Radio România Internațional

Tag: Cyprus

  • August 29, 2019 UPDATE

    August 29, 2019 UPDATE

    Helsinki — The Romanian defense minister Gabriel Leş participated on Wednesday and Thursday in Helsinki in the informal meeting of the EU defense ministers. The meeting focused on artificial intelligence and new technologies, the impact of climate change and of the environment on security and defense as well as the issue of a coordinated maritime presence. The issue of hybrid threats was tackled during a joint meeting with the foreign ministers. Minister Leş hailed the effort to increase visibility of artificial intelligence on the EU’s strategic agenda. Also, the Romanian defense minister supported the efforts aimed at identifying solutions for sustainable energy in the field of defense and reiterated Romania’s constant support in this regard. During its presidency of the Council of the EU, Romania organized the 4th meeting of the advisory forum on energy sustainability in the defense and security fields.



    Cyprus – The minister for the Romanians abroad Natalia Intotero, who was on a working visit to the Republic of Cyprus, met with the Cypriot president Nikos Anastasiadis with whom she talked about the Romanian community in Cyprus, the two countries’ bilateral relation and the projects run by the Romanian ministry. Minister Intotero highlighted the initiatives for promoting Romania’s values all over the world, the programs run by the Romanian government with a view to supporting the Romanian communities abroad to promote and preserve their ethnic, cultural and linguistic identity. Minister Intotero also had a meeting with the members of the Romanian community in Cyprus. In turn, president Nikos Anastasiadis congratulated the Romanian authorities for their interest in the Romanian communities aboard and for setting up of a ministry meant to deal with their problems.



    Film festival — The 76th edition of the ‘Mostra’ International Film Festival continues in Venice until September 7. The event is officially recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations as the oldest festival in the world. This year, 21 films will be competing for the Golden Lion. Romanian cinematography will be represented by the documentary ‘Colectiv’ by Alexander Nanau, a movie whose world premiere will be on September 4. The film describes the aftermath of the fire that the broke out during a rock concert in the Colectiv club in Bucharest, on October 30, 2015 which killed 64 and wounded many.



    Volleyball — Romania’s volleyball team was defeated on Thursday by the team of Azerbaijan 3-0 in their last match in Group C of the European Championship hosted by Budapest. In the first 4 matches in the group, Romania defeated the teams of Hungary and Estonia 3-1 each and lost to the Netherlands 0-3 and Croatia 1-3. The first 4 teams in the group will qualify to the eighth finals of the competition. Romania returned to a European tournament final after 4 years. The Romanians’ best result in the European Championship was the bronze medal in 1963. (update by L. Simion)

  • November 17, 2017 UPDATE

    November 17, 2017 UPDATE

    NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION — The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition, tabled a no-confidence motion in Parliament, against the government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. As many as 148 MPs signed the motion. Initiated after the government amended the Fiscal Code, the no-confidence motion is also backed by the People’s Movement Party and the independent MPs. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania announced it will not sign the motion while the Pro Romania Party, led by former PM Victor Ponta will not back the motion either. The new version of the Fiscal Code switches the responsibility for social security payments from employers to employees and cuts income taxes from 16% to 10%, as of January 1, 2018. Over the past few weeks, street protests have been held in Bucharest and other major Romanian cities against the government’s plans to change the tax code and the laws on the judiciary. On the other hand, PM Mihai Tudose claims that the new fiscal reform would result in more money to the state budget and social security budget, and will reduce bureaucracy. On Friday, the Social Democratic Party announced in a report, after ten months in power, that more than 100 objectives in their governing programme have been fulfilled.




    PRESIDENCY – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis spoke on Friday in Gothenburg, Sweden, at a social summit on fair jobs and growth in the EU, about education as means of easing the accwess to the labour market. He pointed out that special attention should be paid to giving access to the labour market to vulnerable categories such as the Roma, the people with disabilities and the elderly. Iohannis also said Romania will stand for an education system adapted to the needs of the economy, so that the best solutions be found to create jobs for the young people. Also on Friday, the European Pillar of Social Rights was proclaimed and signed by the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and the Commission during the Gothenburg Social Summit for fair jobs and growth. The objective of the Pillar is to contribute to social progress by supporting fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems and sets out 20 principles and rights, divided into three categories, namely, equal opportunities and access to labour market, dynamic labour markets and fair working conditions and also public support, social protection and inclusion.




    TRANSCARPATHIA – Students and teachers in the Romanian language schools in Transcarpathia, a region in south-western Ukraine, that is home to over 40,000 ethnic Romanians, are currently being assessed by a commission of the Education Ministry in Kiev. Teachers are outraged, saying the evaluation, the first in many years, is in fact aimed at proving that the schools of the national ethnic minorities are not good enough, that teachers are unable to offer students high level training and that pupils are insufficiently prepared to have their national evaluation tests. Teachers say the evaluation is nothing but a disguised form of pressure and intimidation, following the contested education law in Ukraine, which infringes upon the constitutional rights of the ethnic minorities to study in their own language. In late October, experts of the Venice Commission paid a visit to Kiev to assess the newly created situation following the adoption of the education law, which has been criticised also by Bucharest.




    NICOSIA — The state secretary for bilateral and strategic affairs in the Euro-Atlantic area, George Ciamba, held consultations in Nicosia, with several Cypriot officials together with whom he approached the migration issue as well as the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019. During the meeting with the Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, George Ciamba has underlined the interest taken by Romania in rendering the bilateral dialogue more dynamic, given the traditional cooperation between the two states, and has also referred to the presence of a large Romanian community in Cyprus and of a Cypriot business community in Romania. In the field of migration, the officials reiterated their support for the EU’s actions to strengthen cooperation with its foreign partners, both countries of origin and transit countries, and to further implement the EU-Turkey Declaration. Relative to the Eastern Neighbourhood, the officials underlined the need to further support the Republic of Moldova on its European path. The Cypriot officials reiterated their support for Bucharest’s candidacy for a non-permanent member seat of the UN Security Council in the 2020 — 2021 period and for Romania’s Schengen accession.




    TRAVEL FAIR– The 38th edition of Romania’s Travel Fair brings together until Sunday over 200 tour operators and travel agencies. 12 foreign countries from around the globe chose to have their own stands at the fair, just like Romanian county councils, which try to promote Romania’s travel destinations.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)







  • November 17, 2017

    November 17, 2017

    CENSURE MOTION – The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition, on Friday filed a censure motion in Parliament, against the government made up of the Social Democratic Party-the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The motion has been signed by 148 MPs. The motion, initiated after the government amended the Fiscal Code, is also backed by the Peoples Movement Party and by the independent MPs. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania will not sign the motion and the Pro Romania party, led 8by the former PM Victor Ponta will not back the motion, either, saying a replacement of the PSD government with a PNL cabinet would not be a good solution for Romania. Amendments to the Fiscal Code provides for the transfer of social contributions from employer to employee and a cut in income tax from 16 to 10% as of January 1, 2018. Those contesting the measure say their incomes will actually decrease, and many others will run the risk of loosing their jobs. In exchange, Social-Democrat PM Mihai Tudose claims that, by the fresh fiscal reform, much more money will go to the budget and the pension fund, and companies will benefit from simplified procedures. Over the past few weeks, against the backdrop of the ruling coalitions plans to amend the Fiscal Code and the Justice Laws, people took to the streets in the big cities across the country, particularly in Bucharest.



    SUMMIT – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis is today attending the Social Summit on promoting equitable jobs and economic growth in the EU, venued by Gothenburg, in Sweden. The summit brings together EU heads of state and government, social partners as well as other key players. The summit includes an introductory plenary session and three thematic sessions on access to the labour market, the current situation on the labour market and the transition between jobs on the labour market. The Romanian President said Romania will stand for a new education system adapted to the needs of the economy, so that the best solutions be found to create jobs for young people, on the one hand, and to properly train youngsters to successfully enter the labour market, on the other. According to FP, the summit is part of the offensive launched by Brussels and Sweden to regain the citizens confidence in face of rising populism which renders Europe fragile. After the Brexit shock and against the backdrop of growing Euro-scepticism in the EU member states, including in Germany and Austria as of late, the European Commission is determined to show that the EU is not a mere big market, but it wants to reduce inequalities.



    TRANSCARPATHIA – Students and teachers in the schools with teaching in the Romanian language, in the Transcarpathia region in south-western Ukraine, which is home to over 40,000 ethnic Romanians, are currently being assessed by a commission of the Education Ministry in Kiev. The teachers are outraged, saying the evaluation, which hasnt been made for years, would be aimed at proving that the schools of the national ethnic minorities would not be proficient enough, teachers would not be able to teach at a high quality standard and pupils would not be properly educated and ready to take national evaluation tests. Teachers say the evaluation will actually be a disguised form of exerting pressure and of intimidation, following the contested education law in Ukraine, which infringes upon the constitutional rights of the ethnic minorities to study in their languages. In late October, experts of the Venice Commission paid a visit to Kiev to assess the newly created situation following the adoption of the education law, which has been criticised also from Bucharest.



    NICOSIA – The state secretary for bilateral and strategic affairs in the Euro-Atlantic area, George Ciamba, has held consultations in Nicosia, with several Cypriot officials together with whom he approached the migration issue as well as the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, in the first half of 2019. During the meeting with the Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, George Ciamba has underlined the interest taken by Romania in rendering the dialogue more dynamic, given the traditional cooperation between the two states, and has also referred to the presence of a large Romanian community in Cyprus and of a Cypriot business community in Romania. In the field of migration, the officials reiterated their support for the EUs actions to strengthen cooperation with foreign partners, origin and transit countries, and for further implementing the EU-Turkey Declaration. Relative to the Eastern Neighbourhood, the officials underlined the need to further support the Republic of Moldova on its European path. The Cypriot officials reiterated their support for Bucharests candidacy for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020 – 2021 period and for Romanias Schengen accession.



    TRAVEL FAIR– The 38th edition of Romanias Travel Fair bring together until Sunday over 200 tour operators and travel agencies. 12 foreign countries from around the globe chose to have their own stands at the fair, just like Romanian county councils which try to promote Romanias travel destinations.