August 28, 2018 UPDATE
140,000 pigs slaughtered because of African swine fever epidemic in largest farm in Romania
Newsroom, 28.08.2018, 19:06
JUDICIARY – The US government does not comment on the opinions or conclusions of private US citizens, the spokesperson of the US embassy in Bucharest, Donald Carroll said today. In a comment to Agerpress news agency, he emphasised that until recently, Romania had shown remarkable progress in combating corruption and building an efficient rule of law. This reaction comes after Rudolph Giuliani, a former district attorney and mayor of New York and currently part of Donald Trump’s legal team, sent a letter to president Klaus Iohannis and other Romanian officials recommending the assessment of the protocols between the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Romanian Intelligence Service and calling for an end to what he described as pressure on the judges. The General Prosecutor’s Office said that in December 2016, it signed two perfectly legal collaboration protocols with the Romanian Intelligence Service which were in place for three months. One of them was of a public nature and was concerned with the conditions to access technical systems of the National Centre for the Interception of Communications, while a second, secret, protocol, dealt with cooperation for crimes against national security, namely terrorism and crimes committed by military staff of the Romanian Intelligence Service. Against the backdrop of these debates, the justice minister Tudorel Toader recently announced he would begin an evaluation of the managerial activity of the prosecutor general, Augustin Lazar. On Tuesday, Toader added that the decision to assess the work of the prosecutor general did not rely exclusively on recent circumstances, but added that protocols between judicial institutions and intelligence services are “unnatural in a country governed by the law.
SWINE FEVER – The largest pig farm in Romania and the second largest in Europe, located in Braila County, south-eastern Romania, Tuesday initiated the slaughtering of all its 140,000 animals, because of the African swine fever virus. A similar operation is under way in another farm in the same county, where some 35,000 animals are being killed. The Agriculture Minister Petrea Daea said on Tuesday that all the farmers who have incurred damages because of the swine fever will receive compensations, after the forthcoming budget adjustment. He added that Romania will receive funding from the European Commission to fight the epidemics. Daea also explained that he requested support from experts from other European countries having faced this situation. One-quarter of Romanias counties are affected by the African swine fever epidemic, with over 700 hotbeds identified by authorities in the south-east and north-west of the country. The authorities estimate that around 300,000 animals will be killed.
AMBASSADOR – Brexit will not have a negative impact on Londons relations with Bucharest or on the life of the Romanians who work in the UK, said the new British Ambassador to Bucharest, Andrew Noble. In his first press conference, he said Britain and Romania are working on a new strategic partnership, able to respond to the current concerns. The British official returned to Romania after nearly 30 years. According to Radio Romania Current Affairs, between 1983 and 1986 Andrew Noble worked as a secretary in the British Embassy in Bucharest.
EMERGENCY NUMBER – Romanias National System for the 112 Single Emergency Number will be modernised using non-reimbursable European funds. The Romanian Minister for European Funds Rovana Plumb and the head of the Special Telecommunications Service Ionel-Sorinel Vasilca Tuesday signed a financing contract for the amount of 47.6 million euros. The project will be implemented in 36 months and consists in the upgrading of hardware and software components to ensure a quicker response of emergency agencies to citizens calls. Special telecoms experts will improve the precision of call tracing, will ease the access of people with disabilities, and the waiting time will be reduced by 5 seconds, to 54 seconds. Rovana Plumb said that during its 13 years of operation, the 112 emergency telephone number received more than 64 million calls.
MOLDOVA – The Romanian Foreign Ministry is monitoring with close attention and concern the situation at Romanias border with the Republic of Moldova and, in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation that defines the relationship between the two countries, it requested explanations as to why some Romanian citizens were denied access to the country. A news release issued by the Foreign Ministry mentions that the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Bucharest was invited for additional clarifications. Also, the Romanian Embassy to Chisinau took measures to ensure that the rights of Romanian citizens are respected, as is normal for a country associated to the EU and for a strategic partner of Romania. The Foreign Ministry adds that the Moldovan border police Monday sent back from Albita checkpoint a group of Romanians taking part in the Union March, on grounds that they have disturbed public order in the border area.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
