May 5, 2017 UPDATE

Pope Francis might pay a visit to Romania next year

Newsroom, 05.05.2017, 19:06

VISIT — Romania and Spain believe that the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy are vital strategic tools for the EU’s development that must be included in the next budget framework as well, Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Ana Birchall said after a two-day official visit to Madrid. On Thursday and Friday Birchall discussed with a number of Spanish officials about the future of the EU and reaffirmed Bucharest’s commitment to take part actively in the talks on Europe’s future alongside its European partners.

PROSECUTION – The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) said it had started to prosecute several officials of telecom giant RCS&RDS over the broadcasting rights for Romania’s main football championship in a deal that covered the 2008-2011 football seasons. In the same case, the former head of the Professional Football League, Dumitru Dragomir, is accused of bribe taking and complicity to money laundering and was placed under judicial control. He allegedly required and received illegally over 3 million euros.

BORDER — The Bucharest Government approved on Friday a protocol under which Romanian-Serbian border police teams will patrol the common border between the two countries in an attempt to prevent and combat illegal migration and cross-border crime. According to a Government release, the Romanian and Serbian interior ministries signed a protocol in this respect in November 2016 in Timisoara, western Romania. The document is aimed to improve bilateral cooperation between border authorities.

PAPAL VISIT – The Roman-Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest, Ioan Robu, has stated that it’s almost certain that Pope Francis will pay a visit to Romania next year. He is to attend the beatification of seven Greek-Catholic bishops, martyrs who lost their lives during the communist regime. Ioan Robu has said that the Pope was invited to Romania by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, by the Presidency and Patriarchy. In May 1999, Pope John Paul 2ndwas the first Sovereign Pontiff to visit a predominantly orthodox country after the Grand Schism of 1054.

ORGANIZED CRIME – Four managers with the National Freight Railways Corporation, among whom the former general manager Mihut Craciun, have been placed in temporary police custody for their involvement in the under appraisal of freight cars intended for scrapping. Another six indictees were placed under house arrest, and nine are subject to judicial restrictions pending trial. They are accused of having set up an organized crime group, of aggravated embezzlement, forgery and fraud. Investigators say that, in 2016, they allegedly under-appraised some 2,500 freight cars to sell them to the commodity exchange. As a result, the corporation incurred losses of over 6.3 million Euros.

FRONTEX COOPERATION – Romanian border police staff have returned home after a four-month international operation carried out in the Aegean Sea, under the aegis of FRONTEX. The 23 Romanian police officers carried out 100 missions and saved, individually and in cooperation with staff of other vessels owned by EU member countries, 704 migrants sailing on inflatable boats in the Aegean Sea. As part of Romanias commitment to the European efforts to manage the inflow of migrants from Greece, the Romanian border police posted in the FRONTEX operational area in Greece, between April 28th – September 3rd, another surveillance ship, with a crew made up of 27 border police staff.

OBAMACARE – The US House of Representatives endorsed on Thursday night a bill abrogating several provisions of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, Reuters reports. Thanks to the act, which is a healthcare reform law that expands and improves access to care and curbs spending through regulations and taxes, promoted by the former Democratic president Barack Obama, more than 20 million Americans previously excluded from the system benefited from health insurance. No member of the democratic opposition voted on the part of the Republican majority, Reuters also reports. The new bill is to be debated and voted in the Senate, where there are divergences among the republicans themselves. Annulling Obamacare was one of Donald Trumps biggest electoral promises.