January 18, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 18.01.2015, 19:15

Romanian President Klaus Johanniss official visit to the Republic of Moldova, which should have taken place on the 22 and 23 of January, has been postponed. The president of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, has announced that on Monday he will have a phone conversation with his Romanian counterpart on several bilateral issues. Previously, diplomatic sources, quoted by news agencies, had announced that Johanniss visit depended on the results of the negotiations for the formation of a new Moldovan government. Soon after being elected president, Iohannis went to Chisianu to reassert his support for the three pro-European parties: the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party, members of the acting government. In November, the three parties got together 55 out of the 101 MP seats, but later they could not find an agreement as to the sharing of those seats.

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu will attend on Monday in Brussels the proceedings of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. The talks will mainly focus on terrorist threats in Europe, following the attacks in Paris, which claimed 17 lives. The European foreign ministers will have talks with the Secretary General of the Arab Leauge, Nabil Al — Arabi, focusing on the situation in Syria and Iraq, and will analyse the latest developments in the Middle East Peace Process. On the sideline of the event, Aurescu will discuss with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy, Johyannes Hahn and with the Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Cretu, as well as with Romanian MEPs.

Also on Monday in Brussels, the Romanian Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc will talk with EC officials about the future country report, under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. He has stated for Radio Romania that our country will get a positive report, for the second time in a row. According to Cazanciuc, the evaluation shows that Romania has an independent justice system and effective institutions. Today Romania is an example of best practices in the justice field, the Romanian minister has said. The efforts to fight corruption and the reform of the judiciary have been monitored under the CVM since 2006.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta believes that the solution for the proper organisation of voting abroad, in the future, would be for the process to be organised by the Permanent Election Authority, not the Government. He has admitted that the Executive made mistakes in organising the ballots abroad in November 2014, but not intentionally. It was just a matter of wrong calculation, the Prime Minister said.

The over 75 thousand Romanians who took loans in Swiss francs could overcome the shock caused by the steep depreciation of the national currency against the Swiss one. Authorities recommend that people with low incomes resort to a redistribution of instalments, for them to pay lower rates for two years and then, when the rate grows, the state could cover part of the costs, through income tax exemptions. Another solution would be for the banks to reduce the interest rates on such loans. Finance Minister Darius Valcov has stated that talks will be held in the following days with banks and fiscal authority representatives. The Swiss central Bank’s recent decision to abandon the 1.20 franc per Euro cap has affected banks all across the world.

Most French believe that after the attack on ‘Charlie Hebdo’, authorities should take firmer measures, in the country, against people suspected of promoting Jihadist ideology. They do not, however, support a French military intervention in the countries that help or harbour terrorist organisations, such as Syria, Yemen or Libya, shows an opinion poll carried by the weekly ‘Journal du Dimanche’. The French say that authorities should ban co-nationals who went to fight in countries or regions under the control of terrorist groups from re-entering the country. The poll has also revealed a massive support for the withdrawal of French citizenship of those who have been sentenced for terrorism, and half of the interviewees have said they would support the limitation of freedom of expression on the internet, especially on social networks. They believe that such a measure would reduce Jihadist propaganda, because of which many young people, not only in France but in other European countries as well, have joined the Islamic State.

Israel rejects the preliminary investigation conducted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague into alleged war crimes committed in the Palestinians territories in the summer of 2014. Washington too, which is on of Israel’s traditional allies, has condemned the decision, while leaders in Ramalah and Hamas have hailed it. The court prosecutors have announced they will analyse independently and impartially the potential crimes committed starting June 13th last year. The investigation will allow the Court to get involved in the conflict between Israel and the Hamas militants deployed in Gaza in July — August 2014, which claimed 2 thousand 100 Palestinian and 70 Israeli victims. The decision was made following the request of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to join the IC, on April 1st, despite Israel’s strong opposition.

Romanian products are on high demand at the traditional Green Week in Berlin, where Romania is represented by over 30 producers. With a bigger stand than last year, Romania has brought to the fair a wide range of foodstuffs, from honey, jams and natural juices, to cheese and meat products. The Green Week is the largest event in the food, agriculture and horticulture field in Europe, and is due to end at the end of next week. Partiticapting in this year’s edition are producers from 70 countries.

A new week of praying for Christian unity starts in Bucharest on Monday. According to a communiqué issued by the Patriarchy of the Romanian Orthodox Church, every year, over the third week of January, priests and believers belonging to various Christian churches pray together, each evening in a different place of worship. In Bucharest, the praying week starts at the Orthodox Patriarchy, and continues with the reformed, Calvin, Greek-Catholic, Lutheran and Armenian churches, to end on January 26th at the Latin — Catholic church.