VOTE The final result of the Parliamentary election in Romania, whose centralisation ended on Monday night, says that seven parties have made it to Parliament. First to the Chamber of Deputies are the ruling PSD and the sovereignist AUR followed by the co-ruling PNL and the centre-rightist USR. In the fifth and sixth places are the sovereignist-extremist SOS Romania and another sovereignist group known as the Party of Young People. These two political groups, for the first time, had their representatives in the Legislature. Last in terms of the number of votes was the UDMR. The ranking was also maintained in the race for the Senate. The country’s incumbent Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, has announced a first round of talks with the interim PNL president Ilie Bolojan in an attempt to forge a majority coalition. Ciolacu, a Social-Democrat, says that a majority Parliament coalition could be forged with the Liberals, UDMR and the Group of national minorities. In turn, the USR president Elena Lasconi endorses a pro-European national unity government while UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor stands for a Parliament-backed government made up of the PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR. In the meantime the Romanians are bracing for the second round of the presidential election, due on Sunday, 8 December.
VISIT Over December 3 and 4, Romania’s Foreign Minister, Luminita Odobescu, is attending the meeting of the NATO Foreign Ministers in Brussels. The meeting has three sessions, which will be tackling the latest developments in the southern vicinity of NATO, the involvement of the North Korean army, the NATO-Ukraine relationship with emphasis on domestic reforms and NATO-EU cooperation. The last session will be devoted to NATO’s strategic agenda, the allies’ priorities for the upcoming summit in the Hague particularly by strengthening the Eastern Flank as part of the allied response to Russia’s threats. A session devoted to Ukraine will involve the participation of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas.
GAME Romania’s national women’s handball side will tonight be playing Serbia in the last match of Group B of the European Championships underway in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland. Romania is hankering for a good result to advance towards the European competitions after a narrow victory against Czechia and a defeat against Montenegro.
DEATH Romania’s legendary goal-keeper, Helmut Duckadam, passed away at the age of 65. He had earlier been admitted to a hospital in Bucharest and had several surgical operations in recent years including a heart procedure in September. He was dubbed ‘the Hero of Seville’, as he had a decisive hand in the victory his side Steaua Bucharest clinched in the 1986 finals of the European Champions Cup. His performance of saving all the four shots in the game’s shootout session, has also been added to the Book of Records.
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