May 8, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news
Bogdan Matei, 08.05.2014, 13:26
The pro-Western government in Kiev has stated it’s readiness to negotiate with regional parties and officials in the pro-Russian east of the country, but not with terrorists. The announcement was made after on Wednesday the Russian president Vladimir Putin had called on the Kiev authorities to hold talks with the separatists in the east and proposed to postpone the referendum on the independence of the self-proclaimed republic of Donetk, scheduled for Sunday. The Kremlin says the referendum should be accompanied by a cease in the Ukrainian military operations in the east of the country. In another move, both NATO and the US have stated that they have no evidence that the Russian troops have withdrawn from the border with Ukraine, as Putin had stated.
Six Canadian CF 18 Hornet fighters are participating alongside Romanian soldiers in joint training exercises and drills. The 230 Canadian pilots and technical staff arrived on Wednesday at the air base in Campia Turzii, in north-western Romania, where they will be stationed for five months. The Canadian ambassador to Bucharest, Joanne Lemay, has stated that against the background of the crisis in Ukraine, her country is determined, together with Romania and other NATO allies, to help stabilize the situation in the area and in Europe. Recently, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has too announced that the Alliance has consolidated its air police force in the Baltic countries and conducted surveillance flights above Poland and Romania.
The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, will today meet in Chisianu the president of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti. On Wednesday, during talks with Prime Minister Iurie Leanca and Parliament President Igor Corman, Calin Popescu Tariceanu said that Romania would be the first country to ratify Chisinau’s association agreement with the EU, showing clearly and unequivocally that Romania fully supported the Republic of Moldova’s European integration efforts. More on this after the news.
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean is attending in Thessalonica, Greece, several meetings organized under the auspices of the Greek presidency of the EU Council. Together with his Bulgarian and Greek counterparts, they are analyzing means of promoting the three countries’ common interests, mainly within the EU but also in regional organizations, as well as the European integration prospects of the countries in the Western Balkans. The Romanian Transport Minister Dan Sova is also in Greece, where he is attending, alongside his EU counterparts, an informal meeting. Among other things, the participants have put on their agenda of talks the development of infrastructure in the EU, roads in particular.
For the sixth year in a row, Romania is attending the International Book Fair in Turin, Italy, one of the most important such events in Europe. The theme this year is “the Good”, and the guest country is the Vatican. The event organized by the Romanian stand will involve 50 Romanian and Italian guests, among whom writers, translators, journalists, editors, literary critics, professors and specialists in Romanian studies. Some of the Romanian writers invited to participate are Lacramioara Stoenescu, Bujor Nedelcovici, Micaela Ghitescu, Cezar Paul Badescu, Stelian Tanase. Debates will be also organized, such as “The Eternal Return of Mircea Eliade”, “25 years since the 1989 Revolution”, “Nina Cassian, the last modernist in Europe”, “Romania as seen by Eliade and Cioran”.
Romanian singers Paula Seling and Ovi are this evening participating in Copenhagen in the final of the Eurovision singing contest with a song called Miracle”. The competitors are Malta, Israel, Norway, Georgia, Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Finland, Ireland, Belarus, Macedonia, Switzerland, Greece, Slovenia and Romania. Paula Seling and Ovi also participated in Eurovision in 2010, when they won third prize, with the song Playing with Fire”.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranking 5th in the WTA classification, is today playing against the 16th ranked German player Sabine Lisicki in the round of sixteen of the WTA tour in Madrid, a competition organized by the former Romanian tennis player Ion Tiriac. Halep, who is favourite no. 4, defeated Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 6-4, 6-4, and Lisicki beat Romanian Irina Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4. By acceding to the round of sixteen, Halep has secured 120 points and 45.530 Euros in prize money.
