EASTER Orthodox and Greek-Catholic believers, including from Romania – a
country with an Orthodox majority – are in the second day of Easter and the
beginning of the Bright Week, when they greet each other with the traditional
formula, ‘Christ is risen’ ‘He is risen, indeed’. The formula is aimed at
publicly expressing the Christian belief in Christ’s resurrection. Today
Romanians are also celebrating St. George, under a decision by the Orthodox
Church that this holiday be observed in the second day of Easter. The decision
was made because St. George’s Day this year happened to be during the Passion
Week, which for the Orthodox Christians should be a period of sobriety and
repentance. St. George was a Christian martyr who is also the patron saint of
several Romanian cities as well as of Romania’s Ground Forces.
CAMPAIGN A campaign for the European Parliament elections on May 26th
has been underway in Romania since Saturday. The Romanians are to cast their
ballot for 33 MEPs. The 33rd mandate is to commence only after
Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc has yielded judicial effects. 13 political
groups and three independent candidates are vying for seats in the European
Parliament. 411 poling stations have been set up for the Romanians abroad; 76
in Italy, 50 in Spain and 25 in Germany. Concurrently with the European
Parliamentary elections, the Romanians will be participating in a referendum on
legal issues initiated by the country’s president Klaus Iohannis.
DIALOGUE French president Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor Angela
Merkel, currently attending a summit on Balkan issues, are expected to try to rekindle
a dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, whose relations are at the lowest ebb
after 20 years of conflict, France Press Agency informs. The French-German
initiative comes after a series of talks unfolding under the EU aegis aimed at
creating rapprochement between the two state entities. The dialogue between the
two sides has been in a deadlock for several months now after a period of
revival based on the idea of territory swap backed by presidents Aleksandar
Vucic of Serbia and Hashin Thaci of Kosovo.
ELECTION Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has
proclaimed the victory of his PSOE party in the legislative election on Sunday,
at the same time showing his readiness to forge a coalition with all political
groups to rule within the Constitution limits. The Socialist Party has won the
election with roughly 7 million votes, a victory, which brings it 123
Parliament seats almost double than the conservative People’s Party. The
Liberal centre-to-right Ciudadanos came third with 57 mandates, while far-left
Podemos mustered 42 seats. Secessionists of the Catalan left have also obtained
15 seats. According to Radio Romania correspondent to Spain the turnout was at
an all-time high, reaching 75%.
FREQUENCIES Dear friends,
Radio Romania International operated new changes into the frequencies of
its transmissions, which came into effect on April 27th. So, the RRI
broadcast at 3:00 UTC to North America, (the West Coast) can be received on the
frequency of 7375 kHz in the analogue system, while our programmes to India are
carried by 13630 kHz in the DRM system.
(translated by bill)