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April 7, 2017 UPDATE

STOCKHOLM ATTACK – The
Romanian Foreign Ministry is harshly condemning the Stockholm terror attack on
Friday, when a truck rammed into pedestrians, in a main shopping street,
leaving dead and wounded. The Romanian Foreign Ministry sends a message of
condolences to the families of the victims and expresses solidarity with the
Swedish people. Also, the ministry reiterates Romania’s firm commitment to
combating all forms of terrorism. Swedish PM Stefan
Löfven has said there are many elements, which indicate the incident was a
terror attack. The city centre was secured and subway traffic was brought to a
halt in Stockholm on Friday.

Florentin Căpitănescu, 07.04.2017, 18:05

LONDON – Romanias ambassador to London has confirmed the death of the Romanian national who sustained serious injuries in the attack on the 22nd of March in the British capital and who had been in hospital for two weeks. The 31-year-old woman fell into the River Thames when the perpetrator of the attack rammed his car into pedestrians on the Westminster bridge. Her partner, who was the second Romanian national wounded in the incident, was released from hospital soon after the attack. The Romanian woman is the fifth victim of the attack. The British-born attacker, who became an adherent to radical Islam, was shot dead by the security forces near the British Parliament. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

SYRIA – The United States launched cruise missiles on a Syrian airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack a few days ago which killed tens of civilians in north-western Syria, and which Washington blames on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. The airbase, from where the chemical attack is believed to have been launched, was almost entirely destroyed. US President Donald Trump said he ordered the strike because the Assad regime used chemical weapons against innocent people, violating international conventions. The great powers reacted differently to the US action. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said the US military strikes in Syria are an act of aggression against a sovereign state and will hinder the creation of an international coalition to combat terrorism. Also, Russia announced it suspended the air-safety deal with the US, an agreement aimed at minimizing risks of in-flight incidents between Russian and US-led-coalition aircraft in Syria and an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was held at Russia’s request. Several countries, including Britain, France and Israel, have announced support for the US intervention. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said President Bashar al-Assad carries full responsibility for the US air strikes. In Brussels, the EU has announced that it will work with the US to end the brutalities in Syria. In turn, the Romanian Foreign Ministry said the US’ action is a firm reaction to the chemical weapon attack and reiterated Romania’s solidarity with its allies and partners.

PRESIDENCY – Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, on Friday sent a letter to the two Speakers of the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament, in which he requests to address a plenary session of Parliament, on May 9. In the letter, the President underlines that he would like to send a message on the 140th anniversary of the proclamation of Romanias state independence, and also on the occasion of the Europe Day. The previous address by the President in Parliament was made in February and it was devoted to the state budget.

DIPLOMACY – Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Melescanu, paid
a two-day official visit to Bratislava as of Thursday, on the invitation of his
Slovak counterpart, Miroslav Lajčák. The Romanian officials was also received
by President Andrej Kiska and met with the president of the Slovakia-Romanian parliamentary
friendship group, Jana Laššáková. The Romanian foreign minister underlined the importance
of strengthening the politic-diplomatic bilateral dialogue. The agenda of the
talks also included European issues of common interest, such as the future of
the EU, Brexit, energy security and the migration crisis.

BORDER SECURITY – The Romanian border police on Friday tightened controls on entering and exiting the country, with all persons crossing the border being checked against relevant national and international databases. The measure comes after the enforcement of the changes to the Schengen Border Code adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council and meant to improve the security of the European Union and its citizens. The Romanian border police say they have taken every measure to reduce waiting time and ensure operative control and strike a balance between citizen security and the traffic flow.

CONFERENCE ON DEMOCRACY – Law
experts from Romania, France, Greece, Hungary, Georgia, Poland and Turkey
attending an international conference on democracy in Bucharest on Friday
discussed the relationship between the political majority and the opposition,
on the second and final day of the conference. The around 100 participants
presented their own countries’ experience in managing the most difficult aspects
of the interaction between the majority and the opposition and analysed the
democratic instruments and processes. At the end of the conference, the Venice
Commission drew up a report containing guidelines on how the political majority
should behave and interact with the opposition. The event was organised by the
Presidential Administration and the Venice Commission, with support from the
Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.