April 14, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 14.04.2016, 12:03

VISA WAIVER The Romanian Foreign Ministry is
disappointed with the fact that negotiations on a visa waiver program for the
Romanian citizens who visit Canada have reached a deadlock. According to the
Romanian ministry, keeping the current visa requirements do nothing but put the
Romanian citizens in an obvious and unjustified disadvantageous position, as
compared to other European citizens. The ministry has recalled that ever since
2008 the Ottawa authorities have many times committed themselves to easing visa
regulations for Romanians, in order to ensure the same freedom of movement for
all European citizens. In another move, the European Commission has called on
the EU Council and Parliament to start urgent debates and to take, by July 12th, a firm stand
regarding the introduction of visas for the US and Canadian citizens. The EC’s
reaction came against the background of both the US’s and Canada’s refusal to
waiver visa requirements for the citizens of some EU countries, including
Romania.

HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT With regard to
human rights violations in Romania, the
Roma population is subject to a systematic discrimination, inmates are
maltreated in prison and are forced to live in conditions below the
international standards. This is the conclusion of the US Department of State’s
human rights report. The document also highlights several situations when
racist, xenophobic and nationalist statements were carried by the Romanian
media. The report also points to cases of pressure exerted on the private or
public press, either by employers or political decisions-makers. On the other
hand, the report also highlights the fact that the National Anti-corruption
Directorate has continued to investigate top level corruption. Although the
Romanian legislation guarantees the observance of human rights, authorities
sometimes fail to make sure that this happens in reality as well, the document
concludes.

ROMANIAN IMMIGRANTS The number of the
Romanian immigrants officially registered in Great Britain has grown
significantly, reads a study conducted by the Migration Observatory of the
prestigious Oxford University, quoted by new agencies. The number has exceeded
220,000, although in 2011 only 80,000 Romanians were registered in the kingdom.
The report highlights the fact that, on average, salaries in Great Britain are
4.2 times higher than in Romania. The authors of the study also say that,
generally speaking, the share of southern or south-east European citizens
working in Great Britain has increased significantly, in particular because of
the opportunities on the British labour market, as opposed to those in the
immigrants’ countries of origin.

REFUGEE POLICY On Wednesday, the leaders of the governing coalition in
Germany, reached an agreement on the principles of a new refugee integration
policy, the BBC reports. The German Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, has
proposed a new law, which provides that
the refugees will have to learn German, in order to integrate more
easily into the German society, otherwise they will lose part of their social
security benefits. Last month, the German authorities tightened security in
airports, railway stations and on the borders with Belgium, France, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg. The decision was made following the terrorist
attacks in Brussels. Some one million migrants reached Germany in 2015, most of
them war refugees.

KIEV On
Thursday, the Kiev Parliament (Verkovna Rada) endorsed the candidacy of Volodimir Groisman for
the office of PM of Ukraine, as well as the resignation Arseni
Iateniuk. A former president of the Verkovna Rada, Groisman was proposed for the
position by the head of state, Petro Porosenko. According to analysts, these
changes in the pro-European Kiev administration come against the background of
an economic crisis that delays salary payments to the state employees and
extends Ukraine’s dependency on the Russian gas. Also, the power has lost much
of its credibility because of information about Porosenko’s off-shore accounts
and his incapacity to restore Kiev’s authority in the predominantly
Russian-speaking east of the country,
devastated by the pro-Moscow rebellion.

KING MIHAI OF ROMANIA Princess
Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown, is on a visit to Switzerland, to spend
time with her father, the former sovereign of Romania, Mihai 1st.
According to a communiqué issued by the Royal House, Mihai 1st is
living in his private residence there and is receiving medical treatment, as he
is suffering from two types of cancer. The king announced some time ago his
withdrawal from the public life and entrusted his daughter Margareta with
carrying out his projects. On August 23rd, 1944, during the second
world war, King Mihai ordered the arrest of the country’s de facto leader,
Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania’s withdrawal from the alliance with Nazi Germany
and the return by the side of its traditional allies, the US and Great Britain.
According to historians, the decision shortened the war by at least six months
and saved hundred of thousands of lives. Three years later, when the country
was practically under Soviet military occupation and was headed by a dummy
communist government, the King was forced to abdicate and find exile in the
West. He could only returned to the country after the anti-Communist Revolution
of 1989.

CANNES The films Bacalaureate by
Cristian Mungiu and Siera – Nevada by Cristi Puiu, have been selected for the
official competition of the Cannes Festival, held between the 11th and 22nd of May, the organizers announced on
Thursday. In 2007 Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or for 4 months, 3 weeks and
2 days. In 2012 he got another two awards, for his film Beyond the Hills’. In
2005 in Cannes, Cristi Puiu got the grand prize of the Un Certain Regard
section for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. The
film Dogs by Bogdan Mirica was selected for this year’s edition of Un Certain Regard Adding to these are another
two Romanian short reels: 4.15 pm: the End of the World, by Catalin Rotaru
and Gabi Virginia Sarga and All Rivers Flow into the Sea, directed by
Alexandru Badea.

TENNIS The pair made up of the Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien
Rojer will play today against Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of
Australia, in the eight finals of the Monte Carlo tournament, with 3.8 million
USD in prize money. At the same competition, the Romanian tennis player Florin
Mergea, alongside Rohan Bopanna of India qualified for the quarter finals,
after beating the couple made up of Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Alexander
Peya of Austria, 7-5, 7-5. In the quarters, Mergea and Bopanna will play
against Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brasil.