December 24, 2014

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Ştefan Stoica, 24.12.2014, 12:00

Romania’s freshly sworn-in president Klaus Johannis has conveyed a Christmas message to all Romanians, at home as well as abroad. According to the message, Christmas is mainly a family celebration, but in Romania, a great number of children were separated from their parents, across the European Union. Klaus Johannis went on to say all his thoughts went to the children whose parents were far away, and to all parents who missed their children, to all Romanian families, at home as well as abroad. Prime Minister Victor Ponta has also conveyed a message to all Romanians, stating 25 years have been commemorated since the December 1989 anti-communist Revolution. In his message, King Michael urged all Romanian to stay united. King Michael also stated that in late 2014 the country had to make a very important democratic option and voiced hope that from now on the rule of law and the respect for the state institutions would be crucial for Romania.

The newly-elected Parliament in the Republic of Moldova, which is a former Soviet republic with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population is to convene on December 29, one day ahead of the set deadline for the Parliament’s first session. The three pro-European parties that have won Parliament seats, the Liberal Democrat, the Democrat and the Liberal parties for a couple of weeks now have been holding talks to form a new governing coalition. Together, the three parties got 55 seats out of the total number of 101, which is enough for the three parties to form the parliamentary majority, also enabling them to form a new government, but not enough to cast their vote for the presidential candidate or to change the Constitution. In the former Soviet republic, elections were held on November 30, while the newly-elected parliament will have to convene within a month.

Ukraine should first complete the country’s reform process, should fight against corruption and set up a state infrastructure, and only after that should Ukraine submit its NATO accession application, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, quoted by the media in Norway. The North Atlantic Alliance does not intend to take initiative to that effect, Stoltenberg also said. The Parliament in Kiev on Tuesday voted into law a bill regulating the country’s giving up its neutral status and seeking closer ties to NATO. The decision has been taken as in 2014 Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, while the conflict with separatist rebels in the east continues. Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko is to promulgate the law, also turning Ukraine’s bid to gain NATO accession into one his foreign policy’s top priorities. Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Ukraine’ s decision was counterproductive and only made the matters worse in the region.

It is Christmas Eve for Orthodox and Catholic Christians worldwide, Romania included. December 24th is the day when last-gasp preparations are being made for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, which is one of Christianity’s most notable celebrations. Christmas means special divine services held in churches and monasteries, but also the reenactment of a beautiful set of traditions and plentiful Christmas dinners in the family. One of the most widespread customs on Christmas Eve is caroling, actually a ritual made of ceremonial texts, dances and gestures. Carolers convey wishes of prosperity and are being rewarded by the hosts with fruit, pretzels, sweets and money. Old-Rite Orthodox Christians, predominant in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova celebrate Christmas on January 7. A recent survey has revealed that one third of Romanians during Winter Holidays spend twice as much than in the other periods throughout the year. As for the chosen venue for the Winter Holidays, sixty six per cent of Romanians responded they would stay at home with the family, while only a quarter of them have planned their winter holiday well in advance, saving money and making early bookings for accommodation and plane tickets.

A new international treaty on the control of arms trade has taken effect as of today, a decision human rights watchdogs have hailed. Adopted in April 2013 by the UN General Assembly, the treaty seeks to implement a morality standard for international trade of conventional arms, which makes a market of more than 85 billion dollars. So far, more than 130 countries have signed the treaty, while countries have ratified it. Russia and China have not as yet signed the treaty, while the United Sates, the world’s biggest weapons producer, is about to sign it shortly. Romania ratified the treaty in April 2014. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he hoped the treaty would hinder the transfer of weapons to “war lords, terrorists and criminal organizations.”

The ruling coalition and the opposition in Romania are yet again divided over the state and social security bill the Parliament has voted into law recently. The liberals stated the law was unconstitutional and challenged it at the Constitutional Court, which on December 29 will be looking into the contestation submitted by the opposition. Challenging the state budget law could stall the implementation of the social security measures, scheduled to take effect early in 2015, Labour Minister Rovana Plumb said.

The Liberals have also challenged the Law on cyber security at the Constitutional Court. Signing the notification were a couple of dozens of National Liberal Party MPs, who were adamant in stating the law infringed upon citizens’ fundamental rights. Civil society in Romania has also criticised the law. The Senate’s Defence Committee specified the law did not target natural persons, also stating they needed to vote the bill into law so that they can cope with cyber threats, whose complexity and frequency has been growing as of late. The law rules that a reasoned notification instead of a court order is lawfully sufficient for the authorities to get access to data stored by cyber infrastructure network holders.

The Romanian Stefan Popa Popa’s will design the official 2015 calendar for the famous German football team Bayern Munich, whose manager is the Spaniard Joseph Guardiola. Popa’s will draw 31 caricatures of the team’s regular and substitute players, the technical staff and the team’s manager, the famous Karl Heinz Rumenigge. Bayern Munich boasts such star footballers as the Spaniards Xavi Alonso and Javi Martines, the Polish Robert Lewandowski, the French Franck Ribery, the Dutch Arjen Robben, as well as the Germans Jerome Boateng, Mario Götze, Phillip Lahm, Thomas Müller or Bastian Schweinsteiger. The German club has no less than 21 million supporters, who are waiting for the calendar. Ştefan Popa Popa’s is one of the best-known Romanians abroad. He is one of Romania’ seven Ambassadors, while Guinness Book rated the Romanian as the world’s fastest caricaturists.