January 24, 2016

Romanians celebrate 157 years since the union of the Romanian Principalities./Moldovan PM Pavel Filip will pay a visit to Romania

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Newsroom, 23.01.2016, 12:19

Romanians celebrate 157 years since the Union of the Romanian Principalities. Taking part in the celebrations held in the northeastern Romanian city of Iasi are President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos. On this occasion, President Iohannis called on the political class to do its best to meet the citizens’ expectations and restore people’s confidence in Romanian politicians. On the 24th of January, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had been elected ruler of Moldavia a week earlier, was unanimously elected sovereign of Wallachia and proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. Three years later, on January 24, 1862, the union was recognized internationally and the state received the name of Romania. Cuza’s reforms laid the institutional foundation of modern Romania. In 1918, the establishment of the nation state was completed by the union with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania, the historical provinces with predominantly Romanian speaking population. However, Romania lost Bessarabia and Bukovina after WW2.

The US and Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution against so-called Islamic State if a political agreement in Syria proves impossible, US Vice-President Joe Biden has said. The latest round of Syria peace talks are planned to begin on Monday in Geneva, but they are being held up by disagreements over representation and the agenda. Syrian armed rebel groups have said they held the Syrian government and Russia responsible for any failure of peace talks while the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition ruled out even indirect negotiations unless Damascus took steps including a halt to Russian air strikes. At the request of Damascus, Moscow has been taking part in the military campaign in Syria for several months now, and, although it claims its main target is Islamic State, Russia has been accused of bombarding positions of the moderate rebels supported by monarchies in the Gulf area, Turkey and the Western powers.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Pavel Filip, will pay a visit to Bucharest on January 26, to meet with his Romanian counterpart Dacian Ciolos, the Chisinau Government announced. The two officials will discuss about the actions to be taken by the two governments in order to boost the implementation of the initiatives and projects previously agreed on by Chisinau and Bucharest. Also tackled will be the agenda of reforms set under the Moldova EU Association Agreement. This is Pavel Filip’s first official visit as prime minister, against the background of protests against the new government in the capital Chisinau. Unhappy with their politicians’ corruption and lack of efficiency, thousands of protesters took Parliament by storm right after the new government had been sworn in, asking for early elections.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, number 2 in the world, is to have an operation on her nose and will skip next weeks Fed Cup match against the Czech Republic and tournaments in Dubai and Doha,. “The last six weeks have been extremely difficult for me, as I’ve been dealing with infections in my stomach, nose and ear. Under doctors advice, I will undergo surgery to fix the on-going problem,” she said in a post on her Facebook page. The Romanian tennis player had an illness-plagued start to the year, which ended with a first-round exit from the Australian Open.

Romania continues to be under a yellow code alert for frost except for 5 counties in the west and northwest. The lowest temperatures will range from minus 20 degree C to minus 15 degrees C. On isolated areas temperatures will drop down to minus 28 degrees C. As of Sunday snowfalls are present in the west, north and northwest of the country. Maximum, temperatures will stand at minus 2 degrees C.

(Translated by Elena Enache)