January 19, 2015
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 19.01.2015, 12:00
Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is today participating in Brussels, alongside his counterparts from the EU countries, in the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. Talks will mainly focus on the terrorist threat in Europe, following this month’s attacks in Paris that killed 17 people. According to the Radio Romania correspondent, the European foreign ministers will discuss with the Arab League’s Secretary General, Nabil Al-Arabi, about security risks in countries south of the Mediterranean Sea, with an emphasis on the situation in Syria and Iraq and will assess the latest developments in the Peace Process in the Middle East. Aurescu will also meet with European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy, Johannes Hahn and European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cetu as well as with the Romanian MEPs in Brussels.
Romanian Justice Minister, Robert Cazanciuc, went to Brussels to hold talks with European Commission officials on Romania’s country report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. Cazanciuc has told Radio Romania that he expects the report to be positive, for the second consecutive year, which proves that Bucharest has an independent judicial system with effective institutions. Also in Brussels, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said at a meeting with representatives of the European institutions last week that Romania made significant progress in consolidating the rule of law and the independence of justice. Efforts to combat corruption and reform the justice system in Romania have been monitored under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism ever since 2006.
A new Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has started today in Bucharest. 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 week of prayer starts at the Orthodox Patriarchy, and continues with the reformed, Calvinist, Greek-Catholic, Lutheran and Armenian churches, to end on January 26th at the Roman Catholic church.
Pope Francis left Manila on Monday to return to the Vatican, after a one-week visit in Sri Lakna and the Philipines. Tens of thousands of Philipinos came to see the Pope on his way to the airport. At least 6 million people attended a religious service on Sunday, a record figure for a Christian meeting. Speaking to the crowds, the Pontif condemned corruption, materialism and poverty. This is the Pope’s scond visit to Asia in the past 6 months, after the one in South Korea.
The Kiev officials have announced that the Ukrainain army took control over most of the Donetk airport where it launched a major offensive against pro-Russian separatists. At diplomatic level, the US and the European countries support the idea of maintaining sanctions agaisnt Russia which they accuse of supporting the separatists, which Moscow firmly denies. The Dutch MPs have drawn up a draft resolution unde which Russia is withdrawn the position of Member of Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. Since April last year over 4,800 people have been killed in the confrontation between the Ukrainian army and the separatists.
The US President Barack Obama on Tuesday in his state of the nation speech will propose several domestic policy projects, among which increasing taxes for the rich, and fiscal facilities for the middle class. Obama has already made public some of the themes of his speech during visits to various cities in the US and on social networks. According to American political analysts, the proposals show the Presiddent’s intentions as to his legacy to the people and shape up the economic agenda for the next presidential election campaign. President Obama plans to use the last two years of his mandate to extend federal authority, analysts say.
The city of Melbourne this week is hosting the Australian International tennis tournament which has among the participants the world third-seeded Romanian Simona Halep. The Romanian qualified on Monday after beating Italian Karin Knapp in two sets 6-3, 6-2. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu, has obtained a surprising result in this tournament a three-set win against ninth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany.
