January 7, 2018

Embassy of Palestine in Bucharest hails declaration by President Klaus Iohannis, PSD meets Monday

Newsroom, 07.01.2018, 14:14

Bucharest — The embassy of Palestine in Bucharest hails the declaration made by President Klaus Iohannis, which reiterates the stand of the Romanian state on the status of Jerusalem. According to a press release, ambassador Fuad Kokaly believes that, through its decision of not considering a legitimate option moving its embassy to Jerusalem, Romania once again proves respect for the law principles and the international law. The declaration follows Friday’s phone conversation between Klaus Iohannis and the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, when the Romanian president said that Jerusalem was a central topic of the Middle East peace negotiations and that its status should be established following a direct agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. Romania also underlined the need for a correct and long-standing resolution of the conflict, by implementing the solution of the two states, Israel and Palestine, which should coexist in peace and security, as the only viable solution. Consequently, a possible decision on moving Romania’s Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem may me made only based on the aforementioned conditions. During the phone conversation, President Iohannis reiterated that Romania continued to support the development, consolidation and diversification of relations with Israel, which have a strategic nature. The Israeli PM thanked Romania for having abstained from vote last month, when the UN General Assembly condemned the recognition of Jerusalem by the US as the capital of Israel.

PSD — The executive committee of the Social Democratic Party, the main party in the governing coalition, will meet on Monday in Bucharest, high on the agenda being the nomination of a new minister of waters and forests, after on Wednesday the incumbent minister Doina Pană stepped down invoking medical reasons. According to party sources they might also tackle the organization of an extraordinary congress, the designation of the future candidate for next year’s presidential election as well as a possible restructuring of the government. The meeting is taking place against the backdrop of speculations regarding the souring relations between the PSD leader Liviu Dragnea and the PM Mihai Tudose.

Saint John the Baptist — Romanian Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers are today celebrating the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament. He baptized Jesus Christ in the Jordan and called his the Redeemer. As many as 2 million Romanians are celebrating their name day today. Also today Orthodox old-rite believers belonging to the Russian, Ukrainian and Serbian communities are celebrating Christmas, 13 days later than the day marked in the Gregorian calendar.

Handball – Romania’s national men’s handball team defeated on Saturday evening, on home ground, in Călăraşi (southern Romania), the team of Portugal 26-23, in the final of the Carpati Trophy. In the semifinals, the Romanian handballers defeated Bahrain 29-20. Trained by the Spanish coach Xavier Pascual, Romania’s team participates, as of Thursday, in the first round of the preliminaries of the 2019 World Championship, in Bolzano Italy, where, besides the host team, they will also take on the teams of Ukraine and the Faeroe Islands. It is only the winners of the six preliminary groups that will play in June 2018 in the playoffs for the final tournament to be hosted by Germany and Denmark.

Student organizations — The National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania, which represents 17 university centers countrywide, expressed discontent with the accommodation conditions in hostels and with the system of granting scholarships, which, they say, is incorrectly implemented. Gathered in Timişoara (in western Romania) the Alliance representatives announced they would send public requests to universities to remedy the problems. At the end of the meeting, around 250 students protested against the modifications brought to the justice laws by the parliamentary majority made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, which they accuse of intending to subordinate magistrates and to stop the anticorruption fight. Similar accusations were leveled by the rightist opposition, the press and civil society. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)