August 28, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 28.08.2014, 13:01
The President of Romania Traian Băsescu and the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton have defined as ‘extremely worrying’ the security situation in eastern Ukraine. The head of state has said that the European Union must firmly support a solution to the crisis in Ukraine by reinstating the legitimate Ukrainian authorities in the regions controlled by the illegal armed groups. The talks between Traian Basescu and Catherine Ashton have focused on the situation in the region, particularly the Ukrainian crisis and the EU accession efforts of the Republic of Moldova. Ms Ashton is a guest in the annual meeting of Romanian diplomats, which is taking place in Bucharest.
The Romanian PM Victor Ponta took part in Ankara on Thursday in the inauguration ceremony of the new President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who replaced Abdullah Gül. Victor Ponta pointed out that Turkey is Romania’s leading trade partner outside the EU and a strategic partner in the NATO trilateral, alongside Poland. Elected president of Turkey with 52% of the votes in the first round, Erdogan has more than once announced plans to strengthen the powers of the head of state, largely decorative at present. Last week, he nominated one of his close collaborators, the incumbent Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, both as his successor as head of the Islamic Conservative Justice and Development Party, and as prime minister.
The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on Thursday evening against the background of a quick deterioration of the situation in Ukraine. In Kiev, the Ukrainian President Petro Peroshenko on Thursday cancelled his visit to Turkey and called for an emergency meeting of the Security and National Defence Council, as the security situation in the east of the country is quickly worsening. Kiev said the Russian troops on Thursday took control of Novoazovsk, a strategic border town some 100 km south of the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk, where heavy fighting has been reported. The Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatseniuk said Russia has significantly strengthened its military presence in Ukraine. Lithuania has accused Moscow of having moved on to an evident military invasion in Ukraine, and supported calls for a UN Security Council meeting on this topic.
In Paris, the Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Duşa, currently on an official two-day visit to France, starting on Thursday, conveyed his counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian Romania’s appreciation of France’s efforts in the context of the security crisis on NATO’s eastern border. The two officials discussed about the preparations for the NATO Summit taking place this September in Wales, the security on NATO’s eastern border, as well as the development of bilateral military cooperation. They both highlighted the importance of an European parth for Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. On Friday, Mircea Duşa will visit the EU Command Centre in Mont Valerien, near Paris.
The European Union welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, and called on the two parties to negotiate a comprehensive and sustainable agreement, AFP reports. Such an agreement should address the root cause of the conflict in Gaza, the EU said, and called for an end to the Israeli blockade of 2006. After 50 days of war, the two parties have accepted the Egyptian mediators’ truce plan. During this period, the clashes in Gaza killed over 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and scores of Israeli troops.
