November 26, 2017 UPDATE

Anti-government street protests in Romania/ Gaudeamus International Book Fair comes to an end/Romanias General Consulate inaugurated in Bari

Newsroom, 26.11.2017, 19:46

Anti-government protests — Further street protests took place on Sunday in Bucharest and in other cities of Romania as well as abroad against the modifications brought by the current governing coalition to the justice laws and the fiscal code. The protests in the capital Bucharest were joined for the first time by opposition representatives as well as by representatives of the big trade union confederations. The protesters are asking for the cancellation of the modifications to the justice laws and the criminal codes, the rejection in Parliament of the ordinance regarding the modification of the fiscal legislation and for the immediate resignation of the government and of the speakers of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Patriot missiles – Romania will buy 7 Patriot missile systems from the US, with the sale contract being signed on Wednesday, said the Romanian defense minister Mihai Fifor. He also pointed out that the first Patriot missile system would reach Romania in the second half of 2019, with the system being fully operational in 2020. Minister Fifor underscored that by allotting 2% of the GDP to the defense sector in 2017, of which 48% goes to army endowment, Romania showed that it committed with the pledges made as a NATO member and also as a strategic partner of the US. The defense minister hopes that the participants in Wednesday’s government meeting will also approve the program for Piranha 8×8 armored vehicles. The first 30 such transporters will also be purchased from the US. The rest of them, starting with no. 31, will be produced at the Mechanical Factory in Bucharest. kers of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Bari — The Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Melescanu, participated on Sunday in the inauguration of Romania’s General Consulate in Bari. He said that the opening of this consulate meets the legitimate expectations of the Romanian community in Italy and is among the concerns of the Romanian Foreign Ministry to consolidate the Romanian state’s presence, at consular level, in areas with a numerous Romanian population. According to a Foreign Ministry communiqué, the official inauguration of the Romanian General Consulate in Bari is the start of the first stage of the process of expanding the consular network, a process that includes the inauguration in 2018 of Romania’s General consulates in Manchester, Stuttgart, Miami and Salzburg, following the finalization of logistic procedures.

Terrorist attack — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis conveyed a message of condolence to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, following the terrorist attack perpetrated on a mosque in the north of the Sinai peninsula. The attack killed more than 300 people. Klaus Iohannis condemned the bloody attack of November 24, when the terrorists opened fire on the people who had come to the mosque for Friday’s prayer. According to a communiqué of the presidential administration, Romania considers unacceptable such acts of extreme violence that have no justification and reiterates its firm commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism at international level.

Gaudeamus Book Fair — Sunday was the last day of the Gaudeamus International Book Fair, organized by Radio Romania in Bucharest, when the prizes of this 24th edition of the event were granted. “Testament of Abraham” by Igor Bergler issued by the Litera publishers received the Trophy for the most wanted book at the 2017 edition of the Gaudeamus Fair. The Antoaneta Ralian prize for translation went to Irina Oprea and Radu Paraschivescu. For 5 days the fair hosted hundreds of book launches, debates, seminars and exhibitions. The honorary president of this edition was the well known Romanian playwright and journalist Matei Visniec, currently living in France. For the first time in its history, the Gaudeamus Fair’s honorary guest was the European Union, not just a single state, through the European Commission Representation in Romania. The 2017 edition of Gaudeamus marked 60 years since the signing of the Rome Treaties, 30 years since the launch of the Erasmus program and 10 years since Romania’s EU accession.

Handball — Romania’s national women’s handball on Sunday won the match against Brazil’s national team 24-23 as part of the Carpati Trophy, an event held in Craiova, in the south, which precedes the World Championship. On Saturday the Romanian handballers defeated Macedonia 31-18 while on Friday they lost to Poland 21- 27. At the World Championship to start on December 1 in Germany, Romania will play in Group A alongside France, Spain, Slovenia, Angola and Paraguay. At the previous Championship in 2015 Romania won the bronze medal, being the only team that participated in all the 22 editions of the World Championship organized so far.

Accident — Three Romanians have died and another five have been injured in a car accident that occurred Saturday in Szolnok, Hungary, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday. A minibus registered in Romania that was carrying 8 people clashed frontally with a bus when trying to overtake another vehicle. One of the wounded persons has already been discharged from hospital. A Romanian consul visited the wounded Romanian citizens in hospital to provide consular assistance. (translation by L. Simion)