Radio România Internațional

Tag: sports minister

  • September 5, 2018

    September 5, 2018

    CONSULTATIONS – President Klaus Iohannis has invited the PM Viorica Dancila to consultations on Thursday concerning the forthcoming state budget adjustment. The invitation comes after on Tuesday the head of state suspended the meeting of the Supreme Defence Council on this topic and explained that an agreement had not been reached with the Government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. The President criticised the cuts in the budgets of the intelligence services. In response, the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici says the Presidents decision will obstruct the payment of salaries, investments and compensations for the African swine fever cases.




    PARLIAMENT – The Chamber of Deputies Wednesday rejected a request by the right-wing Opposition to set up 2 inquiry committees, one on the Governments handling of the African swine fever crisis, and another one on the intervention of riot police at the anti-government protests in Bucharest on August 10th. The authors of the request said they wanted to identify the causes for the quick spreading of the disease in Romania and to find out whether certain public institutions were involved in activities beyond their legally defined powers. At present swine fever outbreaks are reported in 11 counties in Romania, triggering the culling of over 140,000 pigs and spreading further, in spite of the measures taken by authorities. On Tuesday the Senates defence committee cancelled the hearings on this topic, at the request of the Social Democratic Party in power. Scheduled to be heard in Parliament were the Interior Minister, Carmen Dan, the coordinator of the gendarme intervention Laurenţiu Cazan, and the Prefect of Bucharest, Speranţa Cliseru. So far 770 people affected by the brutal police intervention during the protests have filed criminal complaints.




    ANTI-CORRUPTION – A nomination for the new chief of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate will be announced on Thursday, said the Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader. On Tuesday he interviewed the last 3 candidates for the post, after the interviews of another 3 candidates on Monday. The Justice Minister is to send his proposal to the Higher Council of Magistracy, which is to communicate an official opinion on the candidate, and then the nomination is to be approved by President Klaus Iohannis. The former chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Codruta Kovesi, was dismissed in July, under a presidential order imposed by the Constitutional Court of Romania. The dismissal had been requested by the Justice Minister, further to a report that had not been approved by the Higher Council of Magistracy.




    SPORTS MINISTER – The Romanian media hail the appointment of Romanian-born swimmer Roxana Mărăcineanu as the new sports minister in France. She has been living in France since 1984, when her parents fled communist Romania. Aged 43, the athlete born in Bucharest won a silver medal at the 200-m backstroke event of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, when the Romanian Diana Mocanu won the gold. “I felt it was my anthem as well, she said after hearing the Romanian national anthem played at the award ceremony. Two years before, Roxana Maracineanu had won the first world champion title for France, and in 1999 she had won the European swimming championship.




    FESTIVAL – Over 100 artists, representing the music and culture of some 70 countries, are taking part in World Experience Festival, held these days in Bucharest. The main theme of the event is World Music, promoted through concerts and workshops such as the ones focusing on Irish dances, the tea ceremony or the kimono dressing ceremony. Music instruments from 30 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and so on are also presented. The main stage of the festival is located in one of Bucharests parks.




    FORUM – The International Economic Forum carries on in the Polish town of Krynica. Romania is represented by some 50 politicians, analysts and business people. Participants from 60 countries in Europe, Asia and North America are looking at the prospects of world economy, and discuss topics such as the future of Europe, the energy field, international cooperation between EU member countries, the state of the European agriculture, as well as continental security. According to the Radio Romania correspondent, special attention will also be paid to the Black Sea region, where security has been vulnerable since 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.




    FOOTBALL – Romanias national football team carries on its preparations for the first game in the newly created League of Nations, which it is to play on home turf in Ploiesti against Montenegro on Friday night. On Monday the national team will play against neighbouring Serbia in Belgrade, and in October they will take on Lithuania, also away from home, in Group 4 of the competition. The results in the League of Nations are counting towards the preliminaries of the 2020 European Championship.


    (translated by Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • September 4, 2018 UPDATE

    September 4, 2018 UPDATE

    MEETING – The meeting of the Supreme Defence Council was suspended, and the Government must come up with a new budget adjustment proposal, after the Council members failed to reach an agreement on the current plan, the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis announced on Tuesday. The head of state asked the Cabinet to come up with a plan to eliminate the “unaccountable cuts in the budgets of national security institutions. The President decided to convene the Supreme Defence Council after the Government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats criticised him for obstructing the first budget adjustment of this year, one concerning salaries, social assistance expenditure, the funding of activities to fight the African swine fever and Romanias contribution to the EU budget. Iohannis replied that the Government was free to adjust the public budget at any time, except for the part concerning the national security field. He also said that the Social Democratic Party is building an irresponsible budget, which cannot be implemented in practice.




    HEARINGS – At the request of the Social Democratic Party in power, the Defence Committee of the Romanian Senate cancelled Tuesdays hearings concerning the violent clashes during the August 10th anti-government protest in Bucharest. Originally invited to take part were the Interior Minister Carmen Dan, the coordinator of the riot police intervention, Laurenţiu Cazan, and the Prefect of Bucharest Speranţa Cliseru. Hearings on the same topic were however held at the General Prosecutors Office, and they were attended by the Mayor of Bucharest, the Social Democrat Gabriela Firea. She said that investigations would reveal who is to blame for the violence in Victoriei Square, and added that attempts had been made to turn the Bucharest Prefect Speranta Cliseru into a scapegoat. On Saturday during a meeting of the National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party, Gabriela Firea requested the resignation of the Interior Minister Carmen Dan, who, Firea said, had blamed the Prefect for the intervention of the gendarmes. So far 770 criminal complaints have been filed, by people injured in that intervention.




    VENICE COMMISSION – A Venice Commission delegation will be in Bucharest on September 13th and 14th, to prepare a report on the recent changes of the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure made by the Parliament of Romania, according to the web site of this Council of Europe institution. The delegation will have talks with President Klaus Iohannis, the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, and with officials of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the General Prosecutors Office, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and the Higher Council of Magistracy. The Venice Commission team will also have meetings with MPs, including the members of the special parliamentary committee in charge with modifying the justice laws, with judge and prosecutor associations, as well as with civil society representatives.




    ANTI-CORRUPTION – A new proposal for the chief prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate will be announced on Thursday, the Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader says. On Tuesday the last 3 candidates for the office were interviewed by the Justice Minister, while 3 other candidates had their interviews scheduled on Monday. The Minister will select a candidate, who must be accepted by the Higher Council of Magistracy and approved by President Klaus Iohannis. The former chief of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi was dismissed in July, under an order signed by President Iohannis in conformity with a ruling of the Constitutional Court. The dismissal had been requested by the Justice Minister, further to a report that had not been approved by the Higher Council of Magistracy.




    SPORTS MINISTER – The Ambassador of Romania to Paris, Luca Niculescu, Tuesday congratulated the Romanian-born former French swimming champion Roxana Mărăcineanu on her appointment as Sports Minister in France. The Romanian Embassy in France also mentions, in a Facebook post, that Roxana Mărăcineanu was one of the 10 Romanians living in France whose merits were recognised in a gala called “100 for the Centenary, organised by the Embassy in Paris in June 2018. Roxana Mărăcineanu, born in Bucharest in 1975, replaced the former Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel, who resigned as sports minister in France.


    (translated by Ana-Maria Popescu)