Radio România Internațional

Tag: Bucharest

  • March 6, 2024

    March 6, 2024

    Congress – The Congress of the European People’s Party (EPP) takes place, today and tomorrow, in Bucharest, being attended by over 2,000 delegates from 44 countries. The European People’s Party decides the strategy for the European parliamentary elections in June, establish the EPP manifesto and designate the candidate for the head of the European Commission. The incumbent president, Ursula von der Leyen, is the only one officially registered in this competition, her candidacy being validated, last night, by the EPP’s Political Assembly. At the end of the Congress, a document will be adopted that will include the request for Romania and Bulgaria to become full members of the Schengen area. The Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, who is still opposed to this accession, will also attend the meeting. On Wednesday, at a meeting with young people from Romania, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who is also participating in the congress, said that the Schengen Area will not be complete until it includes Romania. She has given assurances that Bucharest is supported by “numerous friends”, who will help it enter Schengen. She urged the young people to vote in the European Parliament elections and not to ‘underestimate’ their power to send ‘ambassadors’ to the EP. In parallel with the Congress, hosted by the National Liberal party – PNL (in the governing coalition), President Klaus Iohannis, the former leader of the Liberals, and the Social-Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu have meetings with the leaders present in Bucharest. At the meeting with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, they discussed the European Parliament elections, Romania’s European priorities, its full accession to the Schengen area and the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – PNRR.

     

    Tennis – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has confirmed that Romanian Simona Halep can immediately return to the professional circuit, after her four-year suspension was reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. Halep has not played an official match since the defeat registered in the first round at the US Open in 2022. She was suspended for four years for doping in September 2023 by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. The reduction of the suspension was welcomed by big names in the history of tennis.

     

    US elections – The former US president, Donald Trump, won, on Tuesday evening, the Republican primaries in the states of Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Maine, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Alabama, Minnesota, Colorado and Texas, which are at stake in the so-called ‘Super Tuesday’. 15 states are at stake in this electoral battle, and the world media write that Trump hopes to definitively exclude his last rival, Nikki Haley. In the Democratic camp, President Joe Biden, who wants to get a second term in office, does not face serious opposition. The candidacies of two Democrats, the elected representative of the state of Minnesota, Dean Phillips, and the successful author Marianne Williamson, did not really arouse enthusiasm, despite the recurring criticism of the octogenarian president. Biden already won, on Tuesday evening, in 12 states, including Vermont, North Carolina and Virginia.

     

     

    Drugs – The Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted, on Tuesday, as a decision-making body, the so-called “2 Mai” Law, which stipulates that high-risk drug traffickers can no longer receive suspended sentences. At the same time, the bill stipulates that trading products that have psychoactive effects represents a crime and is punishable by imprisonment. The Senate had adopted the bill in November 2023, as the first body notified. The bill is now being promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.

     

    Romanian elections – Romania’s Chamber of Deputies adopted the draft law that allows the organization of the presidential election in September. The Social Democratic Party – PSD and the National Liberal Party – PNL, in the government coalition, agreed that the first round of the election should take place on September 15th and the second on the 29th. The law has already been challenged by Save Romania Union – USR and the Force of the Right at the Constitutional Court, which will discuss the notification of the opposition on March 20. We remind you that the local elections in Romania will take place, for the first time, simultaneously with the European Parliament elections, on June 9, and the vote for the Romanian Parliament on December 8.

     

    Swimming – The World Aquatics Masters Championships in Doha, Qatar, ended with a new success for the representative of the Universitatea Cluj Club (north-west Romania), Maier Orosz Judith, who competed in the 80-84-year category. The athlete won the gold medal in the 50m and 200m breaststroke and the 400m individual medley respectively, all with new national records, as well as in the 100m breaststroke. The other representative of Universitatea Cluj at the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Doha, Vlad Dobra, finished sixth in the 50m and 100m backstroke and 400m individual medley of the 30-34-year category. More than 2,500 athletes participated in the Doha competition.

     

    Handball – Romania’s men’s handball champion, Dinamo Bucharest, was defeated by the Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon, score 31-27, on Tuesday evening, at home, in its last match in the Main Group IV of the EHF European League. Dinamo finished on third place in the group and will play in the play-off with the second ranked team in the Main Group III, the Danish team Bjerringbro-Silkeborg. The first match will take place in Bucharest on March 26, and the return leg away from home on April 2. Also in Main Group IV and also on Tuesday evening, CSM Constanţa (south-eastern Romania) was defeated, away from home, by the trophy holder, the German team Fuchse Berlin, and finished the matches on last position. (LS)

  • Tribute to Navalnyi, support for Ukraine

    Tribute to Navalnyi, support for Ukraine

    The news that Aleksei Navalnyi, the main critic of the Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin, had a sudden death in the Arctic Circle prison where he was serving, just a month before the election in Russia, has triggered a wave of reactions around the world. Political activist, Navalnyi, 47, collapsed after a walk at the Polar Wolf penal colony, one of Russia’s northernmost and toughest, located 1.900 km north-east of Moscow, where the activist was serving a 19 year sentence.

    According to the authorities, Navalnyi’s death was caused by a blood clot, but his family was denied access to his dead body. The Western leaders together with US president Joe Biden have paid tribute to the political activist for his courage.

    The opposition and the Russian independent press as well as Western ministries have more or less blamed the Russian president for having ordered the death of Navalnyi, who used to be Kremlin’s number one enemy for 15 years. In turn, Moscow considers the West’s reaction to Navalnyi’s death as unacceptable and obnoxious.

    The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, and other dignitaries have voiced sadness for Aleksei Navalnyi’s death. ‘The international community has lost a brave warrior for freedom and rights’ the Romanian president said adding that Russia must launch a thorough and transparent investigation into the death of the activist.

    In a communiqué recently released, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has voiced its profound regret for the death of the political activist, one of the leading figures of the opposition in the Russian Federation.

    Numerous flowers and candles have been placed in front of the Russian embassy in Bucharest along with the message ‘Don’t Give up’ by the people who paid tribute to Alesei Navalnyi’s activity.

    “We must fight all the time for democracy!” was another message carried by the people who came to pay homage to Russia’s most important dissident of the moment. The Bucharest branch of the Save Romania Union, a.k.a USR, has proposed a General Council decision that the street where the Russian embassy’s consular section is located be named Aleksei Navalnyi.

    According to the USR Bucharest, this initiative represents a major step in the process of supporting the democratic values and human rights, reiterating the solidarity bonds with those fighting for freedom and justice the world over. Also in line with this principle of freedom fighting, the head of the diplomacy in Bucharest, Luminita Odobescu, who went to Germany a couple of days ago to attend the Security Conference in Munich, has pleaded for maintaining the multi-dimensional support for Ukraine. Odobescu has conveyed a firm message of Romanian solidarity with Ukraine and its people in their legitimate fight to defend the country’s independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty in the illegal aggression war waged by Russia.

  • Cățelu District, an urban and architectural exercise on the outskirts of Bucharest

    Cățelu District, an urban and architectural exercise on the outskirts of Bucharest

    Fully installed as of 1947, after the abolition of monarchy, the communist regime that wanted to completely change the Romanian society by imprisoning its elites, had problems reaching one of its main goals, namely, that of improving the life of the working class. In 1953, a housing crisis started to be felt in Bucharest. Very few new blocks of flats had been erected to provide a decent living for the new proletarian class, brought to the cities from the countryside, to contribute to building socialism.



    Historian Andrei Răzvan Voinea explains: “In 1953, a plenary meeting of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) took place. It was decided that financing would be granted for the construction of housing units in Bucharest. In 1954, the construction of blocks of flats started in neighborhoods such as Vatra Luminoasă, Bucureștii Noi and Piaţa Muncii. However, no apartment was inaugurated that year because construction works take time. In the winter of 1954-1955, more precisely in January 1955, a rather alarming crisis was under way. It had been quite a severe winter, and the party decided it needed housing units urgently.


    And so the story of the Cățelu neighborhood begins. It was located on the eastern outskirts of Bucharest, close to the rural area and the commune with the same name – Cățelu. There, on an initial area of approximately 6,000 square meters, around 800 apartments were built in a first stage, in the second half of the 1950s. The housing units reminded of the rural vernacular architecture or the old urban slum that is terrace houses surrounded by gardens and open to a common space that encouraged community spirit.



    It all started from some improvised barracks where the workers employed at the factories in the area used to live, as historian Andrei Răzvan Voinea tells us: “They were basically shacks put there to temporarily house Bucharest workers. They were insufficient. However, in the summer of 1955, construction works began in Cățelu, as the party had ordered the construction of some minimalist houses that would be erected very quickly and thus play down the housing crisis. The area next to the Mihai Bravu road, which in the interwar period belonged to the Affordable Housing Society, was picked as a construction site. That was the context until July 1955, when the actual design projects and construction started.



    He also told us about the results: “Truth is the communists were very unprepared. They did not know what exactly the new socialist city they wanted to build was about to look like. They didnt have the slightest idea, because they did not have on their side the Romanian architectural and artistic avant-garde of the 1930s-1940s, that was definitely leftist, but was not from within the party. Consequently, influences came directly from Moscow and that’s how these neighborhoods appeared. Besides them, various functionalist experiments were carried out in the Rahova and Ferentari districts, also in the 1950s, the blocks of flats in the Piaţa Muncii area were built, with a somewhat more elaborate, different block. And then the Cățelu Experiment emerged, the architect of the project being Tiberiu Niga, a well-known architect, of course, with extraordinary projects in the 30s – 40s, one of the great Romanian architects. He received this task from the party: we want many homes in a very short time, preferably as small as possible to accommodate as many people as possible and to be as cheap as possible. And Niga came up with the idea of ​​this vernacular rural dwelling, in which you have a main room and a hall, as it was called in traditional Romanian architecture. To also compensate for the lack of materials, he improvised enormously. Inside, the living space had a maximum of 30-40 square meters. Then there was a very large veranda and those extraordinary public spaces. People basically occupied 30-40 square meters, but they went out, they had a terrace that everyone used to keep their bike, cart, pickles, a table, chairs and so on. And there was also a huge green space, practically a garden.



    According to any standard of decent living, those apartments were uncomfortable, but the communists knew well that the workers they were intended for came from the countryside where the conditions were even worse, explains historian Andrei Răzvan Voinea: “The apartments had 30 or so square meters, practically a studio where a family with children lived. Cramming 3-4 people into a home like that is difficult. But, again, let’s think about the context. These were workers who lived on the outskirts of the city in worse conditions than those. At least, in Cățelu there was electricity, hot water, a refrigerator, absolutely all this modern comfort. Moreover, a lot of restaurants, convenience stores, bookstores had been built. And Cățelu didnt just mean the apartment buildings, it meant a school, because two schools and a kindergarten were built there, there were green spaces almost everywhere and the workers were very close to work. And they didn’t have all those things before.



    In time, other blocks of flats were built around the Cățelu neighborhood as the communist regime systematized and modified the city’s infrastructure, as well as its social structure. But the homes imagined by Tiberiu Niga to create a bridge to the rural world from which the workers of the old times came are still there. (EE, LS)

  • The National Theatre Festival is under way in Bucharest

    The National Theatre Festival is under way in Bucharest

    Romanian and foreign plays, debates, exhibitions and theatre book launches – all are scheduled as part of the 33rd edition of the National Theatre Festival (FNT) in Bucharest. Part of the offer of this year’s event, which started on Friday and ends on October 30, are also reading performances, creative workshops, presentations of institutions and cultural projects, meetings with guest artists, radio shows and online events. The curatorial team of the festival, made up of theatre critics Mihaela Michailov, Oana Cristea Grigorescu and Călin Ciobotari, opted for artists with different aesthetics and varied theatrical languages, choosing productions that they consider relevant for this year’s theme: RNTF, the Laboratories of the Sensitive. This means that, for 11 days, the public can see 30 theatre productions from Romania and 3 foreign shows.



    The local selection was made from among 150 shows, staged in the 2022-2023 season, produced by state and independent theatres in Bucharest and other cities. The guest performances, “Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, written and directed by Tiago Rodrigues, a production of the National Theatre in Lisbon, Portugal, had the honor of opening the festival on Friday. Part of the NTF is also an exhibition dedicated to the late French man of culture of Romanian origin, George Banu, a theatre critic, researcher and professor with a number of European and American universities.



    At the Odeon Theatre, in downtown Bucharest, the exhibition Chairs, signed by Marius Damian, includes over 200 works collected during the years 2020-2023 and is dedicated to people who work in theatre, such as actors, directors, set designers and critics. The Austrian Cultural Forum presents, within the festival, two exhibitions, while Radio Romania offers listeners the radio dramas The King, the Jester and the Rats, directed by Mihai Lungeanu and Bucuresti – Underground, directed by Toma Enache. The festival also includes a book fair organized for the launch and presentation of new publishing products in the field of performing arts.



    In conclusion, this 33rd edition of the National Theater Festival is a special one, aiming to reflect the transformations in the present-day theater, a place of meetings between generations, as the president Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER), Dragoş Buhagiar, said. (EE)



  • September 21, 2023

    September 21, 2023

    ACCIDENT A
    criminal investigation was initiated with respect to the blast that occurred last
    night on a gas pipeline on the Moldova Motorway construction site in eastern
    Romania, in which four people died and 5 others were injured. Two men with burn
    wounds affecting 30% and 40% of their bodies, respectively, were transferred to hospitals in
    Bucharest. Prosecutors are investigating manslaughter and bodily harm offences,
    as well as failure to take or observe work safety measures. According to the
    Vrancea Emergency Inspectorate, the blast was caused by the construction works
    conducted in the vicinity of the pipeline, which was also carrying natural gas
    to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova.


    TAXES The
    Cabinet had a first discussion on the set of measures aimed at the long-term
    rebalancing of the state budget and at facilitating the absorption of tens of
    billions in EU funding. Apart from cutting down public
    spending, the bill focuses on fighting tax evasion, introduces taxes on large
    profits and wealth, and eliminates tax privileges. Ahead of the Cabinet meeting,
    the measures were discussed in the three-party Social Dialogue Council, which
    brings together government officials and representatives of employer
    associations and trade unions.


    UN The wider
    Black Sea area must be protected against the effects of Russia’s war against
    Ukraine, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said in his address at the UN
    General Assembly in New York. The Romanian official added that his country
    would not let down its most vulnerable partners, and mentioned the transit of
    Ukrainian grain via Romania, a topic he also approached in talks with the
    president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of the European
    Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister, Mariya
    Gabriel. President Iohannis also said Romania was concerned with the effects of
    climate change, of pollution, of energy insecurity, and is making visible
    efforts to fight them. According to him, climate education is a priority for
    Romania, and the climate-security interconnection should rank higher on the UN
    agenda. Stay tuned for more details on the Romanian president’s address at the
    UN after the news.


    WHEAT Egypt’s General
    Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) announced having purchased 120,000
    tonnes of wheat from Romania in an international purchasing tender, Reuters
    reports. GASC also said that since early June Cairo has imported approx. 2.14
    million tonnes of wheat, mainly from Russia (1.5 million tonnes) and Romania
    (420,000 tonnes). Egypt is the world’s largest wheat buyer, mainly for its
    national bread subsidy programme benefiting more than 70 million of its 103
    million citizens.


    BUCHAREST The
    Romanian capital city is celebrating these days 564 years since its first
    mention in official documents. Maps, plans, archive images and 3-dimensional
    scale models showcasing the 19th Century history of the city are
    displayed in an exhibition opened until Sunday at the ARCUB Cultural Centre. On
    Saturday, around 200 arts high school students will dance in front of the
    National History Museum of Romania, and the music of old-time Bucharest will be
    performed in the George Enescu Festival Square in front of the Romanian
    Athenaeum. (AMP)

  • A tour of the Communist period in Bucharest

    A tour of the Communist period in Bucharest


    Today we invite you to discover the capital of Romania through a special tour, which is very popular among foreign tourists. The tour of communism in Bucharest involves visiting all those places that still bear witness to the so-called Golden Age, which ended abruptly in December 1989. The Palace of the Parliament, the third largest administrative building in the world, according to the World Records Academy, or the Ceaușescu House, the residence of the former dictator of Romania, are just some of the tours objectives. Andreea Cosma is a specialized tour guide, and the tour she offers to tourists is comprehensive. In addition to various visits, information is provided about the daily life of Romanians, from a social, economic and cultural point of view.



    Here is Andreea Cosma: First of all, I think that every foreigner should take this tour because it will help them understand the Romanians behavior and way of being. Like it or not, we are still influenced by the almost 50 years of communism. Romanians should also take this tour, especially those from the younger generation, who do not really receive information about this epoch at school. The tour aims at understanding the changes brought and the impact had by the communist regime not only in the case of Romania and Bucharest, but also in the case of the people. This is what we are focusing on. Some of the sights we see on the route are, of course, the Peoples House or the Palace of the Parliament, the Schitul Maicilor – the Mothers’ Hermitage Church to highlight the story of the transmuted churches from the communist era. The tour also includes a visit to an old grocery store on Apolodor Street and a stop at the headquarters of the former Political Police – the Securitate, currently the Bucharest Police headquarters. The tour ends in Revolution Square.



    From an architectural point of view, the Palace of the Parliament remains one of the most controversial buildings in Romania. The building spans a surface of 365,000 square meters, ranks first in the world in the Book of Records in the category of administrative buildings for civil use, and third in the world respectively in terms of volume. It is also the heaviest and most expensive building in the world. The entire construction is the result of the effort of more than 100,000 people. Almost 20,000 workers were working in three shifts, 24 hours a day, during the peak of the construction period. For the construction, almost 100% Romanian materials were used. Andreea Cosma, our guide, recommends tourists, if they have time, to purchase the guided tour from inside the building. Visits should be booked 24 hours in advance, on the institution’s website, with the standard price standing at 60 lei (12 euros) for one adult.



    Andreea Cosma: In the pedestrian tour, we tell people about the demolitions that took place to make way for the most important symbol of Ceausescus megalomania. We also tell people about the construction of over 360,000 square meters, achieved in approximately five years, reminding them that it is a building in progress, not yet completed. We also tell them about the supposed tunnels that exist under the People’s House. From there, we take tourists to see another interesting objective that connects us to the story of Elena Ceaușescu. The building used to be the House of Technology and Science, what is now the headquarters of the Romanian Academy. It was supposed to be a sort of office for Elena Ceausescu, who had very successfully graduated three years of schooling, and then finished her life with a PhD in chemistry, without doing the studies, of course. It is interesting, nonetheless, to see how the communist propaganda managed to show us how people from very poor backgrounds managed to reach the upper echelons.



    The next objective was erected in the mid-1960s, known at the time as Spring Palace. It was expanded between 1970 and 1972. This was the residence of the dictator’s family. Various wood essences of various colors, from domestic sources, were used for the interior decorations. You can also see an impressive collection of paintings, as well as many manually manufactured tapestries and mosaics. The tour is in Romanian and English, and the standard fare is about 11 Euro.



    Here is Andreea Cosma, a tour guide: “I always mention the Spring Palace. It is very interesting to visit. The main residence of the two Ceausescu dictators was turned into a museum, and it is very interesting to see their lifestyle. We go there and see the luxury and the opulence they lived in, by contrast with the rest of the population. The entire Primaverii, or Spring, neighborhood is worth taking in step by step, ideally with a guide that tells you the story of each house. Each has a story related to the family that resided there, and about the dynamic within each family, including their relationship with the Ceausescus.



    Andreea Cosma, a tour guide, mentioned another building that stands witness to the Ceausescu period: the Dambovita Center, or Radio House, as it was referred to until 2015. The construction started in 1986 on the place where a horse race track used to be, and it was supposed to house the National History Museum of the Socialist Republic of Romania.



    It is another story written during an era that many remember with sadness, but which today has become fascinating: “Since the tour is organized like a story, going through all the major changes that communism brought, describing its impact on our lives, with no exception, all tourists were impressed by the end. They understood better why we, Romanians, are the way we are, each with his or her individual experience, when it comes to relating to other Romanians. In terms of countries of origin, we had a very large number of people from the USA. This was a bit surprising to me. Up until the pandemic, there was not a single tour without at least one tourist from the UK. The situation changed last year. There was not a single tour without at least one tourist from the US. Otherwise, most are from the west of Europe, and very few from Asia, South America, and Africa.



    The price of a Real Tour of Communism experience is between 18 and 24 Euro. The most expensive version is a private tour. Generally, tours are with the public, with 15 people at most, so that each tourist can be offered proper attention. (LS, CC)

  • Marcel Iancu’s modernist Bucharest

    Marcel Iancu’s modernist Bucharest

    The Romanian artist of Jewish descent, Marcel Iancu, was part of the group of artists who in 1916, at the Voltaire cabaret in Zurich, launched the avant-garde Dada movement. Born in Bucharest in 1895, Marcel Iancu studied architecture in Switzerland, but within Dadaism he was more active as a fine artist. He illustrated articles in Contimporanul magazine, but Marcel Iancus true passion was architecture, obviously modernist, in keeping with his reformist principles. Thanks to this passion, lots of modernist houses were built in the interwar Bucharest, adding to the eclectic charm of the capital of Romania. Architect Ana-Maria Zahariade tells us more about Marcel Iancu and his influence on Bucharest.



    “He returned to Romania filled with the avant-garde spirit, of the Dada movement in particular, which had a very special vitality, a huge vitality, a corrosive vitality, sometimes even humorous. So he came back and presented himself to Romanian society, trying to imbue it with that spirit of modernity. Its beginning of the century, in fact in the first quarter of the century, and the desire for renewal, the renewal movement after the First World War in Romanian society was very strong. Everything was dominated by the personality of Marcel Iancu, and I believe we can talk about a modern Bucharest back then thanks to him. Marcel Iancu was the missionary of modernism in Romania. It is a period when, in fact, architectural modernism was very much in its infancy.”



    In Bucharest, Marcel Iancu did architecture for a living. He also kept illustrating articles in the Contimporanul magazine, which was not an architecture magazine, but did use to reflect the modern trends in architecture, which Marcel Iancu would very fast implement. Ana-Maria Zahariade:



    “As soon as he returned to the country, he set up a firm together with his brother, Iuliu, who was also an architect. Hes always Marcels shadow character. Neither he nor Marcel got their license in Switzerland. They graduated from the architecture school there, but without getting their degree. When they came to the country, they founded this workshop where they worked together on many projects. Many times they signed Marcel Iuliu Iancu as if they were one and the same person and in fact, we dont really know what each ones role was. It is most likely that Marcel contributed with new ideas, composition solutions, the creative part, while Iuliu was mostly focused on the technical part. It is certain that they worked together on many projects, though not all of them. The firm had a problem though, as neither of them had a degree, therefore they could not draw up the necessary documentation for the projects to get authorized. So, they used a friend to sign them, and that happened until 1934, when Marcel Iancu joined the artchitects corp, based on his experience as a designer.



    In the 1920s, few Bucharest customers would appreciate modernist architecture, so for a long time Marcel Iancu received orders in general from friends and family acquaintances, people who in the vast majority belonged to the middle or above middle class. Many of them were Jews, so the buildings designed by Iancu are grouped either in the area of ​​the old Jewish neighborhood of Bucharest, or in the northern part, by the boulevard, where luxury villas were being built. The vast majority were private orders, and Marcel Iancu did not work on any public project. Ana-Maria Zahariade:



    “To him, the first modernist house was the one known as Villa Fuchs, which appeared in several magazines. What is interesting is that he used a rather banal type of construction. Talking about Villa Fuchs, he once recalled: “I built it for a wine merchant, who had read foreign art magazines and who probably liked the new type of architecture. So, he said to me that he had one million lei and a plot of land and he would give them to me, to build whatever I wanted, but modernist”. But that modernism was completely atypical. Then, in 1929, we dont know how it happened, but he was commissioned to build the Youth Pool, which obviously is a totally different thing. Actually, those years were rather rich in projects, for villas and small apartment buildings in particular. The latter was extremely popular in modernizing Bucharest, and was very much used in interwar Bucharest. The second building built by Marcel Iancu that was not a housing building was the Popper Sanatorium, which was and extremely modern thing back then.”



    Marcel Iancu had an effervescent personality and in 20 years of activity he worked a lot. The capital itself, reluctant at first, started accepting an ever-increasing number of modernist buildings, although many of them, as Iancu believed, where not created out of a genuine vanguard drive and did not fully observe the modernist canon. He would say: ” never believed in the value of popularized ideas, that get devoid of any virulence, get barren. In this world of new art, where values are yet unclassified, the errors are grotesque. Those who are exploiting modernity today must explore the entire chain of evolution”.



    Ana-Maria Zahariade tells us what happened next:


    “His revolt was understandable. Adding to that was probably the fact that the political situation was increasingly difficult for the Jewish architects. Im, not sure, but he talked about anti-Semitism and how it eventually forced him to take his family and emigrate. He worked in administration there, and its quite strange. I dont know if he couldnt work there as an architect, because other had come before him. What we know is that he worked in administration and that he saved Jaffa from being demolished. A paradoxical life.”



    Marcel Iancu left Romania for good in 1941 and went to Palestine. There, after the establishment of the State of Israel, he asserted himself as a teacher and a prominent figure of Israels cultural life and in 1967, he received the Israeli State Prize. He died in 1984 in Haifa. (MI)

  • Warsaw and Bucharest – two cities called the ‘Paris of Eastern Europe’

    Warsaw and Bucharest – two cities called the ‘Paris of Eastern Europe’

    Bucharest is seen today as an Eastern European city that took the model of a Western European city for its development. And what other model could be chosen if not Paris, the capital of France? In sign of appreciation for Bucharest people’s dedication to modernizing their city after the model of the capital of France, the capital of Romania received the nickname ‘Little Paris back in the 19th century, a flattering nickname that was kept for a long time. But Bucharest was not the only city that took Paris as a model for urban expansion. The capital of Poland, Warsaw, also received the same nickname, before Bucharest, and this same name for two cities that ardently sought to imitate Paris made the Polish historian Błažej Brzostek write the volume ‘The Paris of another Europe. Warsaw and Bucharest in the 19th and 20th centuries’.



    The Polish historian wrote that there were differences, given the history of the two eastern capitals, although they shared the same nickname: We have differences in both spaces, in the Romanian and Polish cultural spaces. The first visible difference is the presence in Romania of a pattern or a concept of Balkanism, which does not exist in Poland. It is very important in Southern Europe in particular, and it is a negative one. On the other hand, we have the historical concept of Central Europe, which is positive, and very rarely is it negative. The historical concept of Central Europe is very urban, like the Balkan one, urban too, but in a different way. In urban planning, both concepts are extremely visible and extremely clear.



    Poland and Romania were neighbors for a long time in history, and the relations between them were marked by the interests of the times. But, in the last hundred years, relations between the two countries have been excellent. A memorable episode took place in September 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War. The then Romanian government led by Armand Călinescu allowed the passage of the authorities from Warsaw and of the Polish treasure through Romania to the West, so as not to fall into the hands of Germany. But even in the 19thcentury, when Poland no longer existed on the political map of Europe, the Polish presence in Romania had not been forgotten.



    The nickname Little Paris was given to Warsaw before it was given to Bucharest. The ideas of revolutionary France entered Poland at the end of the 18th century, but the name Little Paris given to Warsaw had a negative connotation for the conservative Polish nobility. They opposed Western modernist ideas, and a long dispute began between the traditional and modernizing camps. The same separation of ideas will also produce in Bucharest, 30 years later, around 1830, two opposing camps, similar to the Polish ones.



    Błažej Brzostek told us what role the French capital played here: Paris is a symbolic point, a point of reference for both cultures, in opposition to what was brought from the Orient, and to what was domestic. It was a modern problem of self-definition, and getting to know oneself. The question was: who are we truly? To be a Parisian was positive in many texts, especially in the 19th century, as was the case in the whole of Europe in general, or something negative. It was never neutral. The discussion was mostly related to elites, the ‘superimposed layer’, as Titu Maiorescu wrote, in a pre-modern society which aimed to modernize the masses in order to bring in civilization.



    Little Paris meant, at first sight, urban organization and atmosphere, but not only. It was a type of social attitude, of clothing, of spoken language. Warsaw and Bucharest were called Little Paris, even though they were different, both in cultural heritage, and in imitating the French metropolis. As opposed to Warsaw, a city with aristocratic mansions, in Bucharest the transformation was more visible. In late 19th century, Bucharest was still an Oriental city, but the homes of the elites were Parisian houses. The young people who had been studying in France were bring Paris to Warsaw and Bucharest.



    Here is Błažej Brzostek: In building the concept of Little Paris, when we seek the first moments it was used, or the essential moments in the evolution of this concept, the first impression is that there is a gap between Warsaw and Bucharest. This gap between Poland and Romania was large in the 18th century. Warsaw was the capital of a very large state, considered to be a major state on the map of Europe. Warsaw, along with Poland, gradually disappeared, and Romania gradually appeared. Warsaw has the major trauma of a lost function, and is the biggest source of written texts and ideas. In Romania it is the reverse. There is no trauma of a lost state, but there is another trauma, that produced by the construction of a modern state, and of a modern capital city. This trauma is highly visible especially in interwar texts, when Bucharest was remodeled and remade, with blockhauses, with high rises, with new boulevards, and this seemed to be a destruction of the patriarchal city.



    We still remember with nostalgia nowadays the moniker Little Paris. Both capitals suffered tremendously from an urbanistic point of view during WWII and communism, and this trauma is something they still have in common to this day. (LS, CC)


  • July 18, 2023 UPDATE

    July 18, 2023 UPDATE

    SUMMIT Romania’s efforts to mitigate the effects of the humanitarian and
    food crisis caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine was one of the topics
    discussed by president Klaus Iohannis at the the EU – Latin America summit held
    in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. In his addresses during the meeting, the
    Romanian official praised the organisation of this summit as a necessary
    moment of reconnection of regional communities with largely converging
    interests and approaches, the Romanian Presidency says. Klaus Iohannis stated
    that Romania firmly supported dialogue and constructive cooperation with the
    partners in the region, as well as regular top-level meetings between
    representatives of the 2 blocs. President Iohannis also presented Bucharest’s views on the most
    efficient measures to fight climate change. He pleaded for the concentration
    of bilateral cooperation both on the more efficient combating of the risks
    entailed by climate change, and on capitalising on the clean energy transition
    as a new shared opportunity. The Romanian president also presented Romania’s
    outlook on the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the
    multidimensional support provided by Romania and the importance of joint action
    in order to defend a rule-based international order. On the sidelines of the
    summit, the Romanian official had a meeting with the head of the Community of
    Latin-American and Caribbean States, Ralph Gonsalves, to discuss strengthening
    the relations between Romania and the countries in that region.


    ROMANIA – MEXICO Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu had talks
    with her Mexican counterpart Alicia Barcena Ibarra on Monday on the sidelines
    of the EU-CELAC summit. Talks focused on giving a new impetus to bilateral
    relations, including by top level contact, identifying new areas of sectoral
    cooperation, the presentation of Romania’s position on Russia’s military
    aggression against Ukraine and an exchange of views on the future of EU-Mexico
    relations. The areas in which Romania is seeking to improve cooperation with
    Mexico include civil protection, cyber security and boosting economic ties with
    emphasis on enhancing investments. The talks also highlighted the importance of
    the Romanian community in Mexico and the support given by Romania in the
    evacuation of Mexican nationals from Ukraine.


    GRAIN NATO’s
    deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană condemned, in a Facebook post, Russia’s
    unilateral decision to pull out of the agreement that had guaranteed Ukraine’s
    grain exports via the Black Sea for the past year. In spite of the efforts of
    the UN and Turkey, the 4-party agreement signed by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and
    the UN expired at midnight on Monday, after it was last extended for 2 months
    in May. Russia declined a new extension of the deal signed on July 22 last year,
    on grounds of the obstacles faced by the trade in Russian agricultural
    products. The last shipment of agricultural products from Ukraine via the Black
    Sea was inspected on Monday night in Istanbul, a few hours before the expiry of
    the international agreement. The EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borell also
    condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the agreement which, in spite of
    the war, allowed the export of over 3 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and
    agricultural products.


    MONEY LAUNDERING Moneyval calls on Romanian authorities to
    strengthen its measures to counter money laundering and terrorism financing, reads
    a report released on Tuesday by the Council of Europe’s monitoring body on
    money laundering. Since 2014, when MONEYVAL last evaluated Romania, the country
    has taken a number of actions to strengthen its legal and institutional
    framework to tackle money laundering and the financing of terrorism. According
    to Moneyval, Bucharest has achieved moderate levels of effectiveness in all
    areas assessed except for international cooperation, where it has achieved a
    substantial level of effectiveness and has been commended by other countries
    for its constructive assistance. Romania has improved its ability to freeze,
    seize and confiscate the proceeds and instrumentalities of domestic crime, the
    report also says.


    FOOTBALL The
    Romanian Football Federation Tuesday announced submitting its candidacy for
    organising the 2026 or 2027 Europa League final on the National Arena in
    Bucharest. After having successfully organised the EURO 2020 and this year’s
    Under-21 European Championship matches, the Federation seeks to continue
    promoting Romania as a destination for major sports events, reads a news
    release posted on the Federation’s official website. EURO 2020 brought us the
    largest public investments in infrastructure, a solid heritage that influences
    the development of Romanian football. Also, the Romanian Football Federation
    has proved that it has developed its organisational capacity and it is a
    competitive partner for UEFA in the European football circuit, and now we aim
    to move to a new stage, one fostering further development for Romanian
    football, the RFF president Răzvan Burleanu said. The National Arena has
    already hosted a Europa League final in 2012, when Atletico Madrid defeated
    Athletic Bilbao 3-0. For the next 2 years, the hosts of the Europa League final
    are already known: Dublin (Irland), in 2024, and Bilbao (Spain), in 2025. (AMP)

  • July 1, 2023

    July 1, 2023

    Russia — 40 employees of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, together with their family members, are to leave Romania on board a civil aircraft belonging to a Russian airline. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Romanias decision to reduce the staff of the Russian diplomatic mission reflects the current level of bilateral relations, in the context of Moscows launching a war of aggression against Romanias neighboring Ukraine. We remind you that, at the beginning of this month, the Romanian diplomacy announced Russia that it must reduce the number of posts in Romania by 61%. It was Russia’s choice to reduce posts and to ask its officials to leave Romania.



    Shipyard — The Severnav shipyard from Drobeta-Turnu Severin (south-west of Romania) launched the first fully equipped ship on Friday, after a 12-year production break. The cargo named “Napoleon” was made for a Romanian ship owner. It is a chemical tank, equipped with the latest technologies and equipment, dedicated to river transport of petroleum products – gasoline, diesel or bio-components. The shipyard on the Danube, with an experience of about 170 years, is trying to resume the construction of turnkey ships. This year, at Severnav, at least nine more ships are going to be launched for the Romanian market as well as for the Western European market.




    B-FIT Street! — This weekend July 1 and 2 promises to be a festive one in Bucharest, where the biggest international street theater festival in the city, B-FIT in the Street! is scheduled. After a three-year break, the event returns to Bucharest and transforms the central streets into pedestrian areas, where spectators can witness aerial acrobatics and interactive music performances. They will also enjoy sound installations, street musicians, cabaret dancers, fantastic characters who perform in itinerant shows, creative workshops and sports activities.



    Migration — The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the management and strengthening of the Union borders are among the main elements in the fight against illegal migration. She hopes that the ongoing pilot projects in Bulgaria and Romania will serve as a model of good practices for other external borders as well. The European leaders, gathered on Thursday and Friday, in Brussels, had heated debates on the issue of migration management, without reaching an agreement. Poland and Hungary are opposed to the pact that provides for the relocation of asylum seekers on the principle of solidarity. However, the reform continues its course, after last month it was approved by the Council through a qualified majority, instead of consensus.



    Attack – A citizen from Tajikistan shot dead two people, on Friday, at the Chisinau airport, after the Moldovan authorities refused him entry into Moldova. The head of the Moldovan Police said that there is no evidence that the 43-year-old man belongs to foreign military or paramilitary structures. The interim chief prosecutor stated that the incident is, however, being investigated as a terrorist act. The attacker opened fire after he managed to take the weapon of a border policeman, then barricaded himself in a room at the airport. The special forces captured him, the man is injured and was hospitalized under guard. Flights and commercial activity at the Chisinau airport were temporarily suspended. (LS)

  • Rapid Bucharest 100 years

    Rapid Bucharest 100 years

    On June 25 1923, several rail
    workers of the Grivita workshops laid the foundations of one of the most
    beloved clubs in the Romanian sports history: Rapid Bucharest. The aforementioned
    workers were at that time members of the Cultural and Sports Association CFR
    Bucharest and the club’s football side became one of the most popular in
    Romania. In the period between the two world wars, the rail footballers managed
    to accomplish several notable results. They had claimed seven editions of
    Romania’s Cup by 1942 and in 1940 they had made it to the finals of the Central
    European Cup, which was cancelled by the war.




    Rapid footballers managed to win the first Romanian championship only in 1967
    over 40 years since the club’s foundation. With Valentin Stanescu at the helm,
    Rapid’s lineup at that time was considered the best in the entire club’s
    history. The team’s strong point was its attacks with Ion Ionescu and Nicky
    Dumitriu as strikers. Along the years, however, Rapid had less fruitful periods,
    with many years in the championship’s second league where it got archrivals
    like Petrolul Ploiesti and Progresul Bucharest. Several decades ago, a game
    pitching Rapid against Petrolul used to bring more fans together than the
    derbies of the first league.




    After a break of 32 years, Rapid became champions under the guidance of the
    famous Romanian headcoach Mircea Lucescu. The team got the title again in 2003
    with Mircea Rednic as coach.




    Rapid also boasts two major
    performances in the European Cups. In the 1972-1973 football season, Rapid made
    it to the quarters of Cup Winners’ Cup where it was eliminated by Leeds United.
    In the 2005-2006 season, this prestigious football side advanced to the
    quarters of the UEFA Cup, where it was eliminated by Steaua Bucharest.




    In recent years though, the
    situation of the club got complicated and the financial issues eventually led
    the club to insolvency and dismantling in late 2016. A year later, upon the
    initiative of the district one city hall, a sports association entitled the
    Rapid Academy was founded and joined Romania’s fourth football league. The
    group purchased the Rapid logo and in three years, made a comeback to the first
    football league, where in 2022 ranked ninth. This year Rapid has qualified for
    the Superleague’s play-offs presently ranking fifth in the standings.




    (bill)

  • Eco-tourism in Romania

    Eco-tourism in Romania

    Romania is known, among other things, because of its
    vast and virgin forests, because of the areas where tradition is still unspoiled
    and where we find craftsmen who still work handicraft objects using techniques
    and following patterns that have been handed down to them from one generation
    to the next. In all this landscape there are associations that have been
    striving to preserve the natural values and provide education focusing on responsible
    tourism. Today we will find out what exactly eco-tourism entails. Our guide is
    advocacy expert and Greener Association coordinator, Loredana Pana.

    Loredana Pana:


    It entails the activities we can do when we are
    on holiday, yet we do such activities with a significantly less strong impact
    on the environment we visit, Tourism, as a rule, can do a lot of damage to the
    visited places. The great inflow of tourists, the flight, everything we consume
    while on holiday, all that takes its toll on the tourist destinations. When we
    intend to do eco-tourism or slow tourism, as it is known, we visit certain
    areas, bearing in mind the impact we can have on nature. For instance, we do not
    use motorized vehicles when on holiday or we spend as much time as we can in
    the same area and eat the local produce and not those brought from afar, as the
    latter have a strong carbon imprint. Practically, we need to think as much as
    we can about the impact we have in a given community and what we live behind
    us. The eco-routes are ecotourism itineraries we can take by foot, by bicycle,
    by water, using a kayak, on horseback, so it’s about non-motorized means of
    transport.

    Luckily, in Romania, quite a few of the areas around the
    country are not very developed, so they somehow are in a natural condition
    which is closer to eco-tourism. Notwithstanding, according to Greener
    Association’s Loredana Pana, ecotourism should work according to a sound legal
    framework.


    Loredana Pana:

    Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a
    tendency or an encouraging trend at legislative and national level to support
    such eco-tourism destinations and I think we have the opportunity to do it
    since we’re still at the beginning, yet such destinations should be promoted
    more often.

    Ecotourism Destination is a concept that has
    been developed since 2012 by the Central Public Tourism Authority, in
    partnership with nationwide representative institutions and organizations. At
    that time, Romania was Europe’s first country to have launched such a
    recognition system of the ecotourism destinations. As we speak, there are seven
    officially recognized eco-tourism destinations. However, advocacy expert and Greener
    Association coordinator, Loredana Pana, invites us to explore an area which, even
    though it has not been officially recognized as such, can be the perfect
    destination for those who want to do green tourism.


    Loredana Pana :

    I will
    recommend, right now, the areas along the river Danube. We have many projects
    involving river Danube and the Danube Delta. The Danube Delta is an
    extraordinarily beautiful area it is a UNESCO world heritage site, it is unique
    around the world, thanks to the landscape the Danube forms as it flows into the
    Black Sea. We still have villages that are not touristic. I should like to
    recommend to your listeners to take a couple of days off and have boat rides,
    slowly, with as small boats as possible, and spend as much time as they can in
    those villages of the Danube Delta, being in direct contact with the local
    community. I don’t recommend that we go to a resort, which is somehow separated
    from the entire local community. The Danube Delta is a unique example from the
    viewpoint of multiculturality. There are over 12 ethnic groups living in the
    Danube Delta and Dobrogea and they are a good example of good practice as they
    have preserved their traditions and lived together for such a long time.


    The Greener Association has this week launched the
    Danube Eco-route.


    Loredana Pana :

    This is actually an idea we are going to
    continue to work on. It’s a 44-kilometre-long route on land and water
    around the city of Giurgiu. The route includes the city of Giurgiu and other
    four communes, Slobozia, Oinacu, Prundu and Gostinu. These 44 kilometres can be
    covered on bicycle, on foot or on horseback. It is important that we should not
    go there by cars or other motorized vehicles but enjoy the tranquility of
    nature and the fresh air. We have proposed this eco-route because we need green
    areas to use for entertainment and our psychological welfare, so to say. It is
    at one hour distance from Bucharest, a marvelous area the Danube creates in
    this region. In the south, for instance, there are no entertainment facilities
    on the Danube, like we have in the Delta, or where the Danube enters Romania,
    for instance.


    For those who want more centralized information
    concerning the access to this route, the Greener Association has a project in
    place.


    Loredana Pana:

    By the end of the year we want to
    create a virtual map with this Danube eco-route as it is important for people
    to have all the information they need, how to get access, how good the road is,
    if they can bring their children along etc. And we want to make that map
    public. I invite you to follow us at maimultverde.ro and on our social
    networks. We are going to post all the information than we can glean by the end
    of the year.


    Loredana Pană, expert advocacy and project coordinator
    with the Greener Association, has also met an increasing number of foreign
    tourists who have appreciated the lack of human intervention in these wild
    areas.


    Loredana Pana:

    Trekking routes through the mountain
    wilderness have been much appreciated. Transylvania with all that it has to
    offer is also very appreciated. Bucharest has become a travel destination for
    city breaks. And from the viewpoint of the environment and ecology, we have
    been running a new programme in Bucharest since last year. It is called
    ‘Outdoor’ and through it we are trying to promote the city’s less-known green
    areas to its citizens. There are also wild green areas, where people don’t have
    access at present, such as the lakes on the Colentina river. Back in the 60s,
    there were lots and lots of swimming pools there in what was dubbed as ‘the
    seaside of Bucharest’. Not anymore nowadays, you know. Bucharest can also
    become an eco-tourist attraction for Europe although we are quite far from this
    objective at the moment and there is no strategy to bring us to that
    direction


    However, there is an increasing tendency to come back
    to nature in the Romanian tourism and from this point of view the offer is very
    diversified. (EN & bill)



  • Romanian stock market, on the rise

    Romanian stock market, on the rise

    Romania’s capital market went up 7.1%
    in the first 5 months of the year, as the number of investors hit a new record,
    the Bucharest Stock Exchange announced. The context is highly favourable for
    the upcoming listing of the country’s largest electricity producer, Hidroelectrica,
    which is expected to draw substantial capital as of July.


    Eight million Romanians will be
    able to benefit from the listing, thanks to the stock to be purchased by
    private pension funds, and a large number of business people will be able to invest
    directly in the company, the Bucharest Stock Exchange president Radu Hanga
    said.


    According to Hanga, Hidroelectrica’s
    standing and the size of the transaction, expected to reach some EUR 2 bln,
    indicates that the local stock market has grown to maturity, and the success of
    the operation will contribute significantly to strengthening the confidence of
    local entrepreneurs and investors in the potential of the Romanian capital
    market.


    The Hidroelectrica IPO (Initial
    Public Offering) will be the most important event in the forthcoming period
    for Romania, in economic terms as well as in terms of image, and one of the biggest
    in the world at the moment, the Bucharest Stock Exchange chief also said.


    Hanga explained that the transaction
    is critical for Romania, with significant implications for the country’s
    inclusion in the MSCI emerging markets index. At present, MSCI rates Romania as
    a frontier market, whereas the second-largest relevant company, the FTSE, upgraded
    Romania to secondary emerging market status in 2020.


    The sale by the Proprietatea Fund of
    its 20% share in Hidroelectrica takes place in a positive context. The number
    of investors in the Romanian stock market was over 141,000 at the end of the
    first quarter of 2023, compared to nearly 54,000 in 2019. This accounts for a 160%
    rise in the past 5 years.


    Also, overall listings with the
    Bucharest Stock Exchange amounted to over EUR 1.8 bln in the first 5 months of
    this year, in spite of international market volatility. As many as 7 corporate
    bond issues for a combined EUR 1 bln, and 5 Fidelis state bond issues totalling
    EUR 618 mln. were listed. Over the past 5 years, the Bucharest Stock Exchange
    has listed 163 financial instruments amounting to a combined EUR 8 bln,
    offering investors returns of over 100%. (AMP)

  • June 8, 2023

    June 8, 2023

    Memorandum – The Romanian government adopts, today, a memorandum regarding the salary increases granted to the education staff through the new salary law. In this way the government claims it guarantees that this area will be a priority. The decision was made amid discussions with the education unions, in the context of the all-out strike in the education system launched on May 22. The Liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has given assurances that the basic salary of the beginner teacher will be set at the level of the gross average salary in Romania, as demanded by the trade unionists. The memorandum also establishes the right of the education staff to a leave allowance calculated according to the basic salary as well as to increments. Meanwhile, the teachers continue their strike, dissatisfied with the offer made by the Government to resolve their claims.



    Protests – Trade unionists from the “Sanitary Solidarity” Federation are organizing, today, a protest rally and march in Bucharest. They draw attention to the fact that orderlies, caregivers and stretcher bearers are the only category in the entire public system that does not benefit from the basic salaries provided for in the 2022 Salary Law. A protest is organized, in Bucharest, in front of the Representation of the European Commission, also by the policemen from penitentiaries and the military reservists. The Federation of Trade Unions from the National Administration of Penitentiaries believes that Brussels is interfering in the countrys domestic policy regarding the modification of the law on military pensions and that the representatives of the European Commission are allegedly blackmailing Romania’s Parliament to adopt the law on military pensions in the form they wanted, otherwise Romania will no longer receive European funds worth approximately 1.4 billion Euros.



    Statistics — Romania reported an economic growth rate of 2.3% in the first quarter of this year, compared to the similar period of 2022, according to provisional data published today by the National Institute of Statistics. Thus, the estimated Gross Domestic Product was over 312 billion lei (about 62 billion Euros). Among others, wholesale and retail trade, motor vehicle and motorcycle repair, transport and storage, as well as constructions contributed to the increase in the GDP. The World Bank estimates that Romania’s Gross Domestic Product will register, this year, a growth of 2.6%. The IMF has revised significantly downward the estimates regarding the growth of the Romanian economy in 2023, from 3.1 to 2.4%.



    Defense – The Commander of the U.S. European Command, General Christopher G. Cavoli, and the Romanian Chief of Defense Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, are the hosts of the Central European Chiefs of Defense Conference, on Thursday and Friday, in Bucharest. The chiefs of defense from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary are participating in the meeting. Nine military leaders of the US National Guard are also present, the Romanian Defense Ministry reports. The event includes topics on security challenges and aims to intensify military cooperation relations to ensure stability in the region.



    UNITER – The UNITER (Theaters’ Union in Romania) Awards Gala will be organized on June 12, in Timisoara (west), the European Capital of Culture this year. The event has already opened to the public, so that spectators can participate in the plays nominated in the Best Show category, alongside stars of the Romanian theater. The gala will be organized as a show, inspired by the fashion of the 1930s. Among the nominated artists this year are actors Victor Rebengiuc, Claudiu Bleonţ and directors Silviu Purcărete, Declan Donnellan and Radu Afrim. (LS)

  • B9 condemns Russia

    B9 condemns Russia

    Heads of state
    and government from Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
    Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, who have convened in Bratislava as the
    Bucharest 9 format, have vehemently condemned the brutal, unjustified and illegal
    war Russia has been waging on Ukraine. In the joint statement issued during the
    summit, which has also been attended by NATO Secretary General, Jens
    Stoltenberg, the participants say that Russia must cease its ongoing attacks
    against the civil population and infrastructure, and put an end to the deportation
    of children and sexual violence and unconditionally pull out its troops from
    the Ukrainian territory. At the same
    time the participants have called on Belarus to cease its complicity in the
    Russian aggression and pledged to hold the aggressors accountable for their
    crimes by setting up a proper legal mechanism.


    According to Romanian
    president Klaus Iohannis, the security of the countries in NATO’s eastern flank
    must be strengthened and the summit in the Slovakian capital has reconfirmed
    that the B9 countries are taking action for strengthening the security of the
    Euro-Atlantic community as a whole.


    Klaus Iohannis: We, the countries in
    the eastern flank, are the frontline in the process of countering the
    disastrous effects of this war with multiple implications in terms of security,
    in the humanitarian area, as well as in the fields of economy, food and energy
    production. Russia will continue to be the biggest threat to European and
    Euro-Atlantic security. And for this reason we all understand the need for consolidating
    our national defence and for the creation of a robust and effective defence.


    Iohannis has
    specified that Romania will stay together with Ukraine as long as it is needed
    and that Bucharest is staunchly supporting the Euro-Atlantic integration
    prospects of the neighboring state.


    At the same time,
    Iohannis and the other B9 leaders have hailed Finland in its new capacity as a NATO
    member and have reconfirmed the support granted to Sweden to become a
    fully-fledged member as soon as possible, which they believe, will further
    strengthen the Alliance


    The B9
    participants have also proposed the setting up of a joint center for research,
    training and education with Ukraine, based in Poland, as well as a more
    significant and comprehensive multi-annual support package aimed at
    strengthening Kyiv’s defence capabilities including through the implementation
    of NATO standards.


    Last but not
    least, the B9 leaders have condemned the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam
    on the Dnieper, which they described as a war crime as the flood created in the
    aftermath is presently threatening thousands of people. There is no information
    on the perpetrators, but Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other for the
    attack. The B9 format was established on November 4th 2015 in
    Romania’s capital city Bucharest upon the initiative of the presidents of
    Romania and Poland, Klaus Iohannis and Andrzej Duda respectively.


    (bill)