Radio România Internațional

Tag: ethnic Romanians

  • June 13, 2018 UPDATE

    June 13, 2018 UPDATE

    ROMANIAN- FINNISH RELATIONS – Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, on Wednesday received in Bucharest the visiting Finnish Foreign minister, Timo Soini. According to the Presidential Administration, the president underlined the need to boost bilateral relations both at political and economic level. Klaus Iohannis has also expressed confidence that the two sides will boost dialogue, in the run up to the two countries holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council in 2019. The agenda of talks has also covered such issues as the stage of preparations for the NATO summit due in Brussels in July, the European path of the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population) as well as the Iranian and North-Korean nuclear files, the Romanian Presidency has also announced.



    PRESIDENCY OF THE EU COUNCIL – Romanias Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has been invited to present before Parliament, on June 20, the stage of the preparation process for Romanias taking over the half-yearly rotating presidency of the EU Council in January 2019. The debates occasioned by the event could provide a considerable support in the governments process of drawing up and implementing the first blueprint of a presidencys working roadmap – the head of the Romanian government has added. The Romanian official believes the presidency of the EU Council will be an opportunity for Romania to prove its ability to contribute significantly, through a powerful vision and a relevant administrative capacity, to re-launching the European project.



    WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2018 – Over 80% of Romanias under-performing schools are located in the countrys rural areas, with a graduation rate in the tertiary education that exceeds 25.6%, the EUs lowest, the World Development Report 2018 issued by the World Bank shows. According to the document, made public in Bucharest on Wednesday by the World Bank lead economist and co-author of the World Development Report 2018, Halsey Rogers, the differences between the drop-out rates are contrastive; the rural drop-out rate stays at 26.6%, whereas the drop-out rate in the cities is around 6.2%. Romania needs to invest more intelligently in education, the report also points out. The World Bank recommends competence assessment in Romanias case as employers are presently deploring the shortage of key social-emotional competences, such as motivation, teamwork and responsibility. Graduates from Romanias higher education system are generally perceived as owners of exclusively theoretical knowledge while graduates from the countrys vocational training system have only developed obsolete competences.



    COMMEMORATION- Romania is these days commemorating 28 years since the violent events, which are now known as the Miners Raid on Bucharest over June 13-15, 1990. The raid put an end to a large-scale protest rally against the left-wing government, which had come to power after the demise of the communist regime in Romania. Against the background of some violent events in the capital Bucharest, which the army troops had already managed to contain, the then president Ion Iliescu invoked an attempted coup by the far right political forces and called on the citizens to defend Romanias democratic institutions. The Jiu Valley miners in central Romania came to Bucharest and stormed the University building, the head offices of the opposition parties as well as of some independent publications. Four people were killed and over one thousand abusively arrested. Romanias international image was seriously tarnished by the violent events of 1990. A court file on the Miners Raid was reopened in 2015 and the General Prosecutors Office sent to court several high-ranking officials such as the then president Ion Iliescu, former Prime Minister Petre Roman and the then head of the Romanian Intelligence Service, Virgil Magureanu, who are charged with crimes against humanity.



    CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE – The Romanian Senate, in its capacity as first notified parliamentary chamber in this case, on Wednesday endorsed a proposal to amend the Criminal Procedure Code. The draft, initiated by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, in the ruling coalition, has not been endorsed by representatives of the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union, in opposition. The Senators have approved all modifications proposed by the report issued by the Special Committee on the Justice Laws, led by Florin Iordache. The draft is aimed to transpose the EU directive on the presumption of innocence into the national legislation. One of the changes refers to the destruction of evidence collected by making illegal recordings. The draft will be sent for debate to the Chamber of Deputies, which is decision making body in this case.


    TALKS -The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has announced that it held talks with Ukrainian officials on the searches recently conducted at the “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi Romanian Cultural Centre in Cernauti, western Ukraine. Emphasis was laid, during the talks, on the observance of the rights of the Romanian minority living in Ukraine. In a meeting held at the Romanian Foreign Ministry on Monday, the Ukrainian ambassador to Bucharest, Oleksandr Bankov, was requested to provide additional information on how the aforementioned searches had been conducted, Romanian diplomacy sources say. Bucharest calls on the Ukrainian authorities to ensure the observance of the Romanian minoritys rights and avoid any actions which could lead to the violation of these rights or which could be interpreted as elements of intimidation. These specifications come after Ukraines Security Service (SBU) has announced that it is investigating the board of the cultural centre for what it describes as “appeals to encroach upon the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. Approximately 500,000 ethnic Romanians are living in the neighbouring country, most of them on the Romanian territories annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine as a successor state in 1991.(Translated by D. Bilt and D. Vijeu)

  • March 2, 2018 UPDATE

    March 2, 2018 UPDATE

    VISIT – Minister for Romanians Worldwide Natalia Intotero is paying a working visit to Ukraine. Her agenda includes meetings with representatives of local and regional authorities, members of the business community, representatives of Romanian-language media as well as promoters of Romanian culture and values in the cities of Cernauti (Chernivtsi) and Solotvino. Ukraine is currently home to nearly half a million Romanians.



    MILITARY EXERCISE – Over 1,700 Romanian and foreign military are taking part in one of the biggest multi-national military exercises, organized by the Romanian Naval Forces over March 5-15 in Dobrogea, southern Romania, and in the international waters of the Black Sea. Dubbed Spring Storm 18, the exercise is based on an unprecedented training concept bringing together naval, air and ground forces, with a focus on specific amphibious operations under allied command, as well as naval mine simulations close to the shore. The exercise is part of NATOs reassurance plan adopted at the Warsaw Summit in 2016. The Romanian military will be training alongside peers from the United States, France and Bulgaria, as well as two NATO partner states, Georgia and Ukraine.



    COMMEMORATION – On Sunday Romania marks 41 years since the devastating earthquake of March 4, 1977, the most powerful that ever hit Romania. Measuring 7.2 degrees on Richter’s scale, the earthquake killed 1,570 people, mostly in Bucharest, and caused damages worth over $2 billion. Around 230,000 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged and 760 economic facilities became inoperative. The earthquake generated a severe economic and social crisis, which historians say the communist authorities never fully overcame before their demise in 1989. Specialists warn that hundreds of buildings in Bucharest are at risk in case of a similar event.

    TRANSDNIESTER– The Republic of Moldova, a
    former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, on
    Friday marked 26 years since the start of the war in the breakaway region of
    Transdniester, a war waged by the forces loyal to Chishinau and the separatists
    backed by the 14th Army of the Russian Federation. After months-long
    clashes which took hundreds of lives, the armed conflict became a frozen one, and
    the attempts to solve it have failed. Currently, Transdniester is out of the
    central Government’s control, and Russian forces are stationed on the territory
    of the Republic of Moldova, in spite of withdrawal commitments.



    POLAND – MEPs on Thursday voted the procedure whereby the European Commission plans to sanction Poland under Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty for what it considers a serious breach of the rule of law in this country. The Commissions proposal was passed in Parliament with 422 votes in favour, 147 against and 48 abstentions. Concerned with the reform of the judiciary and restricting freedom of the press in Poland, the EU has triggered procedures under Article 7 to have Poland sanctioned, which in theory would suspend this countrys right to vote in the European Council, unless the Conservative Government in Poland rolls back all reforms prior to March 20, which the Government considered necessary to curb corruption and streamline the countrys judiciary. Political pundits claim the procedure is unlikely to go through, as it requires the unanimity of all Member States. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already announced he would oppose the move.



    RUGBY – Romanias national rugby team on Saturday will take on Russia at home in Cluj, northwestern Romania. The match counts towards the third round of the 2018 Rugby Europe International Championship. After losing to Spain in the previous match, Romania needs a win and a bonus point to keep alive its chances of qualifying to the 2019 World Rugby Cup hosted by Japan. Last year in Sochi Romania won 30-10 against Russia. Our team is ranked 16, while Russia is in 20th position.(Translated by V. Palcu and D. Vijeu)

  • January 11, 2018

    January 11, 2018

    UKRAINE — The Romanian government intends to offer scholarships to the Romanian pupils in Ukraine who have got special results in school, Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu has said in a ceremony of inauguration of a Romanian school, in Iordanesti village, in the Cernauti region. He said Romania will never forget about Romanian speakers, teachers can perfect their studies in Romania, as Bucharest intends to initiate such a demarche. Attending the event was also Ukrainian foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, as well as the education ministers in Ukraine and Romania, Lilia Grinevici and Liviu Marian Pop, respectively. Teodor Melescanu’s visit to Ukraine is aimed at assuring the educational rights of the Romanian minority in the neighbouring country and at implementing the conclusions of the Venice Commission on the new Education Law in Ukraine. We recall that in its current version, adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament and promulgated in September 2017 by President Petro Poroshenko, the Education Law limits the access of ethnic minorities to education in their languages. The Romanian community in Ukraine accounts for some 500,000 people.



    EU PRESIDENCY — The Bulgarian presidency of the EU, taken over by the neighbouring country on January 1, has today been officially inaugurated in Sofia. Attending the ceremony are Bulgarian president Rumen Radev, the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Council Donald Tusk and the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. The four priorities of the Bulgarian presidency are youth and the future of Europe, the European integration of the West Balkans, security and ways to contain illegal migration, as well as the digital market. Bulgaria’s program is unfolding under the slogan “Union makes power”. The timetable of the presidency includes over 300 events. Bulgaria will host tens of summits, official and ministerial meetings. One is the European Summit devoted to the European integration of the countries in the West Balkans. We recall that Romania will hold the EU presidency as of January 2019.



    TUNIS — Fresh clashes were reported on Wednesday evening between protesters and the police forces in several Tunisian towns. This is the third day of protests, fuelled by the austerity measures adopted by the government. The authorities have announced that over 200 people have been arrested and tens of policemen as well as civilians got injured in violent clashes with the protesters. Tunisia, considered by the West to be the only democratic success after the Arab spring uprisings of 2011, is facing economic difficulties. Growing discontent among the population was registered following the authorities’ announcement on January 1st on increasing fuel prices as well as the prices of some goods, on levying more taxes on cars, phone conversations, internet, hotel accommodation and other services. The austerity measures have been agreed upon with Tunisia’s foreign creditors. After the government was toppled in the wake of the 2011 uprisings, two attacks carried out by militants in 2015 had a major impact on Tunisia’s tourism and hotel industry, which contributes 8% to the country’s GDP.



    TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzărnescu (no. 57 WTA) has today defeated American Alison Riske (no.89 WTA), 7-6, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the tennis tournament in Hobart, Australia, with some 225,000 dollars in prize money up for grabs. In the semi-finals, Buzarnescu meets Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (no. 43 WTA). Also today, the second Romanian tennis player qualified to the quarterfinals, Monica Niculescu (no. 85 WTA) has withdrawn from the competition right ahead of the match with Belgian Elise Mertens (no.36 WTA). The first grand slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open, will start on Monday, with Romanian Simona Halep, the world number one tennis player, being first seeded in the competition. She will play in the first round against the representative of the host country, Destanee Aiava (no.193 WTA). Apart from Halep, Romania will be represented by five other players: Sorana Cîrstea (no.37 WTA), Irina Begu (no.40 WTA), Mihaela Buzărnescu (no.57 WTA), Monica Niculescu (no.85 WTA), Ana Bogdan (no.107 WTA), as well as Marius Copil (no.93 ATP). Three other women tennis players are playing in the qualifiers: Alexandra Cadanţu (no.171 WTA), Irina Bara (no.183 WTA) and Alexandra Dulgheru (no.190 WTA).

  • 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.

  • August 17, UPDATE

    August 17, UPDATE

    SKY NEWS – The Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors of DIICOT have started criminal investigation against the three crewmembers of the British TV Channel Sky News, who made the report on alleged gun running in Romania, for having communicated false information which might impact the national security of the Romanian state. According to the courts motivation of the ruling, the three Britons intentionally communicated and disseminated those pieces of information online and through mass media, although they knew the information was not real. On August 12, the Court of Appeal in Bucharest decided to take into temporary custody the three Romanian men who are featured in the Sky News report, for setting up an organised criminal group, violating the regime of arms and ammunition, and for circulating false information.



    MINORITIES – The rights of the Romanian minorities living near the countrys frontiers and in the Balkans as well as Romanias relations with the countries which host large Romanian communities were some of the issues on the agenda of the talks on Wednesday, at the Summer University at Izvorul Muresului, in central Romania. The representatives of the Romanians in the Diaspora have demanded the setting up of a Ministry for the Romanians Around the World and a coherent strategy to save their ethnic identity in the states of residence. In another move, the Romanians living abroad and in the Republic of Moldova have drawn attention to the fact they consider boycotting the parliamentary elections due later this year if the authorities do not ensure proper voting conditions for the Diaspora, in all towns which host large Romanian communities. They have also called for increasing the number of MPs who represent them in the Romanian Parliament. The representatives of the Romanian communities living near the borders of the country and in the Diaspora pleaded for the union of the Republic of Moldova with Romania. They launched an appeal to Dacian Ciolos, to start a permanent and institutionalised dialogue between the authorities of the two countries



    ROMANIAN TURKISH RELATIONS – Turkish deputy prime minister and development minister, Lütfi Elvan, who is currently on a two day visit to Romania has thanked the Romanian authorities on the stand they have taken to support democracy in Turkey and the Turkish state in the wake of the attempted coup of July 15. In another move, he announced that the Ankara government will send to the Bucharest authorities a list with companies active in Romania, which allegedly provide financial support to the movement of the cleric settled in the US, Fethullah Gulen, accused of being behind the failed coup in Turkey. As regards bilateral economic relations, Lütfi Elvan says some 14,000 Turkish companies are active in Romania at the moment, with an overall turnover of six billion Euros.



    TURKEY – Turkey has a long and difficult road ahead before obtaining visa waiver status with the EU, and short-term prospects are not encouraging, said the German Minister for European Affairs, Michael Roth, quoted by Reuters online. He said that it was clearly stated right from the start in the migration agreement between Turkey and the EU that Turkey has to meet 72 criteria before the Union would allow Turks to travel without a visa to its member countries. At the same time, Roth said that it was important for communication channels to be kept open, since Turkey is a major partner, considering both the refugee crisis and the fact that the Turkish community in Germany numbers over 3 million.



    PRISTINA – Visiting US Vice-president Joe Biden, on Wednesday called on the Kosovan authorities to crack down on corruption. He met with President Hashim Thaci and PM Isa Mustafa in Pristina. On Tuesday in Belgrade, the US Vice-president urged the Serbian officials to normalise relations with the separatist province of Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence in 2008. Talks with Serbias President Tomislav Nikolici and PM Aleksandar Vucici covered such issues as bilateral relations, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina as well as Serbias European integration. Joe Biden, also presented a message of condolences to the Serbian people, for those who died in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. He is the first high-ranking US official to make such a gesture, after the intervention of the North-Atlantic Alliance during the war in Kosovo. Many Serbian nationals, particularly ultra-nationalists, are still accusing the US for the role it played during the wars which led to the dismantling of Yugoslavia.



    CINEMATOGRAPHY – The film Sieranevada, directed by Cristi Puiu, is Romanias submission for the US Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, shows a press release issued by the National Centre for Cinematography. Sieranevada, the fourth long reel directed by Cristi Puiu, has been selected to the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival this year, being screened on the first day of the festival.



    FOOTBALL – Romanias defending champion, Astra, is facing the English team West Ham United on home soil on Thursday, in the Europe League play-off round. In another move, Romanias football vice-champion Steaua on Tuesday lost on home soil to the powerful English team Manchester City, in the Champions League Playoff round, 0-5. The return match is scheduled for August 24. Steaua has secured qualification for the Europe League group stage. Three other Romanian teams, CSMS Iasi, Viitorul Constanta and Pandurii Targu Jiu, were eliminated in the preliminaries of the European cups.



    OLYMPIC UPDATE – Three Romanian female athletes who competed in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday got eliminated, failing to go past the qualification round. In wrestling, Emilia Alina Vuc competed in the 48 kg category, while Claudia Bobocea and Florina Pierdevara ran in the 800 m track event. After 11 days in the Olympics, Romania still has only four medals: the gold obtained by the women’s epee team, the silver obtained by the pair Florin Mergea/ Horia Tecau in the men’s tennis doubles, and two bronze medals, obtained by Gabriel Sincraian in weightlifting, and by the women’s coxed eight rowing team. Romania did not get any medal in gymnastics at this edition, which happens for the first time in the last 44 years. The last time the Romanians came back home without a medal in that discipline was in 1972, after the Munich Olympics.

    (Translated by Diana Vijeu and Calin Cotoiu)