Radio România Internațional

Tag: Vienna

  • July 31, 2023

    July 31, 2023

    TAXES Fresh talks are scheduled today in
    the Cabinet on tax-related measures designed to rebalance the state budget.
    The Social Democratic PM Marcel Ciolacu is to have meetings with the finance
    minister Marcel Boloș, and a report is expected from the national tax agency
    with respect to revenue collection. The ruling coalition is considering tax
    increases and the elimination of certain tax facilities, as well as the
    cancelling of 200,000 public sector positions that are currently vacant and a
    reduction of expenditure in ministries. According to the PM, the proposed
    measures will be implemented in 3 stages, beginning on September 1, October 1 and
    January 1, 2024.


    VEHICLES The local segment of the car
    scrapping programme Rablaˮ started today, in an effort by the Romanian
    authorities to get heavily polluting vehicles out of circulation. Apart from
    the funds provided by the Environment Ministry, local authorities contribute
    20% of the vouchers granted to citizens who de-register cars older than 15
    years. In a first stage in April, town halls enrolled in this programme, and as
    of today citizens may apply for the funds available in the programme, no later
    than the end of August. The Environment Ministry earmarked some EUR 50 mln for
    this programme, and estimates around 100,000 polluting cars will be scrapped.


    CONCERT The Bucharest National Opera
    orchestra Sunday night performed for the first time at the Musikverein hall in
    Vienna, which hosts the traditional New Year’s concert in the Austrian capital
    city. The concert was a tribute to the Romanian composer Ciprian
    Porumbescu, as the year 2023 was declared the year of Ciprian Porumbescu, to
    mark 170 years since the birth and 140 years since the death of the famous
    composer. The programme consisted exclusively of works by Ciprian Porumbescu:
    New Moon, the first Romanian operetta, the Ballad, the
    Romanian Rhapsody. The soloists, choir and orchestra of the
    National Opera House in Bucharest were conducted by Daniel Jinga, with special
    guests including maestro Gheorghe Zamfir and the soloist Maria Coman.


    TRAINING The training ship Mircea has today
    returned to the military port of Constanţa, after a 28-day training session in
    the Mediterranean. On board were 64 sophomore students with the Mircea cel
    Bătrân Naval Academy, as well as 10 exchange students from partner
    academies in Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey, Latvia, Italy and Spain. The training
    ship had stopovers in the ports of Piraeus in Greece, Taranto in Italy and Izmir
    in Turkey, and completed an over 2,200 mile journey.


    UKRAINE Ukraine has today confirmed that
    Saudi Arabia will host a peace summit aimed, according to Kyiv, at restoring
    peace in line with the Ukrainian formula, EFE reports. According to the head
    of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak, apart from guaranteeing peace
    for Ukraine, the 10-point formula will create mechanisms to counter future conflicts. For
    Kyiv, the formula includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory.
    According to Western diplomats, the choice of Saudi Arabia to host the talks is
    designed to facilitate the participation of China, which has good relations
    with Moscow and with Riyadh.


    SPORTS PM Marcel Ciolacu congratulated the
    Romanian athletes and coaches who took part in the European Youth Olympic
    Festival hosted this year by Maribor (Slovenia). He said Romania once again
    confirmed its rebirth as a sports powerhouse after it finished the competition
    with 20 medals, shoulder to shoulder with France, which came 3rd in
    the final ranking. Their result reconfirms their hard work, talent and the
    pride of proving to the world that we are a country which, in spite of
    difficulties, remains able to cultivate the spirit required of great champions,ˮ
    Ciolacu said. Romania’s performance at this year’s European Youth Olympic
    Festival was the best after the ones in a Bath (1995) and Paris (2003). (AMP)

  • November 18, 2022 UPPDATE

    November 18, 2022 UPPDATE

    Aid — The European Commission approved, on Friday, an aid scheme worth approximately 200 million Euros (985 million lei), notified by Romania to support processors of agricultural products, in the context of the war waged by Russia against Ukraine – shows a EC press release. The measure addresses, in particular, operators in the milling, oils and fats, dairy products and animal feed industries. The scheme aims to provide liquidity to eligible beneficiaries who are affected by the current geopolitical situation and the rising energy costs. The commission found that Romanias framework aid scheme meets the stipulated conditions. Thus, the value of the aid will not exceed two million Euros per beneficiary, and the support is granted until December 31, 2023 at the latest.



    Schengen — The Austrian Interior Ministry officials have announced Viennas opposition to the admission of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia to the Schengen area of ​​free movement – the Austrian press reports, quoted by international news agencies. “It is an inopportune moment to vote on the enlargement now, when the system of external borders is not functional” – said the Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. Austria is currently dealing with an increased number of refugees who have passed through other EU states along the so-called Balkan route. According to the Interior Ministry, more than 90,000 have arrived at the Austrian border since the beginning of the year, and 75,000 of them were not previously registered in any other EU country. The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, has said this week that Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia should join the free movement area without delay. Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Ireland and Cyprus are the only EU states that are not part of the Schengen area, to which, however, the non-EU countries Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have been admitted.



    Drill – About 600 Romanian soldiers from Infantry Battalion 20 Dolj of the Southeast Multinational Brigade from Craiova (south) and allied soldiers from France, Poland, Portugal and the United States of America, with over 70 pieces of technical equipment, will participate, between November 21 – 25, in the joint training exercise Black Scorpions 22.8, at the Joint National Training Center (CNII) Getica in Cincu, Braşov county (centre). According to a statement sent on Friday by the Romanian Defense Ministry, the objectives of the exercise include the joint training of the military and, implicitly, increasing the cohesion of the trained structures through training exercises in the field and tactical exercises with combat firing.



    Rugby — Romania’s national rugby team meets the national team of Samoa, on Saturday, in Bucharest, in its last test match in November. In the previous matches, also at home, the Romanians beat Chile, 30-23, and lost to Uruguay, 16-21. Romania is qualified for the World Cup due next autumn, in France, where it will play in Group B, along with South Africa, Ireland, Scotland and Tonga. Romanias matches are scheduled in the cities of Bordeaux and Lille. (LS)

  • By ship from Vienna to Constantinople

    By ship from Vienna to Constantinople

    Under Ottoman influence for several centuries, the Romanian Principalities had been looking for and eventually found a new path in the first half of the 19th century. It was the path to modernization and Europeanization. Europe’s geopolitical history of the first half of the 19th century created the context for the Western ideas and the determination of elites to lead to the emergence of the Romanian state. Two of the powerful ideas of the time were: to put the Danube River at the center of the European community and to expand the West towards the East. People travelled by ship on the Danube between Vienna and Constantinople and that widened their horizon, realizing that commercial transport on the big river was profitable.



    The historian Constantin Ardeleanu is the author of the book “A cruise from Vienna to Constantinople. Travelers, spaces, images, 1830-1860”. It is a book of history viewed through the eyes of those who traveled on the route between the two great empires, the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires.



    How did the Romanian society receive the changes from the West, the technological innovations, is the first question to which historian Constantin Ardeleanu answered: “I would say that the Romanian society received those changes with openness. And with fear, initially, but also with a good understanding of the usefulness of those modern technologies. The Romanian space got connected to travel routes in Europe after the introduction of steam navigation on the river. This happened as of the 1830s and the symbolic moment was April 1834, when the first steamer, belonging to the first Austrian steam navigation company, arrived in a Romanian port. A reception ceremony was held, the Romanian elites quickly embraced the innovation, which they knew of from their travels abroad, and made full use of it equally to the West, to Vienna, and from there to the rest of Western Europe, through Constantinople, to the east and to the Holy Land, to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. However, for the ordinary people, that terrible invention was hard to understand, but they were aware of it. And this was because the ship and its modern technology had a specific form of territoriality.”



    The Danube was, undoubtedly, the axis of modernization for Romanians. This is how it was seen at the time, and although almost two centuries have passed since then, its current importance has remained intact. Here is historian Constantin Ardeleanu with more details: “This relationship with the Danube is very important, it was the first natural highway that connected us to the world. Undoubtedly, it needed some changes that were made both in the Iron Gates area and the Danube Delta area, in order to ensure the function of pan-European waterway. It was the Austrian company DDSG (Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft) that came to introduce these lines between Vienna and Constantinople as part of an investment meant to connect the south-east of Europe. I was saying that the Danube was the main waterway that connected the Romanians to the world, hence the name ‘the Danube Principalities’ given to the Romanian Principalities. When this term was concocted, Serbia was also included in the Danube Principalities, but later, during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, the name ‘the Danube Principalities’ was used almost exclusively for Muntenia — Wallachia and Moldavia.”



    1830-1860 is the period chosen by Constantin Ardeleanu to imagine a journey on the Danube from Vienna to Constantinople. We asked him why he chose this period: “This period represents the start and the apogee of this Danube route between Vienna and Constantinople. 1830 is the year when the Austrian company, in British partnership, introduced a line on the Danube between Vienna and Budapest. This is how the connection of the Habsburg space through the Danube waterway started. Then steam navigation on the Danube was introduced, which reached the Romanian space in 1834, as I already said. 1860 was a year in which railway competition became increasingly important. The waterway went into decline with the introduction of the railways into the Habsburg space first. Starting with this decade of the 1860s, the same happened in the Romanian space. In 1860, the first railway in the Romanian space was built in ​​the Danube Delta area, namely the railway from Cernavoda to Constanța, which in a way short-circuited the Danube route. Travelers no longer needed to make a detour through Brăila and Galați, thus saving a few days. A new rush to speed up the process began, after reducing the travel time between Vienna and Constantinople and other destinations.”



    You may wonder who was traveling on the Danube? There were several types of travelers. First, there were the merchants and the military, the oldest travelers, the most adventurous spirits ever. Then there were the spiritual pilgrims to Mount Athos and to the holy lands of Jerusalem and Palestine. But there also emerged a new category, the tourists. The rich people wanted to discover the world and thus boarded on ships that took them across the Danube to the wide world. A cruise on the Danube from Vienna to Constantinople in the 19th century also brought them to Romania, which immediately adopted the models of the time. (LS)

  • Constantin Antonovici, a student of Brancusi

    Constantin Antonovici, a student of Brancusi

    After graduating from the Arts Academy in Iasi in 1939, Constantin Antonovici left the country to work for six months in Ivan Mestrovics studio in Zagreb. In the autumn of 1941, he was admitted at Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Vienna, and in 1947 he settled in Paris, where he met Brancusi, and worked for the next four years in his studio. In 1951 he left for Canada, and in 1954 he moved to New York, to obtain American citizenship in 1959. Critic Mihai Plamadeala tells us more about the work of Constantin Antonovici and the sculptors encounters with famous artists:



    “The owl motif is recurrent in Antonovicis work, in fact he is dubbed the ‘owl sculptor. The four years spent together with the founder of modern sculpture must have left their imprint on Antonovicis outlook on art. But, as Brancusi himself said upon leaving Rodins workshop, ‘nothing grows in the shadow of big trees. The document signed by Constantin Brancusi on May 9, 1951, which reads, ‘I hereby certify that Mr. Constantin Antonovici has great talent in sculpture and arduously works at it is atypical and, in my view, it can hardly be authenticated. Otherwise, I can see no influence of Brancusis thinking in the works of Antonovici. Antonovici focused on animal shapes. He is a sculptor who searched for guidance, and in the studios where he worked he sought to learn, to improve, to perfect his skills. What matters is that he didnt copy or mimic Brancusis work, and this is a proof of common-sense and good measure, which is worth nothing.



    Critic Mihai Plamadeala also reviewed for us the most important exhibitions and works by Constantin Antonovici:



    “The most notable exhibitions of Constantin Antonovicis works were organized by several galleries in Paris. Worth mentioning are also the ones at Corcoran Arts Gallery in New York, and he also had exhibitions in Philadelphia. He was also awarded an important prize by the Accademia Italia. One of his major works is a large-scale statue made for the tomb of Bishop William T. Manning. In Romania, the sculptor made a bust of Voltaire and the altarpiece for the cathedral in Jimbolia, I dont know whether these works are officially included in the national heritage list. Works by Antonovici can be found especially in private collections, but many others are on display in galleries in the USA.



    Doina Uricariu and Vladimir Bulat put together a catalogue of the works of Constantin Antonovici. Entitled “Antonovici: 1911-2002: Sculptor on Two Continents, the bilingual, Romanian-English volume was released by Universalia Publishers in the US. Here is art critic Mihai Plamadeala again:



    “The first merit of the monograph edited by Doina Uricariu and Vladimir Bulat, with support from Steven Benedict, is that it aims at bringing back home a Romanian-born international artist who is little known by the larger audience. The book, which is in fact a ‘catalogue raisonne, brings information about the life and activity of sculptor Constantin Antonovici, who is entitled to finding the right place in Romanian art. Until then, the book, which is the main means by which Constantin Antonovici can get to be known in our country, facilitates three types of approach, as it is an artistic biography, a presentation of the artists work and also establishes the connection with famous names and internationally acknowledged trends. Whether there is a connection between Antonovicis owls and Picasso, Henry Moore or Juan Miro…thats debatable. Beyond that, Antonovici is one of the sculptors who deserve to and must be known in Romania.



    If the central theme of his work was the owl, which he presented in various shapes and hypostases, Constantin Antonovici also authored other pieces of art, such as the 2-meter high cross on the western façade of the St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York, on Amsterdam Avenue. Also, he is the author of the bust of president Dwight Eisenhower at the White House.



    (Translation by A.M. Popescu and M. Ignatescu)

  • October 30, 2015

    October 30, 2015

    The former president of Romania, Traian Basescu, may be prosecuted in a case involving the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005, a Bucharest court decided today, citing abuse of office and conflict of interests among the charges. The case was opened after the former leader of Greater Romania Party, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, filed a complaint to the General Prosecutors Office in 2009, accusing Traian Basescu and his former Interior Minister, the current co-president of the National Liberal Party, Vasile Blaga, of having appropriated some of the 4 million US dollars paid by the Romanian state as ransom for the three journalists. Prosecutors mentioned that the probe into Vasile Blaga was closed in 2010, and prosecution was ruled out. Traian Basescu finds the accusations ridiculous and views the case as an offence to Romania.



    Nine central and eastern-European countries will take part in Bucharest on November 4 in a high-level meeting, attended by the deputy NATO Secretary General, Alexander Vershbow. He has recently said that there are risks when Russia gets involved in operations close to NATO territory. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, who will be hosting the summit, announced that the participants will release a joint message regarding the adjustment of NATO to the current security context.



    The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu is taking part today, in Ulm (Germany) in the fourth Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, organised by the European Commission. On this occasion, Minister Aurescu will have bilateral meetings with German officials. The EU Strategy for the Danube Region is a major European political project launched by Romania jointly with Austria, and the Forum is its central annual event. The project brings together Danube riparian countries, of which 9 EU members and 5 non-members.



    Romania might reach an absorption rate of over 90% by the end of the 2007-2014 National Rural Development Programme, which means that more than 9 billion euros from national and European funds will have been attracted into the sector, said George Turtoi, secretary of state with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This programme is the instrument under which non-reimbursable funds are allotted for private and public investments that ensure the development of villages in Romania. The total funds earmarked under this programme were 9.67 billion euro, which should have been contracted by the end of 2013, but can still be paid until the end of 2015, Agerpres reports.



    The mayor of the north-eastern Romanian city of Iasi, Gheorghe Nichita, and a well-known businessman are to find out today whether they will be placed under custody pending trial for 30 days. The two are subject to investigation in a case involving the award of an EU-funded contract amounting to 15 million euros.



    The European Union announced it was closely monitoring the political developments in the Republic of Moldova, after the Parliament in Chisinau Thursday dismissed the Cabinet headed by Valeriu Streletz through a no-confidence motion. In a press release issued by the office of the EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, Brussels urges the politicians in Chisinau to form a new and stable government as soon as possible, considering that the Republic of Moldova is experiencing a difficult period in all respects – economic, political and social. The new Cabinet will have to carry on efforts to fight corruption, to solve the banking crisis and to negotiate a new agreement with the IMF, which is vital to ensuring macroeconomic stability, reads the press statement.



    Talks are held in Vienna today between the foreign powers that back the rival parties in the Syrian civil war. According to the BBC, the goal is the bridge the differences between the US and its allies, which support the rebels, and the key supporters of the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran. This is for the first time that Iran takes part in such talks. Recently, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, urged the participants in the Vienna talks to prove “flexibility. The war, which has been going on for four years, started out as a rebellion against the President Bashar al-Assad, and has so far killed 250,000 people, forcing half of the countrys population, nearly 11 million people, to leave their homes.