TRAFFIC The Romanians working
abroad are coming back these days to spend Christmas at home. Traffic jams have
already been reported on two main roads in the country’s west starting at the
border checkpoints of Bors and Nadlac, the main entrance points into Romania
from Hungary. In spite of the authorities’ sustained efforts to speed up
checking procedures, long queues have been reported at the aforementioned
checkpoints.
MESSAGE The Romanian embassy in Mexico has conveyed a message to
the Foreign Ministry in that country to voice dissatisfaction over the fact
that several Romanians were banned access to that country. The message
underlines the need for such decision to be firmly grounded and applied under
the strict observance of the rights of the Romanian citizens. The diplomatic
intervention comes after the Romanian embassy received requests for consular assistance
from several Romanian nationals on December 19th and 20th
who were denied the right to enter the country. According to the Mexican
authorities the interdictions were based on some inaccuracies in the documents
produced by the Romanians.
LAW The
Romanian foreign ministry has taken note of Ukraine’s Parliament adoption on 13th
December of the law on national ethnic minorities in Ukraine aimed at
complementing the Ukrainian legislation on the protection of members of
national ethnic minorities. The Romanian foreign office regrets that this law
was passed without consulting the Venice Commission, whose opinion would have
contributed to ensuring a comprehensive and clear text from the point of view
of European legal standards in the field. The Romanian foreign ministry says
the law maintains a number of provisions that may have a negative impact, when
viewed in relation to the European standards. Among others, the law contains no
provision on the use of the mother tongue in courts, and maintains the lack of
clarity with respect to the concrete application of the provisions relating to
the use of the minorities’ mother tongue in the administration in the areas
traditionally inhabited by persons belonging to ethnic minorities. The Romanian
side has constantly invoked in its contacts with the Ukrainian side the promise
made by the Ukrainian president that ethnic Romanians in Ukraine would enjoy
the same treatment as that enjoyed by ethnic Ukrainians in Romania.
POLICE The Romanian interior ministry has announced special measures to
maintain public order around Christmas and New Year’s. More than 24,000 members
of the police, gendarmerie, border police and fire services as well as other
departments will be mobilised every day. The traffic police will use 290 radar
detectors and alcohol devices to detect alcohol consumption and the intake of
other substances banned when driving. As the authorities are expecting a new
wave of tourists in the mountain resorts in Prahova Valley, in south-central
Romania, special mountain gendarmerie troops are also on stand-by.
VISIT The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă and
the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu on Friday attended
alongside South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo a Romania-South Korea
business roundtable. This was the last day of the two Romanian officials’ trip
to South Korea. On Thursday, during talks with the management of the companies
Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem, they talked about major projects in key
economic sectors like transports, the defence industry and communications and
IT. Also on Thursday, Ciucă and Ciolacu visited the port of Busan, which ranks
second in the world in terms of cargo handled. According to Radio Romania’s
correspondent, emphasis was placed during talks held with the president of the
Busan port authority Kang Joon-suk on the need for cooperation between Busan
and the Romanian port of Constanţa.
(bill)
