September 8, 2015
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România Internațional, 08.09.2015, 12:00
The Committees of defence, foreign policy and European affairs with the Chamber of Deputies and Senate in Bucharest as well as the Parliaments Special Committee for Romanias Accession to Schengen are today holding talks on the crises of refugees from the Middle East and Northern Africa. The talks will be attended by Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu and presidential advisor Leonard Orban. President Klaus Iohannis said yesterday that Romania could accommodate 1785 refugees. Iohannis has summoned the countrys Higher Defence Council for September 17th when he is to present his point of view on holding to self-imposed quotas of migrants.
Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a Romanian-speaking majority, has seen more anti-government protests. Hundreds took to the streets last night and organizers announced the protests would continue until the resignation of the incumbent government. About 200 protesters joined a rally in front of the government building calling for the resignation of the executive, of president Nicolae Timofti and the prosecutor general as well as for snap election. The meeting comes after the huge rally on Sunday, which brought together tens of thousands who protested the governments corruption.
The European Commission has announced 500 million euros in financial aid for European farmers. The measure was presented on Monday during the emergency session of EU agriculture ministers held in Brussels, when Romanian minister Daniel Constantin called for a balanced support for member countries. Constantin asked for urgent support both for Romanian farmers affected by drought as well as for producers, whose incomes are significantly shrinking. The session came after thousand of European farmers had protested dropping food prices.
Romanias national football side on Monday ended in a goaless draw their match against the selection of Greece in the qualifiers for the European Championships due next year in France. Romania ranks second in group F, a point less than Northern Ireland, which ended in a one-all draw their game against Hungary. This has been Romanias second consecutive goaless match. The groups matches are due to end in October when Romania will be taking on the Faeroe Islands in an away game and Finland at home. Romania last played in a European tournament in 2008, when our footballers were unable to make it out of the groups. On Tuesday, Romanias Under-21 side will be playing Armenia in the preliminaries for the European Youth Championships in 2017. This is our young footballers third game after their three-nil win against Armenia and a nil-two defeat with Bulgaria.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, the second favourite, on Monday qualified for the first time for the quarterfinals of US Open, the years last Grand Slam tournament after beating 24th-seeded Sabine Lisicki. Halep, the worlds number two will be taking on Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus currently ranking 20th in the world standings. Due to medical issues, Halep had to withdraw from the mixed doubles contest, where she was playing together with her compatriot Horia Tecau. Tecau and his partner Jean-Julien Rojer, the tournaments third favourite pair, on Monday qualified for the quarterfinals of the doubles contest after beating Americans Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky. Tecau and Rojer will be further taking on twelfth-seeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut of France.