March 13, 2016 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.03.2016, 12:30

The president of the Chamber of Deputies
in Bucharest, Valeriu Zgonea went to Berlin on Sunday to attend an
international parliamentary conference on fighting Antisemitism, an event also
attended by high-ranking officials from Germany and the European Union. Zgonea
chaired a plenary session on ‘Official and Governmental Responses to
Antisemitism’. High on the conference agenda were the Antisemitic discourse
promoted on the Internet as well as ways of combating Antisemitism inside the
Muslim communities. Romania took over the presidency of the International
Remembrance Holocaust Alliance a week ago.

Princess Margareta, custodian of the
Romanian crown, and Prince Radu have returned to Romania and are to resume
their public activities on Monday, sources with the Royal House have announced.
The couple had gone to Switzerland to assist king Mihai the 1st, currently
suffering from a severe disease and Queen Ana. Romania’s former sovereign, who
is suffering from cancer, has been admitted to a clinic in Lausanne and is
reportedly in an advanced state of physical weakness. King Mihai has entrusted
his eldest daughter Margareta with the mission of representing him in public
activities. On August 23rd, during the Second World War, the king ordered the
arrest of the then head of state, Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania’s withdrawal
from the Axis and its joining the war along
its traditional allies, the USA and Great Britain. According to
historians, the king’s decision at that time shortened the war with at least
six months saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Three years later, when the
country was under Soviet occupation and led by a communist regime, the king was
forced to abdicate and leave the country. He returned to Romania after the 1989
anti-communist revolution.

Preparations
were underway on Sunday for indirect talks on Monday on the conflict in Syria,
which has devastated the country for the past five years, causing the death of
more than 250 thousand people. US secretary of state John Kerry said, at the
end of a meeting with his counterparts from the main European powers, that the
parties involved must observe the ceasefire and cooperate so that humanitarian
aid could be delivered. They must also observe the talks on finding a political
solution to the conflict. Kerry denounced the position of the Syrian
government, which has ruled out any talks over the political future of
president Bashar al-Assad. The chief negotiator of the Syrian opposition says
the political transition can start in Syria only after Assad has stepped down.
According to France Press, a ceasefire, brokered by the USA and Russia between
government forces and Syrian rebels, came into effect on February 27th.

A new Romanian crew has joined the patrol missions in the Mediterranean
aimed at fighting illegal migration. According to the Interior Ministry, a
helicopter of the General Inspectorate for Aviation with a crew of four will
join the international operation Poseidon Rapid Intervention by the European
Agency FRONTEX, which involves the participation of ground, sea and air units
from 26 countries. In the next two weeks, the Romanian crew will be operating
on the Greek Island of Samos. Romania has had a significant contribution to
FRONTEX operations of securing the EU borders, participating in the missions of
fighting illegal migration in the maritime zone of Italy and Greece, but also
at the border between Serbia and Macedonia.

Hundreds of people flocked on Saturday night
to visit the residence of the former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The
residence has been officially opened to public and has thus been included in the
Bucharest’s circuit of museums, 26 years on from the demise of communism in
Romania. Built between 1964 and 1965, the Spring Palace, as it is known, has
over 80 rooms. Visitors can see the study of the former communist dictator, the
family apartments, his private cinema hall, the swimming pool, the wine cellar
and the two gardens. The opening of the Ceausescu’s residence is part of a
government campaign called ‘Your Right to Know’.