January 7, 2020

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Newsroom, 07.01.2020, 13:55

VISIT Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is paying a working
visit to the German state of Bavaria. The Romanian official has attended a
session of the local government and held talks with Markus Soder, the Minister
President of Bavaria and president of the Christian-Social Union CSU. ‘It is very important to signal that our relation both for Romania and for
the ethnics Germans from Romania who are now living in Bavaria is a special
bridge between Romania and Bavaria’, president Iohannis said adding that a
meeting of the mixed Romania-Bavaria committee would be talking place shortly,
a very important event not only for the political relations but also for
economy. Markus Soder has congratulated Ionannis on his second term in office
as president of Romania underlining that Romania is a major partner. ‘We
believe that Europe isn’t led from Brussels alone, and it’s not moving between
Germany and France, but there is an interest in this partnership between
Europe’s smaller states. ‘From a geographical point of view,
Romania is very important for Europe’, Soder added. Iohannis will be
participating in the annual meeting of the CSU group in Bundestag, the German
Parliament’s lower chamber and will have talks with the president of Bavaria
Parliament, Ilse Aigner.

TALKS Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban begins a three-day
working visit to Brussels for talks with European and NATO officials. Orban
will also be attending a meeting of the European People’s Party group within
the European Parliament. The visit kicks off with a bilateral meeting with
Charles Michel, president of the European Council. Also today the head of the
Romanian executive will be received by Frans Timmermans,Executive
Vice President-Designate of the European Commission and will be having talks
with the EU chief negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier. Orban’s delegation will
also be meeting European commissioners for neighborhood and enlargement Oliver
Varhelyi and for budget and human resources Johannes Hahn. In Brussels Orban
will be holding talks with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der
Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and with the president of the
European Parliament David Sassoli.

APPEAL Romania’s Interior Ministry has responded to an appeal launched
at European level and has resources ready to be deployed to Australia to help
this country deal with the devastating effects of the bushfires. The EU has
activated its Civil Protection Mechanism and Romania’s President Klaus
Iohannis, who has been briefed on the available resources, has given the
greenlight for the assistance and rescue operations. The EU intends to make
available to the Australian authorities a rescue unit and resources that the
latter can access totally or partially according to their needs. Bushfires in
south-eastern Australia have destroyed over 8 million hectares of vegetation,
killed at least 25 people and destroyed the wildlife in the region. Thousands
of houses have been destroyed or damaged while some towns and villages have
been left without electricity, communications or drinking water.

St. JOHN The
majority Orthodox believers and Greek Catholics in Romania are today
celebrating Saint John, the prophet of the New Testament, the one who baptized
Jesus in Jordan River. John the Baptist as he is also known, was imprisoned and
beheaded by king Herod. Nearly 2 million Romanians are today celebrating their
name day, which puts and end to the winter holiday season in Romania. Old Rite Christians annually
celebrate Christmas Day on January 7 to remember Jesus Christ’s birth,
described in the Christian Bible. This date works to the Julian calendar, that pre-dates
the Gregorian calendar, which is
commonly observed.

(translated by bill)