May 8, 2016 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 08.05.2016, 12:15

During a meeting in Bucharest on Sunday with Romania’s president Klaus
Iohannis, the US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken reconfirmed the US’s
commitment to strengthening NATO’ s eastern flank and appreciated Romania’s
active role within the Alliance. According to a communique issued by the
Romanian Presidential Administration, the US official stressed Romania’s
contribution to NATO’s anti-missile defense system by building the base in
Deveselu, in the south, which will host elements of this system. In turn,
president Iohannis said that, as an ally to NATO, and given the complicated
security background in the eastern and southern neighborhoods, Romania was
committed to acting responsibly as a provider of security. Also on Sunday, at a
press conference, the US Deputy Secretary of State said the US admired the
fight against corruption in Romania. Antony Blinken has also met with Prime
Minister Dacian Ciolos and other Government members. He is currently on a
European tour in the run up to the NATO summit due in Warsaw in July.

The Romanian soldier wounded
on Saturday in Afghanistan was sent to a hospital in Germany and his condition
is now stable, the Romanian Defense Ministry has announced. Another two
Romanian soldiers were killed in the same incident. They were training Afghan policemen at a training camp near
Kandahar, when individuals wearing Afghan security forces uniforms started
firing at them. The Romanian soldiers reacted in keeping with the procedure
applicable in such situations and fired back, killing the perpetrators and
securing the area. On Monday, all military units in the country and abroad will
organize military and religious ceremonies to commemorate the two soldiers.
Since 2002, Romania has lost 26 soldiers in Afghanistan. Some 150 have been
wounded.

On Sunday, the Romanian Health
Ministry resumed and extended the investigation into the scandal triggered by
evidence of hospitals using diluted disinfectants . All sanitizers and
disinfectants are now being tested,
under a decision announced by the Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos
after an emergency meeting with representatives of the Health and Interior
Ministries. Also as of Sunday, all the samples identified as lacking conformity
following the first investigation conducted at 50 hospitals in Romania will be
analyzed at the National Institute for Research and Development in Chemistry
and Oil Chemistry. The General Prosecutor’s Offices too continues its
investigation into matter. Many hospitals have already been searched, as well as the offices of the
company that has provided the disinfectants, accused of supplying hospital
units with substances that do not observe the legal quality standards. The
Health Ministry has stated that all measures have been taken to avoid putting
patients at risk.

The law regarding the selling of farm land will be amended, to make it
more difficult for foreign citizens to buy such land in Romania, the
Agriculture Minister Achim Irimescu announced on Sunday. He said there was
pressure coming from the Romanian farmers, as a result of large plots of land being
purchased by foreign companies. In another move, minister Irimescu said that, in the coming period, Romania might have agricultural attachés in 12 countries, to help farmers sell
their products on the foreign markets. In the first stage, the attachés would
go to Turkey, China, Russia, the US, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Spain and Germany.

Romanian authorities are
investigating the death of the Dinamo football player Patrick Ekeng, of
Cameroon, who on Friday night collapsed on the football ground without anybody
touching him, during the Dinamo Bucharest – Viitorul Constanta game. The
Prosecutor’s Office has started an investigation into a potential case of
manslaughter, and the police are now checking the private
emergency service that took over the player. The company is also being investigated by the Health Ministry and the Emergency Situations Department. Patrick Ekeng
was urgently taken to hospital and the medical staff tried to resuscitate him, but he
could not be saved. Several matches
have been postponed, including the Romanian Cup’s final, and many athletes,
supporters and officials have paid respects to the late football player.

Horia Tecau of Romania and
Jean Julien Rojer of the Netherlands on Sunday defeated the pair made up of the Romanian Florin Mergea and
the Indian Roham Bopanna in the final doubles match of the Madrid tournament.
This is the second trophy won this year by Horia Tecau, after the one he won in
Bucharest last month alongside Florin Mergea. In the women’s singles, the trophy
went to the Romanian Simona Halep, ranked 7th in the WTA
classification. She defeated the Slovak player Dominika Ciubulkova 6-2, 6-4 and, as a result , on Monday she will climb the WTA rankings up to the 5th
position.