Radio România Internațional

Tag: family

  • The Ratiu family, an important Romanian family in Transylvania

    The Ratiu family, an important Romanian family in Transylvania

    The Rațiu family (Rațiu of Noșlac in Turda) is one of the oldest and most respectable aristocratic families in Transylvania with a history spanning several centuries and roots dating back to the 14th century.

    The existence of this family was first documented during the reign of Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368-1437), with origins in the locality of Noșlac, Alba County (central Romania). Along the centuries, the family received several aristocratic titles, having as ancestor Stefan Rácz of Nagylak (Noșlac), who was made a nobleman by the Transylvanian prince in Alba Iulia in 1625. The Rațius remained the only noble Romanian family in Turda, a city ruled at that time by the Hungarian aristocracy and situated in north-eastern Romania. The other Romanian families had been subjected to the process of Hungarization, and gradually disappeared.

    Out of the leading figures of the Rațiu family, we’d like to mention: Basiliu Rațiu, a Greek-Catholic Archpriest or Ioan Rațiu, one of the main political figures of the 1848 revolution, lawyer and politician, chair of the Romanian National Party and one of the main authors of the “Transylvanian Memorandum”. Along the centuries, the Rațiu family gave lawyers, scholars, politicians and clergymen. The name is strongly related to the fight for the rights of the Romanians in Transylvania and the preservation of the national identity against the assimilation policies.

    A leading figure of the family’s recent history was also Ion Rațiu (1917-2000). Born in Turda, the Cluj County, he was a politician, lawyer, diplomat, businessman, writer and Romanian journalist representative of the inter-war National Peasant Party, which later turned into the Christian-Democratic National Peasants Party. Between 1940 and 1990 he lived in the UK, where together with his wife Elisabeth he founded The Rațiu Family Charitable Foundation back in 1979, which is promoting and supporting projects of education and research into Romania’s culture and history, both in Romania and the UK. The foundation offers scholarships on an annual basis.

    After his return to Romania in 1990, Ion Rațiu got directly involved in the process of rebuilding the National Peasants Party, jointly with another leading political figure after the anti-communist revolution of 1989, Corneliu Coposu. Ion Rațiu ran for the presidential seat during the 1990 election, when he got roughly 5% of the votes, ranking third. He later became an MP. In 1991, Ion Rațiu founded the Cotidianul newspaper, the first private publication after 1989. Pamela Rațiu, a descendant of the family and president of the Rațiu Foundation told us the following about Ion Rațiu’s legacy and his candidature to Romania’s presidency.

    ” You know when you meet people that have given so much of their life in the positive directions and for the country or for the people, it’s really just an honour to sit with them and listen to them and try to take some of them in. I understand why people were taken by him and I take it’s incredible to see in demonstrations today people holding placards with his photograph. And there is a great deal to be said in that he was the best president Romania never had, I do believe and that has become a legacy. I think it was a plus, because I do believe if he had succeeded to becoming president he would have been held back and not allowed to do anything that he could have done. He could have made really serious changes, but he would have had his hands tied as many leaders are by all those around him. So, by not becoming the president he became a role model, which has a legacy, a positive legacy as opposed to those who were in place at that particular time.“

    The Ratiu Foundation has a partnership with the London School of Economics IDEAS ThinkTank. The Ratiu forum focuses on programs for Romania or the Balkan region. It is a platform for free discussion on democracy and the democratic challenges in the Balkan region. The forum brings together academicians, practitioners, and Romanian citizens who share ideas and knowledge about the promotion and support of the democratic values in Romania and its neighbouring states. Also, Ion Ratiu’s cultural heritage includes the Rațiu Democracy Centre, which promotes the democratic values among youngsters, through various initiatives for pupils and students. These initiatives include legislative education programs meant to stimulate youngsters to understand and exert their civic rights and responsibilities.
    Here is what Pamela Ratiu told us, about these educational initiatives

    ” What we do, also, is try to follow in Ion’s footsteps. I mean, everything is about the family, we’re moving forward, we’re taking different steps with our partnerships and the work that we do, that, again, it goes back to the values of the family and where we see a possibility, of bringing…you know…we have the good fortune to bring in this expertise to Romania from around Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans.”

    Ion Rațiu was one of the most conspicuous democratic figureheads in Romania after December 1989.

  • Macca Family and their residence in Bucharest

    Macca Family and their residence in Bucharest

    In the old part of Romania’s capital city,
    near the centre and its main thoroughfares, like Lascăr Catargiu boulevard and Calea
    Victoriei, we find the Romanian Academy’s Archaeology Institute, hosted by the
    Macca House. A building of highly refined architecture and rich ornamentation,
    Macca House is one of the most fascinating buildings in Bucharest. Its history combines
    the cosmopolitism of those times, via the Swiss-born architect John-Elisee Berthet, with the biography of old local
    families, because the building was commissioned by Col. Petru Macca and his
    wife Elena, a well-known philanthropist, who also donated the house to the
    Education Ministry after his death.

     

     

    Since then, the Macca House
    has hosted a number of institutions, including a museum of antiques in the
    interwar period, and it eventually became the permanent home of the Archaeology
    Institute. The art historian Oana Marinache has studied both the history of the
    building, and its architectural plans, and she gave us details about the
    architect John-Elisee Berthet’s masterpiece.

     

     

    Oana Marinache: Basically it was a building commissioned
    privately by a very rich family. All of Mrs Elena Macca’s revenues actually
    came from her estate in Miroși, as the village was called at the time. With the
    help of her second husband, col. Petre Macca, with patience, with a huge
    financial effort and with the help of outstanding entrepreneurs, most of them
    foreigners as most works were commissioned in Paris and Vienna, they managed to
    complete this architectural jewel. The building brings together all the
    Historicist styles of the late 19th Century. The architect Berthet was
    commissioned the project in 1891, and the works were completed around 1894. This
    is when the family moved into the new house. There were good times and bad
    times for the building, for instance the stables and outhouses burnt down
    twice, in 1894 and in 1897. So some changes were bound to take place, but in
    spite of this the original architecture and art is largely preserved to this
    day. And modern restoration works still produce surprises, unknown frescoes and
    other decoration or furniture pieces come to light, which provide new insights
    into the lifestyle of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

     

     

    The building has 4 floors, including the basement and the loft. The
    interior and outdoor decorations include Baroque elements like festoons,
    pilasters and heraldic symbols. Preserved on ceilings and walls are also some
    of the original frescoes, and some stucco fragments are gold plated. At some point, the balconies were
    adjusted to the Art Nouveau style, and turned into beautiful winter greenhouses
    on the first floor.

     

     

    When we talk about the Macca family, we mean,
    first and foremost, Elena Macca, the art historian Oana Marinache says:

     

     

    Oana Marinache: It was her estate, and the house was built using
    her financial resources. I would say she was the epitome of a lifestyle and the
    image of the philanthropist ladies of the late 19th Century. She had
    outstanding role models in her family, especially her mother and her maternal
    grandmother. She followed in the footsteps of these female role models who
    obviously had a certain social and economic position, but who were also taking
    care of their servants, of the peasants on their estates, of the small
    entrepreneurs and tenants on their properties. I would say Elena is a role
    model truly worth being brought back today, over 100 years after her death.

     

     

    After the Macca house was donated to the Romanian state, it hosted the
    National Antiques Museum between 1931 and 1956, and since then it has belonged
    to the Romanian Academy. Because of
    the Macca House’s state of disrepair, a decision was recently made to start
    restoration works on the building, coordinated by the National Heritage
    Institute. (AMP)

  • Romanian film-maker Calin Peter Netzer’s most recent feature-length film

    Romanian film-maker Calin Peter Netzer’s most recent feature-length film

    Familiar
    is Calin Peter Netzer’s most recent feature-length film. It has been shortlisted for the Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival’s 27th
    edition.


    Familar
    has been in theaters since late January. Familiar tells the tale of
    a film director who is looking into the history of his own family, pushing the access
    towards the family’s most fragile moment of its existence: the immigration to Germany
    in the 1980s. Immigration which occurred under dubious circumstances and which
    reveals family secrets, links with the Securitate as well as older wounds, The
    film is built with the minuteness of a detective investigation, where the
    viewer is invited to be the investigator himself, Calin Peter Netzer said about
    Familiar. The screenplay was written by Călin Peter Netzer and Iulia Lumânare. Barbu
    Bălăşoiu and Andrei Butică are the directors of photography. On the cast, there
    are Emanuel Pârvu, Iulia Lumânare, Ana Ciontea, Adrian Titieni, Victoria Moraru
    and Vlad Ivanov.


    Winner
    of the Gopo Award in 2019 in the Best Actor category, Iulia Lumânare got significantly
    involved in the making of Familiar, thus resuming her work together with Călin
    Peter Netzer. Iulia is a co-scenarist, an actress, a casting director and an
    acting coach. Here is Iulia Lumanare, speaking about her involvement in Familiar
    and about the reasons that prompted her to work with filmmaker Calin Peter Netzer
    for a second time around

    The film is inspired by the process myself and Călin Peter Netzer have been going through, lived and experienced
    when we started writing the screenplay. As, initially, the film was about his
    family’s immigration to Germany in the communist regime, in the early 1980s. After
    three months when we looked at the story from each and every angle, what we
    actually wanted from it appeared clearer to us. So we decided the story started
    off from the very moment we lived back then, in 2019, when we were thinking
    about the film. What we had to say had its origins from that kind of present.
    About the reason why I resumed work with Călin Peter Netzer, what I can say is
    that his previous film, Ana, mon amour, still is an essential experience in
    my career. From that moment on I was not just an actress or teacher, I was also
    a screenplay writer. I knew it, I had the intuition of the fact that I
    could write it, but Călin Peter Netzer was the one who put all his trust in me and
    I shall always be very grateful to him for that. And here we are, we’ve been working
    together for the second time around, because the first time when we worked
    together was indeed something very special, with no conceit or the conflicts
    that may flare up when artists work together. And that’s what Familiar is also
    about, it is a film about truth, about the things we cannot stand seeing in us,
    about those things we would like nobody to see, in fact. That is exactly why
    the topic has somehow turned into something about us, even though there is a
    lot of fiction there, that’s for sure.


    The
    Child’s Pose (2013), Călin Peter Netzer’s third feature-length film, after the
    many-time awarded productions Maria and Medal of Honor scooped the Golden Bear
    in the Best Feature-length Film category as part of the Berlin Film Festival. The
    Child’s Pose thus became the first Romanian film ever to have scooped such an
    award. In 2017, Călin Peter Netzer returned in the Berlinale’s Official
    Selection with Ana, mon amour and won the Golden Bear for Outstanding Artistic
    Contribution. His films have also been very well received by the public setting
    box office records in Romania. A co-writer
    of the movie script for Ana, mon amour and Familiar, Iulia Lumânare spoke
    about the connection between the last three films made by Călin Peter Netzer.

    Familiar can be watched jointly with Ana, mon amour and The Child’s
    Pose, it can make some sort of a trilogy together with these two films. In all
    these films there is a universe which is very familiar to Călin Peter Netzer, which
    he rendered very realistically. All these films are about identity, about what,
    one way or another, troubles the human being. The quest for identity is a quest
    we find in all these characters in the films, irrespective of their plot. And through
    this quest of the characters, a lifetime quest, for some of them, the stories acquire
    their universal scope, no matter how specific they may be. As for Familiar, a
    filmmaker who wants to make a film explores the past of his own family and
    tries to restore the ties between the members of his family, yet he finds out
    he is unable to do that. That is very difficult as, just as we know, you do not
    choose your family, you take your family as it is. Whereas the central character
    in Familiar fights his family, his parents, trying to raise their awareness
    regards several things they cannot understand or accept.


    The
    producers of Familiar are Călin Peter Netzer and Oana Iancu, through Parada Film
    production house. The film is co-produced by Cinema Defacto (France), Gaïjin
    (France) and Volos Films (Taiwan).

  • The Romanian Royal Family and its interesting past

    The Romanian Royal Family and its interesting past


    The Hohenzollern dynasty put Romania on the map of modernization, ever since Carol arrived in the Romanian Principalities in 1866. The remarkable domestic feats of success, such as the Constitution of 1866, or the exploits at foreign level, such as Romania’s gaining its state independence in 1878, the proclamation of the Romanian Kingdom in 1881 and the country’s connection to the European economic system, all that laid the foundation of the new kingdom’s progress. Tourism was one of the economic sectors that saw a tremendous progress at that time. The construction of the Pelisor or Peles castles literally meant the birth and the development of the town of Sinaia and of the mountain resorts on the Prahova River Valley. We should also note, though, that the Romanian royal family had a crucial contribution to the development of tourism on the Black Sea coast. Dobrogea became part of Romania in 1878. The region literally provided Romania’s opening to the Black Sea, also whetting Romanians’ appetite for seafaring journeys.

    The historian Delia Roxana Cornea is the author of The Royal residences on the Black Sea Coast. The Romanian Queens’ Dream Homes. The volume provides a detailed account of the Romanian sovereigns’ four residences on the Black Sea Coast. The Royal Palace was one such residence. With details on that, here is the author herself.



    Delia Roxana Cornea:

    It was built between 1905 and 1907, and was designed by architect Pierre Louis Blanc. The residence became operational in the autumn of 1907, when, for the first time ever, Dobrogea saw military maneuvers taking place, under King Carol the 1st’s command and coordination. Shortly afterwards, the city dwellers of Constanta, through Anghel Saligny, at the suggestion of King Carol I, offered Queen Elizabeth, the poet Carmen Sylva, a small pavilion built on the port dam, the so-called Queen Elizabeth’s pavilion, later the Queen’s nest, a venue where, at least until 1914, the city’s entire intellectual elite convened and where lots of literary evenings took place, presided by the queen herself.



    They say walls have a memory of their own. We can also say that about the royal palace, which welcomed great guests within its walls.

    istorian Delia Roxana Cornea :

    The two residences were the witnesses of an event that was very special in the history of the city, they played host to Tsar Nicholas the 2nd’s one-day visit. The photos of the two families are very popular, the Russian imperial family and the Romanian royal family, reunited in the pavilion lying on the Constanta port dam. Unfortunately, the trying times of World War One and especially the Bulgarian-German occupation of Constanta and Dobrogea between 1916 and 1918 caused a lot of damage to both royal residences.



    After 1918, when everything would change, the old royal palace also had a different destination. This time around, its destination had the Romanian monarchy’s coat-of-arms at the center, paying homage to the visionary policy of the two Romanian sovereigns, Ferdinand and Marie, the iconic personalities of then the new Romanian world.



    Delia Roxana Cornea:

    After the war, the old Royal Palace became the Court of Appeal of the Constanta city. The municipality of Constanta offered King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, just as it was specified in the title of the donation, in remembrance of the difficult years of the occupation and on behalf of the forefathers of the motherland, a plot of land made of a several hectares, at the heart of Mamaia resort. It was the very moment when, in effect, the resort of Mamaia was put on the map of tourism. In the following years, almost all families of the well-to-do class wanted to have a holiday house in Mamaia. The royal residence in Mamaia was built between 1924 and 1927 and was made of two separate buildings. We’re speaking about the Royal palace and a small pavilion that was built at the suggestion of Queen Marie, who intended to offer it to Michael. Unfortunately, King Ferdinand never got round to being accommodated in that residence because the construction works were completed in the spring of 1927, and the King died the same year, in the summer.



    The inauguration of the new palace took place on August 22, 1927, with the little, six-year-old king Michael attending the event. In the following period of time, the palace was visited by the royal family and their guests, among whom there was the Greek royal family, to whom the Romanian one was related. But the history of the building would change. With details on that, here is the historian Delia Roxana Cornea once again.



    Unfortunately, the history of that royal residence was changed because of its selling, in 1932, according to a deal the mother-princess, Helen, had with her former husband, King Carol I. From that moment on, the Royal Palace became, in turn, the marine aviation base in Mamaia, then, later, during the communist year, it was turned into a holiday residence for the workers’ class, while in the 1970s the communist authorities redesigned the entire building and turned ii into a Neckermann Club, exclusively destined to German tourists. Just as it was stipulated in the supporting memorandum, it was intended to bring in hard currency, while at that time the one-place nightly accommodation fee at the former Royal Palace stood at 13 USD.



    After 1989, the story of the Royal Palace in Mamaia went on, but those who officially took possession of the palace did not provide appropriate maintenance. The building became derelict and then it was abandoned. However, the building’s upgrading ongoing campaign is a promising one and, in the long run, the city dwellers of Constanta hope to yet again see the palace in its initial grandeur.(EN)




  • 7.5 million Romanians, fully vaccinated

    7.5 million Romanians, fully vaccinated

    Since the start of
    the vaccine roll-out on December 27, last year, nearly 7.8 million people have received
    one of the 4 anti-Covid vaccines-Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and
    Johnson&Johnson, and 7.5 million of them are now fully vaccinated.


    The number of COVID
    19 cases is on the decrease, but authorities are once again calling for
    vaccination and compliance with protection measures, while the introduction of the
    compulsory COVID certificate before New Year’s is rather unlikely.


    The head of the
    Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, said that mobile vaccination
    centres will be organised in rural areas in the forthcoming period. He also
    added that the vaccine is the ‘best solution’ to prevent severe forms of the
    disease.


    Romanian hospitals
    are seeing the lowest number of COVID-19 patients since the start of the 4th
    wave, with around 900 patients in intensive care.


    The health minister
    Alexandru Rafila has recently talked with representatives of family
    physician associations. According to
    him, one of the main emergencies at the moment is developing the testing
    capacity in family physician practices, as well as improving the assessment and
    treatment of milder forms of the disease. Funds will be earmarked to this end,
    so that patients need not incur additional costs. For confirmed coronavirus
    cases, family physicians will be able to prescribe anti-viral medication:


    Alexandru Rafila: The refund
    package for testing covers the testing as such and the protection materials for
    healthcare personnel. Apart from that, for confirmed cases the option of a
    minimal funding package will be available, allowing for investigations and the
    prescription of outpatient anti-viral treatment, which obviously will be protective
    for patients and healthcare STAFF, so as to make sure that anti-viral treatment
    is only given after prior assessment of the patients.


    At EU
    level, Brussels is considering the introduction of compulsory COVID-19
    vaccination requirements, as the new variant, Omicron, keeps spreading. Austria has
    announced vaccination will be mandatory as of February 1, and it is the first
    country in Western Europe and one of the few in the world to take this step. Germany
    is also considering making vaccination mandatory, with Parliament to make a
    decision in this respect by year end. In turn, Greece announced this measure will
    be introduced for citizens over 60 years of age, and similar ideas are taken
    into account in other EU member states as well. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • The start of the new schoolyear in Romania

    The start of the new schoolyear in Romania




    The
    new schoolyear has officially started on September 13 for the entire secondary
    education system. This time around, it has been decided that the physical attendance
    in classrooms should prevail over online tuition. Consequently, one of the
    official scenarios jointly elaborated by the Healthcare and Education
    Ministries stipulated those classes will begin with physical attendance when,
    according to the COVID-19 infection ratio, six and less than is six people in
    1,000 inhabitants are reportedly infected with the COVID-19 virus. There is,
    however, a second scenario, whereby online tuition will be resumed when more
    than six people in 1,000 inhabitants get COVID-19 infected. The rationale
    behind the physical attendance scenario says that pupils’ results the previous
    school year were worryingly below par, since for their greater part, children
    went online for their classes. However, irrespective of the scenario, sanitary
    measures are a top priority. The authorities have assured us they would provide
    detailed explanations for the measures in place, to the best of their
    abilities.

    National Education Minister, Sorin Câmpeanu:


    There will be one person in each school whose job is to facilitate the
    meeting between the medical staff and the parents, so that they can answer
    vaccination-related questions and, obviously, bring arguments in favor of complying with the
    sanitary measures. We begin with the ear-loop mask, which is mandatory on the
    premises, then there is the physical distancing, to be observed wherever
    possible, then classes need to be aired properly and hygiene measures will
    definitely have to be observed. Concurrently, we will also enact those
    information activities whereby we present the importance and the necessity of
    the vaccination, since vaccination is the only act by means of which we can
    stem the crisis.


    However,
    speaking about the pace of the vaccination process as of late, the Minister
    admitted the progress was very slow. Three days before the classes kick-start,
    a little bit over 15% of the pupils aged 12 were vaccinated, whereas 61% of the
    total number of national education system employees were vaccinated with both
    shots.

    Minister Sorin Campeanu tells us how
    the issue will henceforth be broached:


    In our scenarios, there is no difference between the vaccinated pupils
    and those who are not vaccinated. If an official minister’s executive order
    outlining the scenarios in their broader scope had made that difference with no
    basic legal grounding, we would have broken the discrimination law. We
    understood that quite all right. Which doesn’t mean no legal grounding will be
    possible to encourage discrimination from that perspective as well. In a
    separate move, if infection cases are reported in a classroom, that definitely
    is in the scope of medical protocols. A differentiation is being made, between
    various infection cases, which applies to pupils who are older than 12 and who
    can be vaccinated and who, should they get the shot and express their wish to have
    physical attendance, they are being given that opportunity. There is yet
    another scenario we have created, that of limiting the online teaching period
    to a half, should an infection case be reported. After a week, in the eighth
    day, if the previously infected pupil turns up for the test and if he tests negative,
    physical attendance in that particular school can be resumed beginning that
    eight particular day and not in the 15th day, as it had been
    previously stipulated. So the quarantine period has been reduced. The
    opportunity has been created in order to reduce the online teaching period.


    The
    present reluctance regarding the vaccination of pupils also depends on the
    parents’ attitude, which changed during the pandemic, according to a recent
    online survey.

    Paediatrician Mihai Craiu:


    This year, we noticed it in this prospective survey tackling parental
    perception and which was carried following a questionnaire that was given out
    for three days and to which more than 1,290 Romanian parents responded, most of
    whom were mothers from urban areas, higher education graduates. We noticed a
    significant drop in the percentage fear of the adults who responded to the
    survey, to get COVID-19 infected. As regards the fear of children in a family,
    occurring in the event of an infection, the percentage has seen significant
    drop, from 76% to almost 50%. The fear percentage has dropped to a greater
    extent as regards children, and that, most likely, is the outcome of the fact
    that a great many adults have already been vaccinated.


    .


    That
    is why, in the COVID-19 vaccination info campaigns, it is important that
    parents are told what the effects of vaccination are, as detailed as possible.


    Medical doctor Mihai Craiu:


    It is safety we need to speak to parents about. Nearly 5 billion shots
    have been administered worldwide. The figure is indeed stout, since there is no
    other modern vaccine to have been given, in less than a year since its
    administration began, in such a tremendous percentage and with no gross signs
    of adverse effects. There are obviously paediatric-related safety issues. A
    myocarditis-related warning is in place, especially with boys, but, quite
    unlike the affection caused by the SARS-COV virus itself and, subsequently, by
    the paediatric multisystemic inflammatory system, such a warning symptom is extremely rare
    and much less severe. In effect, with Caucasian children, so with such children
    as those from Romania, who were in good health prior to vaccination, no such death
    case has so far been reported.


    Being
    fully aware of everybody’s right to made their own decision for themselves and
    for their families, the Parents’ Association Federation has so far refrained
    from making a downright recommendation, for or against the vaccination.

    The president of the Association, Iulian
    Cristache:


    That is a much too intimate, a much too private thing for us to make a
    recommendation, as a federation, for people to get vaccinated. What we can do,
    though, is to support parents through these information campaigns we have
    already initiated, both with the Education Ministry and the Romanian
    Government. We carried campaigns with the educational units, we had meetings
    with general school inspectors at county level where we had video conferences
    with school principals participating, as well as with the parents who had
    enough spare time for that. I just want my attitude to be extremely balanced,
    when it comes to the vaccine, since it is in no way an easy decision to be
    taken. Such a decision must be taken at family level alone. What we can do is
    ask the two ministries to send in their specialists at the level of educational
    units and inform the parents, so that each parent can decide for their own
    child.


    To
    that end, Iulian Cristache has spoken about how they did it in his own family:


    My and my wife got vaccinated as we were aware that, at least judging by
    the info we get, it is the only way by means of which we can still protect
    ourselves from the virus. Anyway, we got infected and we had a 14-day home
    quarantine that is why we know it is not easy to go through that unpleasant
    experience. But my daughter, who will be 16, did not want to be vaccinated. We
    had a talk, and she decided to hold on for a while, to wait, without, however,
    saying she did not want to get vaccinated. As we speak, for a short period of
    time, at least, she doesn’t want that, and the moment she decides she will let
    us know and will take the vaccine.


    Concurrently,
    both parents’ association representatives and other educational experts have
    emphasized the fact that one of the reasons of families’ reluctance to
    vaccinate their children has to do with the wide range of antagonistic opinions
    expressed in the mas-media and on the social networks, considering how safe
    the vaccine is, for people’s health.


    (Translation by Eugen Nasta)

  • Anybody home?

    Anybody home?

    He studied documentary photography in London. Upon his
    return to Romania, he was set to rediscover the world he left behind using the
    camera, whether he was taking pictures or filming. This is the trigger point for
    the Working Site in the time of the pandemic, a project that took off thanks
    to the fortnightly lockdown Ionut Teoredascu had been under, in his flat in an
    apartment house. Ionut immortalized construction works for the neighboring
    block of flats. Then the Pandemic in the countryside followed, it was another
    project consisting of snapshots of village life which had remained unchanged,
    save for the ear-loop mask people living there had to wear. But what compelled
    our attention as regards Ionut Teoderascu was a project for which Ionut
    Teoderascu scooped the golden award in the People/Family category as part of
    the 2020 Budapest International Photo Awards, titled Nobody’s home.


    Ionuţ Teoderascu introduced himself as a documentary photographer.
    He told us how the project took off.


    Ionut Teoderascu:

    The short-reel documentary titled
    There’s nobody home was released in April 2019. So it was then that my idea
    took shape. I called in at my grandmother’s house. It had been uninhabited in
    the last ten years and it was more like a curiosity for me, to take a look
    inside. Once I entered the house, I noticed all my grandmother’s stuff was
    there, things were almost untouched. It was like a capsule of time. Then I
    returned there with my father, since I asked him to tell the story of their childhood,
    what parents had been like when they were still alive, since I, for one, did
    not meet the grandpa on my father’s side, he died at the age of 44. Then I got
    back again, this time with my aunties, I asked them to tell me more and that’s
    how I discovered a part of my grandmother’s past and I said to myself the best
    thing is to tell the whole story in a documentary short-reel, so that I may
    blend the image with the sounds of the house as I made recordings when I went,
    with my parents or my aunties, to my grandmother’s house. I made the
    documentary short-reel late last year.


    The film was received better than he expected. Or at
    least that is what Ionut Teoderascu told us.


    The first time I launched it in Romania it was part of a Takeover, it was posted on the Instagram page of the magazine titled
    It is only a magazine and it was there that I laid out the story for the
    first time ever, but it had been released in Great Britain before, it was
    posted on a platform dedicated to documentary photography. It was launched
    there. With this project, I also participated in a competition before the year
    ended; a photo album featuring students was posted there, one of the first
    albums Canon has made, and it was there that the project took off, then I
    participated in a contest in Budapest where I won the Gold Vibe, the golden
    award, with this project. Subsequently it was also posted on other channels,
    here, in Romania.


    Ionut Teoderascu taking
    us through the story of the film.


    The sensation you get is that you’re
    stepping in another time. As soon as you step into the house, you feel those
    images that affect you a lot, emotionally, you see crumbling walls or
    spiderwebs, very big. It is that kind of image you wouldn’t want to see,
    especially if you have a personal connection to the family who lived there yet
    it is an area where the history of a family has been very well-preserved, since
    the place we live in, after all defines us and the whole time granny lived
    there, she used to live there on a permanent basis for the last 20 years, she
    collected all the things she needed, she arranged them, she somehow got ready
    for her death as well, she had prepared everything for that already. And you
    could see they were still there. I found pills, I found letters granny had kept
    there. And all that stuff speaks volumes about the person who used to live there.


    The film takes us to the village of Craiesti, Galati
    county, the village of the filmmaker’s childhood, where we’re about to visit a
    special house.


    Ionut Teoderascu:

    The house is atypical for that area,
    where the houses are sort of smaller, there are two-room houses, but the
    granny’s house does have a history of its own. It was purpose-built, it was supposed to house the administration, the
    prefecture or the town hall and was afterwards sold to my grandfather. It has
    tall doors, the materials are very good, they are made of solid wood and was
    built on top of a hill, the view of the village is very picturesque it is old
    enough, it is a hundred years old, or sort of.


    Ionut Teoderascu once again, this time
    extending an invitation to all of us.


    I encourage everybody to watch the
    documentary short-reel, you can access it on my website, at teoderascu.com
    or on YouTube or on the Facebook page as I think this documentary somehow tells
    the story of several families, guiding us as to how we should look at a
    family’s past, in a bid to get everybody understanding the idea that a family’s
    past is here and there and it is romanticized by those who are still alive.
    Because we want to know that our parents lived a good life. And, perhaps, that
    is exactly why, after they die, we try to reconstruct the past, rendering it
    more romanticized. And that’s what I speak about in my documentary short-reel,
    apart from the whole story about my grandparents that I tell there.


    For those who are interested, in Zalau, the
    photographs made by Ionut Teoderascu are brought together in the exhibition
    titled the The faces of the pandemic.




  • Problems in public healthcare

    Problems in public healthcare

    Officials from the National Health Insurance Agency (CNAS) and the experts in charge with the maintenance of the integrated health card management system have met to discuss the problems experienced by the platform over the past few weeks, when the system has crashed repeatedly.



    Since July 10th, most healthcare services, including the dispensing of medicines and medical devices, have been registered offline. As a result, many family physicians have been unable to get the services they provided validated in the system, which they are required to do within 72 hours. Many doctors have to come in during the night to validate the documents, hoping that at night time the system is less busy and less likely to break down. It is also during the night that they try, and with any luck manage to, file their compulsory monthly reports to the Health Insurance Agency.



    The digital platform designed to link healthcare providers (i.e. family physicians) to patients and the insurer (CNAS) is “in full collapse, physicians warn, because many vital components of the system have been left without maintenance.



    In an attempt to find a solution, the Healthcare Minister Sorina Pintea announced that emergency procurement procedures would be initiated, to purchase maintenance services. The system was restarted on Monday, but it only worked for several hours. This time around, users found that the database was down and could not be accessed. Sorina Pintea accused the CNAS of failing to initiate the procurement procedure in time:



    Sorina Pintea: “What I find the most disturbing is that components of the digital platform of the National Health Insurance Agency were left without maintenance, although they are vital to the operation of the system. The law is very clear in this respect. There was no database maintenance. So at the moment we cannot even check whether someone is insured or not. When a healthcare service is reported, if we dont have this component up and running, the service cannot be validated and therefore its cost cannot be disbursed. And this is precisely why we had this system in the first place.



    Sorina Pintea added that as soon as an inspection is conducted at the National Health Insurance Agency and a report is finalized, the document will be sent to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, because the law has certainly been breached. In recent years, physicians and patients have requested repeatedly that these problems be solved, and yet nothing happened. The implementation of the integrated health card management system is a project for which the Romanian state paid 21 million euros.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 8, 2018

    October 8, 2018

    FAMILY REFERENDUM — Almost 21% of the Romanians this past weekend cast their votes on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aimed to define “family” as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau on Monday morning, after more than 98% of the votes were counted, the voter turnout was insufficient for the referendum to be validated. To pass, a referendum needs a 30% voter turnout threshold while 25% of votes cast have to be valid. We recall that Parliament passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people.




    INTERVIEW — Prosecutor Adina Florea, proposed by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader as the new head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), is today being interviewed by the prosecutor section with the Higher Magistracy Council, whose, opinion is consultative. The interview, initially scheduled on September 27, has been postponed. The position of chief-prosecutor of the DNA became vacant in July, after Laura Codruta Kovesi was revoked by President Klaus Iohannis in keeping with a Constitutional Court ruling in this respect.




    MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies is today debating a simple motion filed by the National Liberal Party in opposition against Economy Minister Danut Andrusca. The Liberals accuse Andrusca of deliberately destabilizing the countrys economy. The Chamber had voted against a simple motion the Liberals filed against Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, whom they accuse of failing to implement the taxing and budget strategy. The opposition also calls for the elimination of the additional excise tax on fuel, the start of major investment projects and the allotment of 100% of tax revenues to local administration starting next year.




    EUROPEAN WEEK OF REGIONS – The 2018 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities kicks off today in Brussels, in the presence of European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, the European Committee of the Regions president, Karl-Heinz Lambertsz and European Parliament vice-president, Pavel Telicka. This years edition is a special one, devoted to the European Commissions cohesion policy proposal for the 2021-2027 period. Decision-makers and local, regional, national and European experts will take part in a series of debates as part of the most important event devoted to cohesion policies at European level.




    HEARING – The High Court of Cassation and Justice has today postponed for November 5th the first hearing in the case where Social-Democrat leader and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Liviu Dragnea was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment in the court of first instance. In June, the Court handed Dragnea the sentence for instigation to abuse of office. Anticorruption prosecutors say Liviu Dragnea ordered the fictitious employment of two party members at the Social Assistance and Child Protection Directorate. The two were paid with taxpayer money, although they allegedly worked exclusively for the Social-Democratic Party. Liviu Dragnea denied the accusations. In 2016, Dragnea was handed a 2-year suspended prison sentence for attempted election fraud. This summer the High Court cancelled the ruling to suspend the prison sentence.




  • Record-low turnout in the referendum to redefine family

    Record-low turnout in the referendum to redefine family

    Eligible voters in Romania had two days to say whether they want the Constitution to be revised so as to redefine family as the marriage between a man and a woman, rather than between spouses as it is currently stated. The overwhelming majority of those who cast their ballots was in favour of the revision, but turnout was much below the required 30%. Politicians have provided various explanations for this record-low turnout.



    Codrin Stefanescu, the deputy secretary general of the Social Democratic Party, the senior partner in the ruling coalition which they form together with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats: “More debates, more campaigning were probably needed. In any case, we must take into account the large number of Romanians who showed up, because four million is quite a number.



    Ludovic Orban, the leader of the National Liberal Party, the biggest party in opposition, believes the failure of the referendum should be blamed on those in power: “The National Liberal Party has been warning political leaders in Romania for months not to confiscate this topic, not to politicise the referendum and to try instead to take a step back. The referendum was very badly organised, there was no information campaign from the government, as if this government wanted citizens to have as little interest as possible in the referendum.



    Even though they come from opposing camps, the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party, Romanias biggest parties, were both in favour of the bill to revise the Constitution based on a collaboration protocol signed with the Coalition for Family, an alliance of mainly Christian organisations that gathered 3 million signatures in favour of its civic initiative. This is the reason why the failure to impose the so-called traditional family by referendum has been described as a failure of traditional parties themselves. The Save Romania Union, on the other hand, a relatively new party with a dominantly civic agenda, was opposed to the referendum, and are now jubilant.



    The president of the Save Romania Union Dan Barna said he was happy to see that Romanians proved to be a tolerant, European nation. Dan Barna: “Romania after the referendum is the same Romania from before the referendum. Its in fact the Romania of the 21st century, with all its citizens, some more traditional, others more modern, some more involved, some more informed, its all of us. The result confirms that despite the attempts of the ruling coalition to govern through fears and lies, Romania is a European nation.



    The Coalition for Family has also criticised the government, albeit for what they say is the superficial and unprofessional way in which the referendum was organised. The Coalition has denounced the widespread boycott of the referendum from the parties that voted in favour on the constitutional revision bill in Parliament. They say this boycott is directed first and foremost against the countrys Christians.



    For MozaiQ, an association fighting for the rights of sexual minorities, the fact that Romanians refused to vote in favour of a constitutional redefinition of family as being founded on the marriage between a man and a woman is a victory for democracy. The Romanian people rejected hatred and division in society and did not legitimate through their turnout a political act meant to stigmatise and discriminate against the LGBT community, the association writes in a press release.



    They are convinced that conservative forces in Romania received a categorical NO from the citizens, which restores hope that future Romania is one of diversity, respect for all minorities and equal opportunities for all. Pundits have begun to discuss who stands to lose from this failed referendum. They are the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party, in the area of politics, alongside the organisations that have fought for the petition that triggered this whole process and which openly oppose gender ideology, as well as their main supporter, the Orthodox Church, which is the majority church in Romania, whose clergy have urged people to vote in order to defend the traditional family. (Translated by C. Mateescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited this weekend to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau 5.72% of the total number of eligible voters cast their ballots on Saturday, many of them in urban communities. Polls will reopen in the country on Sunday morning. By 21:00 local time, when polls closed in Romania, some 46,000 Romanians had also voted abroad. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad are in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.



    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.



    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament has approved a report proposing new rules for freezing and confiscating the proceeds of crimes. The new regulation will allow for quicker and more efficient implementation of confiscation and asset freeze orders, as well as tighter deadlines for authorities and standard certificates for all EU member states. Experts estimate that offenders keep 98% of the proceeds of criminal activities. The EP report estimates that criminal activities generate around 110 billion euros per year. A 2016 EUROPOL report shows that only 2.2% of the money generated by criminal activities has been frozen or confiscated. At present, regulations on cross-border asset confiscation within the EU contain major loopholes that criminals and terrorists take advantage of.




    SOPRANO – World-famous Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé died on Saturday at the age of 85, in a hospital in Barcelona where she had been admitted a month ago, the BBC reports. With a career spanning 50 years, Montserrat Caballé performed on some of the worlds greatest stages, alongside such personalities as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Together with Freddie Mercury she sang the hit Barcelona, which was the anthem of the 1992 Olympics hosted by the Spanish city.





    FINANCIAL – The Romanian Ministry for Finances has recently drawn 1.75 billion euros, through a Eurobond issue in international financial markets. The largest part of the bonds, amounting to 1.15 billion euros, has a 10-year maturity, and the remaining have 20-year maturity. According to Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, the issue clearly reflects the positive international perception of the Romanian economys medium and long-term prospects. The strong demand and the quality of the investors confirm Romanias strengths, namely the sound macroeconomic foundation, coherent fiscal discipline and economic-financial stability. Teodorovici added that the Eurobond issue is designed to strengthen the State Treasurys foreign currency reserve and to minimise long term borrowing costs.



    HANDBALL – The Romanian side AHC Dobrogea Sud Constanţa Saturday defeated at home the Czech side Talent Robstav MAT Plzen, 28-21, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the EHF Cup in mens handball. The second leg will be played in Constanta as well, on Sunday. On Friday, Romanias womens handball champions, CSM Bucharest, defeated at home, 36-31, the Hungarian team FTC Rail Cargo, in Group D of the new Champions League season. It is for the 4th consecutive time that CSM takes part in the leading continental competition. The first time, in 2016, the Romanian handballers won the Champions League trophy, and in the following editions they came out 3rd in the Final Four


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited this weekend to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau 5.72% of the total number of eligible voters cast their ballots on Saturday, many of them in urban communities. Polls will reopen in the country on Sunday morning. By 21:00 local time, when polls closed in Romania, some 46,000 Romanians had also voted abroad. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad are in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.



    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.



    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament has approved a report proposing new rules for freezing and confiscating the proceeds of crimes. The new regulation will allow for quicker and more efficient implementation of confiscation and asset freeze orders, as well as tighter deadlines for authorities and standard certificates for all EU member states. Experts estimate that offenders keep 98% of the proceeds of criminal activities. The EP report estimates that criminal activities generate around 110 billion euros per year. A 2016 EUROPOL report shows that only 2.2% of the money generated by criminal activities has been frozen or confiscated. At present, regulations on cross-border asset confiscation within the EU contain major loopholes that criminals and terrorists take advantage of.




    SOPRANO – World-famous Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé died on Saturday at the age of 85, in a hospital in Barcelona where she had been admitted a month ago, the BBC reports. With a career spanning 50 years, Montserrat Caballé performed on some of the worlds greatest stages, alongside such personalities as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Together with Freddie Mercury she sang the hit Barcelona, which was the anthem of the 1992 Olympics hosted by the Spanish city.





    FINANCIAL – The Romanian Ministry for Finances has recently drawn 1.75 billion euros, through a Eurobond issue in international financial markets. The largest part of the bonds, amounting to 1.15 billion euros, has a 10-year maturity, and the remaining have 20-year maturity. According to Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, the issue clearly reflects the positive international perception of the Romanian economys medium and long-term prospects. The strong demand and the quality of the investors confirm Romanias strengths, namely the sound macroeconomic foundation, coherent fiscal discipline and economic-financial stability. Teodorovici added that the Eurobond issue is designed to strengthen the State Treasurys foreign currency reserve and to minimise long term borrowing costs.



    HANDBALL – The Romanian side AHC Dobrogea Sud Constanţa Saturday defeated at home the Czech side Talent Robstav MAT Plzen, 28-21, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the EHF Cup in mens handball. The second leg will be played in Constanta as well, on Sunday. On Friday, Romanias womens handball champions, CSM Bucharest, defeated at home, 36-31, the Hungarian team FTC Rail Cargo, in Group D of the new Champions League season. It is for the 4th consecutive time that CSM takes part in the leading continental competition. The first time, in 2016, the Romanian handballers won the Champions League trophy, and in the following editions they came out 3rd in the Final Four


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited on Saturday and Sunday to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau, by 19:00, local time, 5.15% of the total number of eligible voters had cast their ballots, many of them in urban communities. By the same hour, some 37,000 Romanians living abroad had voted. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad will be in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.




    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    October 6, 2018 UPDATE

    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited on Saturday and Sunday to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau, by 19:00, local time, 5.15% of the total number of eligible voters had cast their ballots, many of them in urban communities. By the same hour, some 37,000 Romanians living abroad had voted. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad will be in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.




    LAW – The Speaker of the Senate of Romania Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu said on Saturday that he wants a consensus of all parliamentary parties with respect to the Offshore Bill. In the next 2 weeks, when the bill is to be once again discussed, we will have enough time to find the best solutions, Tariceanu also said. The so-called Offshore Bill, which sets out the rules for natural gas extraction in the Black Sea, was discussed on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, which decided to send the text back to the specialised committees. The bill was originally passed in the previous parliamentary session, but President Klaus Iohannis returned it to Parliament for a review.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • October 6, 2018

    October 6, 2018

    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT – The European Parliament has approved a report proposing new rules for freezing and confiscating the proceeds of crimes. The new regulation will allow for quicker and more efficient implementation of confiscation and asset freeze orders, as well as tighter deadlines for authorities and standard certificates for all EU member states. Experts estimate that offenders keep 98% of the proceeds of criminal activities. The EP report estimates that criminal activities generate around 110 billion euros per year. A 2016 EUROPOL report shows that only 2.2% of the money generated by criminal activities has been frozen or confiscated. At present, cross-border asset confiscation within the EU is regulated by several regulations containing major loopholes that criminals and terrorists take advantage of.



    REFERENDUM – Nearly 19 million Romanian voters are invited today and tomorrow to vote on a proposed redefinition of the concept of family in the Constitution. The initiators aim to define “family as an institution based on the marriage of a man and a woman, rather than the marriage of spouses, as it is at present. According to data released by the Central Electoral Bureau, in the first 3 hours of the vote 0.97% of the total eligible voters showed up in polls. 100,860 votes were reported in towns and cities and 77,081 in communities. According to the Bureau, 0.85% of the voters registered in Bucharest have cast their ballots, while 3,346 Romanian citizens have voted abroad. Parliament has passed a bill rephrasing the Constitutional definition of marriage, based on a citizen initiative signed by 3 million people. The referendum sparked fiery debates between the initiators, a Christian coalition primarily supported by the Romanian Orthodox Church, and the promoters of sexual minority rights. The Romanians living abroad can vote in 378 polls hosted by diplomatic missions, consular offices, cultural institutes and other locations. The largest number of polls abroad will be in Italy, Spain, the Republic of Moldova, the USA, UK, France and Germany. The vote in the diaspora started on Friday night in Auckland, New Zealand. On the whole, the vote abroad will take 58 hours. The voting process abroad will conclude on the US West Coast and in Canada on Monday morning, according to Romanian time. The referendum will be validated provided that a 30% turnout rate is met and 25% of the eligible voters cast valid votes.




    SOPRANO – World-famous Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé died on Saturday at the age of 85, in a hospital in Barcelona where she had been admitted a month ago, the BBC reports. With a career spanning 50 years, Montserrat Caballé performed on some of the worlds greatest stages, alongside such personalities as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Together with Freddie Mercury she sang the hit Barcelona, which was the anthem of the 1992 Olympics hosted by the Spanish city.





    INTERPOL – French police are investigating the disappearance of the Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, the French Interior Ministry told Reuters on Friday. Mengs wife reported him missing at the headquarters of the international police organisation in Lyon, because she had not heard from him since September 25. The Interpol chiefs wife and 3 children are under police protection, after they received threats over the telephone and social media, the French Interior Ministry also said. Meng, 64, was appointed head of the Interpol in 2016. He went missing during a visit to China.




    FINANCIAL – The Romanian Ministry for Finances has recently drawn 1.75 billion euros, through a Eurobond issue in international financial markets. The largest part of the bonds, amounting to 1.15 billion euros, has a 10-year maturity, and the remaining have 20-year maturity. According to Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, the issue clearly reflects the positive international perception of the Romanian economys medium and long-term prospects. The strong demand and the quality of the investors confirm Romanias strengths, namely the sound macroeconomic foundation, coherent fiscal discipline and economic-financial stability. Teodorovici added that the Eurobond issue is designed to strengthen the State Treasurys foreign currency reserve and to minimise long term borrowing costs.




    HANDBALL – The Romanian side AHC Dobrogea Sud Constanţa is playing today against Talent Robstav MAT Plzen, of the Czech Republic, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the EHF Cup in mens handball. Yesterday, Romanias womens handball champions, CSM Bucharest, defeated at home, 36-31, the Hungarian team FTC Rail Cargo, in Group D of the new Champions League season. It is for the 4th consecutive time that CSM takes part in the leading continental competition. The first time, in 2016, the Romanian handballers won the Champions League trophy, and in the following editions they came out 3rd in the Final Four.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)