April 27, 2014
A roundup of Romanian and international news
România Internațional, 27.04.2014, 13:25
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world attended Sunday in Vatican City the historic ceremony in which two popes were canonized. During the Mass co-celebrated by Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict the XVI, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were declared saints. The ceremony was attended by 150 cardinals, 1,000 bishops and 6,000 priests from all over the world, many heads of state and government and delegations from tens of countries. The Romanian delegation present at the Vatican included the minister delegate for Romanians abroad, Bogdan Stanoevici, the metropolitan archbishop of Bucharest, Ioan Robu, and many priests, nuns, monks and believers.
The NATO states will face many challenges in the coming years targeting the security of the euro-Atlantic space, and the Alliance will have to strike a balance between conventional and asymmetrical threats said the Romanian defense minister, Mircea Dusa, in an interview to Agerpress new agency. According to him, terrorism is a serious, real threat to the security and safety of the NATO member countries, Romania included. Minister Dusa added that terrorism was a challenge for the whole international community, and consequently the answer to this threat should be a collective one. He recalled the participation of the Romanian military in the NATO operations in Afghanistan and in the Balkans, in other air surveillance missions and maritime operations.
The American President Barack Obama, said Sunday that the US and Europe had to join forces in order to pass new sanctions against Russia, meant to stop Moscow’s threats against the east of Ukraine. On Monday, the ambassadors of the EU states are meeting in Brussels to discuss possible new sanctions against Russia. Also on Monday the G7 countries could announce further sanctions against Moscow, as they were accused of taking no concrete action to implement the agreement concluded last week in Geneva. The agreement is meant to easy tension in the east of Ukraine. On the other hand, the OSCE announced Sunday that it sent a team of negotiators in Slaviansk, in the east of Ukraine, in an attempt to obtain the release of the 13 military observes, 8 foreign and 5 Ukrainian, who were abducted Friday by pro-Russian militants. The pro-Russian separatist leader in Slaviansk said that the OSCE observers are “prisoners of war” and, under these circumstances, the authorities in Kiev should release the separatists they arrested in exchange for the release of the observers.
Romania is becoming attractive for investors and the Romanian state will be able to borrow money at lower interest rates. This is the statement made by the minister delegate for budget, Liviu Voinea, after the financial rating agency Moody’s improved Romania’s rating from negative to stable. The minister delegate claims that the move is a confirmation of the economic progress Romania has made in the past year. According to Moody’s Romania ended the year 2013 with a deficit of 2.3% of the GDP, a low inflation rate, an economic growth rate based on exports and more European funds attracted.
The Czech tennis player and titleholder, Lukas Rosol, and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, seed no. 16 in the world classification, are playing Sunday in the final of the BRD Năstase Ţiriac Trophy tennis tournament that has prizes worth more than 420 thousand euros. Also on Sunday, in the men’s doubles final, the pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean Julien Rojer, both top seeds, will meet the Polish pair Mariusz Fyrstenberg /Marcin Matkowski.
