July 29, 2017 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 29.07.2017, 19:15

DIASPORA
– Prime Minister Mihai Tudose has decided to grant the Romanian Minister for
Romanians Abroad more prerogatives to act so that no Romanian citizen abroad is
discriminated against. Governmental sources have stated for Radio Romania that
the Prime Minister will meet with the Spanish Ambassador to Bucharest Ramiro
Fernandez Bachiller and the Romanian Minister Adreea Pastarnac for talks on
this matter. On Friday, the Association of Romanians in Europe called on the
Prime Minister to take urgent measures to protect the Romanians who are working
abroad and are abused. This week alone, authorities in Spain and Italy have
discovered thousands of Romanians exploited by employers in those countries.

ROMANIAN ARMY– Romania’s Higher Defense Council will convene in Bucharest
on Tuesday to discuss the plan for equipping the Romanian army in the 2017 -
2026 period. The plan was built taking into account the commitment that all
political parties made in 2015 to allocate 2% of the GDP to defense, for a
period of ten years, starting this year. We recall that the latest meeting of
the Defense Council was held on July 4th, when the Plan was removed from the
agenda of talks, because of a lack of political consensus on the matter.

NATIONAL ANTHEM DAY– Garrisons across the country and theatres of operations
abroad celebrated on Saturday Romania’s National Anthem Day. In a message
conveyed on this occasion, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis says that the
national anthem, titled ‘Awaken, thee, Romanian!’ symbolizes the efforts
made by Romanians to build a strong and prosperous country. The anthem became
official in 1990, but it was sung for the first time during the revolution of
1848 and then in crucial moments in Romania’s history, during the first and the
second world wars, the War of Independence and the Great Union of 1918. The
value of this anthem is embedded in the Constitution of Romania, alongside the
national flag, emblem and seal, Klaus Iohannis has also said. He has called on
all Romanians to honor this national symbol and to sing it with pride, as a
gesture of solidarity and a means of affirming their national identity, unity
and patriotism. Romanian embassies, consulates and cultural institutes abroad
also held events occasioned by National Anthem Day, alongside other events
aimed at promoting Romanian traditions and culture.

ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT – The permanent bureau of the Romanian Chamber
of Deputies will convene next week to discuss the request for an extraordinary
parliamentary session on August 2-4. Recently, the Social Democrat Prime
Minister Mihai Tudose has stated that a special parliamentary session is needed
to endorse the passing of ELCEN, a producer of electricity, under the
subordination of the Bucharest municipality. The leader of the opposition
National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban has stated that, if the meeting is held,
he will also ask for the hearing of Finance Minister Ionut Misa on the budget
implementation in the first six months of the
year, which, according to the liberals, has been catastrophic.

INCIDENT– Romania’s decision to deny access to its airspace for a
plane which had the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin on board was a
provocation, which put passengers in danger and which will seriously affect
bilateral relations, warns the Russian Foreign Ministry, which has presented a
protest note and has called for explanations. The Romanian National Defense
Minister Adrian Tutuianu has termed as ‘inappropriate’ the Russian official’s
reaction. We recall that on Friday, the regular flight Moscow – Chisinau was
denied access to Romania’s air space as on board the plane there was a person
on the list of people subject to EU sanctions. The plane eventually landed in
the capital of Belarus, Minsk. Dmitri Rogozin was supposed to meet on Friday
with the president of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon and with the leader of
the separatist regime in Transdniestr, Vadim Krasnoselski.

NORTH KOREA– The Romanian Foreign Ministry has firmly
condemned the latest ballistic test conducted by North Korea. In a communiqué
issued on Saturday, the Romanian diplomacy describes the action as a fresh
escalation of tension in the Korean Peninsula and a major threat to global
peace. The Romanian Foreign Ministry calls again on the Pyongyang regime to observe
the international regulations in force and to take concrete measures to
denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, completely and irreversibly. Previously, the
EU had too condemned the latest missile test conducted by North Korea,
describing it as a threat to world peace and security. The ballistic missile
launched by North Korea flew 45 minutes and landed in the Japanese waters, 200
miles from the country’s coast line.

PASSEX– The Ukrainian Naval Forces are these days taking
part in PASSEX drills in the Black Sea, alongside ships from NATO member
countries: Great Britain, Turkey and Romania. The drills are carried out by the
Ukrainian frigate ‘Hatman Sahaidacini’, the British destroyer ‘Duncan’, the
Turkish frigate ‘Yildirim’ and the Romanian frigate ‘Regele Ferdinand’ (King
Ferdinand). These drills are aimed at improving the participants’
interoperability. Ukraine and NATO set up a partnership in 1991, shortly after
Kiev won its independence from the former Soviet Union. Ukraine cooperates
closely with the Alliance and plays and active part in NATO’s Partnership for
Peace program.