August 20, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 20.08.2014, 12:15
During a meeting in Bucharest with Dean Thompson, the US charge-d’affairs in Bucharest, Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Dusa said Wednesday that the situation in Ukraine was a reason of concern for both NATO and Romania as its ally. On the other hand Minister Dusa has reiterated Romania’s commitment to developing and boosting the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Minister Dusa has appreciated the role of the US military base in Mihail Kogalniceanu, in the southeast of Romania, an essential transport hub for the US equipment on its way back from Afghanistan. At the same time the Romanian minister has briefed the US officials on the installation of the US anti-missile shield in Deveselu, southern Romania due to become operational in 2015.
President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Crimea, Oleg Belaventsev, said that the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniester in the east of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a Romanian speaking majority, would eventually belong to Russia. The Kremlin official in the annexed Crimea, said that if it were for him he would annex Transdniester right away. We recall that the province came out of Chisinau’s control back in 1992, after an armed conflict that left hundreds of dead and that was settled after the Russian army’s intervention on the rebels’ side. The secessionists later requested to join the Russian Federation. Although Russia pretends to respect the Republic of Moldova’s territorial integrity, Moscow continues to support the breakaway province both financially and militarily.
The Romanian seaside resort of Eforie Nord is hosting a meeting of the representatives of the Romanian communities abroad. 200 representatives of these communities are debating issues, which are confronting the Romanians outside the country’s borders as well as ways in which the authorities in Bucharest can address them. Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that the Romanians in the Diaspora must lay emphasis on Romania’s beautiful image and not on its problems. In turn the participants have asked politicians in Romania not to divide the Romanian Diaspora.
In Romania the unemployment rate stood at 5.09% in July, on the rise by 0.22% as compared to June. The National Employment Agency pointed out that the total number of unemployed people reached almost 461 thousand. The counties with the greatest number of jobless people are Vaslui, Teleorman, Mehedinti and Galati. Most of the unemployed have ages between 40 and 49.
Romania’s football champions, Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday clinched a one-nil win against Ludogoret Razgrad from neighboring Bulgaria in the first round of the Champions League play-offs. The return game is due in Sofia next week. If Steaua win they will enter the Champions League groups, same as last year and if they lose, they will be playing in Europa League. Romania is represented in Europa League by Petrolul Ploiesti, which takes on Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb and by Astra Giurgiu, which will be up against Olympique Lyon of France.
The international community reacted Wednesday after the brutal killing by the jihadists of the Islamic State of the American journalist James Foley. The White House expressed shock at the news, the British foreign secretary Philip Hammond talked about the horrendous images posted on the Internet by the jihadists and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon toughly condemned the attack. Both the German chancellor Angela Merkel and the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius showed their indignation towards this ‘base assassination’. The extremist group the Islamic State on Tuesday posted a video showing James Foley, kidnapped in Syria in 2012, being beheaded by a man who spoke English with a British accent. The group also threatened to kill another journalist in retaliation for the American air strikes in Iraq. The US National Security Council has confirmed the authenticity of the video. In June the jihadists launched an offensive in Iraq and rapidly took control of a large part of the territories in the north. Back in Iraq for the first time after their troops withdrawal in 2011, the Americans have launched air strikes against the jihadists since the beginning of June.
