April 26, 2018

PM Viorica Dăncilă on Thursday met with the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Rally of Romanian healthcare employees

Newsroom, 26.04.2018, 13:57

Tel Aviv — The Romanian PM Viorica Dăncilă on Thursday met with the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on the last day of her official visit to Israel. She will also meet with the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Teophilus III, and will visit Jerusalem’s Old City. Viorica Dăncilă and her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the excellent level of bilateral relations. The Romanian official appreciated the interest of the Israeli authorities in concluding a partnership in the field of the new technologies, which will allow for running common projects. The two also discussed issues related to cooperation in the military, strategic and cyber security fields. In another move, the two officials also talked about moving the Romanian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Benjamin Netanyahu hailing the decision of the Romanian government to start assessing this move. Another issue on the agenda of talks was the appointment of a Romanian ambassador to Israel given that for almost one year and a half Bucharest has not sent a diplomat mission to that country.

Diplomacy — The speaker of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea is today meeting with the Israeli president Reuven Rivlin and with the PM Benjamin Netanyahu as part of his official visit to Israel. The visit takes place at the invitation of the Israeli PM in the context of the anniversary of 70 years of diplomatic relations between Romania and Israel and of 70 years since Israel proclaimed its independence.

Protests — Thousands of Romanian healthcare employees are today participating in Bucharest in a protest rally organized by the Sanitas trade union federation. Trade unionists are discontented with the drop in the salaries of some of the healthcare staff following the implementation of the new salary scheme, which provides for a maximum cap on benefits of 30%. According to the rally organizers, there are two categories of employees, physicians and nurses, whose salaries have increased, but there are at least 7 other categories whose salaries dropped by 350 Euros per month. The protest rally held in Bucharest will be followed by a token strike scheduled for May 7 and on May 11 trade unionists intend to start an all-out strike in the healthcare and social services system.

Veterans Day – The Romanian Defense Ministry is organizing, as of Thursday until Sunday, in all garrisons across Romania, manifestations devoted to the War Veterans Day. Manifestations include military and religious ceremonies, wreath laying ceremonies, solemn meetings of the associations of war veterans, shows and exhibitions. Similar manifestations devoted to the memory of the Romanian soldiers will be held at commemorative monuments in the Czech Republic, the Republic of Moldova, Russia, Slovakia and Hungary. The Veterans Day is celebrated every year on April 29 and marks the merits of war veterans in defending Romania’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. e in the healthcare and social services system.

Venice Commission — The Monitoring Commission of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly approved the request of the Romanian right wing opposition party, the National Liberal Party, to ask the Venice Commission for an opinion regarding the modifications to the justice laws proposed by the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The Liberals explained that they resorted to this gesture after the repeated refusals of the coalition to ask for the opinion of international experts regarding these modifications. Some of these modifications to the justice laws adopted by parliament in winter resulted in large-scale street protests.

Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world’s no.1, has qualified to the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, which awards total prizes worth 816,000 dollars. Halep defeated Slovak Magdalen Rybarikova (18 WTA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Next Simona Halep will take on the winner of the match pitting the German Laura Siegemund against CoCo Vandeweghe of the US. Halep was defeated, in the past 2 years, in Stuttgart by the German Laura Siegemund, in 2016 in the eight finals and in 2017 in the semifinals.

Handball — 4 handball players with CSM Bucharest, Paula Ungureanu, Cristina Neagu, Marfit Frafjord and Camille Ayglon Saurina were nominated for the ideal team of the women’s handball Champions League as part of a survey conducted by the European Handball Federation. On May 12 CSM Bucharest, Romania’s champions, will take on the Hungarian team Gyori Audi ETO KC, a trophy holder, in the semifinals of the Champions League, at the Final4 tournament in Budapest. In the other semifinal, Rostov on Don (Russia) will be up against Vardar Skopje (Macedonia). CSM Bucharest won the Champions League in 2016 and in 2017 it got the 3rd position. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)