March 20, 2016

For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.

România Internațional, 20.03.2016, 12:00

CONTRIBUTION — Romania will contribute 60 border police officers, 10 experts in the field of asylum procedures, 6 utility cars, two maritime border patrol ships and other logistics equipment to the European effort of managing the migration flows from Greece. According to a press release issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry, all the capabilities will be operated in the international mission in Greece starting next week. A task force to coordinate this international effort has been set up in Athens, at the Greek Defence Ministry. Bucharest’s decision to support this effort was taken after the European Council meeting in Brussels of March 17-18, where president Klaus Iohannis represented Romania. On the sidelines of the meeting, EU leaders adopted a series of additional measures in the context of the implementation of the EU Agreement with Turkey to solve the refugee crisis.

EARTH HOUR — 42 cities in Romania on Saturday observed the Earth Hour, a global initiative involving public and private institutions and citizens across the world. For one hour Romanians turned off their powered devices and took part in events devoted to environment protection. Romania joined over 7,000 cities in over 160 countries in an effort to raise the awareness of decision-makers with respect to serious climate issues affecting our planet, including global warming, pollution and high-energy consumption. In Bucharest and other cities Earth Hour was marked by bicycle, rollerblades and chariot tours. People used lanterns and flashlights as alternative light sources. Earth Hour has been observed in Romania since 2009 and since 2007 at global level.

PALM SUNDAY — Catholic and Protestant Christians worldwide today celebrate Palm Sunday, the entering of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, the last Sunday before Easter. A march will be held in Bucharest to mark this event, led by Archbishop Ioan Robu. A similar procession will be staged in Iasi, northern Romania. Roman-Catholics in Romania celebrate Easter on March 27, while Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians will celebrate Easter on May 1.

HANDBALL — The Romanian women’s handball team on Saturday qualified to the Rio Olympics after Montenegro defeated the host country Denmark at the pre-Olympic tournament in Aarhus, Denmark. Romania outperformed Uruguay 36-19, after defeating Denmark in the first match 32-25. With two wins in two days, Romania and Montenegro have secured qualification to the Rio Olympics ahead of the last match in the tournament scheduled on Sunday. We recall that Romania grabbed bronze at the World Handball Championships in 2015.

AWARD — Romanian poet Ana Blandiana on Saturday was designated the European Poet of Freedom, in recognition of her volume “My A4 Homeland”. The award was bestowed in Gdansk, Poland. Every two years Gdansk hosts the literary contest “The European Poet of Freedom”. In 2016 7 European countries enrolled in the competition: Romania, Portugal, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Italy and Macedonia. The purpose of the event is to highlight and promote poetry volumes approaching one of the fundamental values of contemporary society: freedom.

VISIT — US President Barack Obama is as of Sunday on a historic two-day visit to Cuba, a country seen until recently as hostile to the USA, Reuters reports. This is the first visit of a US president to this country in the last 88 years. In December 2014, President Obama and his counterpart from Cuba, Raul Castro, agreed to resume diplomatic relations, frozen since 1959 when the Cuban Revolution ousted the pro-American Government in Havana. Important security forces have been deployed to ensure the security of this visit. Since December last year the US and Cuba have resumed diplomatic relations, signed trade agreements in the field of telecommunications and air travel and have extended cooperation to the fields of law enforcement and environment protection. Major divergences still divide the two countries, especially the 54-year-long embargo the US imposed on Cuba. President Obama has called on the US Congress to lift the embargo, a proposal dismissed by Republican leaders.

FRANCOPHONIE — The World Day of La Francophonie is celebrated on March 20 in all the 77 member states of the International Organization of La Francophonie, OIF. Romania joined the OIF in 1991 as an observer state and has been a member with full rights since 1993. Romania’s contribution to francophone initiatives and the modernization of OIF, as well as holding the rotating presidency of several OIF structures, have turned Romania into a lighthouse state for the francophone integration of Central and East European states.

AGREEMENT — Authorities in Athens on Sunday announced they could not implement the agreement with Turkey on the return of illegal immigrants to Turkey. Singed on Friday in Brussels, the documents provides for the immediate return of all immigrants arrived in Greece back to Turkey unless they file an asylum application or their immigration motivation statements are rejected. The announcement has been criticized in several European states, where thousands of people on Saturday protested in solidarity with the immigrants.

(Translated by V. Palcu)