May 19, 2018 UPDATE
Romania has met all its commitments to NATO, says Romanian Defence Minister Mihai Fifor
Newsroom, 19.05.2018, 19:11
DEFENCE – Romania has met all its commitments to NATO, the Romanian Defence Minister Mihai Fifor said on Saturday. He added that the US President Donald Trumps request for the other Allied countries to also earmark 2% of their GDP to defence is justified. This is the second consecutive year when Romania allots these funds to defence, Fifor explained. He also mentioned that nearly 700 Romanian troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan, and the major Army equipment upgrade projects undertaken by Romania upon joining NATO are reaching their final stages.
MUSEUMS – Scores of Romanian museum employees Saturday protested in front of the Ministry of Culture and National Identity headquarters. They say salaries do not reflect the importance, responsibility and complexity of their work, and some of them have lost incomes since the implementation of the unified pay scheme for public sector employees and the transfer of social security payments from employers to employees. The Culture Ministry announced in a news release that several meetings have been held recently with trade unions in the sector, and solutions to their problems are being searched for. The protests came ahead of the 14th edition of the famous Long Night of Museums, in which 180 museums and partner organisations in Romania are taking part. In Bucharest, taking part in the event are the National Art Museum of Romania, the National History Museum, the George Enescu National Museum, the Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum, and the Romanian Peasant Museum. Exhibitions, concerts and film screenings have been put together, for all ages and for all tastes.
ROYAL WEDDING – The historical city of Windsor, near London, Saturday hosted the wedding of Price Harry of Wales, grandson to Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, with his fiancée, the 36 year old American actress Meghan Markle. The official ceremony combined the elegance of the royal protocol with the glamour of Hollywood events. Thousands of people gathered on Saturday morning in the usually quiet town, to celebrate the princely couple. Buckingham Palace previously announced that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain granted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle the title of Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
DIASPORA – The second regional consular meeting in the campaign entitled “2018 Dialogue with the Diaspora on consular topics ended in Rome on Saturday. According to a news release issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, taking part in the event were representatives of the Romanian diplomatic missions and consular offices in Italy, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Switzerland, Montenegro and Israel. Talks focused on topics related to consular activities, particularly the handling of the situations that require the activation of the Foreign Ministry Crisis Response Task Force, as well as the use of the IT systems that are part of the E-Cons integrated platform, which currently services the entire consular network of the Romanian Foreign Ministry.
CHISINAU – The Republic of Moldova Sunday holds the first round of early elections for the mayors of capital city Chisinau and the second-largest Moldovan town of Balti, in the north. The posts have been vacant since the resignation of the mayors elected in June 2015, namely the pro-European Liberal Dorin Chirtoaca in Chisinau and the pro-Russian populist Renato Usatii in Balti. Both officials claimed the trials were political shams. These early elections are seen as a test for this autumns parliamentary election. Analysts quoted by Radio Romania correspondents, say Sundays vote for a new mayor of Chisinau, where one-third of the countrys population lives and which generates half of Moldovas GDP, is also important in geo-political terms, given the competition between pro-Russian and pro-European politicians in this country.
FUNERALS – The funerals of the great Romanian film director Lucian Pintilie were held in Bucharest on Saturday. Pintilie died on Wednesday at the age of 84. His staging of the Inspector General (1972), as well as his films The Reconstruction and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Mitică, were banned by the communist censorship. In 1973, he left for Paris, where he continued his career. After the fall of communism, he returned to Romania and made a series of films, mostly Romanian-French co-productions, one of which, “Too Late (1996), was included in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.
CONFERENCE – Former East-European political leaders pleaded in Bucharest on Saturday for dialogue as a means to promote security in the Korean Peninsula. Chairing the meeting designed to support a peaceful reunification of Korea, Emil Constantinescu, president of Romania in 1996-2000, emphasised the importance of cultural diplomacy between the 2 countries. The ex-president of Albania, Rexhep Meidani, believes recent developments to be encouraging, including the prospective meeting of the US President Donald Trump with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Also attending the conference in Bucharest are, among others, the former presidents of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, of Belarus, Stanislav Shushkevich, and of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic.
HANDBALL – The Romanian mens handball team AHC Potaissa of Turda (in north-western Romania) Sunday faces the Greek side AEK Athens, away from home, in the decisive leg of the Challenge Cup final. On Monday, the Romanians won the first leg, at home, 33-22. According to commentators, Potaissa, which last year lost the final of the same competition to Sporting Lisbon, is a step away from winning the trophy. At the end of last week, the Romanian womens team SCM Craiova won the EHF Cup final, defeating the Norwegian side Vipers Kristiansand, while Romanian champions, CSM Bucharest, won the bronze in the so-called Champions League Final Four in Budapest.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
