August 15-19
A roundup of the week's main stories
România Internațional, 20.08.2016, 13:46
Romania affected by drought.
The prolonged drought in Romania has already damaged over 350 thousand hectares of farmland. However, the authorities have pointed out that the total damage can only be assessed at the end of the year. The most affected areas are in the east, south and southeast of Romania. The agriculture minister, Achim Irimescu, said he was considering an aid scheme to compensate for the debts accumulated by farmers, in terms of payments of electricity and water for irrigation. Achim Irimescu:
“The prefects have assessed the damage and then notified the Agriculture Ministry. We collect data from all over the country and at the end of the year we establish the total sum for compensations, depending on the degree of damage, which needs to be of at least 30%. Compensations are also granted to those farmers who did not have irrigation systems.
In another development, farmers protested again, on Thursday, in front of the government building. They are unhappy with the delay in paying farming subsidies. Some of them have gone on hunger strike and say they will continue with this form of extreme protest until the Government makes the payments. They rejected the invitation for talks extended by the agriculture minister, whom they accuse of not observing his promises.
Bucharest denies allegations that Romania is to host nuclear weapons, which the US could displace from Turkey.
The Romanian authorities have categorically rejected the allegations published Thursday by the EurActiv media platform according to which the US is to move more than 20 nuclear warheads from the military base in Incirlik, Turkey, to Romania, at the Deveselu base (in the south), following the souring relations between Washington and Ankara. The Romanian Defense Minister, Mihnea Motoc, has labeled the allegations as pure speculation. He has pointed out that there have been no talks at political or experts level in this regard. Euro MP Ioan Mircea Paşcu, a former defense minister, has drawn attention that neither NATO troops nor nuclear weapons can be permanently stationed on Romanias territory, this being clearly stipulated in the agreement which Bucharest signed upon its entry into the North Atlantic alliance. He explained for Radio Romanias News and Current Affairs Channel that moving the nuclear warheads from Turkey to Deveselu would be impossible, technically speaking, since Romania does not have a special airport from aircraft capable of delivering nuclear weapons could take off.
The Romanian citizens and British producers of a controversial TV report about alleged arms trafficking in Romania have been prosecuted by the prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism- DIICOT.
The prosecutors of DIICOT – Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism have started the prosecution of three journalists of the British TV station Sky News, accused of communicating false information, for having produced a fake report on alleged arms trafficking in Romania. The investigation of the British reporters might affect the security of the Romanian state, is the motivation of the Appeal Court judges for the decision to take into temporary custody the three Romanian citizens featuring in the fake report. Arrested for 30 days, the Romanians have been accused of setting up an organized crime group, for failing to observe the law on weapons and ammunition and for communicating false information that threaten the national security. The DIICOT investigation has revealed that, in reality, the so-called journalistic investigation was not based on real facts, but was initiated by the British journalists who presented fake data and information as real. On the other hand, the three Romanian citizens told the investigators that they thought they were featuring in a coordinated report, which was to inform viewers, at the end, that the situation presented in the report was not real.
The Government changes the law on postal voting because of the Romanians in the Diasporas lack on interest in the coming elections.
The Romanian Government announced that they would amend the Law on postal voting after the Parliament recess to allow more Romanians from abroad to vote in the future legislative elections. The move is justified by the fact that 4 months after the start of the period of registration in the electoral register less than 6 thousand Romanians in the Diaspora had expressed their intention to vote in the elections due in autumn. Of them, more than 4,700 opted for the vote by post.
Romanias submission for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The film “Sieranevada directed by Cristi Puiu is Romanias submission for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the National Center of Cinematography announced. “Sieranevada, the 4th feature film directed by Cristi Puiu was selected, this year, for the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival as well as for other similar festivals in Europe, the US and Canada.
The Romanian football teams in the European Cups.
Romanias champion team, Astra Giurgiu, on Thursday drew against West Ham United, 1-all, on home ground, in the playoffs for qualification to the Europa League groups. Vice-champions Steaua Bucharest have already qualified to Europes second most important competition. Steauas chances to qualify to the Champions League groups are practically null, after they were thrashed Tuesday in Bucharest, 0-5, by Manchester City, in the playoffs first leg.
(Translated by L. Simion)
