April 7, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 07.04.2019, 19:18

NATO – On Sunday, Bucharest hosted
ceremonies celebrating NATO Day and 15 years since Romania joined the Alliance.
NATO Day is celebrated in Romania, each year, on the first Sunday in April. On
March 29th, 2004, the Romanian authorities submitted the ratification
instruments to the US Department of State, the depository for the
North-Atlantic Alliance Treaty. The Romanian Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila,
has stated that Romania has assumed its responsibilities as provider of
security in the region and with regard to its participation in NATO operations
and has proved to be a predictable and reliable partner. Some 887 Romanian
soldiers are currently involved in NATO operations abroad: 690 in Afghanistan,
56 in the KFOR mission in Kosovo, 120 in Poland, part of the air defense
detachment and 21 staff and liaison personnel.

SEA SHIELD – The Black Sea’s largest multinational naval
exercise, Sea Shield 2019, continues until April 13th. The exercise involves 14
Romanian warships and six warships from Bulgaria, Canada, Greece, Turkey and
the Netherlands, with the participation of some 2200 troops, who are exercising
joint combat procedures against underwater, surface and air defense threats,
adapted to the types of threats emerging in the Black Sea Region. The scenario
is fictitious and aims at planning and conducting a Crisis Response Operation
under the mandate of a Resolution of the United Nation’s Security Council. The
Chief of the Romanian Navy, Rear Admiral Alexandru Mirsu, has stated that
by no means Sea Shield 2019 could be seen as a provocative exercise. NATO is
just worried about Russia’s military actions in the region, which have become
continuous and significant.

COCAINE – Several cocaine parcels, part of the transport
intercepted on March 23rd in the Danube Delta, when the authorities found about
1,000 kg of cocaine in and around an abandoned ship on the Black Sea shore, were
found on the beach on Sunday. In the past days, hundreds of police, gendarmes
and divers have swept 90 km of shore in search for the floating parcels. The operation
continues and the police have warned people, in case they find such parcels,
not to open them and call the authorities. The concentration of the
cocaine is quite high, around 90%, so it can be lethal if consumed. The value
of the cocaine found in Romania, whose origin is South America, is estimated at
around 300 million Euros.

MOLDOVA – The neighboring Republic of Moldova, with a
predominantly Romania-speaking population, on Sunday celebrated the so-called
‘Freedom Day’, ten years since the protests of April 7th, 2009, against the
pro-Russia communist power. Accused of rigging parliamentary elections, the
communists violently repressed the demonstrations of the pro-European youth.
Dozens of people were illegally detained and beaten up by the police, and at
least one of them died. There is suspicion the number of the deceased was
higher. Those who ordered the violence have not been punished, and some of them
have even been promoted. Following the incidents, the election was held again,
and the communists lost, becoming part of the opposition. At this year’s
elections, in February, the Communist Party did not manage to go above the 6%
threshold and is no longer represented in parliament.

UKRAINE – Ukrainian authorities have banned the president of the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Kelemen Hunor, access to
Ukraine, where he intended to participate in an event organized by the
Hungarian Cultural Union of Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, in the west. Hunor has
stated he was given no explanation for the ban. The Ukrainian Ambassador to
Bucharest, Oleksandr Bankov, says that the ban was enforced in November 2017 and
since then, Kelemen Hunor has tried to enter Ukraine using a Hungarian
passport, but he has been denied access every time. The Ukrainian diplomat has
stated that it’s common European practice for such decisions to not be
necessarily accompanied by explanations. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry has
termed the ban as unacceptable.

CULTURE – The crown of Queen Marie of Romania (1914-1927) and
the liturgical flag of the Medieval ruler Stephen the Great (1457-1504), from
the National History Museum, have been carried to France by a plane of the
Romanian Air Forces. Part of the Romania – France Cultural Season, the two
items will be the central pieces of the exhibitions titled ‘Marie of Romania,
Queen and Artist, hosted by the Tau Palace in Reims, and ‘Romanian Liturgical
Embroideries of Byzantine Tradition’, hosted by the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Since November 2018, until April 14th, 2019, Romania will have presented the
French public with some 200 projects aimed at promoting diplomacy through
culture. Between April 18th and July 14th, Romania will play host to similar
French events. Inaugurated last year by the presidents Klaus Iohannis and
Emmanuel Macron, the cultural season is aimed at renewing the mutual perception
and strengthening the economic, scientific and cultural ties between Romania
and France.

SPORT – The Romanian athlete Elena Andries has won three gold
medals at the European Weightlifting Championships in Batumi, Georgia, in the
49 kg category. On Saturday Romania also won two bronze medals, thanks to
Cosmina Pana with a 45 kg lift and Cristian Marian Luca in the 55kg clean and
jerk event. The European Championships are a qualification criterion for next
year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. At the competition in Batumi, Romania is
represented by 14 athletes.