ELECTION – Saturday is the
last day before the European Parliament election scheduled for Sunday. A total
of 13 political factions and three independent candidates are running for the
33 seats in the European Parliament. The European Council will announce the 33rd
seat only after Brexit takes effect. Romanians abroad will vote in 441 polling stations,
most of which were set up in Italy, Spain and Moldova. Romanians on Sunday will
also vote in the referendum on the judiciary called by President Klaus
Iohannis.
UK – The British PM Theresa May
announced on Friday that she will step down on June 7th, in response
to calls from the Tories to allow a new leader to try and overcome the Brexit
standoff, Reuters reports. The procedures for appointing a new prime minister
will most likely begin on June 10th. Depending on the number of
candidates, the process might take until autumn, but the Conservative Party is
hoping to step up the procedure and to be in a position to announce a new
leader by the end of July.
MILITARY – Five Romanian military were
wounded on Friday in Afghanistan while patrolling with US soldiers, the Defense
Ministry has announced. The vehicle they were in was attacked with an IED. They
were transported to the hospital of a military base and are now awake and
stable. The five are part of Sfantul Andrei 300 battalion from Galati, deployed
in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. Nearly a thousand Romanian soldiers are
currently involved in external operations under NATO, EU or UN command, while
in previous years their number exceeded 2,500. Over the years 29 Romanian
military died and another 180 were wounded in military operations abroad.
POPE – Dacia Group Renault has
announced Pope Francis will travel on the streets of Bucharest using a Duster
make. Three years ago, during his visit to Armenia, the Pope traveled from the
airport to the capital Yerevan in a white Logan model manufactured by Dacia. On
the other hand online registrations continue for the masses the Pope will
celebrate in Romania. Hundreds of thousands of people have already signed up,
in addition to Christians from Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Rwanda,
South Africa, Nigeria, Madagascar, Australia, Israel, Canada, Namibia or
Reunion. Held under the motto Let’s go together!, the visit will have its
first stop in the capital city Bucharest, the largest city in the east of
the country, then Pope Francis will travel to Iasi, the spiritual capital of
Romanian Roman-Catholics, Blaj, where he will beatify 7 bishops killed in
communist prisons, and the Marian shrine in Şumuleu Ciuc. In 1999, Romania was
the first country with a majority Orthodox population to have been visited by a
Pope, i.e. John Paul II 20 years ago.
BLACKMAIL In Bucharest, the rector and deputy rector of the ”Alexandru Ioan
Cuza” Police Academy, Adrian Iacob and Mihail Marcoci respectively, resigned
on Friday after being placed under court supervision by the National
Anti-Corruption Directorate. The two are probed into for suspicions
of having prompted an officer, in April 2019, to send a death threat to
journalist Emilia Şercan, in order to force her to halt a journalist
investigation concerning the Police Academy rector. According to the National
Anti-Corruption Directorate, between March and April this year Emilia Şercan published
a series of articles covering the award of Ph.D. titles by the ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Police
Academy.
TENNIS The Romanian Sorana Cîrstea (93 WTA) on
Friday lost to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, no 39 in the world, 4-6, 5-7 in the semi-finals of the WTA
tournament in Nurnberg (Germany). Cîrstea is one of the 4 Romanians taking part
in the Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the
year, which starts on Sunday. She begins with a very difficult match, against
the Czech Petra Kvitova (6 WTA). Simona Halep, who won the tournament last year
and is currently ranked 3 in the world, plays against the Australian Ajla
Tomljanovic (47 WTA), Mihaela Buzărnescu (30 WTA) against Russian Ekaterina
Alexandrova (60 WTA), and Irina Begu (118 WTA) against Lin Zhu of China (108
WTA). In the men’s competition, the only Romanian in the singles tournament is Marius
Copil (81ATP), playing against Benoit Paire of France (51 ATP).
FOOTBALL – Astra Giurgiu will play Viitorul Constanta on Saturday
in the Romanian Cup final hosted by Ploiesti. We recall CFR Cluj has won the
fifth title in its history and its second in a row. Runner up was FCSB,
followed by Viitorul Constanta.
(Translated by V. Palcu)