PRESIDENCY-Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis is attending the nuclear security summit in Washington. He said on Thursday that he will hold consultations with all political parties in Romania in the following weeks on the legislation in the field and said he gladly received the echo coming from the country as regards the change and modernisation of the security law. The president also said that Romania meets the highest standards when it comes to nuclear security. On Thursday, Klaus Iohannis visited the Holocaust Memorial in Washington. “I wanted to personally pay a pious homage to all the victims of the Holocaust and to express my gratitude for the activity of this internationally acclaimed institution”, the president also said. Klaus Iohannis will participate on Friday in the session opening the summit, will attend a working dinner and talks starting from a scenario designed by the organisers, which consists in the presentation of a hypothetical case of nuclear terrorism. The Romanian President will make a declaration for the press at the end of the summit. Also on Friday, he will meet with representatives of the Romanian community in Washington.
VOTE BY MAIL — The Romanian Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Electoral Authority in Romania announce the start of the enlisting in the Electoral Register of the Romanian voters with the domicile or residence abroad. As of April 1, 2016, the Romanian nationals who want to vote in the future parliamentary elections can request to be enlisted in the Electoral Register. The enlisting period comes to a close some 3 months ahead of the elections, depending on the voting date, still to be set. In a press conference, the minister delegate for the Romanians abroad, Dan Stoenescu underlined that the enlisting of the voters in the Electoral Register is a huge and necessary step forward in exerting the right to vote in this year’s parliamentary elections, considering the amendments to the electoral law and the introduction of the vote by mail.
CORRUPTION– The Bucharest Tribunal on Thursday ruled to authorize the preventive house arrest, for 30 days, pending trial, of Craiova mayor, Lia Olguta Vasilescu. She was detained on Wednesday on charges of bribe taking, influence peddling to obtain undue financial benefits and goods and money laundering. According to a measure taken by the prosecutors on Thursday, MP Sebastian Ghita is on bail subject to legal restrictions pending trial. The bail is set at 13 million Euros. A close friend of the former Social Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Sebastian Ghita is accused of bribe giving, blackmail and securing influence. This the highest bail set so far by a Romanian court.
BORDER CONTROL — Romanian interior minister, Petre Toba, met on Thursday in Djerdap-Serbia with his Serbian counterpart, Nebojsa Stefanovic. The focal points of the talks between the two officials were migration-related issues and the need to identify additional security measures on the common border. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry “the two officials agreed that in the following period of time, the legal framework should be ensured to establish a common patrol made up of Romanian and Serbian border police officers. Romania has taken additional measures to tighten border security, because it has to manage some 2,070 km of the EU’s external border”, minister Toba said on the occasion.
SECURITY– According to the Pentagon, the US will deploy an armoured brigade in Eastern Europe with continuous rotations starting in February 2017, as part of efforts to discourage possible Russian aggression. The brigade will number 4,200 troops, as well as tanks and other types of armoured vehicles. The troops will rotate in and out of the allied states on the eastern flank, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. US combat brigades of the ground forces are also stationed in Germany and Italy. About 62,000 US military forces are permanently based in Europe. To reassure its allies in Eastern Europe, NATO took a series of measures in the spring of 2014, such as opening logistical centres and deploying fighter aircraft in the Baltic states and additional ships in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Moscow says the permanent deployment of troops along its borders violates the NATO-Russia Founding Act signed in 1997.
PHONE CARDS-The Romanian Intelligence Service is investigating, together with national and international partners, the use of Romanian anonymous pre-paid phone cards in areas with terrorist organisations. The Service has recently said that persons affiliated to terrorist groups have used pre-paid phone cards in Romania to communicate abroad. The investigation also looks at the possible use of such cards in the attacks carried out in Europe.
ENERGY— Romania may become an important player on the regional energy market by 2020 if the BRUA natural gas pipeline is developed, the Romanian economy minister Costin Borc told the Bucharest Forum held by Aspen Institute Romania. According to the minister, the pipeline, which links Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, provides new opportunities for the Romanian energy sector on the European market. He also said Romania must continue work on the Arad-Szeged pipeline between Romania and Hungary and on the Iasi-Ungheni pipeline linking Romania to the Republic of Moldova, which will allow Romania to consolidate its position as an exporter on the natural gas market. The minister also emphasised the need to develop the country’s transport and IT infrastrucure.
YOUTH COUNCIL — Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, on Thursday sent a congratulation message to the Youth Council of Romania, on its 10th anniversary. “On this occasion, I congratulate the Council on its involvement in projects which monitor governance and the decision making process, as well as the legislative process, from legislative proposals to the enforcement of laws. It is regrettable that a large number of young people do not find solutions to build themselves a future in Romania and choose to leave the country. It is the state’s duty to create all the premises for the young people who complete their studies and for those unemployed, alike, to stand chances to get integrated into society and on the labour market. To that end, I support the implementation of the program Youth Guarantee Scheme, as a huge step forward in order not to waste the talent and work force that the young generations have, as we well know”, Romania’s President also writes in his message.
THE HAGUE— The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia Hague has acquitted the former leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj, who was on trial for inciting and committing war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia Hertzegovina during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Held for 12 years at the Scheveningen prison from February 2003 to November 2014, Seselj was temporarily released on humanitarian grounds. He did not attend the reading of the verdict. A week ago, the court in The Hague sentenced the former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
TENNIS— The Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu and Margarita Gasparian on Friday face the Hungarian-Kazakh pair Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semifinals of the Miami tennis tournament worth 6 million dollars in prize money. While this is Niculescu and Gasparian’s third tournament as a pair, they pulled of a surprising win over the Swiss-Indian pair Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. In the singles event in Miami, world no. 5 Simona Halep of Romania lost to the Swiss player Timea Bacsinszky, world no. 20, in the quarterfinals.
(Translated by Cristina Mateescu and Diana Vijeu)