April 25, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 25.04.2015, 12:15
Marking 10 years since Romania signed the EU Accession Treaty, President Klaus Iohannis conveyed a message saying that the decision made back then was a recognition of the fact that Bucharest was ready to join an area defined by democracy, rule of law, market economy, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. The status of EU member that Romania got on January 1st, 2007 translated into many benefits for the Romanian citizens, the head of state also said, among which the development of a legislative background in line with the EU one, access to structural and cohesion funds, participation in the decision-making process at European level, the free movement of people across the EU territory, as well as the access of Romanian companies to the single European market. However, the president also stressed, there are still processes that need to be finalised, such as the accession to Schengen and the adoption of the single currency. The EU is already an integrating part of the Romanians’ lives, and this status is beneficial from an economic, social and diplomatic point of view, and also in terms of security, said in his turn Romanian Prime-Minister Victor Ponta. He reasserted the Romanian Government’s strong commitment to the European project and to reaching all the objectives entailed by Romania being a member of this big family.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called on Bucharest to conduct a serious investigation following the recent statements made by the former president Ion Iliescu regarding the existence of a CIA centre in Romania. Anne Brasseur says in a communiqué posted on the Assembly’s web page that Romanian prosecutors should investigate into this matter and see who is responsible. In an interview published this week in the German weekly ‘Der Spiegel’, the former president of Romania Ion Iliescu says that he approved in principle the setting up of a CIA centre in Romania. He explained that the Romanian authorities did not interfere with the activities carried out by the US service and they had no idea what was going on at that centre. It was a gesture of good will that we made at the end of 2002, before Romania’s accession to NATO” Ion Iiescu also said for the German magazine, which has again brought to the forefront the issue of CIA’s secret prisons. Bucharest had denied the existence of such prisons in Romania.
More than 1000 people died in the earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale that shattered Nepal on Saturday. The epicentre of the quake was approximately 80 km north of capital Kathmandu and was followed by 16 aftershocks. Avalanches started in the Mount Everest area and claimed lives from among mountain climbers. The earthquake was also felt quite strongly in the north of India, as well as in capital Delhi. The Romanian embassy in New Delhi has announced that no Romanian citizen from the area has requested any help and there is no information regarding potential victims among Romanians. Alex Glavan, the Romanian climber who is now on Mount Pumori, approximately 8 km west of Everest, has announced he is fine.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry has hailed the recent decision made by the Canadian Government to include Romania among the countries for which the provisions of the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) will be applied in 2016. The Romanian citizens who in the past 10 years have had a Canadian visa or who have a short term residence visa for the US can enter Canada without needing a visa, following registration into the eTA system. The measure is similar to the one applied in the case of citizens who do not need a Canadian visa. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, this decision, which is a major step in the process of fully wavering visas for Canada, reconfirms the efforts made by Romanian and Canadian authorities to solve this issue.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranked 3rd in the WTA classification, has failed to qualify for the final of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, with 731,000 USD in prize money. In the semi-finals she was defeated by the Danish Caroline Wozniacki, number 5 in the world, after a marathon match that lasted 3 hours. Despite the defeat, Halep is to go back to the second WTA position on Monday, benefiting from the early withdrawal from the Stuttgart tournament of Maria Sarapova. In Bucharest, the men’s final of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy tournament, with 439,405 Euros for grabs, will be played by the Czech Jiri Vesely, 7th seed, and the 5th seed Spanish player Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The two defeated in the semi-finals the pair made up of the Spanish Daniel Gimeno — Traver and the French Gael Monfils. The Romanians Marius Copil and Adrian Ungur have qualified for the doubles final.
