EXTREME WEATHER – 15,000 firefighters, police officers and
gendarmes are deployed nationwide to deal with the effects of the extreme
weather, the Interior Ministry reports. A code yellow alert against heavy rain
and extreme weather phenomena is in place until Wednesday morning. Hydrologists
have also issued a code orange alert against floods for the west and a code yellow
flood alert for the northwest and the east. Hundreds of households as well as
national and county roads were flooded. Several villages were cut off from the
power grid.
DEBATE – European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday are attending a debate on the
future of Europe hosted by Sibiu. The debate comes ahead the EU Summit
scheduled for Thursday and Friday on the sidelines of the Romanian Presidency
of the Council of the European Union. European Council President Donald Tusk
has called on EU heads of state and government to adopt the Declaration of
Sibiu, whereby the EU will convey a message of unity and trust.
ELECTION CAMPAIGN – The campaign for the European Parliament
election continues in Romania. 13 political factions are enrolled in the race:
the Social-Democratic Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the National Liberal Party, the Save
Romania Union-Plus alliance, the People’s Movement Party, the Pro Romania
Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania, the National Unity Bloc,
the United Romania Party, the PRODEMO Party, the Romanian Socialist Party and
the Independent Social-Democratic Party. 3 independent members are also
enrolled in the race. Romania will have 33 seats in the European Parliament.
The 33rd mandate will be announced only after Great Britain
withdraws from the community bloc. 441 voting polls have been set up for
Romanians abroad, most of which in Italy, Spain and the Republic of Moldova. A
justice referendum will also be held on May 26.
POPE FRANCIS – Pope Francis on Tuesday continued his tour of the
Balkans by visiting North Macedonia. The Pope prayed at the monument devoted to
Mother Theresa, built over the ruins of the church where Mother Theresa was
baptized in 1910. Hundreds of thousands of people have enrolled online to take
part in the masses celebrated by the Pope in Romania. The list includes
Christians from Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa,
Nigeria, Madagascar, Australia, Israel, Canada, Namibia and Reunion. Over May
31 – June 2 the Pope is paying an apostolic visit to Romania under the motto
Let’s go together. Pope Francis will visit Bucharest, Iasi, currently hosting
the biggest Roman-Catholic community in Romania, Blaj, where he will beatify
seven Greek-Catholic bishops who died in communist prisons, as well as the
Marian Shrine in Sumuleu Ciuc. We recall Pope John Paul II visited Romania in 1999,
the first visit ever paid to a country with an Orthodox majority population.
INVESTIGATION – Three teenagers are the main
suspects of the investigation into the ransacking of the Jewish Cemetery in
Husi. The young men admitted their accusations, claiming they were inspired by
martial arts films and wanted to practice karate. Aged 15 and 16, the three were
not detained, but risk prison time for aggravated criminal damage. The
President at the time condemned their actions, calling on the relevant authorities
to firmly sanction any anti-Semitic actions. The Government in turn reiterated
its commitment to combat anti-Semitism and any form of racism, intolerance and
xenophobia.
SENTENCE – The Bucharest Court of Appeal on
Tuesday sentenced the former head of the National Fiscal Administration, Sorin
Blejnar, to five years in prison for influence peddling. The decision is final.
In the court of first instance, Blejnar had received six years from the
Bucharest Tribunal. Court judges maintained the decision to seize some 3
million euros from Blejnar and impose a distraint on his assets pending the
recovery of the sum. Anticorruption prosecutors say Blejnar received the money
from a businessman as payment to help him win several contracts with the
National Fiscal Administration.
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep,
world no. 3, has advanced to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain,
totaling some 7 million dollars in prize money. On Tuesday Halep eased past
Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, 7-5, 6-1. In the next round Halep will take on
Viktoria Kuzmova (46 WTA). Aged 27, Halep won the Madrid Open in 2016 and 2017.
Halep also qualified to the round of 16 in the women’s doubles together with
Irina Begu, where they will play Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of
the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, another Romanian, Horia
Tecau together with Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands will play Kyle Edmund
and Neal Skupski of Great Britain. Tecau and Rojer were winners in 2016 in
Madrid.
(Translated by V. Palcu)