April 7, 2014 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international events.

România Internațional, 07.04.2014, 12:00

Romanian Defense Minister Mircea Dusa discussed over the phone with the US Secretary of Defence Charles Hagel about the need to reposition the NATO forces and capabilities in the alliance’s border countries. Hagel reiterated Washington’s support in promoting the Strategic Partnership with Romania and said that Bucharest proved to be a reliable partner of the Alliance at the eastern border of the Euroatlantic area. According to Minister Dusa, this week American F-16 fighter jets will come to Romania to take part in exercises over Romanian airspace. He also said that Bucharest has made further requests from its American and NATO allies on sending aircraft on patrol over Romania. In an interview published by the British daily The Telegraph, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the alliance had consolidated its presence in the Black Sea, and that its aircraft were patrolling over Poland and Romania. He said that this is a reaction to Russian action in Ukraine.

The Ukrainain interim prime minister Arseni Iateniuk said that Russia plans to break up Ukraine and added that Kiew would not allow Moscow to enforce in Eastern Ukraine the scenario it used in Crimea. News agencies report that starting Sunday morning, pro-Russian protesters who seized the regional government building in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk are reported to have declared a “peoples republic”. The rebels have called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine by 11 May.

Incumbent PM Viktor Orban’s centre right party Fidesz won by a landslide Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Hungary. Partial results, after counting 93% of votes, grants Fidesz 44.37% of the vote, giving them 133 seats of 199 in Parliament, which means a narrow two thirds majority. The left wing and liberal alliance came in, second place, with 25.88% of votes, while third place is held by the extreme right and anti-Semitic Jobbik party, with 20.46%. Left wing leaders admitted defeat, but claimed the rules of the elections were unfair.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta presented in Parliament, at the request of the Liberal Democratic Party, in opposition, the stage of the partnership agreement with the European Union for the 2014-2020 financial framework. The Liberal Democrats asked for clarifications on how the money provided by the EU would be used until 2020. They claimed that their party has solutions for absorbing European funds, such as regional programs and programs for reducing the red tape in the system, for using such funds. Prime Minister Ponta answered to that by saying that the absorption of European funds during the Liberal Democratic rule was only 7%, while at present it stands at 34%.