April 1, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 01.04.2017, 19:06

GAS PRICE – The purchase price of natural gas for domestic consumption was liberalized as of April 1st, and the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has already announced a 2% increase in the coming invoices. Also as of April 1st, domestic consumers can choose their provider of natural gas. The ANRE President Niculae Havrilet has stated for Radio Romania that the price liberalization for domestic consumption will bring more competitors into the market and will eventually lead to domestic consumers paying less.

PROTEST – On Friday evening, dozens of people gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Bucharest, in solidarity with the anti-corruption protesters who took to the streets late last week in Moscow and in other big cities in Russia. Hundreds of Russian citizens, including opposition leader Aleksei Navalny were arrested last Sunday for protesting without an authorization. We recall that in the past two months, hundreds of thousands of Romanians protested in Bucharest, across the country and abroad against the Romanian Governments attempt to amend the criminal codes under an emergency decree. According to the protesters, the amendments would have decriminalized some corruption acts and would have exonerated big names in the Romanian politics from criminal liability.

COMMEMORATION – The village of Fantana Alba, in the Cernauti region, western Ukraine, on Saturday hosted events commemorating the victims of the massacre committed by the Soviet troops on April 1st, 1941, when some 2,000 ethnic Romanians were executed for attempting to find refuge in Romania. There are some 500,000 ethnic Romanians currently living in Ukraine, most of them along the common border, on the territories annexed in 1940, following an ultimatum given by Stalins regime, and then taken over by Ukraine in 1991, as a successor state.

MOLDOVA – The European Commission encourages the Republic of Moldova, the former Soviet country with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, to use the mechanisms provided by the Association Agreement with the EU in order to develop regional projects. The message was conveyed to the Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip by the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu, during a meeting held in Brussels. The pace and quality of implementation of the reforms undertaken by Chisinau is the barometer of the relationship between the EU and the Republic of Moldova, the Romanian Commissioner said. According to a communiqué, Mrs. Cretu stressed the importance of Moldovas taking active part in the territorial cooperation programmes, including the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. We recall that, while the pro-West Government headed by Pavel Filip promotes European integration, the president of the Republic of Moldova, the pro-Russia socialist Igor Dodon, wants the cancellation of the association and free-trade agreements with Brussels, and a reorientation towards the Eurasian Economic Union.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL – On April 1st, the US took over the monthly presidency of the UN Security Council, and the new US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikky Haley announced she would put human rights on the agenda of the council. According to our correspondent in Washington, Mrs. Haley is determined to bring the issue of human rights under debate, and this might render relations with China and Russia tenser. Moscow and Beijing insist that such discussions should only be held at the UN Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, a forum which Washington has announced it might leave.

FILM – The 7th International Experimental Film Festival is underway in Bucharest until Sunday. The most innovative cinematographic experiments of the past year are being screened at the festival, productions signed by visual artists who usually display their works in museums and art galleries, and not so much in cinema halls. This years edition is a rare opportunity for the Romanian audience, as they can watch some of the most challenging productions short listed by major film festivals such as the ones in Berlin, Cannes, Rotterdam or Amsterdam. One of them is the event-film Manifesto, in which the famous Cate Blanchett plays 13 different characters.

WRESTLING – The Romanian athlete Krista Incze (aged 20) on Friday won the bronze medal in the 63 kg category of the Under-23 European Wrestling Championship hosted by Szombathely, Hungary. She defeated the Turkish Sinem Topcu. Incze is a Balkan and European junior champion and winner of a golden medal at the World University Championships. At this years edition of the European Championship, she won the second bronze medal, after the one won on Thursday by Alexandra Nicoleta Anghel, in the 69 kg category.