News review of the day – April 22nd

Romania joins 170 countries in signing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

On Earth Day April 22, Romania is represented in NewYork, joining other 170 countries that are signing the Paris Agreement – The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to an announcement posted on the Cabinet’s official Facebook page.

Romania is thus recognizing the interrelation between all living organisms and commits to cooperate on a global scale to prevent temperatures from rising above the 2 centigrade global-warming celing.

The UN reminds that the Earth Day was marked for the first time in the United States in 1970 in order to raise awareness regarding environment protection as a way to preserve a healthy planet for the future generations and to address climate change.

April 22nd was established by the UN as the International Earth Day seven years ago. The 2016 Earth Day resolution is to plant almost 8 billion trees over the next five years, RADIO ROMANIA reported.

Romania will not join the Visa Waiver Program this year – US Ambassador

Romania will not join the Visa Waiver Program this year, according to a statement made today by the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, who attended a conference at West University in Timisoara. The American diplomat explained to the students in the audience that Romania hasn’t met the conditions yet, due to a high rejection rate for visa applicants. Additionally, the ambassador said legislation needs to be amended in order to lift visa requirement.

Hans Klemm: Immigration is a highly sensitive matter in the United States. 2016 is an election year not only in Romania, but also in the US. Personally, I think it would be impossible to change immigration legislation this year. In 2017, we are going to have a new President and a new Congress. A legal change in this field is only possible after the elections.

Ambassador Hans Klemm added that Romania should carry on developing its infrastructure and human resources in order to get the attention of American businessmen, RADIO ROMANIA reported.

Romania disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest

Romania has been disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest set to take place in Sweden two wweks from now, due to non-payment of debts worth 14,55 million euros by the  Romanian public television (TVR) to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organiser of the competition.

TVR will now no longer be able to participate in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest and will lose access to other EBU member services and  the right to broadcast specific sporting events. Romania had been told it faced the prospect of exclusion from the competition if it did not immediately pay debts. TVR said in a statement that it made a repayment of 250,000 Euros in January.

“It is regrettable that we are forced to take this action,” EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre said in a statement today. “We are disappointed that all our attempts to solve this matter have received no response from the Romanian government. Ovidiu Anton was set to represent Romania this year with a song called „Moment of Silence”.