Radio România Internațional

Tag: Congress

  • February 23, 2019

    February 23, 2019

    DIPLOMACY The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has talks today with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, on the sidelines of the EU – League of Arab States summit to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The 2 officials will look at the bilateral relations and discuss concrete means to encourage and deepen the cooperation between the 2 countries, in all areas of mutual interest, particularly in the economy. According to a news release issued by the Presidency, the consultations will also be a good opportunity to discuss common priorities, in light of Romanias holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and of Egypts holding the presidency of the African Union. At the summit in Egypt scheduled on Sunday and Monday, Klaus Iohannis will give an address presenting Romanias views on the cooperation between EU member states and the Arab League countries in view of finding common solutions to current, as well as medium and long term future challenges.




    PES The Romanian PM Viorica Dăncilă had a meeting today with the PM of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, on the sidelines of the congress of the PES in Madrid. The 2 officials expressed their satisfaction with the excellent bilateral relationship, confirmed by the Strategic Partnership, and with the dynamics of bilateral sectorial dialogue. They also discussed the 2 countries cooperation within the EU, given that Romania and Spain have similar views on major topics for the future of the Union, such as the post-2020 financial framework, the cohesion policy, the internal market, justice and home affairs, the Neighbourhood Policy and the EU enlargement. On Friday the Romanian PM had talks with her counterpart from Malta, Joseph Muscat, and with the Portuguese PM, Antonio Costa.




    PROTESTS Magistrates in Bucharest and several other Romanian cities protested on Friday in front of court buildings against new changes introduced to the justice laws. They also decided to suspend work for a week, as of Monday. Prosecutors and judges say that Ordinance 7, passed by the Government early this week, may lead to institutional deadlock and affect their independence. One of the provisions that angered the magistrates says that judges having previously worked as prosecutors may be appointed as chief prosecutors, and waives the seniority criterion. The emergency decree has been criticised both in Brussels, by the European Commission, and in Romania, by magistrate associations, the prosecutors division in the Higher Council of Magistracy and by the right-of-centre Opposition.




    DRUGS Romanian police jointly with German authorities dismantled a crime group that distributed large amounts of illegal drugs, particularly in Bucharest night clubs. During the operation, which took place last year, the authorities seized 11 kilos of high-risk drugs, 800 euro and 2 vehicles. Five individuals were arrested. The operation was based on intelligence received from German authorities, which found and seized a package containing over 3 kilos of high-risk drugs, during a routine check on a coach traveling from Rotterdam to Bucharest. Romanian police say the amount had been sent to a crime group distributing large amounts of drugs in Bucharest.




    WEATHER Romania struggles with exceptionally cold weather, particularly in the north and centre of the country. A code yellow alert for strong wind is in place across the country, except for a few counties in the south-west and the north. On Friday night authorities temporarily suspended navigation in all ports at the Black Sea, and railway traffic was also disrupted. The strong wind brought down tens of trees in the capital Bucharest on Friday night.




    MOLDOVA In the Republic of Moldova, the election campaign for Parliament continues. The recently modified election legislation scrapped the so-called reflection day, so candidates may campaign on the very day of the election as well. For the first time, a mixed voting system will be used, with 50 MPs elected on party lists and another 51 in a single-choice system, in one voting round. Polls indicate President Igor Dodons pro-Russian Socialist party is ahead, with nearly 40% of voter intentions, followed by a pro-European right-of-centre election cartel called ACUM, with 25%, and the pro-Western Democratic Party with 15%. A referendum is also held at the same time, concerning the reduction of the number of MPs from 101 to 61 and the possibility to have them removed from office by citizens.




    SPORTS The Romanian womens handball team CSM Bucharest plays today at home against the Hungarian side Gyor, in a game counting towards the Champions League main group stage. Also today, Dinamo Bucharest plays Sporting Lisabon away from home, in the first qualifying round for the 8th-finals of the mens version of the same competition.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • February 22, 2019 UPDATE

    February 22, 2019 UPDATE

    BUDGET The Constitutional Court of Romania has announced that on March 6th it will discuss the notification filed by President Klaus Iohannis against the 2019 state budget law. On Friday, the head of state notified the Constitutional Court over the state budget bill submitted for his promulgation. He described the bill as unrealistic and over-optimistic, and dismissed it as a national disgrace. There are unconstitutional elements in this law, the President said, such as failure to comply with commitments taken within the EU and violation of fundamental rights. Iohannis lashed out at the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition in Romania, which he said is unable to govern the country and only rules to the benefit of its leader, Liviu Dragnea. Klaus Iohannis also said political parties are getting too much money, public education is under-funded, and Romania has been in turmoil, particularly since an ordinance was passed in late 2018 modifying the justice laws. According to the President, the entire ruling term of the Social Democrats has been an assault on the rule of law in Romania. In response, the Senate Speaker, Calin Popescu Tariceanu (ALDE, also in the ruling coalition) said the Presidents sending the budget bill to the Constitutional Court is unwarranted and ill-timed. He added the President is “harassing the Cabinet and trying to prevent its work.




    JUDICIARY In several cities in Romania, magistrates protested on Friday against the changes to the justice laws introduced by a government emergency decree, and called for independence of the judiciary. They also announced they would suspend their work for several days, and said only urgent cases would be tried. The changes operated by the left-of-centre Government concern, among other things, the appointment of senior prosecutors and the powers of the special division investigating offences committed by magistrates. The emergency decree has been criticised both in Brussels, by the European Commission, and in Romania, by magistrate associations, by the prosecutor division of the Higher Council of Magistrates, and by the right-wing Opposition.




    TRADE The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is in a difficult situation at the moment, and swift action is needed for the entity not to fall apart, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on Friday in Bucharest. In turn, the Romanian Minister for the Business Environment, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, said that promoting free trade under the WTO aegis remains a priority for the EU, and member states have voiced their willingness to start negotiations on e-commerce. He added that, with respect to trade relations between the EU and the USA, stakeholders are trying to maintain a positive bilateral agenda and to adopt as quickly as possible the negotiating directives on conformity assessment and the liberalisation of trade in industrial products. EU trade ministers convened on Friday in Bucharest to discuss the modernisation of the WTO and the trade relations between the European bloc and the US.




    CONGRESS Cluj Napoca (in north-western Romania) is hosting the congress of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, the main political party representing the 1.5-million strong Hungarian community in Romania. Attending the event are over 900 delegates, who will elect the new party president. The incumbent leader, Hunor Kelemen, is the only candidate, and is running for a 3rd term in office. Before the congress, Hunor Kelemen told a press conference that in his opinion the main task ahead is for the party to define a general framework for the political decisions to be made in the future. The delegates will also discuss the new economic platform of the organisation and the list of candidates for the European Parliament elections. Another topic on the agenda is the collaboration between the Union, which supports the ruling coalition in Romania, and the other Romanian parties. Represented in Parliament without interruptions since 1990, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians has been a member of many coalition governments in Romania.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • August 3, 2018 UPDATE

    August 3, 2018 UPDATE

    SECURITY – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, hails the USAs firm commitment to the European security and defence, as reflected in the budget earmarked for the defence sector, recently approved by the US Congress. According to the Presidency, 12.9 billion US dollars will go into the missile defence system, including amounts for supporting and operating the Aegis Ashore structure in Romania, as part of the NATO ballistic missile defence system. The Presidency also reiterates Bucharests determination to further keep its bilateral and NATO commitments, both in terms of the budget allotted for defence and the national contribution to NATO missions and operations, in keeping with the decisions made at the NATO summits in Wales, Warsaw, and more recently in Brussels.




    CENTENNIAL – Romanias inter-ministry committee in charge with the preparations for the Union Centennial Friday endorsed projects worth over 4.2 million euros. According to the Culture Minister George Ivaşcu, 7 of the projects have been put together by local authorities and have a combined budget of 2.3 million euros, while another 16 projects, proposed by various ministries, require a combined 2.5 million euros. The Committee has so far approved funding for over 500 projects, George Ivaşcu added. He explained that by the end of this month proposals designed by NGOs will also be selected for financing, out of a list of 232 projects.




    JUDICIARY – Mihail Vlasov, the former president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, was sentenced on Friday by the Bucharest Court of Appeals to 9 years and 10 months in prison, for offences including embezzlement, forgery and the misuse of influence or authority in view of obtaining undue benefits. The judges found that the offences in this case were concurrent with the offence of influence peddling, for which Vlasov received in 2015 a final prison sentence of 5 years and 8 months. Last September however he was released on parole. The Court therefore cancelled the conditional release decision and added an additional 3 years and 10 months to the sentence, resulting a total of 9 years and 10 months. The ruling is not final.




    TOURISM – Romania and Poland will have joint tourist routes to attract visitors from Asia, the Romanian Tourism Minister Bogdan Trif announced on Friday, adding that both countries excel in terms of UNESCO sites and medieval citadels. Trif made these statements in Bucharest, during an event also attended by Polands Minister for Sports and Tourism, Witold Banka. Bogdan Trif emphasised the importance of a Government Order passed by Bucharest on Thursday with respect to the full guaranteeing of tourism services, a system implemented by Poland 2 years ago. In turn, the Polish official said a task force will be set up, to design joint Polish-Romanian travel packages.




    WEATHER – The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that the authorities in Spain, Portugal and Croatia have issued code red and orange alerts for extreme heat, whereas some parts of Greece and Portugal are under high wildfire alerts. Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden are also reporting very high temperatures. Weather experts announce that Europe may see a new record in terms of high temperatures in the forthcoming days. The current record is 48 degrees Celsius, reported in Greece in 1977.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • The Congress of the Romanians Around the World

    The Congress of the Romanians Around the World

    Bucharest last week played host to the first Congress of the Romanians Around the World. 49 delegates from 13 countries have voted for a council to represent the Romanian communities in the Diaspora and in the historical Romanian regions around the country. Participants have spoken about the unity of the Diaspora for the benefit of the Romanian citizens and have called for authorities’ support for the preservation of national identity.



    The authorities in Bucharest have conveyed a message to the representatives of the Romanians around the world that they have a significant contribution to Romania’s image abroad and that their voice will also be heard in the Romanian Parliament. It is in Romania’s best interest to have active and strong communities abroad and for this reason the Romanian Diaspora will have in the authorities a reliable partner for finding solutions to the problems that these communities are currently facing, the Congress panelists have also said.



    The Romanians in the Diaspora have also talked about restoring their trust in the authorities, about unity and cooperation in the interest of the citizens outside Romania’s borders; they have also mentioned their accomplishments and the problems they are facing at present. From Cernauti, in Western Ukraine, Iurie Levcic has pulled the alarm about the danger of denationalization, by closing down schools with tuition in Romania.



    Iurie Levcic: “Ukraine hasn’t opened a university or a faculty for the teaching stuff yet. The Romanian schools in Ukraine are passing through a major crisis right now. The Ukrainian state hasn’t done anything so far to build or open in Cernauti at least one kindergarten with tuition in Romanian.”



    Svetlana Captari of the Republic of Moldova has called for support for identity preservation through language and culture. The Romanians in the Timoc Valley, in eastern Serbia, are also fighting for the preservation of Romanian language. They have also pleaded for support for gaining Romanian citizenship. Staging courses of Romanian, consular facilities, libraries, setting up a Diaspora museum are among the requests made by the participants in the Congress of the Romanians Around the World. The participants have also voted for the leading structures of the Council of the Romanians Around the World. The 49 delegates have elected pastor Marius Livanu, currently living in Italy, as president of the council. Livanu said he would fight for the unity of the Diaspora.



    Marius Livanu: “I don’t want any competition between north and south, between those living on the other side of the Atlantic or here, those in Italy and in other parts of the world. We are all Romanians living abroad and we must work for the benefit of all Romanians.”



    Tommy Tomescu of Britain has been elected vice-president, while Savic Alexander of Serbia as secretary general. The status and regulations for the functioning of this body have also been established.


    (Translated by Daniel Bilt)





  • June 27, 2014

    June 27, 2014

    HISTORIC MOMENT-The Republic of Moldova, a country with a majority Romanian speaking population, and Georgia have today signed in Brussels the EU Association and Free Trade Agreements. Also today, Ukraine has signed the economic component of the bilateral document with the EU. The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barosso, has deemed the signing of the agreements as historic. He has warned however that their success depends on the three former Soviet states’ going ahead with a series of reforms, which bring them closer to the European political, economic and cultural values. In Chishinau, pro-western Prime Minister Iurie Leanca claims that he has prepared the relevant institutions to efficiently implement the Association Agreement, which he considers to be a stage in his country’s EU accession process. In exchange, the Moscow-leaning opposition-communist and socialist- is committed to restoring the partnership with Russia, if it returns to power, following the legislative elections due in autumn. Romania, a fervent and consistent supporter of Moldova’s European integration, is represented at the Brussels Summit by President Traian Basescu.



    MOSCOW– Russia has again threatened to take new measures to protect its domestic market, if it notices that the former Soviet republics’ association with the EU affects its commercial interests. Our correspondent in Moscow quotes a communiqué issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry as reading that the agreements signed in Brussels on Friday by the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia can cause huge damage to the Russian economy, as a direct consequence of halting cooperation in the field of production and of reducing Moscow’s relations with Chishinau, Kiev and Tbilisi, respectively. The Russian Federation’s Aviation Authorities have already announced that they no longer allow the Air Moldova airline to operate the flight between Moscow and Chishinau and back, without however providing an explanation.



    UKRAINE— Four OSCE observers, who were abducted by pro-Russian rebels a month ago, have been released. Last night, they arrived in Donetsk, a fiefdom of the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Separatist leaders, who claim to have control of all paramilitary groups which fight against the Ukrainian forces, blamed the observers’ abduction on a gang. Also in Donetsk, pro-Russian insurgents have announced they seized a Ukrainian military base. In another move, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has expressed his readiness to sign what he called a peace deal with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in an attempt to put an end to the insurgency.



    ROMANIAN LIBERALS-The National Liberal Party, the main right wing-opposition party in Romania, is today meeting in an extraordinary Congress to endorse the changes brought to the party statute. An ordinary Congress convenes on Saturday to elect a new party leadership. The mayor of the central Romanian town of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, stands highest chances of becoming party president. The Liberals should also decide on a merger with the Liberal Democratic Party, the other main party of centre-right orientation in Romania. In another move, the Liberals should also make a decision on their party’s leaving the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, and joining the European People’s Party, EPP. We recall that in February, the National Liberal Party denounced the ruling alliance with the Social Democrats and joined the opposition.



    TOP-LEVEL SCANDAL– The Court of Appeal in Bucharest is today analysing the appeal made by Mircea Basescu, the brother of the Romanian president, against a court decision which led to his 30-day arrest, pending trial, in an influence peddling file. A week ago, the Bucharest Tribunal decided to arrest Mircea Basescu, at the anti-corruption prosecutors’ request, who accused him of taking a 250,000 Euro bribe, in exchange for trying to influence a favourable ruling in a manslaughter attempt lawsuit, against a ringleader.



    TENNIS– Romania’s 3rd seeded tennis player Simona Halep is today meeting Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in the second round of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the third largest Grand Slam of the year. Scheduled for Thursday, the match has been postponed because of heavy rain. Halep is the last Romanian woman tennis player left in the Ladies’ Singles, after five of her co-nationals had got eliminated. In the Ladies’ Doubles, Romanian Monica Niculescu and Czech Klara Koukalova will play in the first round against the Spanish pair Garbine Muguruza/Carla Suarez Navarro, and the Romanian-Italian pair Irina Begu – Karin Knapp will meet Russians Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina. In the first round of the Mixed Doubles, the pair made up of Romanian Florin Mergea and Ukrainian Elina Svitolina will meet the pair made up of German Andre Begemann and Ukrainian Olga Savciuk.