November 30, 2014 UPDATE
A round-up of the main stories today in Romania.
România Internațional, 30.11.2014, 19:10
The National Day is celebrated on December 1st in Romania. Declared an official celebration after the anti-communist revolution of 1989, this date marks the start of the process to create a Romanian united nation state at the end of World War One, following the coming together under Bucharest’s authority of all provinces with a majority Romanian population which until then had been part of neighbouring multinational empires. On December 1st 1918 in Alba Iulia, in the centre, the representatives of the Romanians from Transylvania, Crisana, Maramures and Banat, provinces which had been under Austro-Hungarian rule, decided to join the Romanian Kingdom. The eastern province of Bessarabia, which had just freed itself from the occupation of Tsarist Russia had joined Romania on the 27th March that same year, followed by Bukovina, in the north-east, formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on the 30th of November. 2,700 troops, 280 pieces of army equipment and 40 planes will take part this year in the National Day parade in Bucharest. The Romanian military will be joined by forces from Romania’s NATO partners, the US, France, Poland and Turkey, as well as the Republic of Moldova.
Sunday’s parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova are viewed as crucial for the future of this ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian speaking population. 20 parties and coalitions and 4 independent candidates ran for the 101 seats in Parliament. According to pre-election polls, the pro-western coalition made up of the Liberal Democrats, the Democrats and the Liberals gathered 40% of voting intentions, while the pro-Russian opposition was credited with 25%. The Republic of Moldova, which this year signed association and free trade agreements with the European Union, hopes to earn the status of EU candidate country by 2017 and become a full EU member in 2020.
Moldovan citizens residing in Romania could cast their ballots in 11 polling stations set up across Romania. The Romanian authorities have said say they will reimburse the costs incurred by Moldovan students in Romania who wished to travel to the nearest polling station. Romania’s president elect Klaus Iohannis travelled to Chisinau on Friday, on his first visit after winning the presidential elections two weeks ago. He met his Moldovan counterpart Nicolae Timofti and the Liberal Democrat leader and former prime minister Vlad Filat, whom he assured of Bucharest’s support for Moldova’s European path. The new Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu will convey a similar message during his visit to Moldova on Monday.
Orthodox Christians, who are the majority in Romania, alongside the Greek and Roman Catholic Christians on Sunday celebrated the Feast of St. Andrew. A disciple of Christ, St. Andrew is considered the protector of the country, being the first to preach Christianity in Romania’s eastern region of Dobruja, west of the Black Sea. 700,000 Romanians are named after the saint.
The Romanian foreign ministry has reiterated its support for the principle of free movement across the European Union, saying this is a fundamental EU right which should not be questioned for populist reasons. The ministry issued a press release following a speech by British prime minister David Cameron on plans to curb immigration. According to Cameron’s proposal, immigrants should work in the UK for at least four years before claiming benefits, while those who cannot find work within 6 months of entering the country should be repatriated. If these plans are implemented, they will affect 400,000 immigrants working in the UK, including many Romanians. The Romanian foreign ministry emphasised the benefits brought by mobile workers to the British economy and the 1.3 million British citizens working in other EU member states. The Romanian authorities repeatedly said they were willing to work with the British government to prevent abuses of the social benefits system, in keeping with European law, the ministry’s press release also writes.
