Radio România Internațional

Tag: Turkey elections

  • June 24, 2018

    June 24, 2018

    Motion — The censure motion tabled by the Romanian opposition parties will be read out on Monday in Parliament plenum and Wednesday it will be debated and voted on. The initiators of the motion called “Ousting the Dragnea-Dancila government, a national emergency” claim that the current cabinet, through the measures taken, destroyed the economy and the justice system. On Saturday thousands of people protested in Bucharest and other cities of Romania against the Social Democratic government and the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea, asking for his and the government’s resignation. Also on Saturday, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, announced that he would run for a new term in office as president of Romania in 2019, saying that his decision was motivated by the troubled political environment in Romania. He said he had to clarify his position on the matter given that 80% of the population was discontented with and no longer trusted the political class. According to President Iohannis the PSD leader Liviu Dragnea should withdraw completely from Romania’s political life. On Friday the Social Democrats announced they would continue to support Dragnea in all the offices he is currently holding although he received a first instance sentence of 3 and a half years in prison for instigation to abuse of office. Dragnea said he would not resign so as to be able to implement his goals, among which the governing program.



    Chisinau — A protest rally will take place Sunday in Chisinau to contest the court decision that invalidates the election as mayor of Chisinau of the pro-European opposition leader Andrei Nastase. The police announced on Saturday that they started criminal prosecution in the case of the rally, based on suspicions related to possible violent actions to take place at the rally. The US Department of State, the EU as well as diplomatic missions accredited to Chisinau conveyed messages in which they express concern with the developments in this case.



    Brussels — Leaders from 17 EU states are today meeting in Brussels to discuss differences over migration in the run up to the EU summit scheduled for the coming weekend. The German chancellor Angela Merkel wants to obtain certain concessions that should allow her to maintain the governing coalition. The French president Emmanuel Macron is pleading for financial sanctions to be imposed on those EU members that turn away migrants with proven asylum status. He referred to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, countries that are opposed to the asylum-seeker relocation program. The Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boiko Borisov, whose country is holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union until June 30, announced he would propose the immediate closure of the EU’s external borders for migrants and the setting up of centers for war refugees outside the community space, Reuters reports.



    Turkey elections — Turkey is seeing Sunday early presidential and parliamentary elections. The presidential election is considered the most important challenge for the current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been ruling the country for 15 years. If he gets another 5-year term in office Erdogan intends to remove the prime minister position, a measure which the opposition claims will erode democracy in Turkey. His main challenger is Muharrem Ince representing the most powerful opposition party, the Republican People’s Party. If none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the votes on Sunday, a second round will be held on July 8. Also on Sunday Turks are called to the polls to elect 600 MPs for a 5-year term in office, the elections taking place in the context of a state of emergency imposed by president Erdogan himself in 2016 after the failed coup d’etat against him.



    Romanian Blouse — The Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse is marked each year on June 24. The traditional Romanian blouse is the staple element of the national traditional dress and an international symbol of Romanian culture. On January 21, 2013 the online community “La Blouse Roumaine” proposed June 24 as the day devoted to the Romanian Blouse. In the same year the community “La Blouse Roumaine” organized the first Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse, which has become a global event marked in more than 50 countries. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)

  • November 2, 2015

    November 2, 2015

    This is the third day of national mourning in Romania, commemorating the victims of the fire that occurred Friday night at a club in Bucharest. According to the latest reports 30 people died and 150 were injured. Ninety patients admitted in 12 hospitals in the capital city are in a critical or severe condition and the number of deaths may further increase. Prosecutors and the police have opened an investigation and are hearing the witnesses. The tragedy prompted an impressive mobilisation of the Romanian doctors, helped by fellow physicians from Israel and France, and the number of blood donors has tripled. Many countries have sent their condolences to the victims families.



    The former Romanian minister for regional development and tourism Elena Udrea has been heard today at the National Anti-Corruption Directorate in a corruption investigation involving a 3 million euro loan taken out from the private bank BRD. She is facing charges of accessory to abuse of office. Thirty people are prosecuted in this case for the fraudulent contracting of 17 loans. This is the fourth case against Elena Udrea opened by the anti-corruption prosecutors, after the ones known as Microsoft, Gala Bute and Hidroelectrica, in which the former minister was prosecuted on Friday. A close aide of former president Traian Basescu and very influential during his ten years in office, Udrea is one of the highest-profile Romanian politicians probed into for corruption.



    The number of foreign tourists arriving in Romania grew by nearly 20% in the first 9 months of the year, according to the National Statistics Institute. Arrivals in September 2015 were 18.5% higher than in the same months of the previous year. However, in 2014 for example, the money spent by foreign tourists across Romania, around 1.1 billion euros, accounts for less than the total incomes of Disneyland Paris – 1.3 billion euros, the INS explains. According to the World Tourism Organisation, Romania has a share of 0.3% in world tourism in terms of the number of tourists and 0.4% in terms of revenues from tourism. In other news, as of today Romania is taking part in World Travel Market 2015 (WTM). This is the second-largest travel fair in the world, bringing together over 180 countries and more than 50,000 experts. Romania has a 308 sq.m. stand at this fair.



    The European Union Monday promised to work with the new government in Ankara, after the early legislative elections held Sunday in Turkey. According to the EU, the elections, won by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have confirmed the Turkish peoples strong commitment to the democratic process. The EU promised to join efforts with the new government to improve its partnership with Turkey and carry on bilateral cooperation, to the benefit of all citizens. PM Ahmet Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Justice and Development Party won 49.4% of the votes and is to hold 316 of the 550 seats in Parliament. The Republican Peoples Party (CHP) came out second, with 24.5% of the votes, followed by the Nationalist Action Party with around 12%. The pro-Kurdish HDP carried little over 10% of the votes.



    The Liberal-Democrats in the Republic of Moldova are yet to decide whether they will take part in the negotiations with the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party to form a new ruling coalition. Sworn in less than 3 months ago, the Cabinet headed by the Liberal Democratic Party leader Valeriu Streleţ was brought down on Thursday through a no-confidence motion tabled by the Socialists and the pro-Russian Communists, but also backed by the Democrats. On Friday, President Nicolae Timofti appointed the Liberal deputy-PM Gheorghe Brega as interim prime minister. He said the priority for the Republic of Moldova is to form a new pro-European government as soon as possible.



    Some of the victims of the Egypt plane crash have been repatriated to Russia today. The Airbus A 321 operated by the Russian airline Metrojet, with 224 people on board, crashed on Saturday shortly after taking off, in the Sinai region in Egypt. It was carrying Russian tourists who had spent their holidays in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh back to Sankt Petersburg. All the passengers and crew died. The investigation, in which Russian experts are also taking part, is difficult, because the remains of the aircraft are scattered on a 20-km area. The two black boxes have been recovered and will be analysed in Moscow. This is the worst crash in the history of Russian aviation. A similar accident took place in 1985, when an Aeroflot plane went down in Uzbekistan, killing 200 people.