Radio România Internațional

Tag: mayor

  • January 24, 2025

    January 24, 2025

    CELEBRATION Military and religious ceremonies, performances and exhibitions are taking place today in all the major cities in Romania, marking the Union of the Principalities. In Orthodox churches, special services were performed and bells were rung for a minute. 166 years ago, on January 24, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler of Wallachia, after having been elected ruler of Moldavia on January 5. The political decision of the principalities to unite was the first stage in the creation of the modern Romanian state. Leading politicians sent messages on the Day of the Union of the Romanian Principalities. “January 24 is a moment of assessment and reflection on the legacy of our ancestors and on the responsibility we have to preserve and promote it,” president Klaus Iohannis emphasised. PM Marcel Ciolacu pointed out that the Union is an example of how an important political project undertaken in accordance with the will of the people can become reality. Romanians enjoy an extended weekend on this occasion, as Union Day has been declared a public holiday. Many have chosen to spend it in mountain resorts. However, as protests are announced in addition to many events planned throughout the country, over 22,000 interior ministry employees are mobilised to ensure public order and peace.

     

    PROTEST Railway workers, reserve officers, police staff, miners, foresters, steelworkers, Bucharest Metro employees and pensioners announced their participation today in a protest rally in front of the Government headquarters. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend. People are unhappy with the government order that froze salary increases at the beginning of this year, and because public pensions are no longer adjusted to the inflation rate. A reorganisation of central public institutions and state-owned companies was also announced these days. According to PM Marcel Ciolacu, restructuring the public sector is a priority for the current governing coalition comprising the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

     

    ELECTIONS The Liberals will convene on Sunday in a special National Council meeting to validate the former party president Crin Antonescu as the joint candidate of the ruling coalition in Romania in the presidential elections in May. The Social Democrats scheduled a special congress on February 2 for the same purpose, and UDMR will make its decision at the beginning of next week. The first and second rounds of the presidential elections are scheduled for May 4 and 18. So far, the mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, the independent candidate Călin Georgescu and the president of Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, have announced plans to run for president. The latter two were top placed in the presidential elections canceled last year. After the first election round on November 24 was validated, the Constitutional Court of Romania canceled the election as a whole on December 6, although voting in the second round had already begun abroad. The Court made its decision after the Supreme Defence Council published a report indicating foreign interference in the electoral process, but investigations have so far failed to confirm it. Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to demand that the second round be resumed.

     

    CORRUPTION The mayor of the popular Romanian mountain resort of Sinaia, the Liberal Vlad Oprea, was placed under court supervision on Thursday, with bail set at over EUR 100,000, as part of a corruption-related investigation. Charges of abuse of office also entailed a ban on him holding the mayor position. According to prosecutors with the National Anticorruption Directorate, among other things, Vlad Oprea allegedly demanded and received almost EUR 240,000 in bribe from a businessman, in exchange for expediting the paperwork for the building of a hotel in the resort.

     

    EXPULSION The Romanian Embassy in Belgrade has asked for clarifications from the Serbian authorities as to why a Romanian national was expelled from the country. Other EU and third country citizens taking part in an NGO training workshop were also involved in the incident. The Romanian, a member of an organisation involved in social projects, was taken to a police station in Belgrade, along with other participants in the workshop. Without explanation, but citing national security reasons, they were ordered to leave Serbia within 24 hours, and banned from entering this country for one year. The Romanian national left the country safely. The expulsion of EU citizens from Serbia is unprecedented.

     

    FOOTBALL Romanian football champions FCSB defeated the Azerbaijani side Qarabag FK, 3-2 on Thursday evening in Baku, in the 7th round of the Europa League. With this important win, FCSB not only secured its ticket for the next stage of the competition, but also has a good chance of qualifying straight for the round of 16. On January 30, the Romanians will play in Bucharest against the English team Manchester United. (AMP)

  • March 21, 2024

    March 21, 2024

    SUMMITS Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis participates on Thursday and Friday in the Nuclear Energy summit, the European Council proceedings and the extended Euro Summit underway in Brussels. According to a communiqué by the presidential administration in Bucharest, the Nuclear Energy Summit, staged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Kingdom of Belgium is today offering the heads of state and government the occasion of sharing a vision concerning the key role of the nuclear energy in reaching climate neutrality, energy security and economic development. The European Council is kicking off today with a working visit by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, which also includes an opinion exchange on the geo-political situation and present global challenges, mainly in the Middle East and the situation in Ukraine, a country invaded by the Russian troops. Emphasis will be laid on the continuation of the multidimensional support for Kyiv, including military support. President Iohannis will emphasize the fact that the neighboring Romania remains one of Ukraine’s firm supporters and plead for the continuation of the multidimensional support, including humanitarian, military and concerning the transit of the Ukrainian grain as long as it takes.’

     

    ELECTION Bucharest’s mayor Nicusor Dan has withdrawn the main executive prerogatives of the Liberal deputy mayor Stelian Bujduveanu, after physician Catalin Cirstoiu was announced the joint candidate for the Bucharest mayor seat by the PSD – PNL alliance. With support from the United Right Alliance, Nicusor Dan is running for a second term in office. In another development, the Central Technical Committee for coordinating the election for the local administration and the European Parliament on June 9th convened for a first session on Wednesday. The vice-president of the Permanent Election Authority, Marian Muhulet said there are no special challenges this year, in which Romania will be seeing all the four types of election, while the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu has made an appeal for transparency and equidistance in the process of staging fair election.

     

    PLAN Romania has two years to accomplish all the objectives assumed in the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience known as PNRR, a financial support package consisting of loans and grants mainly aimed at eliminating the issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The warning was launched in Bucharest by the European Commission officials in charge of PNRR implementation. During the conference aimed at assessing the PNRR implementation in Romania, officials have cautioned against a potential situation that if Romania fails to meet the targets, the country can find itself in the situation of reimbursing the money. The Romanian officials however, have given assurances the Plan has generally achieved headway since last year.

    (bill)

     

  • Elections and campaign statements in Romania

    Elections and campaign statements in Romania

     

    The orthopaedic surgeon Cătălin Cîrstoiu (50), a dean at the “Carol Davila” Medical School in Bucharest and the manager of the Emergency University Hospital in the capital city, is running for mayor general of Bucharest.

     

    He was introduced as the joint candidate of the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party. The Social Democrats’ president, PM Marcel Ciolacu criticised the work of the incumbent mayor general and said Bucharest needed someone to coordinate a team, to be a manager and a catalyst of high performance in all areas.

     

    His coalition partner, the Liberal leader Nicolae Ciucă, spoke about consistency and cohesion in the Bucharest local administration, and about a common denominator for what the City Hall and the district mayors should do.

     

    The appointment was criticised by Save Romania Union in opposition, which backs the incumbent mayor Nicuşor Dan for a new term in office.

     

    Another 2 candidacies have already been announced: the incumbent mayor of Bucharest’s district 5, Cristian Popescu Piedone, backed by the Humanist Social Liberal Party, and Mihai Enache, backed by AUR party in opposition.

     

    Cătălin Cîrstoiu’s campaign will be managed by Gabriela Firea, the president of PSD Bucharest, and by her Liberal counterpart, Sebastian Burduja, 2 politicians who had previously announced their own plans to run for mayor general in Bucharest.

     

    Cătălin Cîrstoiu explained why he accepted the challenge of running for office:

     

    Cătălin Cîrstoiu: “As a physician with a sense of civic engagement, I have reached the conclusion that health is not only about the methods employed in hospitals. Patients’ health is tremendously influenced by clean air, by efficient public transportation, by an efficient road infrastructure. In short, by a beneficial environment in which, when it comes to the City Hall, citizens do not need to claim their rights, but rather they find these rights as a given.”

     

    Shortly after the new candidate was introduced, the Bucharest mayor general, Nicuşor Dan, stripped the Liberal deputy mayor Stelian Bujduveanu of his main executive powers. “For 3 years we had a right-wing majority in the Bucharest Local Council, made up the of the National Liberal Party, USR and the People’s Movement Party, but now the Liberals have decided to form another majority with the Social Democrats, which no longer matches the position the deputy mayor was holding,” Nicuşor Dan explained.

     

    Stelian Bujduveanu coordinated areas such as transportation and acted as a liaison with the Bucharest Street Administration and the Bucharest Public Transport Corporation. These responsibilities have now been taken over by the mayor general himself.

     

    Meanwhile, the Central Technical Committee coordinating the organisation of local and European elections convened for the first time on Wednesday. Citizens will be invited to polls first on 9 June, when local and European elections are to be held concurrently. Also this year, presidential elections are scheduled in September and general elections will be held in December. The Constitutional Court Wednesday dismissed a notification submitted by the opposition against bringing forward the presidential election, so the first round will be held on 15 September and the second on the 29 September. (AMP)

  • June 22, 2023

    June 22, 2023

    AID In today’s
    Cabinet meeting, the government is to pass a resolution concerning emergency
    aid granted to the citizens affected by extreme weather conditions this year. The
    emergency aid totals EUR 1.4 million. Households in the centre, south-west and
    south of the country have been hit by heavy rainfalls and other extreme weather
    conditions this month, requiring the intervention of military firefighters.


    VISIT Economic cooperation and handling the crises
    caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine were the main topics on the agenda of the
    talks held in Chişinău on Wednesday by the PM of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, and
    of Moldova, Dorin Recean. The latter thanked Bucharest for the support given to
    Moldova in its EU accession efforts, and mentioned that bilateral relations are
    consolidated through the construction of roads, bridges and energy networks. During
    his visit to Chișinău, Marcel Ciolacu was accompanied by the Senate speaker
    Nicolae Ciucă.


    NATURAL GAS The manager of OMV Petrom, Christina Verchere, Thursday
    said that in 2027 the first amounts of natural gas would be extracted through
    the Neptun Deep project, turning Romania into the largest natural gas producer
    in the EU. The statements were made at the government’s headquarters in
    Bucharest, where OMV Petrom and Romgaz made an announcement concerning the
    development of Neptun Deep, the largest natural gas project in the Romanian
    part of the Black Sea. Spanning 2 decades, the project is expected to generate
    a gas output 30 times higher than the annual demand, which covers 4.3 million
    households. The estimated revenues to the Romanian state will be around EUR 20
    bln. Neptun Deep is a major step for our 2030 strategy, aimed at supporting
    Romania’s and the region’s energy transition, the OMV Petrom executive added.


    INVESTMENT The European Investment Bank Thursday announced new
    funding for Romania. The total EUR 675 mln will go into transport, urban
    development and small enterprises. EUR 600 mln will be earmarked for the
    transport sector, to add to the EU recovery and resilience funding. The EIB
    Group and Romania mark 30 years of partnership, with over EUR 17 bln granted by
    the bank in more than 170 financing projects since the start of its operations
    in the country. Given the progress of Romania’s economy over the past 30 years,
    I am proud that the EIB Group was able to help, providing financing for better schools,
    hospitals, public infrastructure, universities and transport, and supporting
    climate action and small enterprises, said the EIB vice-president, Lilyana
    Pavlova, in an event in Bucharest. In turn, Marjut Falkstedt, chief executive
    of the European Investment Fund, emphasised that so far the EIF provided
    financial support to more than 56,000 Romanian enterprises.


    MAYOR The former
    mayor of Bucharest’s districts 4 and 5, Cristian Popescu-Piedone, was released
    from prison on Wednesday, after the supreme court admitted his appeal for
    cancellation. The former mayor has served 1 year out of a 4-year prison
    sentence for abuse of office in the Colectiv investigation. He is now entitled
    to resume his office as mayor of district 5. The High Court of Cassation
    however dismissed the appeals of the other individuals sentenced in the same
    case. The head of the Colectiv Association, Eugen Iancu, said the release of
    the ex-mayor was not surprising, given that the officials who authorised the
    operation of the Colectiv night club had also been freed. Justice in Romania is
    an overpaid embarrassment, Iancu said. On the night of 30 October 2015, 64 youth
    died in a fire during a rock concert in the Colectiv night club. After legal
    proceedings spanning several years, prison sentences were given to mayor
    Piedone, the club owners, the firefighters who inspected the club without
    taking the required fire safety measures and the pyrotechnicians in charge of
    the fireworks during the show.


    UKRAINE The US will provide USD 1.3 million worth of
    additional aid for the Ukrainian economy, particularly its essential
    infrastructure, the US State Secretary Antony Blinken announced at the
    International Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. In turn, the European
    Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, promised the bloc would create a
    EUR 50 bln fund for Kyiv in the next 4 years. Scores of high-ranking
    politicians and business people from around the world take part in the
    conference. Romania is represented by its new foreign minister, Luminiţa
    Odobescu.



    FOOTBALL Romania lost 3-0 to Spain in Bucharest on Wednesday night, in the Under-21
    European football championships that the country is hosting jointly with Georgia. Romania plays in B, alongside
    Spain, Ukraine and Croatia. The final tournament takes place between 21 June
    and 8 July and brings together 16 teams, divided into 4 groups. Two of them
    play in Romania, in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, and the other 2 in Georgia. Romania
    is also hosting 2 quarter-finals and a semi-final. The top 3 ranking teams in
    the tournament qualify into the Olympic Games due in Paris next year. (AMP)

  • May 13, 2021

    May 13, 2021

    ALERT As of today, the state of alert in Romania is extended by another month. Some restrictions have been lifted, however, such as the one regarding participation in religious processions or pilgrimages. Other measures still remain in place. Pilot cultural and sports events will also be organised, with attendance allowed for people who have got the vaccine, who have recovered from COVID-19 in the past 3 months, or who test negative for the disease. Private or public celebrations or parties, whether indoors or outdoors, are still banned.



    COVID-19 President Klaus Iohannis has a working meeting scheduled today with PM Florin Cîţu, several other Cabinet members, the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, and the head of the National Infectious Disease Monitoring and Control Centre with the Public Health Institute, Adriana Pistol. Also attending will be deputy PM Dan Barna, the interior minister Lucian Bode, the defence minister Nicolae Ciucă, and the health minister Ioana Mihăilă. The meeting will focus on the lifting of COVID-19 containment measures. Some 130,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses are scheduled to reach Bucharest today. So far, Romania has received over 2.2 million vaccine doses from the British-Swedish company. More than 3.7 million people have received Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca jabs in Romania, and two-thirds of them have also got the booster dose. Meanwhile, the entire country is in the so-called green scenario. According to the Strategic Communication Group, the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in Bucharest is 1.42 per thousand. On Thursday 953 new COVID-19 cases and 75 related deaths were reported, as well as 829 patients in intensive care.



    CONFERENCE The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias co-chair today an informal conference call of EU foreign ministers. Also attending the online meeting are the foreign ministers of Albania, Olta Xhacka and of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani, as well as EU officials. According to the Romanian foreign ministry, Bogdan Aurescu will emphasise that ‘the EU enlargement process must remain a major priority for the Union, given the transforming power of this European policy.’ Todays meeting takes place after a recent meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, which included a strategic discussion on the Western Balkans, at the request of Romania and other member states.



    VISIT The Romanian Senate Speaker Anca Dragu is on a 3-day official visit to Spain, as of today, at the invitation of her counterpart Maria Pilar Llop Cuenca. The visit is aimed at strengthening political dialogue and the traditional friendship between the 2 countries. On the same occasion, in the Patio de los Naranjos Hall of the Spanish Senate, an Exhibition of Romanian and Spanish Diplomatic Archives will be opened. The exhibition is devoted to the 140 years of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries. The Romanian delegation will also have online meetings with members of the Romanian community in Spain, and will visit the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre and the EU Satellite Centre.



    CORRUPTION The former mayor of Bucharests Sector 5, Marian Vanghelie, was sentenced on Thursday to 11 years and 8 months in prison, in a corruption case. The ruling is not final. He was also ordered to pay damages of over 15 million euro to the Bucharest Sector 5 City Hall. Marian Vanghelie was indicted in 2015 for 9 counts of bribe-taking and abuse of office and 7 counts of money laundering. According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, in 2006 – 2014, Marian Vanghelie, then a mayor, asked for and received undue benefits in the amount of nearly 30 million euro (accounting for a fee of 20% of the contracts). A former member of the Social Democratic Party (in opposition), Marian Vanghelie was a mayor between 2000 and 2016, and in the 2020 local elections he ran unsuccessfully for a new term in office.



    ISRAEL Hamas fired rockets on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem early on Thursday, with Israel promising to carry on strikes against the Islamist group in Gaza, although the US president Joe Biden had said the clashes, the most violent in recent years, will be over soon, Reuters reports. Over 1,000 rockets fired from Gaza strip on Monday hit Israel, and scores of people were killed and hundreds wounded so far, mostly Palestinians. The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, called for the de-escalation of the conflict.



    TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, number 3 in the world, announced having suffered a torn calf muscle which forced her out of the Italian Open, in Wednesdays match against Germanys Angelique Kerber. She says she will have an MRI investigation to determine how serious the injury is. The defending champion in Foro Italico, the Romanian player withdrew in the second set of the match against Kerber, after she had won the first set. Given the preliminary diagnosis, she risks missing the Roland Garros tournament due to start on May 30. Halep won the Paris tournament in 2018. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • October 23, 2020 UPDATE

    October 23, 2020 UPDATE

    COVID-19 A new record-high number of new SARS-CoV-2
    cases in 24 hours in Romania, 5,028 out of 35,351 tests, was reported on
    Friday. So far, 201,032 people have tested positive for the virus, and 144,429
    of them have recovered. The Strategic Communication Group also announced that
    another 82 people died, taking the death toll to 6,245. A total of 10,427
    COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalised, 782 of them in intensive care-the
    largest number so far. Of the Romanians living abroad, 6,851 have so far
    tested positive, and the number of deaths remains 126, the authorities also
    announced.


    PANDEMIC Global coronavirus cases are nearing 42 million, while the number
    of fatalities has passed 1.14 million, according to Worldometers.info. Europe
    is seeing a large number of infections in the second wave. Spain has passed 1
    million cases. Ireland has seen over 2,000 daily cases and its government has
    imposed strict measures. The UK has also reported its highest number of daily
    cases, 27,000. Germany has also seen a record number of new 11,000 infections.
    Poland’s PM announced on Friday that the entire country would be classified as
    COVID red zone, with restaurants and primary schools partly closed down. The
    Warsaw National Stadium will be converted into a temporary field hospital and
    similar facilities will be arranged elsewhere in the country, after over 13,600
    new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. On Friday Slovakia initiated a
    3-week mass testing programme. Belgium and Czech Republic have the highest
    number of infections per number of inhabitants. Beginning on Saturday, Greece
    will impose travel restrictions in Athens, Thessaloniki and other badly hit areas.
    France has extended its night curfew imposed in the main cities to most of the
    country, beginning on Saturday.


    MOBILITY On Friday the government of Romania challenged several provisions
    in the EU Mobility Package I at the Court of Justice of the EU. Bucharest views
    these provisions as having a negative impact on the domestic market and
    affecting competitiveness of commodity transport in the Union. The move concerns,
    among other things, the ban drivers on taking their compulsory weekly rest
    hours on board of vehicles, the obligation for drivers to return to the
    employer’s office or to their place of residence on a regular basis, and the
    obligation to return vehicles to a company office within 8 weeks from
    departure. The claim submitted to the Court of Justice of the EU follows
    repeated efforts by the Romanian authorities against the restrictive and
    disproportionate nature of these provisions in the Mobility Package I, the
    Romanian Foreign Ministry said. Romania voted against the 3 regulations,
    alongside 8 other EU member states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
    Lithuania, Malta and Poland).


    VISIT Romania’s PM Ludovic Orban will be on an official visit to
    France on Monday and Tuesday. According to the Romanian Government, Ludovic
    Orban will have meetings with his French counterpart Jean Castex, with the
    speakers of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, and the Senate, Gerard
    Larcher, and with the leader of the centre-right party ‘Les Republicains’,
    Christian Jacob. The Romanian PM will also take part in a meeting of the
    Council of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The visit
    also includes a meeting with members of the Romanian community in France.


    CORRUPTION The Liberal George Scripcaru, the outgoing
    mayor of Braşov in central Romania, has been charged with blackmail and is
    under judicial supervision. According to the National Anti-Corruption
    Directorate, while running for a new seat he threatened to cause problems to an
    advertising company unless it posted his election ads on public transport buses
    in the city. On September 27, Scripcaru lost the election to Allen Coliban
    (Save Romania Union). Meanwhile, 2 former mayors of the Black Sea port city of Constanţa,
    Decebal Făgădău and Radu Mazăre, both from the Social Democratic Party, have
    been indicted in a new corruption case. They are accused of having unlawfully authorised
    the construction of a luxury building on a beach.


    NATO The Romanian defence minister Nicolae Ciucă
    took part on Friday in a conference call of NATO defence ministers. The online
    meeting focused on ongoing Allied missions and operations, with a focus on
    those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nicolae Ciucă reiterated Romania’s commitment to
    NATO missions, in a flexibly planned contribution that enables its
    reconfiguring in line to future Allied decisions and the dynamic of specific
    operational needs.


    FOOTBALL The Romanian football champions CFR Cluj on Thursday night defeated the
    Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia 2-nil in their opening Europa League Group A match.
    In the same group, the Italian side AS Rome defeated the Swiss side BSC Young
    Boys 2-1. Next week, AS Rome will be playing CSKA Sofia and CFR will be playing
    BSC Young Boys. Eliminated from the Champions League in the preliminary
    matches, CFR are the only Romanian side in the European competitions this year.
    (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • Local elections in Romania

    Local elections in Romania

    Strict healthcare protection rules, including face covering, hand disinfection on entering and leaving the polling stations and physical distancing of at least one metre, were for the first time in history implemented for the local elections held on Sunday in Romania.



    The COVID-19 had already disrupted the calendar of local elections, originally due in June and postponed over the pandemic. All local elected officials saw their terms in office extended by 6 months, which fuelled voters eagerness to refresh local administration.



    In all, 41 county council chair positions, over 1,300 county councillor and 40,000 local councillor seats and around 3,200 mayor offices were up for election. The turnout at national level was 46%, which is only 2% lower than in the previous elections, when people were not facing coronavirus infection fears.



    The least interested in the vote were the citizens of the capital city Bucharest: only 37% of them voted, which is still more than 4 years ago. Bucharest accounts for one-tenth of Romanias voters, and except for the president of the country, the mayor of Bucharest is the one who gets voted by the largest number of people.



    The capital city is the richest in the country, with economic and social indicators above the EU average, and the most dynamic, in terms of demographics, and as such, the Bucharest mayor post is a trophy desired by all political parties.



    The new mayor of Bucharest is mathematician and civil rights activist Nicuşor Dan. The NGO he founded years ago, Save Bucharest Union, is the seed that gave rise to todays Save Romania Union, the third-largest party in Parliament. Somewhere along the way, for ideological reasons, Dan left the party he had started, but his candidacy was backed both by its former colleagues and by the Liberals in power.



    After he lost the 2016 ballot for the same post, Dan now won by a comfortable margin, defeating the outgoing Social-Democratic mayor Gabriela Firea. A high-profile anchor for a left-wing TV station, 4 years ago Firea was the first woman and also the first Social Democrat to win the Bucharest mayoralty.



    She ran for re-election on Sunday backed by the strongest party in Parliament, but with an image affected by a rather modest performance while in office. Bucharest is suffocated by pollution, paralysed by traffic congestion, with a bankrupt heating agency and still inadequate infrastructure.



    Along with Gabriela Firea, all 6 Bucharest sectors elected Social Democratic mayors 4 years ago. This year however, the candidates backed by the Liberals and Save Romania-PLUS won half of these seats.



    The competition between the 2 main political forces was tight across the country as well. Whereas the Social Democrats managed to keep many of their strongholds in the south and east of the country, the Liberals did the same in the west. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania remains the top player in the centre, where ethnic Hungarians make up a majority of the population.



    Voted by one-third of the people of Bucharest, which is equal to what the Social Democrats got and almost double the Liberals score, Save Romania-Plus won a few county capitals as well: Timişoara (west), Braşov (centre), Bacău (east).



    Although mocked by many, ex-president Traian Băsescus attempt to return as mayor of Bucharest at nearly 70 years of age and almost 2 decades after leaving this office did a lot of good to his party, the Peoples Movement, which went above the 5% threshold in Bucharest.



    Local election scores are, according to analysts, a starting point in designing the strategies political parties will adopt for the parliamentary elections due this December.


    (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • Local elections in Romania

    Local elections in Romania

    Strict healthcare protection rules, including face covering, hand disinfection on entering and leaving the polling stations and physical distancing of at least one metre, were for the first time in history implemented for the local elections held on Sunday in Romania.



    The COVID-19 had already disrupted the calendar of local elections, originally due in June and postponed over the pandemic. All local elected officials saw their terms in office extended by 6 months, which fuelled voters eagerness to refresh local administration.



    In all, 41 county council chair positions, over 1,300 county councillor and 40,000 local councillor seats and around 3,200 mayor offices were up for election. The turnout at national level was 46%, which is only 2% lower than in the previous elections, when people were not facing coronavirus infection fears.



    The least interested in the vote were the citizens of the capital city Bucharest: only 37% of them voted, which is still more than 4 years ago. Bucharest accounts for one-tenth of Romanias voters, and except for the president of the country, the mayor of Bucharest is the one who gets voted by the largest number of people.



    The capital city is the richest in the country, with economic and social indicators above the EU average, and the most dynamic, in terms of demographics, and as such, the Bucharest mayor post is a trophy desired by all political parties.



    The new mayor of Bucharest is mathematician and civil rights activist Nicuşor Dan. The NGO he founded years ago, Save Bucharest Union, is the seed that gave rise to todays Save Romania Union, the third-largest party in Parliament. Somewhere along the way, for ideological reasons, Dan left the party he had started, but his candidacy was backed both by its former colleagues and by the Liberals in power.



    After he lost the 2016 ballot for the same post, Dan now won by a comfortable margin, defeating the outgoing Social-Democratic mayor Gabriela Firea. A high-profile anchor for a left-wing TV station, 4 years ago Firea was the first woman and also the first Social Democrat to win the Bucharest mayoralty.



    She ran for re-election on Sunday backed by the strongest party in Parliament, but with an image affected by a rather modest performance while in office. Bucharest is suffocated by pollution, paralysed by traffic congestion, with a bankrupt heating agency and still inadequate infrastructure.



    Along with Gabriela Firea, all 6 Bucharest sectors elected Social Democratic mayors 4 years ago. This year however, the candidates backed by the Liberals and Save Romania-PLUS won half of these seats.



    The competition between the 2 main political forces was tight across the country as well. Whereas the Social Democrats managed to keep many of their strongholds in the south and east of the country, the Liberals did the same in the west. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania remains the top player in the centre, where ethnic Hungarians make up a majority of the population.



    Voted by one-third of the people of Bucharest, which is equal to what the Social Democrats got and almost double the Liberals score, Save Romania-Plus won a few county capitals as well: Timişoara (west), Braşov (centre), Bacău (east).



    Although mocked by many, ex-president Traian Băsescus attempt to return as mayor of Bucharest at nearly 70 years of age and almost 2 decades after leaving this office did a lot of good to his party, the Peoples Movement, which went above the 5% threshold in Bucharest.



    Local election scores are, according to analysts, a starting point in designing the strategies political parties will adopt for the parliamentary elections due this December.


    (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • December 30, 2019

    December 30, 2019

    GOVERNMENT The Government of Romania convened today for its last meeting this year. At Fridays meeting PM Ludovic Orban instructed his ministers to make sure the bills regulating the activity of ministries have all the required approvals in place, so that they may be endorsed today by the Cabinet. Orban explained that these bills must be approved so that the new Cabinet formula may be operational as of January 1. The number of deputy prime ministers has been reduced from 3 to 1, and the number of ministries has been cut from 24, as previous, to 16.




    CORRUPTION Nicolae Robu, the Liberal mayor of Timişoara (the largest city in western Romania), and the former Christian Democratic mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu, have been sent to court by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate under charges of abuse of office. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, between September 1996 and January 2014, 9 civil servants in the Timişoara City Hall overstepped their powers and illegally sold 207 buildings owned by the mayoralty to individuals who had no right to purchase them. The affair caused the state to lose over 9.5 million euro.




    TOURISM Winter tourism is on the rise in most EU member countries, but the biggest increase is reported in Romania, where the number of nights spent in accommodation facilities in the 2018-2019 season was 8.6% higher than in the previous winter, according to data released today by Eurostat. The increase rate reported for Romania is almost 4 times the EU average of 2.6%. The most popular destinations in the EU in the 2018-2019 winter season were Spain, Italy, the UK, Austria, Germany and France.




    STRIKE France sees the 25th day of strikes against a planned pension reform, with the next negotiations between the Government and trade unions scheduled on January 7. According to Radio Romanias correspondent in Paris, the Transport Minister promised that there would be enough trains for all passengers who had purchased tickets. Unions are currently divided over the provisions of the pension reform legislation. Meanwhile, ministers carry on talks with the employees with whom they have reached some agreements. Airline personnel have already cancelled a strike planned for January 2 and 3, after they secured derogations regarding their retirement age. Other professional categories, such as the police and gendarmes, have also got some advantages in the negotiations.




    CHILDREN The number of attacks on children in conflict areas has nearly tripled over the past decade, UNICEF warns in a news release issued today. The agency documented over 170,000 severe violations of childrens rights in conflict zones since 2010, including killing, maiming, sexual violence, abduction, aid denial, recruitment into armed groups, and attacks on schools and hospitals. UNICEF also says that the number of countries affected by war is the highest in 30 years. According to the organisation, Attacks on children continue unabated as warring parties flout one of the most basic rules of war: the protection of children. In Afghanistan, Mali, Syria or Yemen, conflicts are costing millions of children their health, education, future and lives, UNICEF also said, and called for an end to childrens rights violations and to attacks on civilian infrastructure.




    HANDBALL Romanias mens national handball team Sunday lost 24 to 20 to North Macedonia in the final of the 42nd Carpaţi Trophy. The Netherlands defeated Algeria and finished 3rd. The games were part of the training campaign for the first stage of the 2021 Egypt World Championships qualifiers, the first in which 32 teams will take part. Next month in the preliminaries in Italy, Romania will be playing against the host country, Georgia and Kosovo.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • May 13, 2019 UPDATE

    May 13, 2019 UPDATE

    JUDICIARY The European Commission confirmed on Monday that its first vice-president, Frans Timmermans, sent a new letter to the Romanian authorities on Friday, warning against the developments related to the rule of law in Romania. As the EC spokesman Margaritis Schinas put it, “The main concerns relate to developments interfering with judicial independence and the effective fight against corruption, including the protection of financial interests of the EU and particularly to the recently adopted amendments to the criminal code that create a de facto impunity for crimes. He added that unless these concerns are addressed or if further negative measures are taken, such as the promulgation of the latest amendments to the criminal legislation, the Commission will immediately activate the rules for safeguarding the rule of law and will suspend the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. This is the instrument used by the Commission to monitor developments in the Romanian judiciary ever since the country joined the bloc in 2007. On April 24, the European Commission announced it would closely monitor the draft amendments to the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, and reiterated that Romania must immediately resume reforms in this field.



    EASTERN PARTNERSHIP Brussels is hosting for 2 days several events marking the 10th anniversary of the Eastern partnership. Romania is represented by the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, and the foreign minister, Teodor Melescanu. Officials for the 28 EU member states and the 6 partner states, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, are assessing the progress made in an ambitious schedule for the coming year, aimed at ensuring concrete benefits for the citizens of the entire region, by means of efforts targeting stronger economies, governments and societies. The Eastern Partnership is an initiative that consists in the creation of a common area of democracy, prosperity, stability and close cooperation between the EU and the partner countries.



    POLL The Army, the Church and the Romanian Academy are the institutions Romanian trust the most, according to the public opinion Barometre released on Monday by the Romanian Academy. The survey indicates that 68% of the respondents have “a lot of confidence in the Army, around 57% in the Church and over 45% in the Romanian Academy. Next come, in descending order, the Police, the Presidency, the National Bank of Romania, the City Hall, the Mass Media, the Constitutional Court, the Government, Parliament and the political parties. As for the international institutions, Romanians have “a lot of confidence in NATO – over 56%, EU – more than 55%, the UN – over 52%. The survey was conducted between April 12 and May 3.



    CORRUPTION The Bucharest Court Monday sentenced a former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, to four and a half years in prison for bribe-taking, and dismissed the charges of money laundering. The ruling is not final and may be appealed against. In November 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate indicted Sorin Oprescu for bribe-taking, money laundering, abuse of office and forming an organised crime group. Sorin Oprescu, a former member of the Social Democratic Party, was elected mayor of Bucharest in 2008, running as a non-affiliated candidate, and won a second term in office in 2012.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • May 23, 2018 UPDATE

    May 23, 2018 UPDATE

    Country report — The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced it took note of the country- specific recommendations published by the European Commission as part of the European Semester 2018 spring package. The Romanian officials says they will coordinate the drafting of the national stand on this issue, in order to ensure an active participation in the decision-making process that will materialize in the adoption of the recommendations by the Council of the European Union. The Foreign Ministry officials also say that the Country Report for 2018 includes Romania among the member states without macroeconomic imbalances. In the country-specific recommendations 2018 report the EU officials pointed to the fact that the recent reduction of contributions to Pension Pillar 2 diminished, on short term, fiscal concerns, but the move could have negative consequences for the development of the capital markets. Contributions to the Pension Pillar 2 were reduced from 5.1% to 3.75% from gross salaries starting in 2018, although, under the law, the contribution quota to Pillar 2 should have grown gradually to 6% of the gross salary- EU experts have said.



    Brussels — Romania complies, at present, with one of the 4 economic criteria necessary for the adoption of the single currency, namely the criterion related to public finances- shows the 2018 convergence report published Wednesday by the European Commission. However Bucharest fails to meet the criteria related to price stability, the currency exchange rate and the long-term interest rates and the Romanian legislation is not entirely compatible with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In March, the Romanian Government decided to set up a national commission for the substantiation of the national plan for the adoption of the Euro, which, according to experts, might occur in 2022 at the earliest.



    New York — The chief prosecutor of the Romanian National Anti-Corruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi on Wednesday stated in a speech delivered at the UN headquarters in New York that Romania’s biggest challenge was to maintain the independence of judges and prosecutors. Chief prosecutor Kovesi said that there were repeated attempts at changing the anti-corruption legislation aimed at limiting the legislative instruments used by the anti-corruption prosecutors and at decriminalizing certain crimes of corruption. The debate attended by Laura Codruta Kovesi in New York marks the anniversary of 15 years since the adoption of the UN Convention against Corruption.



    Chisinau — The Central Electoral Committee in the Republic of Moldova announced on Wednesday that the 2nd round of the early elections for the new mayor of Chisinau would take place on June 3. After Sunday’s first round, still running in the race for mayor are Socialist Ion Ceban, close to the pro-Russian president Igor Dodon, who received 41% of the votes and the candidate of the Platform Dignity and Truth, a former pro-European civic activist, Andrei Năstase, with 32% of the votes. According to Radio Romania’s correspondents to Chisinau, 5 out of the 9 candidates eliminated in the first round expressed their support for Năstase, to prevent hostile forces opposed to Moldova’s European accession to come to power.



    EU — The EU’s popularity is growing, shows a survey made public one year ahead of the elections scheduled for May 23- 26, 2019, the first elections after Brexit. 67% of the interviewees said that their country benefited from the status of EU member, the percentage growing constantly as of October 2016 when the community bloc was faced with the migration crisis and lost people’s trust after the Brexit vote. The survey was ordered by the European Parliament and was conducted in April on a number of 27,601 people from all the 28 EU members. (news translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)

  • 7 September, 2015

    7 September, 2015

    Prosecutors with the higher court in Bucharest have placed under preventive detention the mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, under charges of bribery. Several of his subordinates and associates have also been detained for questioning in this same case. His arrest did not come as a surprise to commentators, who had pointed out that over the last few months a number of public servants ranking high in City Hall had been convicted of corruption. Find out more after the news.



    Romanian PM Victor Ponta and Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici submit today a bill in the lower chamber of the Romanian Parliament to reform public procurement. The head of the government claims such a reform is necessary because the present regulations cause unspent moneys to accrue without the possibility of being spent. At the same time, Chamber of Deputies chairman Valeriu Zgonea is set to present the principles for absentee voting. He is in favor of the speedy passing of a bill to provide the necessary resources for the ballot to be fair and guarantee Romanians living abroad the proper exercise of this fundamental right.



    World nr. 2 in womens tennis, Simona Halep of Romania, plays in the eighth finals of the last Grand Slam this year, the US Open, against Sabine Lisicki of Germany, ranked 24th. The Romanian player leads 3-1. She will also play in the quarter finals of the mixed doubles, joining another Romanian star, Horia Tecau. The two will face off against the fourth favorite pair, Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India. Tecau will also join his long time partner in the doubles, Jean-Julien Rojer, against the US pair Eric Butorac/ Scott Lipsky.



    The George Enescu International Festival continues in Bucharest. Performing today is the San Francisco Symphony, directed by Michael Tilson Thomas, part of the Great World Orchestras cycle. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen conducted by Trevor Pinnock plays as part of the Chamber Recital cycle. Through 20th of September, over 3,000 Romanian and foreign artists take part in the most prestigious music event in the country. This edition also features the London Symphony Orchestra, under Romanian conductor Ion Marins baton.



    A strategic inter-agency exercise, Histria 15, run by the Ministry of Defense will run for two weeks starting today in south eastern Romania, involving around 7,000 personnel from the ministries of defense, interior, justice, transportation, public finance, economy, health and information society, joined by employees of all the intelligence services. This is the largest such exercise ever run in Romania, aiming to prepare for organizing and executing a wide array of missions.



    Tens of thousands of protesters have set up tents in the center of Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, after Sundays widespread marches. They call for President Nicolae Timofti to step down, claiming he represents the interests of elites and does not act against corruption. In early April, Moldovas central bank announced it discovered that three institutions accounting for about a third of the countrys banking assets have granted loans worth about 15% of the GDP to undisclosed parties. Protesters also call for the removal of immunity for elected officials in order to facilitate prosecution.



    Romanian Minister of Agriculture Daniel Constantin request on Monday from European officials emergency support solutions for farmers in Romania hit by the drought, as well as for farmers hit by the dairy crisis. He attends in Brussels the meeting of the European Council for Agriculture and Fishing. The debates, chaired by Luxembourg, focus on hardships in farming across Europe. Talks will also be held at the level of commissions to identify concrete means of applying solutions.