March 29, 2015 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 29.03.2015, 12:15
The new American ambassador to Romania, Hans Klemm, will come to Bucharest soon, the Republican congressman Mac Thornberry told Radio Romania. Thornberry is the vice chair of the Committee on Armed forces of the House of Representatives. The official pointed out that the appointment of an ambassador was delayed due to misunderstandings on the American political scene. He added that the delay had nothing to do with Romania which is one of the US’s best allies. On Monday President Barack Obama appointed Hans Klemm as ambassador to Romania. Klemm is a career diplomat and a Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Management of the US Department of State. He still needs the approval of the Congress. The previous American ambassador to Bucharest was Mark Gittenstein, who ended his mandate in December 2012. After that date the US diplomatic mission was headed by interim officials.
The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, participated Sunday in Tunis in the international solidarity rally against terrorism. On the occasion the Romanian official condemned terrorism and expressed Romania’s support for the Tunisian authorities in their effort to fight this scourge. The Romanian foreign minister met with his Tunisian counterpart, Taieb Baccouche, expressing the Romanian people’s solidarity with the Tunisian people. During the meeting he also presented the Romanian initiative to set up an international court against terrorism. Also the Romanian foreign minister met with the speaker of the Tunisian parliament and with the Tunisian president.
The Netherlands is making progress towards making Romania’s Schengen accession possible, said Sunday the Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders, in an interview to Radio Romania. He pointed out that in the coming weeks the Netherlands will look into the situation, to see if Romania’s accession to the Schengen space can take place this year or not. The Netherlands has been repeatedly opposed to Romania’s Schengen accession, in the context in which a country’s Schengen accession is conditioned on the unanimous vote of the EU members.
As many as 2,000 Catholic believers participated Sunday in Bucharest in the Palm Sunday procession organized by the Roman-Catholic Archbishopric. During the procession believers carried branches in their hands, while singing religious hymns. Heading the procession were young people who carried the “Cross of the World Youth Day”, a day marked by the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday precedes the Passion Week when believers commemorate the passions of Jesus Christ.
An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale took place last night in Romania, in Vrancea area, in the east. This has been the strongest quake of 2015 being felt in 5 cities of Romania, including the capital Bucharest. In the past 6 months several small-scale earthquakes have been reported in Romania. The strongest quake, measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale, was registered in November 2014 also in the Vrancea area.
The heads of state of the Arab League countries met Sunday in Cairo where they agreed to set up a joint military force meant to fight “terrorist groups”, the host of the summit, president Abdel Fattah al-Sissi announced according to France press. The objectives of this force and other details are to be clarified in less than a month. The announcement was made against the backdrop of a coalition made up of 10 Arab states and led by Saudi Arabia starting, Thursday, a series of air strikes on Yemen against the Houthi rebels who are supported by Iran.
Protests against the Romanian politicians who are facing legal problems took place on SUnday before the Romanian embassies in the Italian cities of Rome, Milan and Turin. On Saturday protests were held in Bucharest and other big cities of Romania in which people contested the way in which the Romanian MPs use their immunity granted by law to escape prosecution. Some of the protesters asked for the lifting of the MPs’ immunity. The protests come after the recent vote in the Romanian Senate in the case of the former Social Democrat minister of transport Dan Sova who is accused of being accessory to abuse of office. Most of the senators voted in favour of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate’s request regarding the temporary arrest of Dan Sova, but the request was rejected on account of lack of quorum.
