Radio România Internațional

Tag: elections in Germany

  • September 27, 2021

    September 27, 2021

    COVID-19 – Over 6,000 new cases of COVID infection and 111
    related fatalities were reported on Sunday in Romania. Over 1,200 people are
    currently in intensive care. In Bucharest, the incidence rate has exceeded 4
    per thousand inhabitants, which entails additional restrictions, including the
    mandatory wearing of face masks in public areas. A weekend quarantine has been
    declared in a number of towns and villages where the incidence rate exceeded 6
    per thousand. The COVID vaccination certificate is now mandatory in a number of
    cities in the country for certain types of activities, which has slightly
    boosted the vaccination campaign.


    VISIT – European
    Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is later today expected to arrive in Bucharest in order to officially present Brussels’ assessment on Romania’s
    National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Romania is due to receive close
    to 30 billion Euro worth of development funds. PNRR is to be signed today by
    president von der Leyen, who is also expected to meet president Klaus Iohannis
    and Prime Minister Florin
    Cîţu. Also attending will be Cristian Ghinea, the former Minister for European
    Funds and Projects, who coordinated the negotiations and the elaboration of
    Romania’s plan. PNRR also stipulates that all funds received must be spent by
    2026 on reforms and investments in the fields of green and digital transitions,
    smart economic growth, social cohesion, healthcare and education.






    ACADEMIC YEAR – A number of university centers are today hosting
    opening ceremonies for the new academic year, with the strict observance of
    health safety restrictions. Most higher education institutions have opted to
    hold classes in hybrid format, both online and with physical attendance. Things
    will change depending on the epidemiological context, and universities have a
    number of restrictions already in place. Vaccinated students will be given
    priority for hostel accommodation, while the number of vacancies will be cut
    down. Approximately 78% of teaching staff, some 24,000 people, have completed
    the full vaccine scheme.




    RESIGNATION – Chamber of Deputies Speaker Ludovic Orban today
    announced that his decision to resign is irreversible. Orban said that the new
    president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Florin Cîţu, has 15 days to take note of his resignation,
    after which date he will personally submit it to Parliamnet. In turn, Prime
    Minister Florin Cîţu said that
    his party will discuss in Tuesday’s meeting all the options for the new
    leadership of the Chamber of Deputies.




    ENERGY – The significant increase in
    natural gas and electricity prices, as well as the measures the Government is
    considering to help the population, are today being discussed in Parliament.
    Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, will appear before the Chamber of Deputies to
    clarify the situation. Talks were postponed last week, when the minister
    couldn’t attend because he presented the draft emergency bill on introducing a
    compensation mechanism to help both natural persons and SMEs pay energy bills.
    Some 13 million Romanians with average income and energy consumption will
    benefit from this bill, which the Government is expected to adopt later this
    week. Households with a monthly energy consumption between 30 and 200 Kw will
    be eligible. The Government wants a simple and quick mechanism that should
    involve consumers as least as possible.


    ELECTION IN GERMANY – Official preliminary results of Sunday’s
    election show that the Social-Democrats (SPD) are in lead with 25.7% of the
    vote, followed by the conservative camp, CDU/CSU, with a historic low of merely
    24.1%. The Greens are in third place with 15%, followed by the
    Liberal-Democrats with 11.5%. SPD leader, Olaf Scholz, has already claimed
    victory based on preliminary results. We are doing everything in our power to
    get the new coalition up and running by Christmas, if not earlier, says Scholz,
    the deputy chancellor and finance minister of Angela Merkel’s Cabinet. The
    economic sector has also demanded the swift installation of the new Government.




    ROMANIA-GERMANY RELATIONS – Relations between Romania and Germany
    will remain excellent after the election as well, Germany’s ambassador to
    Romania, Peer Gebauer has told Radio Romania on Sunday evening, as the exit
    poll results were made public. Irrespective of the color of the new Cabinet and
    who the future chancellor will be, Romania and Germany are bound by a solid
    friendship, the German ambassador said.




    ENESCU FESTIVAL – The 25th
    edition of the George Enescu International Music Festival has come to a
    close. Yesterday, the Concertgebouw Royal Orchestra of Amsterdam, conducted by
    Daniel Harding of Great Britain, gave the last concert in the Great World
    Orchestras series. The 2021 edition of the festival brought together over 3,500
    Romanian and foreign artists and 32 of the world’s top orchestras from 14
    countries. (VP)

  • March 14, 2016

    March 14, 2016

    ATTACKS — Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has conveyed his condolences to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemning Sunday’s terrorist attack in Ankara and expressing Romania’s firm commitment to combating terrorism. The Romanian Foreign Ministry says such actions have no justification. 37 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack, the second this month, in the capital city Ankara. While still unclaimed, according to some Turkish officials, the attack looks to be the work of the PKK separatist party in Kurdistan, which Turkey regards as a terrorist organization.



    FOREIGN POLICY — Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu is today attending a meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels. Talks will focus on EU-Russia relations and progress in the peacemaking process in the Middle East. EU Foreign Ministers will also exchange views regarding the recent developments in Libya with Martin Kobler, the UN Secretary General Special Envoy for Libya. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini will discuss the EU’s role in the International Support Group for Syria.



    SYRIA — UN-led peace negotiations will resume today in Geneva with a view to finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict. Meanwhile the rebels insist that president Bashar al-Assad renounce power, a scenario dismissed by the power in Damascus. 5 years have passed since the outbreak of anti-government violence in Syria, which has so far killed 250,000 people. The war also resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises after the Second World War. Half of Syria’s population has fled the country. We recall that a ceasefire between Government forces and rebel militias came into force on February 27.



    FARMING — Agriculture Ministers of EU Member States are today meeting in Brussels to address the difficulties facing several sectors of the agriculture, including pork and dairy products, vegetable and fruit. EU farmers are affected by the sharp drop in prices for milk and pork products, against the backdrop of a waning demand and the embargo imposed by Russia. During the meeting several farmers’ associations from across Europe are staging a protest, calling for decent wages and a consistent agricultural policy.



    ELECTION — The Christian-Democratic Party in Germany has lost the regional elections in two of the three lands on Sunday’s ballot. Partial results point a progress of anti-immigration parties, due to the growing disgruntlement towards Merkel’s refugee policy. In Saxony, the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD), the populist right, came in second, and in Baden-Württemberg and in Rhineland the party grabbed a third of the vote. CDU came in first in Saxony, while in Baden-Württemberg the green party grabbed most of the votes. The Social-Democrats grabbed the most votes in Rhineland. Pundits believe the vote might mean the end for the current ruling power in Germany, made up of Merke’s CDU and the Social Democrats.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTA 5th ranked, qualified to the round of 16 of the Indian Wells tournament in the US, totalling over 6 million dollars in prize money. In the round of 32 she defeated Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 6-2, 6-4. In the round of 16 Halep will play Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. On Sunday, another Romanian player, Monica Niculescu, failed to qualify to the round of 16, after losing 6-2, 6-1 to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, ranked 3rd in WTA standings.



    SPORTS— Romania’s national handball team on Sunday lost to Norway 27-17 away from home in a match counting towards preliminary Group 1 of the European Championship. The defending European, world and Olympic champions Norway previously lost in the first leg on Wednesday 20 to 25 in Romania. Norway and Romania lead the tables with 6 points each, followed by Belarus with 4 points and Lithuania with zero points. The first two teams will qualify to the European Championship. Also on Sunday, the Romanian women’s volley team CSM Bucharest qualified to the Challenge Cup final after defeating 3-nil Bursa BBSK, the defending champions. In the first leg CSM had won 3-1. In the final the team from Bucharest will take on another Turkish club, Trabzon Idman Ocagi. The first leg will be played in Bucharest, on March 30, while the return leg is scheduled for April 3.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)