July 21, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 21.07.2016, 12:05

The Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos is to meet today
with a US Congress delegation, currently on a visit to Bucharest. The agenda of
talks focuses on the US – Romania
strategic partnership, including the US anti-missile defence system in
Deveselu, southern Romania, investment and the reform of the Romanian public
administration. According to the US Embassy in Bucharest, the delegation is
made up of 11 members of the US House of Representatives, both Republicans and
Democrats.

The Romanian Defence Minister
Mihnea Motoc and the Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu are attending in
Washington today a meeting of representatives of the US-led coalition against
the Islamic State. According to the Department of State, priorities will be
discussed in detail, including the functioning of the working groups on
political-military coordination, combating foreign terrorists, funding
counter-terror, fighting the terrorists’ on-line activity and stabilizing the
areas freed from the Islamic State’s control.

The status of the Romanians living in Great Britain will
be a priority for the Romanian authorities, said the Romanian Ambassador to
London Dan Mihalache during a hearing organized by the Home Affairs Committee
of the House of Commons on the Brexit issue. Dan Mihalache voiced worries
concerning the British debate regarding the current rights of the EU citizens
in the medium and long run, because, he says, these citizens need certainties.
The Ambassador also mentioned that he rejected any discriminatory treatment relating
to the date on which the Romanian citizens arrived in Great Britain.

The European Commission has
approved the relocation of 265 million Euro that was not spent between
2007-2013 from the Sectoral Operational Programme to projects in the SMEs and
research sectors in Romania. The European Commissioner Corina Cretu believes
that Romania thus stands better chances of properly funding successful projects
under the Sectoral Operational
Programme for Enhancing Economic Competitiveness. According to the EU official,
the European Commission and Bucharest authorities will keep on making efforts
for the money allocated for the 2007-2013 programming period to be fully spent
in Romania.

A state of emergency has been
declared in Turkey as of today, in place for three months. The decision has
been announced by President Recep Erdogan following the attempted coup on July
15th. The head of state has explained that the measure will allow
authorities to act rapidly against those responsible for the recent events.
According to the BBC, the President is allowed to make decisions without
Parliament approval and may limit or suspend a number of rights. Erdogan claims
that the purpose of this initiative is to protect democracy and human rights.
In reply, the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on
Ankara to shorten the state of emergency and to abstain from responding to the
failed coup d’etat. Erdogan has stated that Europe has no right to criticize
this decision and compared the recent measures with those taken by France after
the terrorist attacks in November 2015. In the past days, dozens of people,
including military staff, police, magistrates and civil servants have been
arrested or fired. Moreover, several media companies have been shut down.

On the last day of the Republican Convention
in Cleveland, the US billionaire Donald Trump is today delivering the most
important speech in his political career, in a final big attempt at convincing
the Americans he is ready for the White House. He will officially accept the
nomination as candidate of the Republican Party for November’s presidential
elections. Most likely, his counter candidate for the White House presidential
office will be the Democrat Hillary Clinton. The Democrats will officially
designate their candidate next week, at the Convention hosted by the city of
Philadelphia.

The Romanian athletes who will
participate in the Olympic Games in Rio are to be received today by Romania’s
President Klaus Iohannis. The president will hand over the Olympic flag to the
designated bearer Catalina Ponor, who is a three-time Olympic champion in
Athens and the only gymnast in the world to have won Olympic medals after an
8-year break. Some 100 Romanian athletes will participate in 15 Olympic events,
which will be held between the 5th and 21st of August.