Radio România Internațional

Tag: Cirstea

August 22, 2022

CONTRACT A major funding
contract for the railway network part of the Romania’s National Recovery and
Resilience Plan (PNRR), a project of roughly 1.75 billion euros has been
signed. The contract provides for streamlining the Caransebes-Timisoara-Arad
railway with a total length of 162 kilometers. According to Transport Minister
Sorin Grindeanu this is a major step towards the modernization of the railway
network in western Romania, which is part of the European transport corridor
Orient/East Mediterranean. PNRR funds are going to be used to double and
streamline the aforementioned railway in order to allow trains to run at 160
kilometers per hour. The project also provides for the modernization and
building of railway stations in certain urban areas, building pedestrian
walkways and adjusting platforms to European standards.

TALKS Romanian Prime
Minister, Nicolae Ciuca, Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, and representatives
of the National Energy Regulatory Authority have convened to assess further support
schemes for the population against the background of the latest electricity
price hikes. These are to be applied after March 31st, until when
household and non-household consumers are benefitting from subsidized gas and
electricity depending on their consumption. The government wants to invest in
new energy infrastructure projects aimed at exploiting local resources. In
another development, the executive in Bucharest might endorse this week an
emergency ordinance providing for another pay rise for state employees.
According to Finance Minister Adrian Caciu, the rise has already been applied
in the country’s education and medical sectors and will soon be applied in the
other sectors of the economy.

WEATHER
Meteorologists have again issued yellow and orange alerts for unstable weather
and heavy rain in almost the entire Romanian territory. Until Tuesday night most
of the regions are to see thunderstorms, heavy downpours, gale force winds and
in some areas hail. The heat index will remain high in south-eastern
Romania.

PROGRAMME The
Environment Fund Administration (EFA) in Romania is expected to launch next
week a programme for scrapping vehicles older than 15 years. Under the
aforementioned programme owners can get 600 Euros without the obligation of
buying a new vehicle. Half of the sum will be covered from the EFA funds and
the rest from local budgets. Through its National Plan of Recovery and
Resilience, Romania pledges to get rid of 250 thousand old polluting vehicles
by 2026.

TENNIS Romanian
tennis player Irina Begu on Sunday qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250
tournament in Cleveland USA, which has over 250 thousand dollars in
prize-money. The Romanian secured a two-set win against US challenger Peyton
Sterns and she will be up next against the winner of the game pitching Sofia
Kenin of the USA against other qualified player. Another Romanian in the
competition, Sorana Cirstea will be playing fourth-seeded Elise Mertens of
Belgium.

UKRAINE The invading Russian
army has again shelled objectives in several regions of Ukraine. The southern
city of Mykolaiv has been struck by several S-300 missiles and the region of
Odessa has been attacked with rockets fired from vessels in the Black Sea. The
city of Nikopol close to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia has been hit
by scores of artillery shells amid growing fears of a potential nuclear
disaster in the region. US president Joe Biden on Sunday held talks with French
president Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German
chancellor Olaf Scholz about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and
the support they can provide to this country. In Kyiv, president Zelensky has cautioned
against potential large-scale attacks by Russian troops around Ukraine’s
Independence Day, which marks the country’s breaking ties with the former USSR.
The event takes place on August 24, six months from the onset of the Russian
invasion. In another development, another two ships loaded with Ukrainian grain
bound for Istanbul have been authorized to leave the Ukrainian Black Sea ports
under the UN-brokered agreement signed by Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.

(bill)

22 August 2022
June 13, 2022

COMMEMORATION This
Monday, when Romania commemorates 32 years since the miners’ raid on Bucharest,
over June 13th and 15th, the country’s Prime Minister
Nicolae Ciuca has conveyed a message saying that the civil society’s marathon-demonstration
against neo-communism was stifled by instigating Romanians against Romanians.
The Romanian society must never become victim to diversions and false
propaganda, the head of the Romanian government says. 32 years ago this day,
responding to a call from the then authorities, miners from the Jiu Valley in
central-western Romania brutally intervened against the peaceful anti-government
protesters in downtown Bucharest. Four people were shot dead and over 1,000
wounded along with a series of abusive arrests. The file on the miners’ raid,
under which the country’s then President Ion Iliescu, former Prime Minister
Petre Roman and Virgil Magureanu, the former head of the country’s intelligence
service, had been sent to court must be resumed from scratch after the
indictment was considered null and void.

TENNIS Romanian
Simona Halep, second-seeded in the WTA 250
Birmingham tournament is today playing Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the
competition’s first round. Also today,
Gabriela Ruse of Romania is up against Qiang Wang of China, while the third
Romanian in the competition, Sorana Cirstea will be playing Shelby Rogers of
the USA on Tuesday.

WAR Amnesty
International has accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, claiming that
hundreds of civilians have been killed in merciless frag bomb attacks against the
city of Kharkiv, AFP reports. After thorough investigations, this human rights
NGO claims it found evidence that the Russian forces had used widely-banned
cluster munitions

People have been killed in their homes and in the streets, in playgrounds and
in cemeteries, while queueing for humanitarian aid, or shopping for food and
medicine, says an Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Advisor.
While Russia is not a party to either the Convention on Cluster Munitions or
the Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines, international humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate
attacks, and the use of weapons that are indiscriminate by nature.

REFUGEES Roughly
7,000 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania through its border checkpoints on
Sunday, June 12th, 26% less than in the previous day, the Border Police General
Inspectorate has announced. Since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, roughly
1.2 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania.

WEATHER The weather is hot in Romania
and a code yellow alert for unstable weather has been issued for the country’s
south-western, local and central regions. Heavy downpours, thunderstorms and gale-force
winds are expected in the aforementioned regions, while the highs of the day
range between 26 and 32 degrees centigrade. Hot weather in Bucharest as well
with a noon reading of 31 degrees.

(bill)

13 June 2022
Sports Roundup

One leg before the end of 2022 Rugby Europe
Championship, Romania still has chances to qualify into next year’s World Cup. On
Saturday, the national team lost in Bucharest, 23 – 26 to Georgia, the winner
of the competition and already qualified to the World Cup. Second-ranking in
the overall standings for 2021 and 2022, Spain defeated Portugal in Madrid on
Sunday, 33-28, and also qualified to the 2023 World Cup, after a 23-year long
absence. Romania, which is ranking 4th in the overall standings,
still has a match to play on March 19, away from home, against the Netherlands.
If it wins, Romania will leave behind Portugal, which is currently 3rd-placed
but without any more matches to play. The 3rd place secures presence
in the playoffs scheduled for November. Teams from Europe, Africa, the Americas
and Asia / Pacific will play in a round-robin scheduling, with the winner
getting the last ticket to the World Cup.

The Romanian athlete Alexandru Novac won the gold in
the javelin event of the European Throwing Cup held in Leiria, Portugal. The Romanian
athlete’s best throw was 80.49 m and was his best performance this season. Last
year in the Tokyo Olympics, Novac came out 12th.

On Tuesday, Simona Halep and Sorana Cîrstea will play
against each other in the round of 16 of the Indian Wells tournament. In
the 3rd round on Sunday, Halep, seed no. 24, defeated the American player
Cori Gauff 6-3, 6-4. Sorana Cîrstea, seed no. 26, won 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 against Anna
Kalinskaya of Russia.

This weekend
matches were played in the first leg of the play-off / play-out stage of the
Romanian Football League 1. In the play-off, Universitatea Craiova Friday beat FC
Argeș at home, 3-0. On Saturday, defending champions CFR Cluj won at home
against FC Voluntari, 3-1. The last game, FCSB vs. Farul Constanța, was scheduled
for Monday. Cluj top the standings at this point with 41 points, followed by
FCSB, with 31, and Universitatea Craiova, with 30.

In
the play-out group, on Friday UTA Arad defeated Academica Clinceni 3-0. On Saturday
Chindia Târgoviște and FC U Craiova drew, 0-0, and on Sunday Sepsi Sfântu
Gheorghe won 3-1 against CS Mioveni, while Rapid beat Dinamo with the same
score. Four teams are at the top of the table with 24 points each: UTA, Rapid,
Sepsi and FC Botoșani. (A.M.P.)

14 March 2022
Sports Roundup

One leg before the end of 2022 Rugby Europe
Championship, Romania still has chances to qualify into next year’s World Cup. On
Saturday, the national team lost in Bucharest, 23 – 26 to Georgia, the winner
of the competition and already qualified to the World Cup. Second-ranking in
the overall standings for 2021 and 2022, Spain defeated Portugal in Madrid on
Sunday, 33-28, and also qualified to the 2023 World Cup, after a 23-year long
absence. Romania, which is ranking 4th in the overall standings,
still has a match to play on March 19, away from home, against the Netherlands.
If it wins, Romania will leave behind Portugal, which is currently 3rd-placed
but without any more matches to play. The 3rd place secures presence
in the playoffs scheduled for November. Teams from Europe, Africa, the Americas
and Asia / Pacific will play in a round-robin scheduling, with the winner
getting the last ticket to the World Cup.

The Romanian athlete Alexandru Novac won the gold in
the javelin event of the European Throwing Cup held in Leiria, Portugal. The Romanian
athlete’s best throw was 80.49 m and was his best performance this season. Last
year in the Tokyo Olympics, Novac came out 12th.

On Tuesday, Simona Halep and Sorana Cîrstea will play
against each other in the round of 16 of the Indian Wells tournament. In
the 3rd round on Sunday, Halep, seed no. 24, defeated the American player
Cori Gauff 6-3, 6-4. Sorana Cîrstea, seed no. 26, won 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 against Anna
Kalinskaya of Russia.

This weekend
matches were played in the first leg of the play-off / play-out stage of the
Romanian Football League 1. In the play-off, Universitatea Craiova Friday beat FC
Argeș at home, 3-0. On Saturday, defending champions CFR Cluj won at home
against FC Voluntari, 3-1. The last game, FCSB vs. Farul Constanța, was scheduled
for Monday. Cluj top the standings at this point with 41 points, followed by
FCSB, with 31, and Universitatea Craiova, with 30.

In
the play-out group, on Friday UTA Arad defeated Academica Clinceni 3-0. On Saturday
Chindia Târgoviște and FC U Craiova drew, 0-0, and on Sunday Sepsi Sfântu
Gheorghe won 3-1 against CS Mioveni, while Rapid beat Dinamo with the same
score. Four teams are at the top of the table with 24 points each: UTA, Rapid,
Sepsi and FC Botoșani. (A.M.P.)

14 March 2022
January 22, 2022 UPDATE

COVID-19 19,371 new Covid cases and 48 related deaths were reported in Romania on Saturday. The number of fatalities is over 10 times smaller than at the peak of the previous wave of the pandemic, but the infection rate continues to grow, reaching 8.77 per thousand in Bucharest. The highest SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in the capital city (16.54 per thousand) was reached on 22nd October last year. The worst-case scenario considered by the authorities predicts up to 70,000 new cases per day in the first half of February. The health minister Alexandru Rafila says that 173 outpatient Covid-19 evaluation centres are already operational across the country, out of a planned 230.

CELEBRATION The government of Romania celebrated on Saturday 160 years since the first government of Romania was formed, after the union of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia was officially recognised. On this occasion, on the walls of Victoria Palace in the capital city Bucharest, which hosts the head offices of the government of Romania, images were projected during the evening, which are relevant for this milestone in Romanian history, such as the Romanian flag, the date when the first government of Romania was formed, namely 22nd of January, 1862 and the name of the countrys first prime minister, Barbu Catargiu. On Monday, which is a national holiday in Romania, 163 years since the union of the Romanian Principalities will be marked. On 24th January 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, elected ruler of Moldavia the previous week, was unanimously elected sovereign of Wallachia as well, and proclaimed ruler of the United Principalities. During his rule, the institutional foundations were laid for modern Romania.

STRIKE Romanias capital city Bucharest found itself without above-ground public transportation means on Saturday as well. It was 3rd consecutive day of strike for the Bucharest Transport Corporation, although a court ruled the protest illegal. Unions stand by their demands, which include pay raises and the resignation of the corporations CEO. The drivers who refuse to work risk having their employment contracts terminated, said the Bucharest mayor general Nicusor Dan. He also said the City Hall made available a toll-free number for drivers to report whether they are prevented by their colleagues from going to work, and added that a criminal case has been opened in this respect. Meanwhile, the government is facing demands from trade unions in public education and healthcare as well.

NATO On Friday NATO rejected Russias request for the pull-out of the Alliances troops in Bulgaria and Romania, and denounced the concept of spheres of influence, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said. Russia requested guarantees from the US and NATO that the Alliance would not enlarge further eastwards, and demanded the withdrawal of the troops and equipment deployed to the countries that have joined the organisation since 1997. Also on Friday, the Pentagon announced a large-scale NATO naval exercise in the Mediterranean, amid tensions with Russia, which also announced major naval manoeuvres, AFP reports. Polands PM Mateusz Morawiecki called on European leaders to take a firm and united stand against Russia, in the context of fears that Moscow might plan an invasion of Ukraine. NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will provide Ukraine with US-made anti-armour and anti-aircraft missiles, the defence ministers of the 3 countries announced in a joint statement. In Romania, president Klaus Iohannis has called a meeting of the Supreme Defence Council on Wednesday. The meeting will focus on the security situation at the Black Sea and on NATOs eastern flank, and measures to develop resilience and response capabilities related to the new security challenges.

TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep qualified in the round of 16 of the Australian Open, after defeating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, 6-2, 6-1, in the 3rd round of the tournament in Melbourne on Saturday. Halep (15 WTA and 14th seed), won the match in 64 minutes. It was the 8th consecutive win for the Romanian player this season. In the next round Simona Halep takes on Alizé Cornet of France (61 WTA). Also on Saturday, another Romanian, Sorana Cîrstea, won in the 3rd round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, seed no 10. In the next round, Sorana Cîrstea will take on Iga Swiatek of Poland (9 WTA). (tr. A.M. Popescu)

22 January 2022
January 18, 2022

ENERGY On February 1st the government in Bucharest is
expected to endorse new measures aimed at capping electricity and gas prices.
The aforementioned measures will be promoted through an emergency ordinance to
be passed the next week at the latest. Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has
today held talks with energy suppliers who, according to government sources,
have agreed with the newly announced measures for subsidizing and capping
energy prices, pledging to rectify the bills initially issued. The head of the
Executive on Monday announced that following an agreement of the ruling
coalition made up of PNL, PSD and UDMR prices in gas and electricity would be
capped and the consumption limit extended.

COVID-19 Authorities in Romania have today announced 16,760 new Covid
infections, double the number of yesterday as well as 70 related fatalities. Bucharest
has today reached an infection rate of 6.15 cases per thousand and has been in
the red tier since January 12th. With 8 million people vaccinated
Romania still is the last but one in an EU ranking. Bulgaria is the country
with the lowest number of immunized people in the bloc.

TENNIS 14th-seeded tennis player Simona Halep has qualified for
the second round of Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament
after a two-set win 6-4, 6-3 against Magdalena Frech of Poland. A former top
seed, Halep took one hour and 29 minutes to obtain the victory against the
Polish challenger. Five Romanian women players out of six have qualified for
the tournament’s second round. They are Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea, Irina
Begu, Gabriela Ruse and Jaqueline Cristian. From the Romanian delegation only
Irina Bara was eliminated in the competition’s first round.

EUMaltese center-right MEP
Roberta Metsola was elected president of the European Parliament on Tuesday. Metsola,
who won 458 votes out of the total 616, had an absolute majority avoiding the
need for a second round of voting. A member of the European People’s Party,
Metsola succeeds Italian Social Democrat David Sassoli who died last week at
the age of 65. Sassoli was a politician and journalist very appreciated in
Italy, a supporter of the EU, who firmly campaigned for human rights observance
around the world, this is how Romanian MEP Eugen Tomac has described him. A
vehement critic of the abuses committed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, in
2021 Sassoli got interdiction to enter Russia in response to the EU sanctions
imposed to some Russian officials. Sassoli was also a supporter of the EU
integration efforts of the ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking republic of Moldova.

(bill)

18 January 2022
January 16, 2022 UPDATE

STRIKE Trade unionists in Romania’s education system are to go on a token
strike on Wednesday and cease classes for two hours in their schools. The
protesters have called for pay rises, for the allotment of 6% of the GDP to
education and the pay for the extra hours worked. Almost 100 trade unionists
from Romania’s education on Thursday picketed the government building and the
headquarters of the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party. The
protest on Thursday was their fourth in front of the government building. On
Saturday, the Day of National Culture in Romania, artists and organizers of
various events, mounted protests in Bucharest and Sibiu, in central Romania,
asking for compensations for their restricted activity during the pandemic. The
protesters have denounced the lack of coherent measures aimed at supporting the
sector of culture in Romania, severely affected in the past two years of
pandemic.

HANDBALL SCM Ramnicu Valcea, a women’s handball team from Romania, on
Sunday started off on their right foot with a clear home win 39-29 against the
Hungarian side Vaci NKSE in group D of the EHF European League. On Saturday in
group C of the same competition Magura Cisnadie, a women’s handball team from
central Romania lost away to the Danish side Herning-Ikast Handbold 31-28 while
in group B, CS Minaur Baia Mare from north-western Romania lost to German side
BBM Bietigheim 39-20. Also on Saturday, Romania’s champions CSM Bucharest
secured a 28-20 away win against Montenegrin side Buducnost Podgorica in the
Champions League. With 10 points out of nine games, the Romanians go up to the
group’s fourth position and are to meet French side Brest Bretagne in an away
game on January 19th and take on German side Borussia Dortmund at
home on January 22nd.

COVID-19 According to the latest figures released by authorities on
Sunday, 7595 new Covid-19 infections have been reported in the past 24 hours in
Romania, 60% more than a week ago. 28 Covid-related fatalities have been
reported. Experts believe the fifth wave of the pandemic is stronger than the
previous ones and is to reach its peak in Romania in the last week of January
or the first of February, when the number of daily cases is expected to go up
to 50 thousand. The interest of the Romanians in getting the jab is still low,
with only 36 hundred in the past 24 hours. Epidemiologists are urging the
people to get immunized because the vulnerable categories are at risk.

TENNIS Romania has five representatives on the main draw of Australian
Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. Other Romanians have been
eliminated from the competition in the qualifiers. In the first round Simona
Halep, a former number one, will be up against Magdalena Frech of Poland, while
Sorana Cirstea will be playing Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who has a
5-3 advantage in head-to-head matches. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu will
be up against Oceane Dodin of France. Jaqueline Cristian of Romania will be
playing Greet Minnen of Belgium and Gabriela Ruse will be meeting Jasmine Paolini
of Italy. British player Emma Raducanu, who has a Romanian father and is the
defending champion of the US Open will be playing Sloane Stephens of the USA.

JUSTICE The Ministry of Justice in Bucharest has completed a draft on
dismantling the Special Direction for investigating criminal offences within
the judiciary, SIIJ. The institution has announced in a communiqué that in the
following days it will submit the document for government and Parliament
approval. We recall that the activity of this special body has attracted
criticism from the European Commission, which says the SIIJ could be more
susceptible to interventions from outside than the Anti-corruption Directorate,
known in Romania as the DNA. The Justice Ministry has announced that it will
resume the process of amending the justice laws and the criminal codes so that
they can be approved by Parliament by the end of March. The Ministry of Justice
reiterates its support for the EU law and legislation stipulated by the Lisbon
Treaty and recognized by the Romanian constitution.

(bill)

16 January 2022
June 4, 2021 UPDATE

Covid-19. In Romania, some 4.4 million people have been vaccinated against Covid-19, most of them with both doses. The number of new cases of COVID-19 remains low. On Friday, 225 new cases were reported in nearly 33,000 tests performed. 341 patients are hospitalized in intensive care units. Prime Minister Florin Cîţu has stated that now the vaccination campaign must be carried out in rural areas and the involvement of local authorities is needed, but also of people with influence in the community – such as priests, doctors and even police officers. The green vaccination certificate will be launched on July 1 at European level, and Romania is on schedule as regards the procedures needed for the document to be available starting with this date, Andrei Baciu, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Health has announced. The certificate will show if a person was vaccinated against COVID, if they had the disease, confirmed by a recent PCR test, or the absence of infection, proven by a negative PCR test.

NRRP. Romanias National Recovery and Resilience Plan, submitted to Brussels this week, provides for an increase in low pensions and the recalculation of all pensions, the Minister for Investments and European Projects, Cristian Ghinea has said. The Romanian official told the public radio that pensions will not be slashed, whereas the retirement age and taxes will not go up. According to Minister Ghinea, the EU will disburse funds to member states provided national governments undertake reforms to correct imbalances. Education, healthcare, transport and infrastructure, digitization and the reform of public administration are the main fields in which Romania has pledged to invest the nearly €30 billion earmarked by the European Commission. Under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, Romania plans to implement reforms of its fiscal and pension systems. Romanias plan provides measures in the fields of sustainable transport, education, medical assistance, the renovation of buildings and the digitization of public administration. All projects must be finalized by 2026.

Belarus. The European Union has decided to ban Belarusian airlines from entering its airspace as of Saturday and to finalize new economic sanctions against the Minsk regime led by Alexander Lukashenko, diplomatic sources in Brussels told AFP. The measure, requested at the end of May by European leaders, was legally formalized on Friday by the 27 member states. The ban is aimed primarily at the national company Belavia and is a response to the May 23 decision by the Belarusian authorities to force a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk, claiming there was a bomb threat. Two passengers, Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevici, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, were arrested. European airlines have already decided to bypass Belarus airspace. The same sources explained that two series of individual sanctions are being finalized and would be approved next week.

Film. Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will preside the jury of the section Semaine de la Critique at the International Film Festival in Cannes, to be held over July 6-17. In 2002, Cristian Mungiu presented his debut feature in Cannes, “Occident”, in the Quinzaine de Realisateurs section. In 2007 he won the Palme dOr with “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” and grabbed the award for best scenario with the fillm “Beyond the Hills” in 2012. In 2016 he won the award for best director for “Graduation”. A screen writer and producer, he was also jury president of the Cinefondation and Short Films section in 2017. The feature film, “La Civil”, is a Romanian-Belgian-Mexican co-production directed by Teodora Ana Mihai and co-produced by Cristian Mungiu, and has been selected in the Un Certain Regard section. The film tells the story of a mother whose daughter is kidnapped and who decides to take action in order to save her, after the Mexican authorities refuse to help.

Exhibition. Indias Ambassador in Romania, Rahul Shrivastava, attended the opening of the Indian photo art exhibition, organized by the “Euro Foto Art” International Association (AIEFA). Titled “LensVision”, the exhibition comprises 72 black-and-white and color photos “of high artistic value”, taken by the president of the “Bengal” Photography Institute in Calcutta, Sanjoy Bhattacharya and 36 of his students. The event is held under the patronage of the International Photo Art Federation and the Indian Embassy in Romania. The official opening was hosted by the Euro Foto Art Gallery in Oradea on Friday, June 4, and can be visited until July 6.

Chess. The chess grandmaster and multiple world champion Garry Kasparov and the president of the Romanian Senate, Anca Dragu, opened, on Friday, the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2021 tournament, part of the Grand Chess Tour. They made the first symbolic move of the competition in Bucharest, which will be attended by some of the best chess players of the moment. Kasparov said in a press conference that the Chess Classic Romania tournament, which could take place annually, will put Bucharest on the map of world chess. It is an extraordinary event, which sets new standards for professional chess, the great champion said. The Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2021 competition, with 325,000 dollars in prize money, will take place between June 5 and 14 without public access. The ten players who will compete are: Fabiano Caruana (USA), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Aleksandr Grişciuk (Russia), Wesley So (USA), Shakhiar Mamediarov (Azerbaijan), Teimur Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Constantin Lupulescu (Romania), Bogdan Deac (Romania).

EURO 2020. Romanian Minister for Youth and Sports, Eduard Novak, said matches Bucharest will host as part of EURO 2020 will be played with the physical attendance of fans up to 25% of the capacity of National Arena Stadium in Bucharest. For the match counting towards the round of 16, the capacity will be increased to 50%. The decision falls in line with UEFA recommendations regarding security plans. Bucharest will be hosting three matches in Group C: Austria vs. North Macedonia, Ukraine vs. North Macedonia and Ukraine vs. Austria, as well as one match in the round of 16. Originally scheduled for 2020, the competition was postponed for 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. EURO 2020 celebrates 60 years since the organization of the first European Championship and will take place over June 11 – July 11 in 11 European cities.

Tennis. At Roland Garros, in the third round of the Parisian tennis tournament, the Romanian Sorana Cirstea won, on Friday, in two sets, the match with the Russian Daria Kasatkina. In the mens doubles, the Romanian-German pair Horia Tecau / Kevin Krawietz, defeated, also in two sets, the pair Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan) / Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan). On Thursday, in the womens doubles, the Romanian-Argentine pair Irina Begu / Nadia Podoroska qualified for the second round, as did the Romanian-Latvian couple Monica Niculescu / Jelena Ostapenko. (MI)

4 June 2021
May 28, 2021

AGENDA Romania managed to introduce for the first time on the agenda of an EU
Foreign Ministers meeting, the one that ended in Lisbon on Thursday, the issue
of the frozen conflicts of the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. Romania’s Foreign Ministry
Bogdan Aurescu has told Radio Romania the measures proposed focus on setting up
the position of EU special envoy for frozen conflicts and resilience of the
states in the Eastern partnership, the idea of imposing sanctions in areas like
Transdniester, a breakaway region in the neighboring, ex-soviet
Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, as well as providing post-pandemic assistance.
The head of diplomacy in Bucharest has explained that the entire bloc is aware
of the danger posed by the frozen conflicts and of the fact that Russia is
behind all these conflicts. Also high on the agenda of the latest informal
Gymnich meeting in Lisbon was the enlarged Black Sea region, the EU-Africa
relations and the EU strategic vision for India-Pacific.

TENNIS Eighth seeded Magda Linette, a tennis player from Poland, is today up
against Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the semis of the WTA tournament in
Strasbourg, a competition with roughly 200 thousand euros in prize money. In
the round of 16, Cirstea clinched a two-set win against Shuai Zhang of China
and qualified for the semifinals after Canadian player of Romanian descent
Bianca Andreescu had withdrawn. Cirstea has a 2-1 head-to-head lead against
Linette.

COVID-19 The number of people infected with Sars-CoV-2 in Romania has been going
down for quite some time now. Authorities on Thursday announced 307 new cases
out of over 31 thousand tests conducted. Capital city Bucharest and all the
other regions are now in the so-called green zone. Since the vaccine rollout
kicked off in Romania in late December, 3.3 million have been fully vaccinated.
Over 1,000 physicians, nurses and administrative personnel have volunteered for
the second edition of the vaccination marathon due to last in Bucharest until
May 31st. New relaxation measures are to come into effect as of June
1st. The government has specified the conditions under which mask
wearing is no longer mandatory in indoor places, how many people can attend an
event and what entertainment facilities can be opened.

AID The government in Bucharest has endorsed a new humanitarian aid for the
neighboring Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova in an attempt to help the
authorities there to contain the coronavirus pandemic. According to a
communiqué issued by the Health Ministry, the aid consists of 100 thousand
doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In another development, state secretary with
the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Dan Neculaescu is presently on a working visit
in Cernauti with a view to providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On this
occasion Neculaescu will be meeting representatives of the Romanian community
in Ukraine and is expected to have talks with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vasyl
Bodnar and with officials from the Regional State Administration in
Cernauti.

PLAN Parliaments in Austria and Poland on Thursday approved Europe’s 672
billion euro recovery plan aimed at offsetting the economic impact of the
pandemic, which is a step forward towards ratifying the project at EU level.
The 672 billion euros in subsidies and loans are to fund investment in the
green and digital transition. The first installments are most likely expected
by the end of July. Every member state is to come up with an investment plan in
Brussels. 19 countries have already presented their plans and Ludovic Orban,
president of the National Liberal Party, the main ruling political party has
said in Bucharest that Romania will make public its plan on June 2nd,
shortly after its presentation in Brussels. The opposition PSD has said that
through the aforementioned plan the Executive has assumed a series of austerity
measures and the opposition is going to table a censure motion.

(bill)

28 May 2021
March 27, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 Authorities in Romania have announced fresh restrictions amid an
increasing number of Covid-19 infections. The new restrictions are to come into
effect on Sunday, and under a government decision released on Friday night,
every Romanian region will have to report their infection rates. An infection
rate of 4 per thousand will force shops and service providers to close down at
18 hours while a curfew is to be observed starting 20 hours during the weekend.
A rate of 7.5 cases per thousand means the new restrictions can be applied the
entire week not only at the weekend. Roughly 59 hundred fresh Covid-19
infections were reported in Romania on Saturday out of 37 thousand tests
conducted. One year on from the onset of the pandemic 930 thousand people were
infected in Romania, which reported a death toll of 23 thousand. The number of
Romanians who got at least one dose of the anti-Covid vaccine stands at roughly
1,900,000. Half of these have also got the booster dose.

CHISINAU Parliament in the neighboring Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova on
Saturday marked for the first time through a solemn session 103 years since the
union of Basserabia with Romania. The event was attended by the presidents of
Science Academia in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, leading figures of culture
and MPs. On March 27th 1918, towards the end of WWI, Basserabia’s
Legislature unanimously voted the union of this province with the Romanian
kingdom. It was the first stage in the process of creating the unitary Romanian
state, which was completed through the joining of other Romanian regions, such
as Bukovina, Transylvania, Banat, Crisana and Maramures, which until then had
been part of Austria-Hungary. In the summer of 1940, through an ultimatum, the USSR
annexed Basserabia and northern Bukovina, Romanian territories, which today
belong to the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Ukraine.

TENNIS The
world’s third best tennis player Simona Halep of Romania had to abandon the
Miami Open tournament due to injuries in her right shoulder, WTA webpage has
announced. Following Halep’s withdrawal, her slated third-round opponent
Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia has advanced to the fourth round. The latest
match pitching the two was in Doha in 2018, when Halep obtained a victory. Romanian
player Sorana Cirstea was outperformed by Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3, 4-6,
6-3 in the second round of the aforementioned tournament.

EARTH HOUR The presidential administration in Bucharest decided to join the
‘Earth Hour’ event by switching off interior and exterior lights at the
Cotroceni palace, the headquarters of the Romanian presidency on Saturday
night. Earth Hour is at present one of the biggest world movements for the
protection of the environment and it involves millions of people, who are
switching off lights all over the world for one hour in order to prove their
commitment to saving the planet. The movement appeared in Australia in 2007 and
since then over 190 countries and territories have joined it.

STRIKE The Bucharest underground has resumed its activity after the employees
mounted a protest on Friday by blocking tracks. According to the authorities,
the protest was illegal and was sparked off by an older dispute concerning the
commercial spaces on its premises, which allegedly had a trade union leader
involved. The protesters have been blamed for having failed to comply with the
present regulations, putting travelers’ health at risk, as they had to use
crowded public transport vehicles. In turn, the employees representatives who
have blamed the authorities for their lack of interest in a constructive
dialogue, said the protest was an unofficial strike sparked off by the board’s
decision to cut down salaries.

(bill)

27 March 2021
December 11, 2020 UPDATE

TENNIS Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea, WTA
86th, on Friday qualified for the finals of the ITF tournament in
Dubai, with total prizes of 100 thousand dollars after a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 win
against second-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia. On Saturday Cirstea will be
playing Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the finals. If she wins,
the Romanian will climb up to the 71st position in the WTA ranking.

BREXIT In less than three weeks, Britain could
leave the European Union without a trade agreement, British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
said on Friday. According to Reuters, the European Union and Britain are at
loggerheads over fishing rights, economic fair play and dispute settlement in
spite of months of talks to cover trade from January 1st, when the
UK finally exits the bloc.

COVID-19
In its session on Friday the
Government decided to extend the state of alert by another 30 days starting
December 14. State Secretary Raed Arafat said all restrictions remain in place,
including the nighttime curfew. One new measure will be introduced, regarding
cable transport operators in ski resorts. Cable transport facilities will
remain open, although the Government intends to avoid overcrowding in order to
limit the spread of the virus. Therefore aerial trams with 20 seats will only
carry 10 people. Raed Arafat called on Romanians to limit their visits, avoid
going caroling or to New Year’s Eve parties during the winter holidays. 545
thousand Romanians got infected with COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak,
of whom 80% have recovered. So far over 13,100 people have died to the virus.
6,460 new infections were reported on Friday, most case being signaled in
Bucharest. Some 1,300 patients are in intensive care.

TALKS President Klaus Iohannis on Monday invited
political parties to consultations with a view to designating the new Prime
Minister. Taking part in consultations will be the Social-Democratic Party, the
National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance, the Alliance
for the Union of Romanians and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians. The
Social-Democrats have nominated Prof. Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s
representative at the WHO, whom they want to lead either a Social-Democratic
Cabinet, or a technocratic government. The Liberals, in turn, have nominated
Florin Cîţu, the current Finance Minister and say they will hold official talks
with a view to forming a majority in Parliament with the Save Romania Union -
PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians starting Saturday.

(bill)

11 December 2020
Sports Weekend

Romanian tennis player Sorana
Cîrstea has qualified for the third round of US Open after a 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 win
against Johanna Konta of Britain. The 77th WTA Romanian player
needed 2 hours and 49 minutes to outperform an opponent with a better position
in international ranking. We recall that Konta comes 13th in the
world standings and was seeded 9th in US Open.

Cîrstea managed to save two
break points as her opponent pushed for the advantage at both 4-4 and 5-5 and
the Romanian seized her chance in the tie-break, clinching her set point with
an ace. In the third set Cirstea managed a break at 3-3, which proved decisive
in a game that was also her first win against the British challenger.

The two first met three
years ago in the second round of the Eastbourne tournament when Konta obtained
a two-set win 6-2, 6-2. Cirstea has now equaled her best performance in US Open
namely a qualification for the third round, which she also managed in 2009 and
2019. The win brought her 163 thousand dollars and 130 WTA points.

The Romanian will be up
against 30th-seeded Karolina Muchova in the next round; the 26th
WTA Czech player comes after a 6-3, 7-6 win against Ana Kalinskaya of Russia
and after a first-round 6-3, 7-5 victory against Venus Williams.

Another Romanian player in
the US Open, Patricia Tig has been outperformed by Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2,
6-1. Having qualified for the second round has brought the Romanian a check of
100 thousand dollars and 70 WTA points.

And now the latest from
handball. Romanian women’s handball side CSM Bucharest has qualified for the
Romanian Cup semifinals after a 34-17 win against CSM Slatina.

This has been the first
official handball game played in Romania after a 6-month recess imposed by the
Covid-19 pandemic. SCM Ramnicu Valcea versus HC Dunarea Braila was also
supposed to take place on Thursday, but HC withdrew from competition after nine
of its players tested positive for the novel coronavirus. SCM will be up
against Rapid Bucharest in the semis on Saturday while CSM takes on Gloria
Buzau. The finals is due on Sunday.

(translated
by bill)

4 September 2020
Sports Weekend

Romanian tennis player Sorana
Cîrstea has qualified for the third round of US Open after a 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 win
against Johanna Konta of Britain. The 77th WTA Romanian player
needed 2 hours and 49 minutes to outperform an opponent with a better position
in international ranking. We recall that Konta comes 13th in the
world standings and was seeded 9th in US Open.

Cîrstea managed to save two
break points as her opponent pushed for the advantage at both 4-4 and 5-5 and
the Romanian seized her chance in the tie-break, clinching her set point with
an ace. In the third set Cirstea managed a break at 3-3, which proved decisive
in a game that was also her first win against the British challenger.

The two first met three
years ago in the second round of the Eastbourne tournament when Konta obtained
a two-set win 6-2, 6-2. Cirstea has now equaled her best performance in US Open
namely a qualification for the third round, which she also managed in 2009 and
2019. The win brought her 163 thousand dollars and 130 WTA points.

The Romanian will be up
against 30th-seeded Karolina Muchova in the next round; the 26th
WTA Czech player comes after a 6-3, 7-6 win against Ana Kalinskaya of Russia
and after a first-round 6-3, 7-5 victory against Venus Williams.

Another Romanian player in
the US Open, Patricia Tig has been outperformed by Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2,
6-1. Having qualified for the second round has brought the Romanian a check of
100 thousand dollars and 70 WTA points.

And now the latest from
handball. Romanian women’s handball side CSM Bucharest has qualified for the
Romanian Cup semifinals after a 34-17 win against CSM Slatina.

This has been the first
official handball game played in Romania after a 6-month recess imposed by the
Covid-19 pandemic. SCM Ramnicu Valcea versus HC Dunarea Braila was also
supposed to take place on Thursday, but HC withdrew from competition after nine
of its players tested positive for the novel coronavirus. SCM will be up
against Rapid Bucharest in the semis on Saturday while CSM takes on Gloria
Buzau. The finals is due on Sunday.

(translated
by bill)

4 September 2020
03.09.2019

Die Rumänische Marine organisiert beginnend mit Dienstag die rumänisch-ukrainische Übung Riverine 2019“ an der Donau, dem Abschnitt zwischen der rumänischen Stadt Tulcea und der ukrainischen Izmail. Daran nehmen ca. 300 Marine-Soldaten aus den beiden Ländern teil. Ziel der Übung ist es, die grenzüberschreitende Zusammenarbeit zwischen Rumänien und der Ukraine im Marinebereich, an der Donau, zu verbessern. Bis zum 7. September werden Inspektions- und Schleppübungen sowie Notfallübungen organisiert.

Die Überreste der Königin Helena, der Mutter von König Michael I. von Rumänien, werden in diesem Herbst zurückgeführt und in die neue Erzdiözese und Königskathedrale in Curtea de Argeş beigesetzt, teilte die Kustodin der rumänischen Krone, Prinzessin Margaretha, am Dienstag mit. 71Jahre nach dem Exil von Königin Helena und 37 Jahre nach ihrem Tod beschloss Prinzessin Margaretha, die Überreste ihrer Gro‎ßmutter nach Rumänien zurückzubringen. Prinzessin Helena von Griechenland und Dänemark war die Tochter von König Konstantin I. von Griechenland und Königin Sophia von Preu‎ßen. 1921 heiratete sie Kronprinz Carol in Athen, von den sie 1928 geschieden wurde. 1940 wurde sie Königinmutter. Sie starb im November 1982 in Lausanne, in der Schweiz. Im Gegensatz zu König Michael I. sah Königin Helena ihr Land nach ihrem erzwungenen Exil nie wieder.

In Bukarest wird am Dienstag das internationale George Enescu“ Musik-Festival mit einem Konzert des London Philharmonic Orchestra zusammen mit dem Akademischen Chor des Rumänischen Hörfunks fortgesetzt. Zwei weitere Konzerte finden in Cluj-Napoca und Sibiu statt. Das zentrale Thema der diesjährigen Ausgabe des Festivals ist Die Welt in Harmonie“, künstlerischer Leiter ist Vladimir Jurowski. Bis zum 22. September werden Bukarest und 10 weitere Städte in Rumänien und 5 weiteren Ländern (Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien, Kanada und die Republik Moldau) Aufführungen im Zusammenhang mit dem Festival veranstalten. In Bukarest werden über 2.500 der bekanntesten Musiker der Welt 84 Konzerte und Rezitale geben.

Das EU-Programm zur Förderung des Verzehrs von Obst, Gemüse und Milchprodukten in der Schule wird auch 2019 fortgesetzt. Von dem Gesamtbudget von 250 Millionen Euro wird Rumänien in diesem Schuljahr über 17 Millionen Euro erhalten. Im vergangenen Jahr haben mehr als 20 Millionen Kinder in der EU von diesem Programm profitiert, das in Schulen umgesetzt wurde und dessen Ziel es ist, gesunde Ernährungsgewohnheiten zu fördern.

Rumänische Studenten gewannen eine Gold- und 3 Silbermedaillen auf der diesjährigen Ausgabe der Internationalen Olympiade der Geowissenschaften, die vom 26. August bis 3. September in Daegu, Südkorea, stattfand. Die Internationale Geo-Wissenschaftsolympiade fördert die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Studenten aus verschiedenen Ländern, indem sie internationale Teams bildet, die Forschungsthemen zu Umweltfragen in einem bestimmten geografischen Gebiet erhalten und ein Projekt mit Lösungsvorschlägen für die jeweiligen Probleme entwickeln müssen. An dieser 13. Internationalen Erdwissenschaftsolympiade nahmen 163 Schüler aus 41 Ländern teil.

EU-Bürger gaben durchschnittlich 377 Euro für einen Urlaub aus und die Rumänen stehen mit rund 135 Euro, die für einen Urlaub vorgesehen sind, am unteren Ende der Liste, so die von Eurostat am Dienstag veröffentlichten Daten. Die grö‎ßten Urlaubsausgaben in der EU tätigten die Luxemburger mit durchschnittlich 769 Euro für einen Urlaub im Jahr 2017, gefolgt von den Österreichern mit 641 Euro und Maltesern, mit 633 Euro. Am anderen Ende befinden sich Ungarn, mit161 Euro, Lettland mit 155 Euro und Bulgarien mit 153 Euro.

Die junge kanadische Tennisspielerin rumänischer Abstammung,Bianca Andreescu qualifizierte sich für das Viertelfinale der US Open, dem letzten Grand Slam des Jahres, nachdem sie die Amerikanerin Taylor Townsend in 3 Sätzen besiegt hat. Es ist das erste Mal, dass die 19-jährige Spielerin, Bianca Andreescu (Nummer 15 der Welt) an den US Open teilnimmt, und auch ihr erstes Grand Slam Viertelfinale. Taylor Townsend (116 WTA), hatte zuvor zwei Rumänen, Simona Halep und Sorana Cîrstea, ausgespielt. Im Viertelfinale tritt Andreescu gegen die Belgierin Elise Mertens (26 WTA) an.

3 September 2019
August 30, 2019 UPDATE

FESTIVAL Between August 31st and
September 22nd Bucharest will be playing venue for the 24th edition of the
George Enescu International Festival, the biggest edition so far. This
edition’s central theme is ‘The world in Harmony’ and the festival’s artistic
director is Vladimir Jurowski. Bucharest and 10 other cities in Romania and
abroad in countries like Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Republic of
Moldova are also to be hosting events associated with this prestigious
international festival of classical music in honor of Romania’s greatest
composer. The festival is expected to bring together 25 hundred of the world’s
best musicians who will be performing in 84 concerts and recitals. 24 concerts
will be hosted by Romania’s major cities, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Sibiu,
Targu Mures, Bacau, Barlad, Targoviste, Satu Mare and Piatra Neamt. The 2019
edition of this festival is expected to include 34 premieres and 25 first
performances by artists like Marion Cotillard, Kiril Petrenko, Mitsuko Uchida
as well as nine of the world’s best orchestras. Concerts and recitals have been
grouped in six big sections: ‘Greatest World Orchestras’, ‘Midnight Concertos’,
‘Chamber Music Recitals and Concertos’, ’21st Century Music’, ‘Mozart Week in
Residence’ and ‘The Composers International Forum’. The festival will also
include conferences, book and album launches as well as other events.

LANGUAGE Romanian
language day has been celebrated on 31st August since 2013. Numerous events,
such as Romanian language courses, theatre performances, debates, painting
sessions and book fairs are being staged by representations of the Romanian
Cultural Institute abroad on this occasion. The Romanian Language Day has been
celebrated in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet Romanian-speaking country
since 1990. The event is celebrated by the Romanian communities in the
neighboring countries, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Hungary.

FOOTBALL Lots drawn in Monaco on Friday
pitched Romania’s football champions CFR against Lazio Rome of Italy, Celtic
Glasgow of Scotland and Rennes, a football side from France, in the Europa
League’s group E. CFR eliminated Celtic in the Champions League’s third round.
The Romanians were stopped in their tracks though by Slavia Prague in the
competition’s play-off. Romania’s vice-champions FCSB has also failed to
qualify for the Europa League after conceding defeat to Vitoria Guimares of
Portugal in the return game. The first game had ended in a draw, nil-all.

TENNIS Romania’s best tennis player
Simona Halep (4 WTA) surprisingly lost the match against US challenger Taylor
Townsend (116 WTA) in the second round of the US Open, the year’s last Grand
Slam tournament. Townsend will take on another Romanian Sorana Cîrstea (106
WTA) in the 3rd round. She defeated on Thursday Aliona Bolosva (100
WTA) of Spain. Cirstea is the only Romanian tennis player still on the competition’s
main draw.

(translated by bill)

30 August 2019