February 28, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 28.02.2018, 20:15

WEATHER Europe continues to be affected by a wave of cold coming from Siberia. Bad weather warnings are in place in some of Romania’s neighboring countries where several motorways and roads can be closed down. Code red and orange alerts have been issued in neighboring Bulgaria until Thursday. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has issued travel warnings for Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, France, Sweden and Ireland, countries presently affected by massive snowfalls, blizzards and extremely low temperatures. Germany, Italy and Spain have registered extremely low temperatures for this period of the year. From the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean, the wave of cold dubbed ‘the Beast from the East’ has killed at least 46 people in the past days and disrupted traffic.

VISIT The first vice-president of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Better Regulation, Inter-institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights Frans Timmermans will be paying a formal visit to Bucharest on Thursday. According to the European Commission Representation in Romania, he will meet with president Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and the speakers of the two chambers of parliament, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and Liviu Dragnea. Timmermans will also hold meetings with representatives of the judiciary and members of the parliamentary committee set up to amend the justice laws. Christos Stylianides, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, will be also paying a visit to Bucharest on Thursday when he is to meet Romania’s interior minister Carmen Dan.

FRIGATE French frigate Jean Bart will be making a stopover in the Black Sea port of Constanta between March 7th and 10th before participating in a military drill in Romania’s territorial waters together with the Romanian Navy, the French embassy in Bucharest announced on Wednesday. According to the same source, the frigate is specialized in anti-aircraft and crisis-management operations being capable of carrying out missions in any area as part of an allied or international navy group. The ship is fitted with a Panther helicopter.

MOTION The National Liberal Party on Wednesday tabled a simple no-confidence motion against the Education Minister Valentin Popa in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies. According to the Liberals, what the coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, has done with regard to education, was to close schools in the year in which we celebrate 100 years since the Great Union, to sack inspectors via fax machines because they failed to comply with the directions set by the party, and hold examinations outside the law. Also, the school dropout rate is on the rise, young people have no possibility to learn about trades in school, and diplomas are far from attesting competences. All these, the Liberals say, are alarm signals that call for an urgent dismissal of the education minister. The leader of the Liberal Group in the Chamber of Deputies Raluca Turcan has stated that this should happen before it is too late.

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