Radio România Internațional

Tag: venice

  • March 20, 2024 UPDATE

    March 20, 2024 UPDATE

     

    ELECTIONS The ruling coalition’s joint candidate for the Bucharest Mayor General post, the surgeon and manager of the city’s University Hospital Cătălin Cîrstoiu, was officially introduced on Wednesday in a press conference by the leaders of the Social Democratic Party and National Liberal Party. Cătălin Cîrstoiu will not join any of these parties, but will run in the June 9 election as a nono-affiliated candidate. In the next few days, the Social Democrats and the Liberals will also announce their joint candidates for the 6 districts of the capital city. This year Romania organises local and European Parliament elections in June, presidential elections in September and general elections in December. The Constitutional Court Wednesday dismissed a notification submitted by the opposition and gave the green light for a bill bringing forward the presidential election to September. In their notification, the Save Romania Union and the Force of the Right argued that the bill came against democratic principles and that changing election rules just months before the vote date was unconstitutional.

     

    NATO Mihail Kogălniceanu, in the south-east of Romania, will host the largest NATO operational base in Europe. Upgrade works on the air base in Romania started in 2010, in the context of the war in Afghanistan, but the military complex has now reached a new expansion stage. Substantial funding is earmarked for the building of a military compound which would include a hospital and a school. The Romanian government’s investment is put at EUR 2.5 bln. The Mihail Kogălniceanu air base may eventually take over the logistics and human resources of the US base in Ramstein, Germany.

     

    FRANCOPHONIE Cultural institutions in Bucharest organised special events on International Francophonie Day, celebrated every year on March 20. The National Museum of Romanian Literature organised a presentation of Romanian writers with strong connections with the French culture, by translating or writing their works in French. On Thursday, students with L’Ecole Française Internationale de Bucarest take part in a guided tour presented by Stéphan Artaud, a curator currently on an internship at the National Museum of Romanian Literature. The “Dinu Lipatti” Arts Centre organises the 8th “I Love Lipatti” Festival, until March 23, with a special guest from France, the pianist Dimitri Malignan, giving a special recital on this occasion. Bucharest’s “Nottara” theatre holds a special edition of the “Dialogues without masks” programme, with Vasile Șirli as a guest. Vasile Șirli is a Romanian composer who headed the Paris Disneyland’s music department for 30 years.

     

    FUGITIVES Romania’s Constitutional Court postponed to April 10 a hearing on the notification lodged by the country’s supreme court with respect to the Fugitives Act, under which offenders who fail to appear for incarceration within 7 days of receiving final prison sentences will be considered fugitives and will be sentenced to an additional six months to three years. According to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, this law infringes upon citizens’ right to a fair trial and to individual freedom. A list of famous Romanian fugitives includes the former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, the former head of Romania’s Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism Offences, Alina Bica, the son of the president of the Professional Football League, Mario Iorgulescu, and Paul Philippe of Romania, a grandson of King Carol ll. The former mayor of Baia Mare, Catalin Chereches, who had fled to Germany after having been sentenced to five years in prison for bribery, was brought to Romania on Tuesday and sent to a maximum security prison in Arad, western Romania. He was subsequently transferred to Bucharest.

     

    ART Romania will take part in this year’s Venice Art Biennale, in Italy. The project representing Romania in the 60th edition of this famed international exhibition was made public on Wednesday in Bucharest. The artist Şerban Savu’s exhibition, “What Work Is,” looks at the iconography of work, drawing on the historical realism and the propaganda art in the Eastern Bloc countries. The Venice Biennale, held between April 20 and November 24, will bring together participants from 87 countries. (AMP)

  • October 5, 2023

    October 5, 2023

    PRIZE The winner of the
    Nobel Prize in literature is to be announced today. Last year, the recipient
    was French writer Annie Ernaux for the courage and clinical acuity with which
    she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal
    memory. The 2023 Nobel season will continue with the peace prize on October 6.
    The Riksbank Sveriges prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel will
    be announced on October 9.








    IMF The priorities of the Romanian government should
    be to improve tax collection at the state budget and the elimination of the
    fiscal exemptions, the IMF experts said in Bucharest at the end of their
    periodical assessment mission. The IMF delegation has in the past two weeks assessed
    Romania’s fiscal and economic policies, forecasting a 2.3% economic growth, a
    budget deficit of 6% and an inflation rate, expected to go down from 7% to 4%,
    but at the end of the next year.






    SUMMIT Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis went to Granada to
    participate in the 3rd European Political Community Summit.
    According to the presidential administration, high on the talks agenda are
    digital transition, artificial intelligence and security. Iohannis will
    co-preside together with the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, a series
    of round table talks on environment-related issues, and climate change.
    Tomorrow Iohannis will be attending the informal meeting of the European
    Council, hosted in Granada by the Spanish presidency of the European Union. The
    meeting’s main objective is the launch of the reflection process over the EU’s
    future strategic agenda and some issues related to defence, resilience and
    competitiveness, the EU’s global commitment, migration and enlargement.








    ACCIDENT A family of two Romanians with two children residing in
    Germany is among the victims of the road accident involving a bus near Venice, which
    left 21 dead and 15 wounded. The vehicle fell off a bridge and caught fire. All
    the dead have been identified and the municipality decreed three days of
    mourning on Wednesday. Among those killed there are a baby and two Romanian girls,
    13 and 8 years old. The two and their parents were spending their holiday in
    Mestre. The real cause of the accident remains unknown; it’s either the driver was
    ill or he was talking on the phone. The prosecutor’s office in Venice has
    opened an investigation into the accident.




    (bill)

  • Talks on dismantling the special section investigating magistrates

    Talks on dismantling the special section investigating magistrates

    The dismantling of the special section investigating criminal offences within the judiciary is back in the public spotlight after the Venice Commission said this was a good thing and reaffirmed that super-immunity for magistrates should be eliminated and that the Higher Council of Magistrates should not be in a position to filter out criminal charges against judges and prosecutors.



    The Justice Minister Stelian Ion explained the position of the Venice Commission, namely that the so-called guarantees for magistrates actually provide them with special immunity, which would merely “cast a shadow on the judicial process. According to the minister, there are no arguments to keep this special section in place, and a decision in this respect may be taken next week in the Senate.



    Previously, the Chamber of Deputies had upheld the position of the Higher Council of Magistrates concerning the trying of judges and prosecutors for any criminal offences, including corruption.



    Stelian Ion: “With this confirmation from an independent body of the Council of Europe, a body comprising mainly constitutional law experts, whom I would like to thank especially for answering our requests with such swiftness, and leaving aside this local turmoil, these disputes and clashes over the topic, so with all this in mind, I can see no further impediments.



    The opinion of the Venice Commission confirms that my efforts as chair of the Legal Committee and the efforts of my fellow Liberal Senators towards scrapping super-immunity for magistrates, were justified, the Liberal Senator Iulia Scântei said in her turn. According to her, by dismantling the special section, a shameful chapter of recent history will be ended, a period when the independence of magistrates was under siege.



    USR PLUS, the Liberals partners in the ruling coalition, believes the position of the Venice Commission comes as no surprise, given that the creation of this special division had been criticised by all European institutions. Investigating corruption must be brought back into the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, and the relevant amendments to the law must be scrapped, USR PLUS says.



    Conversely, the Social Democrats in opposition remain adamant that no changes should be operated on the laws regulating the judiciary without a broad consensus of magistrates over the protection of judges from any type of pressure and abuse.



    Several magistrate associations in Romania believe the head of the Higher Council of Magistrates should resign following the opinion communicated by the Venice Commission. Making the prosecution of magistrates for corruption conditional on the approval of the Higher Council of Magistrates is an unconstitutional filter and decreases public confidence in the judicial process, professional associations argue. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • 26 July 2020, UPDATE

    26 July 2020, UPDATE

    Coronavirus
    Romania.     The number of coronavirus cases in Romania hits 44,798, with more than 1,000 new cases for the
    fifth day in a row. More than 25,600 people
    have recovered and over 6,600 are in hospital, including 351 in intensive care.
    22 new deaths were reported on Sunday, taking the death toll to 2,187. The town of Faget
    and three nearby villages in Timis county, in western part of Romania, are
    in lockdown for 14 days beginning on Sunday evening. Faget, where 47 cases were
    confirmed, is the third locality in Romania to go into lockdown after Cartojani
    in Giurgiu county and Gornet in Prahova county, in the south. In another move,
    Romanians will no longer be able to travel to Cyprus for tourism, and if they
    travel for different purposes, they will be ordered to isolate for 14 days. It
    is now also obligatory to produce a negative Covid-19 test for travellers
    arriving in Greece from Romania by plane, not just for those arriving by road.
    The test must have been conducted no more than 72 hours prior. Travellers who
    have not had time to do the test before the new measure was introduced will be
    tested at the airport in Greece on Tuesday and Wednesday. New entry conditions
    are also in place for travellers arriving in Austria from Romania. A negative
    Covid-19 test must now be produced that was conducted 72 hours prior instead of
    4 days prior, and the isolation period has been reduced from 14 to 10 days.
    These measures will remain in place at least until the end of September. Italy
    has also changed the rules for travellers from Romania and Bulgaria, who are
    now ordered to isolate for 14 days on arriving in Italy.


    List. The National Committee for Emergency Situations has updated the
    list of countries and regions with a high epidemiological risk valid as of
    Sunday midnight. All travellers from these countries will be ordered to isolate
    for 14 days at home, at another location of their choosing or in a
    government-run facility. The list features 44 countries, including Argentina,
    Brazil, Israel, Luxemburg, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, North
    Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Hertegovina, Serbia, Russia and the United States.
    The list was last updated on 7th July.





    Coronavirus world. New records are being reached
    around the world in terms of the number of infections with the novel
    coronavirus. Statistical figures show that more than a third of all cases were
    reported since 1st of July, in less than a month. The United States
    is the worst hit in terms of the death toll, and Mexico is also seeing a spike
    in new infections. South Korea, a country held as an example for it kept the
    pandemic in check, has announced more than 100 new infections. European nations
    are also faced with a massive rise in the number of new infections, being
    caught between containing the new outbreaks and restarting their economies. A
    spike in cases in Spain has led to new measures amid fears of a second wave. Germany
    has also reached a record number of infections in the last two months. Europe’s
    worst hit countries are the UK, with 45,000 deaths, Italy with 35,000 and
    France with 30,000.










    Tennis. World no. 2 Simona Halep has
    pulled out of the WTA tennis tournament in Palermo, Italy, the first in the
    women’s game to take place since the coronavirus outbreak. Organisers say Halep
    decided to withdraw after Italy decided to quarantine all travellers from Romania
    and Bulgaria, which have seen a surge in the number of coronavirus cases. The tournament
    on Palermo is held on clay between the 3rd and 9th
    August. Halep last played against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in February, in
    the final of the Dubai tournament, which she won. The director of the Palermo
    competition Oliveiro Palma said he was sad and disappointed with Halep’s
    decision.




    Film. Romanian Cristi
    Puiu, German director Christian Petzold, the French actor Ludivine Sagnier, the
    Italian writer Nicola Lagioia, the British director Joanna Hogg and the
    Austrian director Veronika Franz are part of the jury of the 77th
    Venice Film Festival held between 2nd and 22nd September.
    The Australian actor Cate Blanchett is the president of the jury. A leading
    figure of the Romanian New Wave, 53-year-old Cristi Puiu made his debut in
    2001. His second feature film, the black comedy The Death of Mr Lazarescu from
    2005 had immense success and won the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Festival. This year at the Berlin Festival, Puiu won best director award in the Encounters sidebar with Malmkrog.


    Weather. A bad weather alert is in place in
    Romania for most of the country from Sunday evening till Monday evening. Torrential
    rain, thunderstorms, wind and hail storms are expected, first in the west and
    north-west and then in the north, centre and the hilly and mountainous regions.
    The amount of precipitation is expected to pass 25 litres per square metre and
    even reach 50 in some areas. In the
    south and south-east, the weather remains hot and the humidity and heat ratio
    is forecast to go beyond the critical threshold of 80. (CM)