, Serbia is playing host to the World Women’s Handball Championships. The Romanian team will first play on Saturday, in Novi Sad, against Tunisia, in group D, which also includes Hungary, Germany, the Check Republic and Australia. The declared objective of the Romanian handball players is to finish the championship among the top eight. Romania is the only country to have participated in all final legs of the World Championships, starting 1957. The latest significant performance though was registered in 2005, when it was vice-champion.
