Radio România Internațional

Tag: Palm Sunday

  • April 23, 2016 UPDATE

    April 23, 2016 UPDATE

    Romania’s capital Bucharest on Saturday saw the traditional Palm Sunday pilgrimage. Palm Sunday is a religious event celebrated a week before the Orthodox Easter, which marks Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, before his crucifiction, when he was welcomed by multitudes carrying olive and palm branches. 1.4 million Romanians with flower names are celebrating their name day on Palm Sunday. On Friday night Jewish pepole the world over started Passover celebrations in order to mark their liberation from Egyptian slavery more than three thousand years ago.




    Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue on Saturday hailed the structural reforms promoted by the technocratic government in Bucharest. By the sidelines of the ECOFIN conference in Amsterdam Dombrovskis met Romanian Finance Minister Anca Dragu and voiced concern over the possible fiscal slippages that might occur in 2016, which is an election year in Romania. Mrs. Dragu exclusively told Radio Romania that during the talks with the EU official she hailed the European Commission’s decision to take Romania out of the list of countries with macroeconomic imbalances.




    In the past ten days 62 foreign nationals, whose stay in Romania was illegal, have been identified by the police, the General Inspectorate for Migration on Saturday announced. Out of these, 28 are meeting the necessary conditions for having their stay prolonged, while 31 have been asked to leave the Romanian territory. At the same time, 240 warnings and fines have been issued for those who violated migration legislation. The measures taken by the Romanian police are aimed at enforcing law and order, at ensuring the safety of the citizens, by implementing a permanent control on observing migration legislation and fighting illegal migration.



    Romanian tennis player Andreea Mitu and Turkish Ipek Soylu on Saturday qualified for the finals of the doubles contest in the tennis tournament underway in Istanbul. The two athletes have made it to the semis without playing after the Japanese Naomi Hibino and Kurumi Nara didn’t turn up for the game. This is Mitu’s second WTA finals after the one she lost together with her compatriot Patricia Tig in Bucharest in 2015. Mitu and Soylu will be playing against Xenia Knoll of Switzerland and Montenegrin Danka Kovinici.




    Every year on April 23rd, Romania celebrates its ground troops. Events aimed at celebrating this day were staged during the week, including exhibitions, workshops, presentations of military equipment, exercises, concerts and wreath laying ceremonies; all these took place in army units the countrywide as well as among our troops deployed in Afghanistan. The patron saint of the ground forces in Romania is St. George, a general in the Roman army back in the time of emperor Diocletian who was tortured and executed for his Christian belief. Romanians on Saturday celebrated this Christian martyr as well as over one million people bearing his name.




    On the World Book and Copyright Day celebrated on Saturday, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis stood for education as the only way to progress. According to him, books challenge the young minds, whetting their appetite for knowledge and are also contributing to the healthy development of the young generations. The Romanian official went on to say that all children must have access to books. The Minister of Culture Vlad Alexandrescu has also underlined the importance of books and libraries. Upon a UNESCO initiative the World Book and Copyright Day has been celebrated on April 23rd since 1996.



  • April 23, 2016

    April 23, 2016

    Romania’s capital Bucharest is today seeing the traditional Palm Sunday pilgrimage. Palm Sunday is a religious event that will be celebrated tomorrow, a week before the Orthodox Easter, which marks Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, before his crucifiction, when he was welcomed by multitudes carrying olive and palm branches. 1.4 million Romanians with flower names are celebrating their name day on Palm Sunday. Last night Jews the world over started Passover celebrations in order to mark their liberation from Egyptian slavery more than three thousand years ago.



    Liviu Dragnea, leader of the Social Democratic Party should withdraw from his position — Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has said. In his opinion, for the health of the local political system, a major Romanian party shouldn’t be led by a politician who is serving a court sentence. We recall that yesterday Dragnea got a suspended two-year jail sentence for election fraud in a file called ‘The Referendum’. According to prosecutors, in 2012, while a secretary general of the Social Democratic Party PSD, Dragnea used all the means available calling on PSD representatives all over Romania to illegally bring people to vote in a referendum on sacking the former right-wing president Traian Basescu. The referendum failed due to the lack of quorum. After getting the sentence, Dragnea said he would not step down so that he may not destabilize the party before the upcoming election of June 5th. Romania will also be seeing Parliamentary elections this year in November.



    In the past ten days 62 foreign nationals whose stay in Romania was illegal, have been identified by the police, the General Inspectorate for Migration has today announced. Out of these, 28 met the necessary conditions of having their stay prolonged, while 31 have been asked to leave the Romanian territory. At the same time, 240 warnings and fines have been issued for those who violated migration legislation. The measures taken by the Romanian police are aimed at enforcing law and order, at ensuring the safety of the citizens, by implementing a permanent control on observing migration legislation and fighting illegal migration.



    Every year on April 23rd, Romania celebrates its ground troops. Events aimed at celebrating this day have been staged during the week, including exhibitions, workshops, presentations of military equipment, exercises, concerts and wreath laying ceremonies; all these have taken place in army units the countrywide as well as among our troops deployed in Afghanistan. The patron saint of the ground forces in Romania is St. George, a general in the Roman army back in the time of emperor Diocletian who was tortured and executed for his Christian belief. Romanians are today celebrating this Christian martyr as more than one million of them are bearing his name.



    Romanian tennis players Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea, the odds-on favourites of the doubles contest in the BRD Nastase-Tiriac trophy in Bucharest, with 460 thousand euros in prize money, are today taking on Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middlekoop of the Netherlands in the semifinals. The two Romanians have qualified for the semis without playing after their opponents, Federico Delbonis of Argentina and Paolo Lorenzi of Italy withdrew from the competition. This is Tecau and Mergea’s fourth participation in this competition and they obtained their best performance back in 2007 when they made it to the quarters.



  • March 20, 2016 UPDATE

    March 20, 2016 UPDATE

    CONTRIBUTION — Romania will contribute 60 border police officers, 10 experts in the field of asylum procedures, 6 utility cars, two maritime border patrol ships and other logistics equipment to the European effort of managing the migration flows from Greece. According to a press release issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry, all the capabilities will be operated in the international mission in Greece starting next week. A task force to coordinate this international effort has been set up in Athens, at the Greek Defence Ministry. Bucharest’s decision to support this effort was taken after the European Council meeting in Brussels of March 17-18, where president Klaus Iohannis represented Romania. On the sidelines of the meeting, EU leaders adopted a series of additional measures in the context of the implementation of the EU Agreement with Turkey to solve the refugee crisis.



    PALM SUNDAY — Catholic and Protestant Christians worldwide on Sunday celebrated Palm Sunday, the entering of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, the last Sunday before Easter. A march was held in Bucharest to mark this event, led by Archbishop Ioan Robu. A similar procession was staged in Iasi, northern Romania. Roman-Catholics in Romania celebrate Easter on March 27, while Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians will celebrate Easter on May 1.



    HANDBALL — The Romanian women’s handball team on Saturday qualified to the Rio Olympics after Montenegro defeated the host country Denmark at the pre-Olympic tournament in Aarhus, Denmark. Romania outperformed Uruguay 36-19, after defeating Denmark in the first match 32-25. With two wins in two days, Romania and Montenegro have secured qualification to the Rio Olympics ahead of the last match in the tournament scheduled on Sunday. We recall that Romania grabbed bronze at the World Handball Championships in 2015.



    AWARD — Romanian poet Ana Blandiana on Saturday was designated the European Poet of Freedom, in recognition of her volume “My A4 Homeland”. The award was bestowed in Gdansk, Poland. Every two years Gdansk hosts the literary contest “The European Poet of Freedom”. In 2016 7 European countries enrolled in the competition: Romania, Portugal, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Italy and Macedonia. The purpose of the event is to highlight and promote poetry volumes approaching one of the fundamental values of contemporary society: freedom.



    VISIT — US President Barack Obama is as of Sunday on a historic two-day visit to Cuba, a country seen until recently as hostile to the USA, Reuters reports. This is the first visit of a US president to this country in the last 88 years. In December 2014, President Obama and his counterpart from Cuba, Raul Castro, agreed to resume diplomatic relations, frozen since 1959 when the Cuban Revolution ousted the pro-American Government in Havana. Important security forces have been deployed to ensure the security of this visit. Since December last year the US and Cuba have resumed diplomatic relations, signed trade agreements in the field of telecommunications and air travel and have extended cooperation to the fields of law enforcement and environment protection. Major divergences still divide the two countries, especially the 54-year-long embargo the US imposed on Cuba. President Obama has called on the US Congress to lift the embargo, a proposal dismissed by Republican leaders.



    FRANCOPHONIE — The World Day of La Francophonie was celebrated on March 20 in all the 77 member states of the International Organization of La Francophonie, OIF. Romania joined the OIF in 1991 as an observer state and has been a member with full rights since 1993. Romania’s contribution to francophone initiatives and the modernization of OIF, as well as holding the rotating presidency of several OIF structures, have turned Romania into a lighthouse state for the francophone integration of Central and East European states.



    AGREEMENT — Authorities in Athens on Sunday announced they could not implement the agreement with Turkey on the return of illegal immigrants to Turkey. Singed on Friday in Brussels, the documents provides for the immediate return of all immigrants arrived in Greece back to Turkey unless they file an asylum application or their immigration motivation statements are rejected. The announcement has been criticized in several European states, where thousands of people on Saturday protested in solidarity with the immigrants.



    ATTACK — The author of the suicide bomb attack in Istanbul on Saturday has been identified as Mehmet Ozturk, a Turkish national born in 1992, linked with the Islamic State terrorist organization. The announcement came from Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala, who said Turkey would review all the security measures at all levels. 5 people were killed in Saturday’s attack, another 36 people are injured, of whom a third are foreign nationals. This is the fourth terrorist attack in Turkey this year, a week within a bloody terrorist attack in Ankara, claimed by the PKK Kurdish party, which killed 37 people.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • March 20, 2016

    March 20, 2016

    CONTRIBUTION — Romania will contribute 60 border police officers, 10 experts in the field of asylum procedures, 6 utility cars, two maritime border patrol ships and other logistics equipment to the European effort of managing the migration flows from Greece. According to a press release issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry, all the capabilities will be operated in the international mission in Greece starting next week. A task force to coordinate this international effort has been set up in Athens, at the Greek Defence Ministry. Bucharest’s decision to support this effort was taken after the European Council meeting in Brussels of March 17-18, where president Klaus Iohannis represented Romania. On the sidelines of the meeting, EU leaders adopted a series of additional measures in the context of the implementation of the EU Agreement with Turkey to solve the refugee crisis.



    EARTH HOUR — 42 cities in Romania on Saturday observed the Earth Hour, a global initiative involving public and private institutions and citizens across the world. For one hour Romanians turned off their powered devices and took part in events devoted to environment protection. Romania joined over 7,000 cities in over 160 countries in an effort to raise the awareness of decision-makers with respect to serious climate issues affecting our planet, including global warming, pollution and high-energy consumption. In Bucharest and other cities Earth Hour was marked by bicycle, rollerblades and chariot tours. People used lanterns and flashlights as alternative light sources. Earth Hour has been observed in Romania since 2009 and since 2007 at global level.



    PALM SUNDAY — Catholic and Protestant Christians worldwide today celebrate Palm Sunday, the entering of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, the last Sunday before Easter. A march will be held in Bucharest to mark this event, led by Archbishop Ioan Robu. A similar procession will be staged in Iasi, northern Romania. Roman-Catholics in Romania celebrate Easter on March 27, while Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians will celebrate Easter on May 1.



    HANDBALL — The Romanian women’s handball team on Saturday qualified to the Rio Olympics after Montenegro defeated the host country Denmark at the pre-Olympic tournament in Aarhus, Denmark. Romania outperformed Uruguay 36-19, after defeating Denmark in the first match 32-25. With two wins in two days, Romania and Montenegro have secured qualification to the Rio Olympics ahead of the last match in the tournament scheduled on Sunday. We recall that Romania grabbed bronze at the World Handball Championships in 2015.



    AWARD — Romanian poet Ana Blandiana on Saturday was designated the European Poet of Freedom, in recognition of her volume “My A4 Homeland”. The award was bestowed in Gdansk, Poland. Every two years Gdansk hosts the literary contest “The European Poet of Freedom”. In 2016 7 European countries enrolled in the competition: Romania, Portugal, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Italy and Macedonia. The purpose of the event is to highlight and promote poetry volumes approaching one of the fundamental values of contemporary society: freedom.



    VISIT — US President Barack Obama is as of Sunday on a historic two-day visit to Cuba, a country seen until recently as hostile to the USA, Reuters reports. This is the first visit of a US president to this country in the last 88 years. In December 2014, President Obama and his counterpart from Cuba, Raul Castro, agreed to resume diplomatic relations, frozen since 1959 when the Cuban Revolution ousted the pro-American Government in Havana. Important security forces have been deployed to ensure the security of this visit. Since December last year the US and Cuba have resumed diplomatic relations, signed trade agreements in the field of telecommunications and air travel and have extended cooperation to the fields of law enforcement and environment protection. Major divergences still divide the two countries, especially the 54-year-long embargo the US imposed on Cuba. President Obama has called on the US Congress to lift the embargo, a proposal dismissed by Republican leaders.



    FRANCOPHONIE — The World Day of La Francophonie is celebrated on March 20 in all the 77 member states of the International Organization of La Francophonie, OIF. Romania joined the OIF in 1991 as an observer state and has been a member with full rights since 1993. Romania’s contribution to francophone initiatives and the modernization of OIF, as well as holding the rotating presidency of several OIF structures, have turned Romania into a lighthouse state for the francophone integration of Central and East European states.



    AGREEMENT — Authorities in Athens on Sunday announced they could not implement the agreement with Turkey on the return of illegal immigrants to Turkey. Singed on Friday in Brussels, the documents provides for the immediate return of all immigrants arrived in Greece back to Turkey unless they file an asylum application or their immigration motivation statements are rejected. The announcement has been criticized in several European states, where thousands of people on Saturday protested in solidarity with the immigrants.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • Palm Sunday Dishes

    Palm Sunday Dishes

    Although Palm Sunday is a Lent day, when people are generally fasting, fish dishes are permitted on this day. So here are some fish-based recipes for the special Palm Sunday dinner. We’ll start with a couple of recipes using carp, which is readily available in Romania.



    For the first one, carp with tomato sauce, you will need around 2 kilos of carp, 5-6 tomatoes, 2-3 peppers, two onions, a head of garlic, parsley, a lemon, oil, salt and pepper. After you have cleaned, scaled and eviscerated the fish, dice it and put the pieces in an oiled pan. Salt the meat, then arrange the sliced tomatoes, peppers and onions around it. Sprinkle the finely chopped parsley on top, add lemon slices and pour a glass of wine. Everything is now ready for the oven, where it should bake for about 45 minutes, on medium heat, until the fish pieces are golden brown.



    Another recipe is a little more spectacular: skewered carp. For this recipe you will need a large, 3-4 kilo carp, which you have washed, scaled and eviscerated. Oil both on the inside and outside, and place about half a meter over an open grill by means of a metal spit. Another rod needs to be placed inside the fish, to keep the sides apart and allow the heat in. It will take around 30-40 minutes for the fish to roast. Serve hot, with garlic sauce or lemon, and of course with a glass of white, dry, well-chilled wine.



    Another proposal for this occasion is minced fish balls. You obviously need a fish with large bones, easy to pick out, such as catfish. Take one kilo of boned fish meat, two or three onions, a few cloves of garlic, two eggs, some flour, salt and pepper to taste. Some people use mashed potatoes, others use soaked stale bread, about two slices worth. By all means do not forget a whole bunch of fresh dill. Mince the fish meat. Finely chop the onion and the dill, and knead it into the minced meat with the mashed potatoes or soggy bread, eggs, and the salt and pepper, then add the garlic, finely chopped or crushed to a paste. While kneading watch out for bones you may have missed. Shape the composition into balls, douse them in flour and fry them in oil.



    Another recipe worth mentioning has become something of a rarity, because it is difficult to make in its traditional form. It is Gefilte fish, which in Romanian is known simply as “stuffed fish”, and it is usually made with pike. The fish is skinned carefully to keep the skin intact, then the meat is boned and minced. It is mixed with a bit of rice and with finely chopped vegetables such as onion, carrot and green pepper. Egg yolk is added to bind the composition together. There are many variations on the ingredients, some recipes favoring sweet ingredients such as pine nuts, walnuts and raisins. Herbs such as thyme and basil are also used in many versions, and we highly recommend chopped fresh dill. After making the mix, carefully fill the skin of the fish with it, then sew it shut. Oil it and place it in an oven dish, with tomato juice and lots of garlic. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the fish is golden brown.