ELECTIONS The ruling coalition’s joint candidate for the Bucharest Mayor General post, the surgeon and manager of the city’s University Hospital Cătălin Cîrstoiu, was officially introduced on Wednesday in a press conference by the leaders of the Social Democratic Party and National Liberal Party. Cătălin Cîrstoiu will not join any of these parties, but will run in the June 9 election as a nono-affiliated candidate. In the next few days, the Social Democrats and the Liberals will also announce their joint candidates for the 6 districts of the capital city. This year Romania organises local and European Parliament elections in June, presidential elections in September and general elections in December. The Constitutional Court Wednesday dismissed a notification submitted by the opposition and gave the green light for a bill bringing forward the presidential election to September. In their notification, the Save Romania Union and the Force of the Right argued that the bill came against democratic principles and that changing election rules just months before the vote date was unconstitutional.
NATO Mihail Kogălniceanu, in the south-east of Romania, will host the largest NATO operational base in Europe. Upgrade works on the air base in Romania started in 2010, in the context of the war in Afghanistan, but the military complex has now reached a new expansion stage. Substantial funding is earmarked for the building of a military compound which would include a hospital and a school. The Romanian government’s investment is put at EUR 2.5 bln. The Mihail Kogălniceanu air base may eventually take over the logistics and human resources of the US base in Ramstein, Germany.
FRANCOPHONIE Cultural institutions in Bucharest organised special events on International Francophonie Day, celebrated every year on March 20. The National Museum of Romanian Literature organised a presentation of Romanian writers with strong connections with the French culture, by translating or writing their works in French. On Thursday, students with L’Ecole Française Internationale de Bucarest take part in a guided tour presented by Stéphan Artaud, a curator currently on an internship at the National Museum of Romanian Literature. The “Dinu Lipatti” Arts Centre organises the 8th “I Love Lipatti” Festival, until March 23, with a special guest from France, the pianist Dimitri Malignan, giving a special recital on this occasion. Bucharest’s “Nottara” theatre holds a special edition of the “Dialogues without masks” programme, with Vasile Șirli as a guest. Vasile Șirli is a Romanian composer who headed the Paris Disneyland’s music department for 30 years.
FUGITIVES Romania’s Constitutional Court postponed to April 10 a hearing on the notification lodged by the country’s supreme court with respect to the Fugitives Act, under which offenders who fail to appear for incarceration within 7 days of receiving final prison sentences will be considered fugitives and will be sentenced to an additional six months to three years. According to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, this law infringes upon citizens’ right to a fair trial and to individual freedom. A list of famous Romanian fugitives includes the former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, the former head of Romania’s Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism Offences, Alina Bica, the son of the president of the Professional Football League, Mario Iorgulescu, and Paul Philippe of Romania, a grandson of King Carol ll. The former mayor of Baia Mare, Catalin Chereches, who had fled to Germany after having been sentenced to five years in prison for bribery, was brought to Romania on Tuesday and sent to a maximum security prison in Arad, western Romania. He was subsequently transferred to Bucharest.
ART Romania will take part in this year’s Venice Art Biennale, in Italy. The project representing Romania in the 60th edition of this famed international exhibition was made public on Wednesday in Bucharest. The artist Şerban Savu’s exhibition, “What Work Is,” looks at the iconography of work, drawing on the historical realism and the propaganda art in the Eastern Bloc countries. The Venice Biennale, held between April 20 and November 24, will bring together participants from 87 countries. (AMP)
