October 30, 2017

The Ministry for the Romanians Abroad is closely monitoring the situation of those over 130 thousand Romanians in Catalonia

Newsroom, 30.10.2017, 13:53

CATALONIA — The Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont might be arrested today for rebellion, allongside other officials who contributed to Catalonia’s declaring its independence from Spain. Hundreds of thousand of Spanish loyalists demonstrated in Barcelona on Sunday in support of Madrid’s decision to impose direct rule on Catalonia. The protest took place after Catalan MPs voted to declare independence from Spain, prompting Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, to sack the separatist Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and his government, dissolve the Catalan parliament and call regional elections for December 21. Spain’s control over Catalonia will be tested on Monday when politicians and civil servants return to work amid uncertainty over whether they will accept direct rule imposed by the central government to stop the region’s independence bid, Reuters reports.

COLECTIV — It’s been two years since the devastating fire at the Colectiv club in Bucharest that killed 64 people. Of them, 27 died on the night of the tragedy while the other 37 died in hospitals in Bucharest and abroad. Hundreds of people participated on Friday evening in a march in Romania’s capital, commemorating the victims. Many people hoped that the ones responsible for this tragedy would be punished, but two years on nobody was found guilty and the flaws in the system are still present.

ACCIDENT — One miner was killed and another three were injured in an accident that took place at the Uricani mine on the Jiu Valley. The victims were doing some final works on the mine that would soon be shut down. This is the second such accident on the Jiu Valley this month, after the one at the Lupeni mine that killed two miners and injured one. The Lupeni mine will be operational for another five years, according to a memorandum that Romania submitted to the European Commission.

MINISTRY– The Ministry for the Romanians Abroad is closely monitoring the situation of those over 130 thousand Romanians in Catalonia, in the context of the recent events in this Spanish region, the Ministry says in a release. The Ministry recommends Romanian citizens in the region to get in touch with the Romanian authorities, in case their security is threatened. Also, Romanian authorities are asked to notify the Romanian diplomatic missions of any situation that might affect their work and their relation with local institutions and authorities. The Ministry reiterates the fact that Bucharest is firmly and irevocably rejecting Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence and voices full support for Spain’s sovereignity and territorial integrity in the hope that the situation in the Spanish region will soon return within the limits of the the country’s constitution.

CONFERENCE – All EU states must collaborate closely to achieve solid cyber security, European commisioner for digital economy and society Mariya Gabriel said on Monday in Bucharest, at the 7th annual international conference dubbed ”The New Global Challenges in Cyber Security”. During his 2-day visit to Romania, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who is paying a 2-day visit to Bucharest, will hold talks with Romanian authorities on issues such as illegal online content and digital investment.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep continues to be world number one for the fourth week in a row. Halep, who has just received the year-end WTA World No. 1 Trophy, has an advance of 40 points as to world no. two, Garbine Muguruza and is 160 points ahead of the third place, Caroline Wozniacki. Another three Romanians who are part of the WTA top 100 maintain their current position – Sorana Cirstea no. 37, Irina Begu No. 44 and Monica Niculescu, nr. 100. Mihaela Buzarnescu went up 17 places and is now no. 72 WTA.

(Translated by Elena Enache)