EU anniversary. The EU heads of state and government today signed a
solemn declaration renewing their European commitments against the backdrop of
UK’s leaving the Union. They came together in Rome to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the signing of the treaty that established the European Economic
Community, which later became the European Union. Romania is represented at the
summit by its president, Klaus Iohannis. According to a document Romanian
officials sent to EU member states before the summit, Romania is in favour of a
stronger Union and believes that one of the basic principles of the Rome
declaration should be about unity, cohesion and endurance. On Friday at the
Vatican, Pope Frances received all states of head and government attending the
summit and urged for greater European solidarity at a time when, in his
opinion, the European Union is faced with a vacuum of values and was losing its sense
of direction.
Protests. Thousands of police employees are staging
protests today in front of the interior ministry and government headquarters,
on the anniversary of Romanian Police Day. They are unhappy with their salaries
compared with those of other public sector employees. They demand, among
others, bigger pay and the calculation of their benefits based on the increased
wage. Protesters blow vuvuzela horns and carry placards saying that more than
60% of the interior ministry’s employees earn the minimum wage and requesting
the modernisation of police stations and a fairer pay law.
Earth Hour. Millions of people from across the globe will take part today in Earth Hour, the biggest environmental movement in history. The event encourages everybody to turn off their lights in a symbolic gesture meant to help fight the effects of climate change. It is for the 9th year in a row that Romania also takes part in Earth Hour. The external lighting of the Cotroceni presidential palace and of the Parliament building will be turned off. The government will also turn the lights off for one hour, thus expressing concern for the environment and the desire to promote non-polluting technology and encourage energy efficient programmes.
Summertime. Romania switches to summertime tonight. Like
every year on the last Sunday in March, 3 am will become 4 am. Clocks will be
turned forward in more than 100 states across the world, including the entire
European Union. Daylight saving time was introduced in Romania before World War
II, but was given up in 1943 before being reintroduced in 1979. The purpose of
the practice is to make the most of natural light provided by the sun as a
means of saving electricity.
Church. Orthodox Christians, who are the majority in
Romania, as well as Greek-Catholics, today celebrate the Feast of the
Annunciation, which commemorates the moment when the Virgin Mary received the
news that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ. Also today, the 7th
March for Life is taking place in 300 localities in Romania and the majority
Orthodox Republic of Moldova, with participants calling for a ban on abortions
and for support for women and families. The purpose of the march, which is
organised with the help of the Romanian Patriarchate, is to warn about the high
number of legal abortions carried out in pubic hospitals in Romania, namely 23
million between 1958 and 2016. The organisers of the march even say the figure
could be twice as high, given that it does not reflect the illegal abortions
carried out during the former communist regime and those performed in public
hospitals today.
Football World Cup. Romania face Denmark on Sunday night in Cluj
Napoca in a Group E match as part of the qualifiers for Football World Cup
hosted by Russia next year. Other Group E fixtures will see Armenia play
Kazakhstan and Montenegro play Poland. After a categorical 5-nil win against
Armenia, a 1-all draw at home against Montenegro, and another, goalless draw,
against Kazakhstan in an away match, as well as a painful nil-3 defeat by
Poland at home, Romania now rank 4th in their group with only 5
points.
Miami tennis. World no. 5 Simona Halep of Romania on Friday reached the
third round of the WTA tennis tournament in Miami, worth 6.8 million dollars in
prize money. In the second round, she defeated the Japanese player Naomi Osaka
in three sets. Another Romanian player, Patricia Maria Tig pulled off a
spectacular straight-set win against France’s Kristina Mladenovici to reach the
third round. Sorana Cirstea also reached the third round after she defeated
Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in three sets. Irina Begu, however, seeded 28 in
Miami, failed to qualify, suffering an unexpected defeat at the hands of
Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena.