October 14, 2016
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 14.10.2016, 12:00
LASER – Investment in the laser in Magurele (southern Romania) can generate over 600 million euros in turnover and can create about 6-7 thousand new jobs, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has today announced upon the presentation of a survey. Ciolos has today participated in a conference on development entitled ‘Laser Valley-Land of Lights’. According to Ciolos, the meeting was aimed at motivating and involving, besides the government and research institutions, the local public authorities and the business environment. The Prime Minister has insisted on the necessity of connecting through infrastructure the commune of Magurele to Bucharest and the Henri Coanda airport to better capitalize on the laser’s potential. On Tuesday, during a visit to Romania, the European Commissioner for development, science and innovation Carlos Moedas pleaded for a better promotion of the world’s largest laser, situated in Magurele, southern Romania.
DOCUMENTS – EU interior ministers, who have convened in Luxembourg for a new session of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, have given the green light to a new type of travel document aimed at easing the repatriation of illegal immigrants from Europe. The decision has been made because the process of returning migrants has so far been hindered by the absence of travel documents. Another issue on the council’s agenda was the implementation of regulations for the new FRONTEX — the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. On this occasion, the Interior Ministry in Bucharest, Dragos Tudorache, has underlined the importance of setting up the new agency, to which Romania is to contribute with 75 police guards.
VISIT – Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu is in Bangkok, Thailand, to participate in the 21st ministerial meeting EU – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (EU-ASEAN). According to the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, high on the agenda are the latest developments in Europe’s vicinity, the Middle East and North Africa, the phenomenon of migration and fighting international terrorism. On the sidelines of this conference the Romanian Foreign Minister will be having a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from ASEAN countries. As of Tuesday, Comanescu has been going on a diplomatic tour to Asia, which also took him to Indonesia where he held talks with his Indonesian counterpart Retno L.P. Marsudi about stepping up bilateral dialogue in the fields of politics, economy and trade. The two officials have attended the ceremony of signing a memorandum of understanding between the National Trade Chambers of the two countries.
PROSECUTION — Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, on Friday issued a favourable opinion on and endorsed the National Anti-Corruption Directorate’s request to start prosecution against former deputy prime minister and interior minister, Gabriel Oprea, for manslaughter. The request was submitted two days ago, when Oprea’s mandate of Romanian Senator came to a close, following his resignation, tendered on October 1. Under the Romanian law, the start of prosecution against people who have been or are currently ministers, for acts committed during their term in office, and who were not MPs at the time of the notification, is conditioned by a favourable presidential opinion. Policeman Bogdan Gigina lost his life last year in a motorcycle accident, while he was part of the motorcade of the then interior minister, Gabriel Oprea. Oprea was reportedly on a private trip and consequently he was not entitled to have an official motorcade.
MIGRATION – Border policemen in Giurgiu, southern Romania on Friday discovered seven Turkish citizens and two Syrians with ages between 16 and 51 hidden in a truck with the intention to illegally cross the border into Romania. According to the Romanian-Bulgarian protocol, the migrants have been taken over by the Bulgarian border police for investigation. In the past weeks, the Romanian authorities have taken additional measures to tighten security at its southern and western borders after several smaller groups of migrants tried to illegally cross the border into Romania.
