SCHEDULE The Holy See has published a detailed schedule of Pope Francis’
visit to Romania. The Pontiff is due to arrive in Romania on May 31st
and be meeting president Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila,
representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps. The Pope is expected
to meet Romanian patriarch Daniel and deliver a speech in front of the
Permanent Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Pope Francis and Patriarch Daniel
will be praying together in the People’s Salvation Cathedral. The Pope’s first
day in Romania will end with a mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bucharest. On
June 1st the Pope will deliver a mass at Sumuleu Ciuc, central
Romania, and will next go to Iasi, in northern Romania for a visit to the local
cathedral and a speech at the Palace of Culture Family and Youth. On June 2nd
in Blaj, Pope Francis will deliver a mass and beatify seven martyr bishops and
meet the local Roma community. The Pontiff will next go to Sibiu in central
Romania and board a plane to Rome. Over 110 thousand people have enlisted to
participate in the mass at Sumuleu Ciuc. The list includes Roman-Catholic
believers from Pakistan, Africa, Madagascar, Australia, Israel and Canada.
CAMPAIGN A campaign for the European Parliament election is to kick
off on Saturday and end on May 25th. Bucharest will send to Brussels 33 MEPs,
one more than before if Britain is going to leave the bloc. Former prime
ministers, a president, several ministers, MEPs and mayors are among the
candidates. Romania’s number one ruling party PSD is favourite in the election
race together with the main opposition party PNL. They are followed by the
opposition USR PLUS alliance and ProRomania as well as by ALDE, also part of
the country’s ruling coalition. UDMR, the ethnic Hungarians’ Union and PMP also
stand chances to win seats in the European Parliament. On the election day, Romanians
are expected to vote on a referendum on justice promoted by the country’s
president Klaus Iohannis.
DECREE Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has today issued a
decree on the Referendum on justice, due to take place on May 26th,
concurrently with the European Parliament elections. Citizens are called upon
to have their say on making illegal amnesty and pardoning on corruption charges
as well as emergency ordinances in graft cases. The president’s move comes
against the background of numerous legislative amendments in the judiciary
promoted by Parliament majority and the PSD-ALDE cabinet. These controversial
amendments have attracted a lot of heat in Romania as well as from the
country’s European partners. Parliament has endorsed the president’s request
for the referendum.
TENNIS The Romanian-Dutch pair Horia Tecau/Jean Julien Rojer will today
be playing Jamie Murry of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the quarter
finals of the tennis tournament in Barcelona. Tecau and Rojer on Tuesday
defeated 2-0 the all-Spanish pair David Marrero/ Fernando Verdasco while the
British-Brazilian pair comes after a 2-1 win against Ivan Dodig of Croatia and
Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.
DRILL Resolute Castle 2019, a military drill involving the joint
participation of engineers from Romania’s Ground Forces and from South Carolina
National Guard is underway at the Getica training range in Cincu, central
Romania. Romanian engineers from infantry divisions and their US counterparts
will be involved in infrastructure projects in a bid to improve training
facilities in Cincu. Resolute Castle is aimed at increasing the level of
interoperability through ongoing training and the implementation of innovative
solutions to common issues faced by army engineer troops.
(translated by bill)