April 23, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Valentin Țigău, 23.04.2015, 12:15
The EU heads of state and government gathered in Brussels on Thursday to find solutions to the issue of the refuges who are trying to reach the continent, by crossing the Mediterranean. The summit was called after some one thousand people drowned over the past week while trying to reach European shores. The European leaders analysed ten measures recently proposed by the European Commission, such as doubling the amounts earmarked for operation Triton, and capturing and destroying the boats used by immigrants. Several member countries, including Great Britain, have already announced they want to participate in operations aimed at curbing the phenomenon. The talks also focused on means of receiving such immigrants and the participants pleaded for solidarity in the face of the current wave of refugees. Another issue, highlighted by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, was the need for credible measures to support the economic development of these refugees’ countries, as a long term solution for preventing illegal migration.
Police capabilities must be modernized, said in Bucharest on Thursday the Europol chief, Rob Wainwright. He held consultations with Romanian officials on the major threats posed by illegal migration in the Mediterranean and said that the volume of exchange of intelligence between Euoropol and the line services in Romania had doubled in the past four years. Wainwright said that over 20% of the experts working in cyber defence were from Romania.
On Thursday, the Romanian Chamber of Deputies passed a draft law stipulating that the Day of the Romanians Around the World would be celebrated every year on the last Sunday in May. The argumentation reads that the amendments to the law were made at the request of the Romanian communities abroad. ‘We believe that the celebration of the Day of the Romanians Around the World is a good opportunity to organize cultural events, shows and other activities for the Romanians who have chosen to leave outside Romania’s borders’, the document also reads.
The Prime Ministers of Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, Victor Ponta, Boiko Borisov and Alexandar Vucic, are to convene on Friday for three-party talks in Craiova, southern Romania. Prime Minister Ponta is expected to also hold talks with his Bulgarian counterpart after the meeting on a series issues, such as the new bridge over the Danube and tourism. Romanian and Bulgarian governments met in joint session in Ruse, Bulgaria in March last year for talks that were also attended by Serbia’s Prime Minister.
The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced that five terror attacks have been foiled in France in the past months, after 17 people were killed in Jihadi attacks in Paris in January this year, France press reports. Valls’ statement comes after French prosecutors have arrested an Algerian who masterminded an attack over a church on the capital’s outskirts. The man, a computer science student whose intention to join the Jihadist fighters in Syria was well known to the French secret services, was in the possession of an entire weapons arsenal. His DNA was also found at a crime scene near Paris. ‘Never has the threat been so big’ Premier Valls has said, adding that hundreds of French citizens are at present in Syria where they run the risk of turning into radicals.
Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu has participated in Bucharest in a debate on ‘Romania’s contribution to modernizing European Neighbourhood Policy and approaching the EU on the Eastern Partnership’. Aurescu has stressed the major significance of the current period, when the EU is reanalysing its relations with the neighbourhood. Given that the environment surrounding the EU’s vicinity is a heterogeneous one, the minister has stated, Romania’s solution for all these challenges is a new model of cooperation, ‘security trusts’, namely political dialogue platforms on security issues. These platforms have no military dimensions, but are built around a number of multi-dimensional formats for dialogue with the players in the region.
The USA has accused Russia of having built anti-aircraft defence systems inside eastern Ukraine, Reuters reports. The US Department of State says that Russia has been training the pro-Russian separatists in the region, in violation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement signed in February. Ukraine and its Western allies have long been accusing Moscow of supplying the rebels with troops and weapons, something that Moscow has repeatedly denied. More than 6,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine a year ago.
NATO is ready to support the territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova and of Ukraine and to help maintain stability in the region, said in Chisinau on Thursday the deputy to the Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Adrian Bradshaw. The general said that the North-Atlantic Alliance disavowed Russia’s actions in Ukraine. According to the Constitution, the Republic of Moldova is a neutral state from a military point of view.
The world’s number three tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep has qualified for the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, with 731,000 dollars prize money at stake, having grabbed a three-set win against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Halep, who is favourite number two to winning the tournament, will be taking on the winner of the game pitting Italy’s Sara Errani against Kazakh Zarian Dias. In a separate development, the BRD Tiriac Nastase Trophy tournament is well under way in Bucharest, with over 439 thousand dollars in prize money. The event has reached its quarterfinals, yet no Romanian players have got through to this stage of the tournament.
