November 29, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 29.11.2014, 13:47
Saturday is a day of reflection for the Republic of Moldova, ahead of the legislative elections on November 30. As many as 3.2 million Moldovan citizens are expected to cast their vote. The elections in the former Soviet republic, with a mostly Romanian speaking population, are seen as crucial for Moldova’s path towards the EU. In Romania, 11 polling stations were set up, for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova to vote. Moldovan high school and university students with the right to vote, who study in Romania, are entitled to a free return ticket, by train, to and from the nine cities hosting polling stations. On Friday, Romania’s president-elect Klaus Iohannis, who made his first visit to Chisinau after winning the presidential elections in Romania, said Bucharest’s main goal is to see Moldova part of the EU. Iohannis met in Chisinau with his counterpart Nicolae Timofti and with the head of Moldova’s Liberal Democratic Party, the former prime minister Vlad Filat, whom he conveyed a message of support for their country’s bid for the European Union.
The EU-28 unemployment rate was 10.0 % in October 2014, stable compared with September 2014 and down from 10.7 % in October 2013, the EU Statistical Office, Eurostat announced. Among the Member States, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Germany (4.9 %) and Austria (5.1 %), and the highest in Greece (25.9 %) and Spain (24.0 %). Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in twenty-two Member States, increased in five and remained stable in Luxembourg. The largest decreases were registered in Hungary (10.0 % to 7.3 % between September 2013 and September 2014), Portugal (15.6 % to 13.4 %), Spain (26.0 % to 24.0 %), Bulgaria (13.0 % to 11.1 %) and Greece (27.8 % to 25.9 % between August 2013 and August 2014), and the highest increases were registered in Italy (12.3 % to 13.2 %) and Finland (8.3 % to 8.9 %).
Held under the theme “Women and Children in the Francophonie: Peacemakers and Key-players for Development”, the Francophonie Summit held this weekend in Dakar, Senegal, pays tribute to President Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), whose third and last mandate ends this year. A new Secretary General will be elected at the end of the Summit, that will bring together 77 Heads of State and their respective delegations as well as representatives of international organizations, NGOs, and key players in economic, cultural, and social affairs. For two days, delegation members from the 57 countries that are member of the International Organization of La Francophonie, Romania included, will endorse a joint statement and commitment as regards the battle against Ebola. The Director-General is scheduled to speak at the opening session, where she will deliver a speech on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
December the 1st, Romania’s National Day, will be celebrated in Bucharest with a series of cultural events and the traditional military parade. On December 1st, 1918, in the city of Alba Iulia, in central Romania, the representatives of the Romanians, who formed a majority in Transylvania, Crisana, Maramures and Banat, decided the unification of these provinces, which had been under Austrian-Hungarian rule, with the Kingdom of Romania. This unification represented the completion, at the end of WW1, of the process of forming the Romanian national unitary state, by bringing under Bucharest’s authority all provinces with mostly Romanian population, who had been part of the neighboring empires. After the anti-communist revolution of 1989, December 1st became Romania’s National Day.
Pope Francis is in Turkey on a three-day trip aimed at promoting religious dialogue. This is only the fourth visit by a pope to the Muslim-majority nation. In a speech in Ankara he said such a dialogue could “deepen the understanding and appreciation of the many things which we hold in common”.
