14 September 2017, UPDATE

A look at the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 14.09.2017, 19:43

Defence. The country’s Supreme Defence Council chaired by
president Klaus Iohannis met on Thursday in Bucharest. Participants debated and
approved the deployment of a Romanian army naval capability to a NATO mission
in the second part of 2017. The move was taken following requests by
international organisations for an additional contribution from Romania to foreign
missions and operations. The Supreme Defence Council also discussed and
approved the national strategy for the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. The strategy is to be implemented in the 2017-2019 period and
mainly aims to strengthen the ability for rapid reaction and consolidate
inter-institutional cooperation. Energy security and the associated risks and
opportunities were also on the Council’s agenda. This was the first meeting to
be attended by Mihai Fifor in his new capacity as defence minister and the new
economy minister Gheorghe Simon.

EU summit. The Romanian authorities have
already started preparations for a special EU summit in the central Romanian
city of Sibiu in the spring of 2019, the minister for European affairs Victor
Negrescu has announced. The summit, which is to take place on 30th
of March, will discuss the future of the community bloc immediately after the
UK’s leaving the Union. The proposal for Sibiu to host this summit came on
Wednesday from the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker in
his State of the Union address in the European Parliament. He also said that
the Schengen area should be immediately opened for both Romania and Bulgaria.
In light of these remarks, minister Negrescu said Bucharest would launch a new
campaign to join this area of free movement.

National minorities. Romania, Bulgaria,
Greece and Hungary have sent a common letter to the Ukrainian authorities, the
Council of Europe and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
expressing their concern and profound regret vis-à-vis the new education law
passed by the Ukrainian Parliament. According to a press release by the
Romanian foreign ministry, the move reflects the interest of the signatory
countries with regard to the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities and
calls on the Ukrainian authorities to comply with international standards in
the field. Ukraine is home to almost half a million ethnic Romanians, most of
whom live in the Romanian territories annexed by the former Soviet Union in
1940 through an ultimatum and inherited by Ukraine as a successor state in
1991.

Protests. Trade
unions in the healthcare sector say they are planning a number of protests,
including picketing the headquarters of the finance, healthcare and labour
ministries and possibly even a strike between the 2nd and the 6th
of October, as well as a large-scale street protest on the 19th of
October in Bucharest. They say 15-20,000 people are expected to take part.
Employees are unhappy with the lack of a collective employment contract, the
provisions of the new salary law and the elimination of meal vouchers as of
2018.

NATO. The Piatra Craiului air-defence detachment from
Brasov, in the centre, on Thursday left for Poland. Its 120 military and their
35 mm anti-aircraft gun will be deployed in this country until March 2018,
being part of a US-led NATO combat force. Their mission is to provide advance
and consolidated presence in the north-east of the Alliance, on a rotational
basis, to discourage possible aggression, in keeping with the measures adopted
at the NATO summit in Warsaw. The Romanian troops are replacing their
colleagues from the General Gheorghe Parvulescu
anti-aircraft battalion from Craiova, in the south, who have just finished
their 6-month mission.

Hindi Day. Hindi
Day, held on September 14th and aimed at promoting the importance of
the Hindi language, was also celebrated in Romania. The date marks the day when
Hindi was given the status of official language on the 14th of
September 1949. The Indian Embassy in Bucharest held a special event during
which the popular Romanian pop music singer Loredana Groza awarded brailles
versions of the yoga manual Yogikasparsh to several associations
for the blind and visually impaired.

Football. The first foreign manager of the
Romanian football team, Germany’s Christoph Daum, has just seen his contracted
terminated, the Romanian Football Federation has announced. With only 9 points
in 8 preliminary matches, Romania have missed all chances to qualify for next
year’s World Cup in Russia. Romania rank 4th in Group E, after
Poland, Denmark and Montenegro. Daum has come under severe criticism recently
from fans, football professionals and the media over the disappointing
performance and results of the national side.

Davis Cup. The Romanian Davis Cup team are in Vienna,
where they will face Austria at the weekend in the first-round play-offs to
remain in the Europe/Africa Group I. The first match is scheduled for Friday.
Playing for Romania are Dragos Dima, Nicolae Frunza and Bogdan Borza, none of
whom are in the top 500, as well as Horia Tecau, the new winner of the doubles
title at the US Open. Marius Copil, no. 87 in the world and Romania’s
best-ranked singles player, is not part of the team. The Austrian team includes
world no. 7 Dominic Thiem.