Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanians in Italy

  • April 9, 2018

    April 9, 2018

    EASTER — Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians in Romania on Monday celebrated the second day of Easter and a new day in Easter Week, which follows the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. On this day people attend mass while priests’ vestments are white. The first day of this week is believed to be the day when the gates of heaven are open and all sins are forgiven. People who die on this day go straight to Heaven without undergoing the Last Judgment. Psalms are not recited on this day, while funeral services are replaced by Resurrection mass.



    EURO — The National Commission for the switch to the euro will convene on Thursday in its first session. Talks will focus on convergence criteria for adopting the European single currency. Two weeks ago Prime Minister Viorica Dancila announced the setup of the commission, whose role is to prepare the roadmap for Romania joining the Eurozone, as well as the necessary actions to prepare the Romanian economy and society for this move.



    ELECTION — Viktor Orban has secured a new term as Prime Minister after his party Fidesz won the parliamentary elections in Hungary by a landslide. The right-wing nationalist politician says the result will ensure the security of Hungary. Orban’s party grabbed nearly half of the vote and will hold two thirds of the seats in Parliament. The nationalist Jobbik party won 26 seats, while Hungarian socialists won 20 seats. The Democratic Coalition led by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsnay could win 9 seats, while the ecologist LMP party will get 8 seats. The Together party won one seat while an independent and a representative of the German minority will each get one seat. The final results will be made public at the end of the week. On Monday, the leader of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Kelemen Hunor, congratulated Viktor Orban on his win.



    MARCH — The “Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi” Institute for Romanians Worldwide, an institution subordinated to the Ministry for Romanians Worldwide, in cooperation with the Lauder-Reut Educational Complex, is organizing “The March of Holocaust Survivors — Let’s Learn Together”, held over April 9-13 in Poland. Taking part in the event are young people from 52 countries. The march has an educational purpose, aimed at familiarizing participants with a tragic chapter in world history. Romania’s delegation is made up of students and teachers from the Lauder-Reut school in Bucharest, but also from the Republic of Moldova. The project is part of the IEH-led program “Caravan of Romanian Identity”, which involves a series of cultural actions, aimed at promoting Romanian culture and consolidating Romania national identity. The project is also part of the Romanian Cultural Space strategic programme devoted to the celebration of one hundred years since the Great Union of 1918.



    AIRPORT — A few dozen Romanians were left stranded on Sunday on Ciampino Airport in Rome, after Ryanair canceled its flight to Bucharest. Some of the passengers were rescheduled for flights on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Those who accepted to change their flight schedule will receive accommodation for just one night. Others bought tickets with other flight operators at double or triple the price. Ryanair has cancelled flights in the past without providing too many explanations.



    SYRIA — The UN Security Council is today convening at the request of Russia and the United States after Syria was the target of a chemical attack. 70 people were killed on Sunday in the Syrian city of Douma, Reuters reports. The Security Council must immediately demand access to the site of the attack in order to carry out an independent investigation to ascertain what happened and to hold accountable the people who perpetrated this terrible attack, the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said. The US official last month warned that unless the Security Council took concrete action against Syria, Washington is prepared to act and might launch a new attack on the region.



    BOOK FAIR — The 47th edition of the International Book Fair in London will take place over April 10-12. Romania’s participation in the fair is under the aegis of the Romanian Cultural Institute. Under the heading “Writing and Making History: Remembering the Great War Generation”, events organized at Romania’s pavilion are first of all evoking Romania’s participation in the first world war and the Great Union by means of literary and artistic echoes of these two crucial moments in history.


    (Translated by V. Palcu)

  • July 24, 2015

    July 24, 2015

    The Minister delegate for relations with the Romanian diaspora, Angel Tîlvăr, is as of today on a four-day visit to Italy, where he has meetings with representatives of the local and central authorities and with members of the Romanian community. The visit is designed to help collect information on the Romanian community in Italy, which has around one million members, to help them integrate and to ensure that Romanians rights as European citizens are respected. This is the second visit made by Minister Angel Tîlvăr to Italy this year, after the one in Catania in February.



    Gabriel Berca, a member of the National Union for the Progress of Romania, a former presidential adviser under Traian Basescu and interior minister in 2012, will be told today whether he is to be held in detention pending trial for 30 days. He was taken in custody yesterday by anti-corruption prosecutors, under charges of influence peddling in 2010-2012. According to judicial sources, during that time he allegedly claimed and received from a businessman over 180,000 euro in exchange for using his personal influence on cabinet members as regards the allocation of funds to a town hall in Bacau County, in the east.



    Most Romanians (over 78%) think the Presidency and the Government must work together closely on important matters, reveals a recent opinion poll. The poll indicates that only 6.9% disagree with this idea. Also, more than 30% of the respondents agree that the country should hold early elections, compared to 53.3% who do not. The Governments decision to increase the staff of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate by another 50 prosecutors was appreciated by almost 39% of the interviewees. The poll was conducted by INSCOP Research for the daily Adevarul between July 9 and 14, 2015.



    Representatives of Greeces international lenders (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) are to begin in Athens today new talks with the government on the third financial aid programme given to Greece. The new round of negotiations comes after the Greek Parliament approved the tough conditions imposed by the European lenders. The IMF team is headed, as of Tuesday, by the Romanian economist Delia Velculescu, co-author of an IMF survey of the Greek economy. Her appointment at the helm of the IMF mission in Greece came shortly after Athens decided to pay nearly 2 billion euros in debts to the Fund, which enables the country to access IMF loans once again.




    Turkish police forces have arrested more than 250 people in a large-scale anti-terror campaign launched today across the country and targeting the radical IS group and rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Ankara announced. According to Turkish media, the police checked around 140 addresses in Istanbul alone, mobilising nearly 5,000 troops and several helicopters. The operation comes 4 days after the suicide attack in Suruc (near the Syrian border), where 32 people died and more than 100 were wounded. Also today, Turkey launched its first air raid against Jihadist targets in Syria, after clashes between the Turkish army and IS fighters near the border the previous day. Turkey also authorised the US to use more air bases in the region to fight against the Islamic State, according to AFP and Reuters. Washington had long asked Ankara for permission to use these bases in order to improve the efficiency of the military coalition that fights against the terrorist group.