EU. The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is
attending the European Council meeting held today and tomorrow in Brussels.
Talks focus on migration, security and defence, the relations between the
European Union and Turkey and the North-Korean situation. A meeting of the EU
27 will also be held to discuss the UK’s leaving the Union and evaluate the
progress made so far in the negotiation process. According to the president’s
office, Klaus Iohannis will emphasise, among others, the need to monitor the
flow of migrants on the Eastern Mediterranean route. As to the latest
developments related to the North Korean dossier, Klaus Iohannis is expected to
say that Romania will support the efforts of the international community to
achieve a peaceful solution to the crisis, with the major goal being the
complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Trade Winds 2017. Romania has a lot to offer in
areas such as agriculture, information technology and industrial production,
prime minister Mihai Tudose said today in Bucharest at the Trade Winds 2017 US
trade mission. He mentioned Romania’s sustained economic growth, its
partnership with the European Union and NATO and its 20-year long strategic
partnership with the United States. The US ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm
said Romania is Washington’s best ally and friend in the region and pointed out
this country needs to ensure a predictable and transparent business environment
to attract investors. Trade Winds is the biggest trade promotion event organised
by the US government aimed at bringing together American and foreign
businesses. Its tenth edition, which is under way until the 24th of
October in South-Eastern Europe, has at its centre the Romanian capital, which
is also hosting a business forum.
Healthcare. Romania has made some progress in
the field of healthcare, said the European commissioner for health and food
safety Vytenis Andriukaitis in Bucharest, noting however that the area is
facing some big funding problems. He said European funds are a key instrument
that can make the system work better. Also today, a rally is held in central
Bucharest to protest against the legislative changes to come into force in
January 2018. Trade unions say these changes will lead to a decrease in salary
incomes for healthcare and social assistance employees in Romania. The protest
actions began in mid September.
Danube Region. The minister delegate for
European affairs Victor Negrescu represents Romania at the 6th
annual forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region hosted by Budapest. Talks
focus on energy security, the development of regional infrastructure,
connectivity and the future of macroregional projects after 2020. The EU
Strategy for the Danube Region is a wide-scale project co-initiated by Romania
and Austria and officially launched at European level in 2012. It was designed
as a community instrument for regional cooperation for the states in the Danube
basin.
Ukraine education law. Members of the ethnic
Romanian community in Cernauti, western Ukraine, are to meet the Ukrainian
education and science minister Lilia Grinevich this weekend to discuss
Ukraine’s new education law that drastically restricts the access of ethnic
minorities to education in their languages. The meeting comes after the ethnic
Romanians in Cernauti held protests against this law. On Thursday, in a
telephone talk with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis strongly conveyed his discontent with the new
education law in the neighbouring country. Ukraine is home to almost half a
million ethnic Romanians.
Catalonia. President Klaus Iohannis and foreign
minister Teodor Melescanu have reiterated Romania’s firm support for Spain’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity during talks in Bucharest with the
Spanish foreign minister Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo. Catalonia’s separatist
leader Carles Puigdemont today told the government in Madrid that his region
has not declared its independence but that it may do so if the central
authorities continue what he called their repression, that is if they suspend
the province’s autonomy.
Europa League. Romania’s football vice-champions FCSB,
formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, today face the Israeli side Hapoel Beer
Sheva in an away match in their third Europa League Group G match. FCSB top the
group ranking with a maximum of points, 6, followed by the Czech side Viktoria Plzeň and Hapoel Beer Sheva, both with 3
points. The Swiss side FC Lugano are bottom of the ranking with no points.