Radio România Internațional

Tag: opinion polls

  • January 20, 2025

    January 20, 2025

    HOSTAGES The next release of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by the Palestinian Hamas terrorists and transferred to the Gaza Strip will take place next Saturday, when four persons are to be freed – Radio Romania correspondent in Israel says. Three Israeli female hostages were released on Sunday after 15 months of captivity since the Hamas terrorist attack, which led to the war in Gaza. One of the hostages also has Romanian citizenship and another one is of Romanian descent. Authorities in Bucharest hail the release of the first round of hostages upon the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

     

    FAIR Romania is being represented this week at the ”Green Week” exhibition in Berlin, the Agriculture Ministry in Bucharest says. Until January 26, the Romanian stand will be offering samples of Romanian natural food, such as cheese, meat, honey, dairy and bakery products, several types of brandy, wine and cold-pressed oil registered or under registration with European quality systems. Last year, the Green Week event in Berlin was visited by 300 thousand people.

     

    TRUMP The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, is to kick off today his second mandate at the White House, after being sworn in at the US Capitol. Trump is planning to issue dozens of executive actions – more than 100 just on day 1 – including some aimed at ramping up US energy production, tightening border security reeling in regulations and other top policy priorities. Trump pledges to build an anti-missile system to protect the USA as well as the declassification of the files on the assassinations of the former president John F. Kennedy, his brother, Robert Kennedy, and civil-rights activist, Martin Luther King. All the three murders sparked off conspiracy theories that have been around for more than five decades. Relaxed environment protection initiatives and stepped-up petroleum extraction are also among the measures pledged by the new administration.

     

    SESSION Romania’s government coalition has convened today to asses a series of opinion polls on people’s voting intentions for the upcoming presidential election. Social-Democrats and Liberals are to also meet this week for separate talks on the joint candidacy of the former PNL president, Crin Antonescu. The present coalition will also tackle today the budget draft this year, which they want to submit for Parliament approval in the first week of February, when the Parliament session is due to begin.

     

    WEATHER The weather is quite warm in most Romanian regions, with temperatures higher than the season’s average. Insignificant periods of flurries and drizzle are expected in some isolated areas in the country’s west, north-west and center. The highs of the day in Bucharest are way above the season’s average reaching up to 9 and 10 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was 7 degrees.

    (bill)

     

  • European Parliament Election Campaign – coming to an end

    European Parliament Election Campaign – coming to an end

    In Romania the campaign for the European Parliament elections due on May 25th is drawing to a close. There has been nothing spectacular about this campaign and the political parties have failed to increase the public’s interest in these elections. This is strictly their fault as they treated these elections as a warming up for the presidential elections due in November. In this context, the results anticipated by opinion polls are unlikely to undergo dramatic changes.



    According to a survey run by the Centre for Political Studies and Research between May 12th and 14th on a group of 1,800 people with an error margin of 3.1%, the electoral alliance made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Conservative Party, a leftist alliance that also dominates the government majority, ranks 1st in the Romanians’ preferences with 41% of voters’ choice. It is followed by center-rightist parties: the National Liberal Party with 15%, the Liberal Democratic Party with 12% and the pro-presidential party the People’s Movement Party with 9%.



    The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, in the governing coalition, is credited with 6% of the voting intentions. An analysis made by the non-governmental body the Institute for Public Policies shows that almost half of the mandates Romania is likely to obtain will reach the socialists group to which the Social Democratic Party is affiliated. According to the aforementioned analysis, the European People’s Party will win the votes obtained by the Romanian Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and most likely the People’s Movement Party.



    According to current estimates, the 3 Romanian parties could send to the European Parliament 9 MEPs. The Institute for Public Policies shows that this election campaign has not fundamentally changed the voters’ political options, either at European level or at national level. The organization says it has taken into consideration the most credible surveys made across Europe and the estimated results for the European Parliament elections remain very tight, with 28% of the votes going to the European People’s Party and 27% to the Socialists.



    Under these circumstances, the Institute for Public Policies believes that the new structure of the European Commission will be decided only through close cooperation of the two winning groups and also of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe to which the Romanian National Liberal Party is affiliated.



    The Socialists and the European People’s Party are expected to share the 3 main positions in the European Executive, namely the presidency of the European Commission, the presidency of the European Council and the position of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in a 2+1 format, depending on the results obtained in the elections. On the other hand, the Institute for Public Policies estimates that the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the 3rd largest group, alongside the Conservatives and the Greens, are expected to lose most seats. As regards the group of Euro skeptics and radicals, it maintained the same popularity rating in the voters’ preferences as before the European Parliament election campaign.