April 21, 2016 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 21.04.2016, 12:15
Romania supports firmly and constantly the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine – said Thursday in Bucharest the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. He added that Bucharest supported Kiev in the process of internal reforms necessary for complying with the EU association commitments. Pointing out that the Ukrainians from Romania benefit from considerable support from the Romanian state, namely almost 1.6 million euros per year, President Iohannis showed that Ukraine had to pay more attention to the needs and wishes of the Romanians living in neighboring Ukraine. In turn, Petro Poroshenko, said that Ukraine supported Romania’s initiative on creating a common NATO fleet in the Black Sea. He also said that he talked with the Romanian president about the possibility of setting up a Romanian-Ukrainian-Bulgarian brigade after the model of that set up by Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. Also on Thursday the Ukrainian president met with the PM Dacian Cioloş who underlined that the formation of a new government in Kiev was a new chance for stability and speeding up internal reforms in Ukraine. On the sidelines of the meeting, two agreements have been signed, one on bilateral cooperation in the military transportation field and another one on common patrolling on the border between the two countries.
Augustin Lazăr, the prosecutor proposed by the Justice Minister for the position of Romanias prosecutor general, was approved unanimously on Thursday by the Supreme Council of Magistracy, CSM. His priorities include the fight against crime in vulnerable sectors, the fight against corruption in local administration, stepping up investigations in cases of money laundering and tax evasion as well as in those cases involving crimes against humanity, such as the file of the anti-communist Revolution of 1989. The prosecutor general is appointed by the Romanian president, upon the proposal of the Justice minister with the approval of the Supreme Council of Magistracy. The prosecutor general has a three-year mandate and is allowed only two mandates.
Romania is seen as one of the members of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA in which the highest standards regarding nuclear security are being fully observed. The statement was made Thursday by the Romanian Foreign Minister, Lazăr Comănescu, in a joint press conference with the Director General of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, who is visiting Bucharest. The latter was received Thursday by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. According to a communiqué of the presidential administration, Yukiya Amano appreciated the active role and the significant contribution Romania has made to support the IAEA’s priorities related to the peaceful use of nuclear energy by observing the highest standards of safety, security and nuclear non-proliferation.
Romania ranks 5th among EU countries with the lowest public debt reported in 2015 (38.4%), show the preliminary estimates made public Thursday by the Statistical Office of the European Union, Eurostat. Occupying the first places are Estonia (9.7%), Luxembourg (21.4%), Bulgaria (26.7%) and Latvia (36.4%). According to Eurostat, 17 EU member states reported last year a debt level much higher than the threshold of 60% of the GDP asked by the EU. The highest level of the public debt was reported by Greece (176.9%), Italy (132.7%), Portugal (129%), Cyprus (108.9%) and Belgium (106%).
The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has announced that his country will be keeping the terror-threat level high during the European Football Championship over June 10th and July 10th. 2.5 million spectators are expected to attend the tournaments 51 games. France is on high terror alert after the November attacks, which left 130 people dead in Paris. At that time, terrorists tried to enter Stade de France, the stadium that will see the opening game pitting Romania against France. 1,200 security agents will be permanently deployed to the stadium, while 900 security agents, 200 volunteers and 80 doctors are to be deployed to the other stadiums hosting games during this edition of the European Football Championship.
The pair made up of the Romanian tennis players Horia Tecău and Florin Mergea on Thursday qualified for the quarterfinals of the BRD Năstase Ţiriac Trophy, held in Bucharest, which offers prizes of 460 thousand euros. They defeated the pair from New Zealand Marcus Daniell / Artem Sitak. This is the last edition of this Bucharest tournament set up in 1993. In another development, the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 6 in the world, lost Thursday the match against Laura Siegemund (Germany) in the eighth finals of the Stuttgart tournament, which has prizes up for grabs worth almost 700 thousand dollars. In the same stage of the tournament, another Romanian, Monica Niculescu, was eliminated Thursday by the Czech Petrei Kvitova.
The Romanian athlete Monica Ungureanu on Thursday won the bronze medal at the European Judo Championships of Kazan, Russia, in the 48 kg category. She defeated the Italian Valentina Moscatt. This is the first medal Ungureanu obtained in a major competition. Also on Thursday, another Romanian athlete, world vice-champion and European en titre champion Andreea Chitu won the bronze medal in the 52 kg category after defeating the Swiss Evelyne Tschopp.
Queen Elisabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland celebrated, on Thursday, her 90th birthday anniversary as part of a private ceremony. Traditionally, official ceremonies marking the Queen’s birthday will be held on the 2nd Saturday of June. Being the Queen of the United Kingdom for more than 60 years, Elisabeth II is the British monarch with the longest reign.
(news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
