11 July, 2014 UPDATE
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has decided to set up a rapid-response team to provide support for the Romanians in Gaza, including in case they have to urgently leave the area. Also, a free emergency phone line has been activated to support their families in Romania. The ministry also recommends Romanian citizens to avoid travelling to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The US has voiced its willingness to mediate a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinian militants in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the Israeli operations are underway according to the set plan, and new stages are to be expected. Over 100 inhabitants in Gaza have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive on Tuesday.
România Internațional, 11.07.2014, 19:54
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean is attending in Dubrovnik the Croatia Forum “EU Integration of Western Balkans: State of Play”. According to a Romanian Foreign Affairs press release, Corlatean will give a speech on enlargement policy prospects across the EU. The forum is attended by European high-ranking officials, EU foreign ministers and also ministers of the countries targeted by the Union’s enlargement policy, alongside guests from China, Japan, the US and New Zealand.
The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania decided on Friday to remain part of the governing coalition, dominated by the Social Democratic Party. The president of the Union, Kelemen Hunor, announced however that he would resign from the positions of deputy prime-minister and minister of culture, because of the tensions between his party and its partners. The problems occurred when the Foreign Ministry, headed by the Social Democrat Titus Corlatean, supported the stand of the European Commission, which had rejected an initiative set forth by the Union of Hungarians in Romania regarding the protection of national minorities. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania was co-opted in the coalition in March this year. Since 1996 the union has been present in almost all governments, both on the right on the left side of the political spectrum. The Hungarian community in Romania numbers approximately 1.5 million people, most of them living in the centre and the west of the country.
On Friday the EU added another 11 names to the list of Russian and Ukrainian citizens sanctioned for their role in the Ukrainian crisis. Until then the list had included 61 names, people accused of acts that have damaged Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. The EU’s decision was made against the ongoing crisis in the east of the country. On Friday, fighting between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian soldiers continued. President Petro Porosenko has said the conditions for a cease fire have not been met yet.
Romanian pupils won 11 medals, 6 gold, 4 silver and one bronze, at the 21st International Multidisciplinary Olympiad in Tymaada, the Russian Federation, held between July 5th and 11th. They covered all the four sections of the competition: informatics, mathematics, physics and chemistry. 150 pupils from Romania, the Russian Federation, Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia participated in this year’s edition.
