January 24, 2016 UPDATE
Romanians celebrated 157 years since the Union of the Romanian Principalities / Protests continue in Chisinau
Newsroom, 23.01.2016, 12:23
Around 40 thousand people protested on Sunday in Moldova’s capital Chisinau demanding the resignation of the countrys leaders and new parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Pavel Filip’s government, which is committed to joining the EU, came to power on Wednesday. There have been almost daily rallies since the new government took office, with protesters breaking into parliament on Wednesday. With a population of 3.5 million, Moldova is often regarded as the site of confrontation between Russia and the EU, especially after Chisinau signed the EU association agreement in 2014, which infuriated Moscow, France Press reports. Moldova is one of Europes poorest countries and has been locked in political turmoil since the disappearance, in 2014, of some 1 billion dollars from the banking system. Romanians form 78% of the country’s population, while the Russian and Ukrainian minorities account for around 14%. Chisinau has recently announced that Pavel Filip will pay his first official visit as prime minister to Bucharest, on January 26, to hold talks with his counterpart Dacian Ciolos.
Romanian Home Affairs Minister Petre Toba is attending on Monday in Amsterdam an informal meeting of the justice and home affairs ministers organised by the Dutch presidency of the EU. Migration and EU’s internal security are high on the meeting’s agenda. In case of serious and persistent threats over Schangen’s external borders the European Commission can propose the suspension of the Schengen Treaty and the reintroduction of border checks for a period of up to two years. Over 1 million refugees have entered the community area in the last twelve months alone, which caused disputes among member states. Germany, Austria, Sweden and Denmark have already introduced, over the past few months, temporary checks within the Scghengen area.
Romanians celebrated 157 years since the Union of the Romanian Principalities. Taking part in the celebrations held in the northeastern Romanian city of Iasi were President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos. On this occasion, President Iohannis called on the political class to do its best to meet the citizens’ expectations and restore people’s confidence in Romanian politicians. On the 24th of January, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, who had been elected ruler of Moldavia a week earlier, was unanimously elected sovereign of Wallachia and proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. Three years later, on January 24, 1862, the union was recognized internationally and the state received the name of Romania. Cuza’s reforms laid the institutional foundation of modern Romania. In 1918, the establishment of the nation state was completed by the union with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania, the historical provinces with predominantly Romanian speaking population. However, Romania lost Bessarabia and Bukovina after WW2.
The US and Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution against so-called Islamic State if a political agreement in Syria proves impossible, US Vice-President Joe Biden has said. The latest round of Syria peace talks are planned to begin on Monday in Geneva, but they are being held up by disagreements over representation and the agenda. Syrian armed rebel groups have said they held the Syrian government and Russia responsible for any failure of peace talks while the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition ruled out even indirect negotiations unless Damascus took steps including a halt to Russian air strikes. At the request of Damascus, Moscow has been taking part in the military campaign in Syria for several months now, and, although it claims its main target is Islamic State, Russia has been accused of bombarding positions of the moderate rebels supported by monarchies in the Gulf area, Turkey and the Western powers.
Washington and New York have been paralysed by Storm Jonas, also dubbed “Snowzilla” which dumped near-record amounts of snow along the eastern coast of the United States. New York City was buried in 68 cm of snow, a record level after 1869. In Washington, federal institutions were closed and all public transport was suspended. Several thousand flights were cancelled because of the storm. A state of emergency has been declared in 11 states, the American media reports.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, number 2 in the world, is to have an operation on her nose and will skip next weeks Fed Cup match against the Czech Republic and tournaments in Dubai and Doha. “The last six weeks have been extremely difficult for me, as I’ve been dealing with infections in my stomach, nose and ear. Under doctors advice, I will undergo surgery to fix the on-going problem,” she said in a post on her Facebook page. The Romanian tennis player had an illness-plagued start to the year, which ended with a first-round exit from the Australian Open.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
