March 4, 2015
A roundup of local and international news
Newsroom, 04.03.2015, 12:00
The Foreign Minister of the ex-Soviet Republic of Moldova with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population, Natalia Gherman has today started a visit to neighbouring Romania, at the invitation of her counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu. It is Mrs. Gherman’s first visit to Bucharest, since the new government of Chiril Gaburici took office in Chisinau, in which she has kept her portfolio of Iurie Leanca’s cabinet. The two ministers will co-chair the third session of the Romanian-Moldovan Inter-government Commission for European integration. The Commission is meant to support Moldova’s reform efforts in areas instrumental to integration such as bringing Moldova’s legislation in line with the EU one, the rule of law, internal affairs, agriculture and food security. Natalia Gherman’s visit has kicked off on the day when Romania has started delivering gas to Moldova, meant to reduce the latter’s energy dependence on Russia.
A crisis management exercise is taking place in all capitals of the NATO member states over March 5th-10th. The Romanian Defence Ministry has announced that the North Atlantic Council-led exercise is aimed to test the political and military consultation and decision-making speed against the backdrop of cybernetic threats and attacks. Joining the National Response System of Romania, whose head office is at the Defence Ministry, are also representatives of other ministries and institutions in the national defence system, public order and national security.
Hundreds of miners from the Uranium Mine in Crucea commune, Suceava County in North-Eastern Romania, continue their protest, some of them being blocked underground since Monday. They are dissatisfied that the wage rise agreed upon with representatives of the government and the company in late January has not taken effect. On Tuesday, Energy Minister, Andrei Gerea, suggested to the miners a 300 lei wage increase until the budget rectification, but his proposal did not make the miners give up their protest. The uranium mine in Crucea is the only one of the kind in Romania, supplying the Cernavoda nuclear power plant with the raw material. The mine has been operating for nearly 30 years now.
FBI director, James Corney today pays a formal visit to Sofia. Security and the supremacy of law are high on the agenda of his meetings with Bulgarian officials. On Tuesday, James Corney paid a visit to Bucharest for talks with Romanian president Klaus Ionhannis and Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The American official also had talks with the new head of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Eduard Helvig. The Romanian Intelligence Service is one of FBI’s best partners in the world, James Corney underscored. The main areas of cooperation are the fight against corruption and cybernetic security. Of late, the two services have intensified their cooperation in the exchange of intelligence and have carried out joint operations of foiling espionage actions
US President, Barack Obama has extended by one year the sanctions adopted against Russia, because of the Ukrainian crisis, the White House has announced. The sanctions were enforced in 2014 in the wake of Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and of supporting pro-Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine. On Tuesday, the American president and several European leaders, including French president, Francois Hollande, German chancellor Angela Merkel and the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk vowed in a phone talk that the West would have a strong response to any major violation of the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine. Kiev has expressed fears that the separatists might target the strategic town of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov coast, between Russia and Crimea.
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has criticized the agreement on the controversial Iranian nuclear programme which is being negotiated by the big Western powers and Teheran. Addressing the US Congress at the invitation of the Republicans who form the majority in the Congress, the Israeli premier on Tuesday said that Iran was a threat to the whole world and called again on Washington to block that country’s nuclear ambitions. Dissatisfied with those statements, US Democrat President Barack Obama dismissed Netanyahu’s speech as “nothing new”. In turn, Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the House of Representatives dismissed Netanyahu’s speech as “an insult to the intelligence of the USA”.
Romania today commemorates 38 years since the devastating earthquake of 1977, which measured 7.4 degrees on the Richter scale and killed over 1500 people. The tremor was the most violent natural disaster that hit Romania in the 20th century. The centre of Bucharest was largely damaged and the Southern town of Zimnicea was almost entirely destroyed. According to experts, the economic losses stood at two billion dollars, a figure that the communist officials of the time did not confirm.
