Radio România Internațional

Tag: French election

  • Reactions to Macron’s Election Victory

    Reactions to Macron’s Election Victory

    At the end of March, Emmanuel Macron, then a candidate in the French presidential election, took part in a debate on EU topics held at the Romanian Embassy in Paris. A reliable EU supporter, the 39-year old who won this Sunday the presidential election in France had at that time the opportunity to present once again his stand on the Union and on ways to give fresh impetus to the European project, which has suffered a heavy blow with Brexit. He left the Romanian Embassy in France with a copy of a book that last year won the “Jean Monnet” European Literature Prize, “The Novel Beginnings Trader” by the Romanian-born writer Matei Visniec.



    By electing Macron to the country’s highest office, the French hope, in fact, that he will be the author of new beginnings. Macron’s 66% win revealed both the voters’ criticism of the two traditional leading parties in France, the Socialist Party and the Republicans, and, on the other hand, their opposition to the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, a firm anti-European.



    Bucharest sees Emmanuel Macron’s win as an extraordinary message for Europe, namely that a nationalist, isolationist project that would have taken France out of Europe and severed its ties to the European and Euro-Atlantic values was unacceptable for the French society.



    On Sunday night, after the results were announced, the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis congratulated the new president-elect on Twitter, and said his election was a major victory for France and for Europe. On Monday morning, Klaus Iohannis made public a longer message, saying that Francophile Romania intends to work with France to deepen their bilateral relations, as they are defined under their Strategic Partnership, and to re-launch the European project. France, the President of Romania added, is a key partner of Romania, and the relations between the two countries, built on strong linguistic and cultural affinities have seen an unprecedented development over the past few years. With this in mind, Iohannis voiced his confidence that the 2018-2019 Cultural Season, which will include artistic, cultural, scientific and educational events, will be another excellent opportunity to showcase the richness and diversity of the relations between the two countries.



    PM Sorin Grindeanu and the Romanian Foreign Ministry also congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his election. The next test for France is now the parliamentary election due in June. In other words, the make-up of France’s next parliament and government are very important, and a good political relation between them and Emmanuel Macron is critical for the new president to be able to see his projects through. (Translated by AM Popescu)

  • May 6, 2017

    May 6, 2017

    TAROM — Romania’s National Air Company TAROM has signed a contract for the purchase of two new planes BOEING 737-800 Next Generation, each having 189 seats. The planes will be delivered this month. The purchase was necessary due to the fact that two Airbus A310 planes have been removed from the company’s fleet, the Romanian Transport Ministry has announced.




    MIGRANTS — As many as 12 Iraqi citizens have been seized by Romanian border police while trying to illegally enter the country, from Serbia. They said they wanted to get to western Europe. The group of migrants was made up of three men, five women and four children aged between 1 and 17. According to a release by the Romanian Border Police, the Serbian authorities were notified for the event to be jointly investigated and the readmission accord applied.




    COLLABORATION — The governments of Romania and the United States will collaborate to ensure the exchange of information between the authorities in charge with preventing, discovering and investigating serious crimes, including terrorism. The accord stipulates that Romanian and American authorities will provide reference data from their national identification systems, such as fingerprints and DNA. The document is part of Romania’s political and diplomatic efforts to become part of the Visa Waiver Programme. In another development, over 150 American companies will visit Romania during Trade Winds, an event organized in October in Bucharest by the Embassy of Romania to the US and the American Department of Commerce. Trade Winds is an annual event of the US Department of Commerce organized together with partner states that show an attractive economic and business profile for US companies. It represents a large-scale economic mission with a regional character.




    TOURISM — Romania’s 14 tourist promotion offices abroad might be closed down after the Tourism Ministry in Bucharest launched a public debate on this matter. Previously, Romania’s Court of Accounts found some problems as to how the funds allotted to these offices were used. Over two thirds of the offices’ budget were spent on the rent. Tourism Minister Mircea Dobre has said that the country’s tourist promotion might be hosted by the Romanian diplomatic missions.




    FRENCH ELECTION – Today is a day of reflection in France, ahead of the decisive round of the presidential elections due on Sunday. The election campaign for the French presidential office ended on Friday, against a tense background. The centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has consolidated his position as favorite in Sundays presidential election. According to several polls, he has managed to draw on his side half of the far-right electorate, which accounted for 20% of the votes in the first round of elections. According to the Radio Romania correspondent, the second round, dubbed by the French media as historic and unique, will bring not only a winner, but many dilemmas on the political scene. As in June legislative elections will be held in France, the main question is with what kind of government will the next president run the country.




    HANDBALL – The city of Budapest is playing host to the Final Four tournament of the Champions League in women’s handball. Romania’s champions CSM Bucharest are today taking on Macedonian champions Vardar Skopje. Last year CSM defeated Vardar Skopje 27-21, andwon the final against Gyori Audi ETO 29-26 after extra time and the penalty shootout.