Radio România Internațional

Tag: presidency of the Council of the EU

  • June 29, 2019 UPDATE

    June 29, 2019 UPDATE

    PSD Congress — The Social Democratic Party in Romania, in the ruling coalition, on Saturday elected its leadership at an extraordinary congress. The PM Viorica Dancila was elected president of the party thus replacing the former party strongman Liviu Dragnea who was sentenced and imprisoned for corruption. The finance minister Eugen Teodorovici was confirmed as executive president and Mihai Fifor, a former defense minister was elected secretary general.



    Brussels — The president of the European Council Donald Tusk on Saturday conveyed a message, on Twitter, to the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis at the end of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. “You managed to have 90 pieces of legislation agreed in less than 100 days, that is impressive” Donald Tusk also wrote on Twitter. Romania’s presidency of the Council of the EU comes to an end on June 30. Romania’s presidency was marked by key moments such as the Sibiu summit held on Europe Day on May 9 and the EP elections of May 23 to 26.



    Festival — Sibiu (in central Romania) is the venue for the European Film Festival which brings 7 new films as well as a 1990s classic. Until Sunday when the festival ends, film lovers have the opportunity to watch a romantic drama “Memoir of Pain” a French-Belgian coproduction directed by Emmnauel Finkiel, a political thriller “Power Games” by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, the comedy “Woman at war” by Benedikt Erlingsson, Bálint Kenyeres’ film “Yesterday”, “Son of Sophia” by Elina Psykou, “Julia” by Elena Martín and the classic “My Left foot” a 1989 production by Irish director Jim Sheridan. This year the European Film Festival has also been venued in Bucharest, Râmnicu Vâlcea (south), Târgu Mureș (center) and in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova.



    Medal — The German minority in Romania represents a bridge between Romania and countries such as Germany and Austria, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis stated on Saturday, at a ceremony during which he was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania, which is the highest distinction of this body. Klaus Iohannis added that the Forum members, the members of the German community have always got actively involved for ensuring good understanding within the communities in Romania. The award ceremony was held in Sibiu, where Klaus Iohannis was a mayor for almost 14 years. Klaus Iohannis was also a leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania.



    Weather — The World Meteorological Organization announced that 2019 is going to become one of the yeas with the highest temperatures ever reported, and the past 5 years were the hottest in the history of temperature measurements. Several European countries have been facing very high temperatures for this time of the year these days, caused by a wave of hot air from northern Africa. Fires have destroyed several houses and hundreds of hectares of land in southern France which is being faced with a record heat wave. Hundreds of vegetation fires have also been reported in Greece and the scorcher has made victims in Spain and Italy. In 3 quarters of Spain’s 50 provinces, fire alerts have been issued. Experts believe that such extreme weather phenomena will become frequent due to climate change. (translation by L. Simion)

  • Political Tension and European Preparations

    Political Tension and European Preparations


    A member of the EU since 2007, Romania is now getting ready for its first term at the helm of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the first half of 2019. Romania would like this role to be a successful one, that is why the Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has made an appeal to unity towards that end. On Wednesday, she presented in plenary session of the Romanian Parliament the stage of preparations and the main topics that Romania is keen on tackling.



    There are several major goals that Romania has set, including ensuring fair and sustainable development for all the member states, by means of cohesion, innovation and digitization projects, maintaining a safe Europe, strengthening the EUs global role and defending common European values. All projects will be centered on the EU citizens, Viorica Dancila said.



    The Romanian official also talked about the background against which Romanias term will be unfolding:


    “This mandate must take into consideration the current large-scale projects that will shape the European Union, including a reflection on the future of the EU and Brexit, the transition towards a new legislative cycle following the European elections and implicitly the end of the European Commissions and the European Parliaments terms.



    The Romanian Prime Minister also addressed the need to ensure the security of the EUs external borders:


    “The major topics on our agenda will include the implementation of the Shenghen evaluation mechanism, of the IT systems developed at EU level and their interoperability. We will try and explore new means of approaching these topics, that is why a coherent and unitary management of migration flows will remain a major one.”



    While a successful presidency of the Council of the EU is a goal shared by all Romanians, domestically the level of discontent has been growing. The opposition has filed a no-confidence motion against the left wing government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The initiators of this motion – MPs of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and Peoples Movement Party – say that the government, with the measures it has implemented, has destroyed the economy and the justice system.



    Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the capital and other towns and cities across the country to protest the changes brought to the Criminal Codes, which, they say are risky and might hamper the fight against corruption. These changes have also triggered reactions in Brussels. EU officials have stated they will analyze them carefully.


    (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)