25 May, 2018

PM Viorica Dancila goes to Warsaw for government meeting; Presidential Foreign Adviser Bogdan Aurescu met National Security Adviser John Bolton at the White House

Bogdan Matei, 25.05.2018, 14:09

WARSAW – PM Viorica Dancila, along with members of the Executive, take part today in Warsaw in the first intergovernmental consultations between Romania and Poland in the history of relations between the two countries. Dancila meets her counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki. Consultations come as the two countries celebrate their centennial. Also today, Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor and Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński will sign an accord on the resting places of Romanian and Polish soldiers killed on the territory of the other country. The visit to Poland concludes with a meeting between Natalia Intotero, Minister for Romanians Abroad and representatives of the Romanian community in the host country.

WASHINGTON – Romanian presidential adviser for foreign policy, Bogdan Aurescu, held talks at the White House with John Bolton, National Security Adviser, about the cooperation between their two countries. On this occasion, Aurescu reiterated Romanias commitment to enhancing the Strategic Partnership with the US. In turn, Bolton expressed the USs appreciation for all that Romania is doing as part of NATO. The two also discussed relations between the EU and the United States, considering that Romania takes over the EU Council rotating presidency in early 2019, the July NATO Summit in Brussels, and the evolutions in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, both Romanias neighbors.

TIFF The 17th Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) kicks off in Cluj Napoca,north-western Romania with ”Foxtrot” an award-winning and controversial movie inspired from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in the presence of its director, Samuel Moaz. This year’s edition of TIFF includes no less than 227 productions, 178 feature films and 49 short-reels, from all over the world. The Romanian Film Days, a section of the festival devoted to local directors, comprises 35 Romanian productions, including Touch Me Not, director Adina Pintilie’s debut film, which reaped the Golden Bear Award in Berlin this year as well as Andrei Cretulescu’s production ”Charleston”. French actress Fanny Ardant has been chosen to award the Transylvania trophy and the honorary guest to this festival is opera singer Angela Gheorghiu.

TENNIS — WTA top position tennis player, the Romanian Simona Halep is up against 105th-placed Alison Riske, of the USA, in a match counting towards the second round of the Roland Garros tournament, the year’s second Grand Slam Event, due to kick-off of Sunday. Simona Halep is the top-seed hopeful at Roland Garros this year, having twice conceded defeat in the final, in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Four other Romanians are included in the main draw at Rolland Garros. The first one is WTA 32nd-placed Mihaela Buzarnescu, who is also among the seeded players this year, as an absolute first. Buzarnescu faces WTA 1, 276th-placed Vania King. Then there is WTA 41st-placed Irina Begu, who plays Slovakia’s WTA 78th-ranked Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. WTA 45th-ranked Sorana Carstea faces Australian contender, WTA 24th-placed Daria Gavrilova. 65th-ranked Ana Bogdan takes on Czech opponent, WTA 90th-placed Marketa Vondrousova. Two other Romanians, Irina Bara and Alexandra Dulgheru may stand a real chance to gaining a place in the tournament’s main draw provided they win the qualifiers matches they play today. Only one Romanian is included in the main draw of the men’ s version at Roland Garros , 97th-ranked Marius Copil, who faces WTA 72nd-placed Marco Cecchinato, in the inaugural round of the tournament.

DATA — The new EU regulations on the protection of personal data have come into effect today. From now on identity, purchasing, financial, demographic, location, and all other personal data for individuals using certain services have to be collected and processed responsibly by specialized companies. The new regulations also provide data companies with an obligation to appoint a data protection officer. The law provides significant penalties for violators of the regulations.

PROTEST — In Bucharest today, taxi drivers went on a protest, angry at proposals from the Ministry of Development included in an emergency bill for a law regulating their activity. Taxi drivers want international ride sharing company Uber banned, and said they would continue all legal types of protest, until the elimination of any unauthorized forms of transportation.

NORTH KOREA — North Korea announced today that they are still open to dialog with the US, in spite of US President Donald Trumps announcement Thursday that his country is pulling out of the bilateral summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. The regime in Pyongyang specified that the presidents decision is regrettable. Trump said he made the decision because of what he called open hostility visible in the latest statements from North Korea. The summit was annouced after the historic meeting in April between the leaders of North and South Korea. Recently, North Korea confirmed it had destroyed its nuclear test site.