Radio România Internațional

Tag: St. George

  • April 23, 2023

    April 23, 2023

    VISIT The international community has a
    duty to support Ukraine, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis and his Chilean
    counterpart Gabriel Boric said in Santiago de
    Chile. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, president Boric condemned
    the war and expressed his country’s solidarity with Ukraine. Mr. Iohannis announced that the first Romanian language chair in Latin
    America will be established this year at Universidad de Chile. During the
    visit, a memorandum was signed concerning cooperation in emergency situations,
    such as earthquakes and wildfires. Previously, president Iohannis was in
    Brazil, and from Chile he is next to go to Argentina.


    SPENDING Romanian authorities are looking at a plan to
    reduce public spending, which will be endorsed by the government in an
    emergency order next week, after the
    measures have been approved in a meeting of the ruling coalition made up of the
    Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of
    Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Both the Liberal PM Nicolae Ciucă and the Social
    Democratic finance minister, Adrian Câciu, promised that salaries and
    investments would not be cut, nor would additional taxes and charges be
    introduced. In the last government meeting, held a few days ago, PM Ciucă called
    on large-scale taxpayers to meet their obligations to the budget, and urged fiscal
    authorities to ensure tax collection.


    REFUGEES Nearly 266,000 Romanian and foreign
    citizens Saturday crossed in and out of Romania, the border police announced.
    According to a news release issued on Sunday, out of the over 112,000 people
    who entered Romania, 8,784 were Ukrainian nationals. Since February
    10, 2022, two weeks before the start of the Russian invasion of that country,
    more than 4 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania. Most of them
    transited the country en route to Western Europe,
    but over 100,000 have chosen to stay here. The government of Romania decided
    that private citizens that host Ukrainian refugees will only be refunded
    accommodation and meal expenses until the end of this month. As of May 1, the
    people coming into Romania from Ukraine will receive directly a fixed amount to
    cover immediate accommodation and food expenses for 4 months. The money will be
    paid from the funds of emergency inspectorates. After this 4-month period,
    financial aid will only be provided for accommodation, until the end of this
    year, and the refugees are encouraged to enrol with Romanian employment
    agencies in order to benefit from the same rights and benefits as Romanian
    nationals.


    HOLIDAY Christians are celebrating St. George today, who is
    also the patron saint of the Romanian Land Forces. According to tradition, St.
    George was a high-ranking soldier in the Roman Army under Emperor Diocletian, who
    was tortured and sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith.
    St George is one of the most venerated saints in Christianity, and a large
    number of settlements have claimed him as a patron saint. Over 1 million
    Romanians bear his name.


    SPORTS The Romanian athlete Denis Florin Mihai won the
    bronze in the 55 kg Greco-Roman wrestling category at the European championships
    held in Zagreb, Croatia, after defeating Bulgaria’s Stefan Hristov Grigorov. Before
    the last day of the competition, Romania had won a total of 5 medals, including
    2 gold ones, for Andreea Beatrice Ana, in the 55 kg and Alexandra Nicoleta
    Anghel in the 72 kg categories, and 3 bronze ones, won by Cătălina Axente in
    the 76 kilo, Kriszta Tunde Incze in the 65 kg category, and Denis Florin Mihai.
    At the previous edition, hosted by Budapest, Hungary, Romania won 4 medals, including
    one gold (Andreea Ana – 55 kg), one silver (Nicu Ojog – 97 kg Greco-Roman), and
    two bronze (Alina Vuc -55 kg and Kriszta Incze – 65 kg). (AMP)

  • June 20, 2017 UPDATE

    June 20, 2017 UPDATE

    POLITICAL CRISIS – The Parliament of Romania is to vote on Wednesday on the no-confidence motion that the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania tabled against their own Government. Although the Cabinet has lost the political support of the coalition, and most ministers have resigned, PM Sorin Grindeanu will not step down. The Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea, and the president of ALDE Călin Popescu Tăriceanu said the replacement of the governing team was necessary, considering the delays in the implementation of the governing programme. The accusation is denied by the PM, who claims the report drawn up by the Social Democrats to assess his work is biased. The Grindeanu Cabinet was sworn in after the legislative election of December 2016. Should the motion pass, it will be for the first time in post-communist Romania that a ruling party brings down its own government.




    VISIT – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, was awarded on Tuesday the Dresden Medal of St. George of the Semper Opera Ball, at the Romanian Embassy in Berlin. He dedicated the medal to the Romanian-German friendship. In his address on the occasion, the President reiterated Romanias commitment to the future of the European project. Also on Tuesday, he took part in Berlin in a commemoration of refuge and expulsion victims at the German History Museum. The World Refugee Day, marked on June 20, is a time to reflect on the challenges that humanitarian organisations must handle, in order to identify sustainable solutions to the refugee problems, Iohannis said. He added that Europeans must not forget what brought them together, namely cultural diversity, tolerance and inclusive societies. On the first day of his official visit to Germany, President Iohannis had talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Germany Frank Walter Steinmeier.




    REFUGEE DAY – The Romanian Foreign Ministry hails the celebration, on June 20, of the World Refugee Day, and mentions in a news release that Romania granted over 1.5 million euros in 2015-2016, for refugee programmes. Since 1991, around 27,000 people have applied for a form of protection in Romania. Of them, nearly 5,000 have received protection as refugees. Since the beginning of this year, 1,700 people applied for asylum, most of the applicants coming from Syria, Iraq and Pakistan. The number of refugees at world level last year reached a new record, of 65.6 million. The top country of origin remains Syria, with 5.5 million people fleeing that country since the start of the conflict.




    DANUBE SWIM – A Romanian librarian, Avram Iancu, has set out to swim the 2,860 km long River Danube, from its spring to the Black Sea. He started on Tuesday in Germany, and is going to swim 50 km per day, to arrive in Sulina port in south-eastern Romania on August 20, crossing 10 countries and 4 European capital cities. Only two people have so far managed to swim the entire length of the River Danube: the Slovenian Martin Strel, in 2000, and the Canadian Mimi Hughes 6 years later. The Romanian librarian is known for having managed to swim across the English Channel, last August, reaching France from England in nearly 18 hours.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • April 23, 2016 UPDATE

    April 23, 2016 UPDATE

    Romania’s capital Bucharest on Saturday saw the traditional Palm Sunday pilgrimage. Palm Sunday is a religious event celebrated a week before the Orthodox Easter, which marks Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, before his crucifiction, when he was welcomed by multitudes carrying olive and palm branches. 1.4 million Romanians with flower names are celebrating their name day on Palm Sunday. On Friday night Jewish pepole the world over started Passover celebrations in order to mark their liberation from Egyptian slavery more than three thousand years ago.




    Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue on Saturday hailed the structural reforms promoted by the technocratic government in Bucharest. By the sidelines of the ECOFIN conference in Amsterdam Dombrovskis met Romanian Finance Minister Anca Dragu and voiced concern over the possible fiscal slippages that might occur in 2016, which is an election year in Romania. Mrs. Dragu exclusively told Radio Romania that during the talks with the EU official she hailed the European Commission’s decision to take Romania out of the list of countries with macroeconomic imbalances.




    In the past ten days 62 foreign nationals, whose stay in Romania was illegal, have been identified by the police, the General Inspectorate for Migration on Saturday announced. Out of these, 28 are meeting the necessary conditions for having their stay prolonged, while 31 have been asked to leave the Romanian territory. At the same time, 240 warnings and fines have been issued for those who violated migration legislation. The measures taken by the Romanian police are aimed at enforcing law and order, at ensuring the safety of the citizens, by implementing a permanent control on observing migration legislation and fighting illegal migration.



    Romanian tennis player Andreea Mitu and Turkish Ipek Soylu on Saturday qualified for the finals of the doubles contest in the tennis tournament underway in Istanbul. The two athletes have made it to the semis without playing after the Japanese Naomi Hibino and Kurumi Nara didn’t turn up for the game. This is Mitu’s second WTA finals after the one she lost together with her compatriot Patricia Tig in Bucharest in 2015. Mitu and Soylu will be playing against Xenia Knoll of Switzerland and Montenegrin Danka Kovinici.




    Every year on April 23rd, Romania celebrates its ground troops. Events aimed at celebrating this day were staged during the week, including exhibitions, workshops, presentations of military equipment, exercises, concerts and wreath laying ceremonies; all these took place in army units the countrywide as well as among our troops deployed in Afghanistan. The patron saint of the ground forces in Romania is St. George, a general in the Roman army back in the time of emperor Diocletian who was tortured and executed for his Christian belief. Romanians on Saturday celebrated this Christian martyr as well as over one million people bearing his name.




    On the World Book and Copyright Day celebrated on Saturday, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis stood for education as the only way to progress. According to him, books challenge the young minds, whetting their appetite for knowledge and are also contributing to the healthy development of the young generations. The Romanian official went on to say that all children must have access to books. The Minister of Culture Vlad Alexandrescu has also underlined the importance of books and libraries. Upon a UNESCO initiative the World Book and Copyright Day has been celebrated on April 23rd since 1996.