May 3, 2018

A delegation led by the minister for the Romanians Around the World, Natalia-Elena Intotero, is currently on a three-day visit to Italy/ Sea Shield, the biggest allied military exercise on NATOs south-eastern flank is unfolding in Constanta

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Corina Cristea, 03.05.2018, 14:15

VISIT – A delegation led by the minister for the Romanians Around the World, Natalia-Elena Intotero, is currently on a three-day visit to Italy. According to a communiqué issued by the line ministry, the visit starts in Bari, in the region of Puglia and will come to a close in Rome, in the Lazio region. The agenda of the visit includes talks with representatives of the local authorities, of the associative environment, trade unions and members of the Orthodox religious denomination. Data released by the Italian National Statistics Institute show the Romanian community in Italy exceeds 1,100,000 people of a total of 5 million foreign citizens who are legally residing in Italy, being the largest foreign community in that country.

DIPLOMACY– Romanian foreign minister, Teodor Meleşcanu, is today starting a two-day official visit to Morocco, at the invitation of his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the agenda of the visit includes talks with Moroccan PM Saadeddine El-Othmani, the Speaker of the House of Councillors (the upper house of Parliament), Hakim Benchamach and with the minister of education Saaid Amzazi. The visit also has an economic dimension, meant to boost two way trade exchanges and mutual investments. Minister Melescanu is also due to meet the president of the Morocco-Romania Bilateral Chamber of Commerce, to be attended by local entrepreneurs as well. On Friday, Teodor Meleşcanu will meet his counterpart, Nasser Bourita. On that occasion, the two officials will sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the Romanian and Moroccan Foreign Ministries, respectively, and a Cooperation Agreement between the Romanian Diplomatic Institute and the Moroccan Academy of Diplomatic Studies.

SEA SHIELD – Sea Shield, the biggest allied military exercise on NATOs south-eastern flank is unfolding in Constanta, south-eastern Romania, as of today. Taking part in the exercise are 21 military ships, 10 fighters, a submarine and 2,300 military from several countries. According to a communiqué issued by the Chief of Staff of the Romanian Naval Forces, during the military training exercise the military will practice NATO standard-fighting procedures against asymmetrical, submarine and maritime threats, according to a scenario based on a fictitious geopolitical situation. The Romanian Naval Forces are contributing to the exercise two frigates, two guided-missile destroyers, and two maritime dredging ships. The Romanian Air Forces also contribute three MiG 21 Lancer fighters and the Ground Forces will contribute, for the first time, an infantry detachment.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY – Some parts of the mass media have significantly contributed to the radicalisation of the public discourse by political bias and the assimilation of themes imposed by politicians, the fake news also contaminating the media landscape in Romania and contributing to the consolidation of alternative narratives, where the actions carried out by the ruling politicians are given legitimacy and those by the contesters are incriminated. The assessment is included in the 2017-2018 Report on Press Freedom in Romania, made public today. The document also shows that the ruling power, following the December 2016 elections, has imposed new leaderships at the Romanian Television Company, TVR, and the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, SRR, the TV and radio licence fee being eliminated after several attempts by the politicians over the past few years, thus increasing the two public media institutions dependency on the political power. Celebrated every year on May 3, the World Press Freedom Day is marked by 100 events the world over. Romania is ranking 44th in a global classification of press freedom, ahead of such countries as the US or Italy and behind South Korea.

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA – The British firm Cambridge Analytica closed on Wednesday citing a loss of business. According to the BBC, “the closure of Cambridge Analytica will not stop a probe into the firm’s handling of millions of people’s data, investigators have said. The firm has been accused of acquiring data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles for use in political campaigns. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said its investigation will still ‘pursue individuals and directors, the BBC reports

TABLE TENNIS– Romanias womens table tennis team is today facing the team of Hong Kong, in the quarter finals of the World Championships held in Sweden. Romania has qualified in the quarter-finals after securing four wins and sustaining one defeat. In exchange, the national mens team has failed to qualify for the eighth finals of the World Championships, after losing to Hong Kong.