Radio România Internațional

Tag: Vlad

Romania’s Health Minister has been sacked

It is difficult to say whether this
moment is ending a complicated situation within the government in Bucharest or
is actually deepening the crisis of a very sensitive ruling formula. Although
Vlad Voiculescu was seemingly ready to carry on with the job, the country’s
Prime Minister Florin Citu decided to call on the president to sack Minister
Voiculescu. The last straw seems to have been the release of some regulations
on the quarantine measures to be imposed on some regions without the consultation
of the Prime Minister or state secretary Raed Arafat, head of the Department
for Emergency Situations, presently coordinating Romania’s fight against the
Covid-19 pandemic.

Andreea Moldovan, a controversial
state secretary with the Health Ministry, has also been sacked. She is the one
to have signed the new quarantine criteria. Vlad Voiculescu’s resignation has
been asked for quite some time now by the public opinion and politicians alike.

The former Minister’s support
came from the alliance, which proposed him for this position. USR Plus boasts
the largest number of votes in the ruling coalition second only to the National
Liberal Party (PNL), which has also nominated the Prime Minister

After the legislative elections
in December, Florin Citu’s cabinet has been forged and enjoyed support from the
PNL, USR Plus and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. In
Parliament it also benefits from the support of the Group of National
Minorities in Romania.

In other words, every MP of this
parties must enjoy support so that the government may function in its present formula.
Vlad Voiculescu’s mandate took place against the dramatic background of the
pandemic, which is seeing its third wave these days in Romania. Furthermore,
the last 4 months of this government have seen tragic events, which enraged the
Romanian society. In late January, a blaze ripped through the section where the
most severe Covid-19 cases were being treated at the National Institute for
Infectious Diseases Matei Balş in Bucharest killing five patients. Others died
later from wounds in the hospitals they were transferred to.

Already under public scrutiny,
the country’s healthcare system grabbed the highlights again on April 9th,
after live transmissions from the evacuation of the orthopedic hospital Foisor
in Bucharest had been aired. Foisor was to be turned into a hospital for the
exclusive treatment of Covid infections but live footages during the evacuation
process at midnight in cold weather have enraged the Romanians. Political
reactions seemed to have been appeased on Monday in the wake of the USR’s
support for its minister. However, on Tuesday, a new tragedy struck at another
major hospital in Romania, the Victor Babes hospital for the treatment of
infectious diseases. The faulty functioning of the oxygen machines fitting a
mobile unit for the treatment of Covid-infected patients killed another three
people at the aforementioned hospital.

(bill)

14 April 2021
Olympic Prospects 2020

One of the youngest members of Romanias Olympic team is cyclist Vlad Dascălu. He qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2019, when he won the World Championship, the World Cup and the European Championship in U23 cross-country mountain bike.

Vlad Dascălu was born in the village of Buda, near Fălticeni, in Suceava County, in the north, on December 7, 1997. At the age of 9, he moved with his parents to Spain. It was there that he got his first bike, at 10 years of age. According to the home page of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Vlad was first introduced to a cycling circuit at the age of 14. At 16 he took part in his first cross-country race and he came out second, which is the moment that actually shaped his future sports career. Only a year later, at the European championship for juniors, he finished the 6th.

When he was 18, he came to Romania and won the national mountain bike championship, the Cross-Country Olympic event, although he was only taking part as an amateur, without being a member of any team. He was immediately recruited by Dinamo BikeXpert Superbet, and a string of major performances followed. He travelled regularly from Spain to Romania to train with his team, he won World Cup points and started being noticed by top-class teams.

In 2018 he signed a contract with Brujula Bike Racing Team in Spain, with which in July 2019, in Brno, the Czech Republic, he won the European Youth Championship in the U23 category. A month later, in Mont Sainte-Anne, Canada, he won the world title in the same category. He also had an excellent run at the World Cup, where he won 4 out of the 7 stages of the competition.

These performances made him the cyclist of the year 2019 in Romania.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

6 August 2020
Olympic Prospects 2020

One of the youngest members of Romanias Olympic team is cyclist Vlad Dascălu. He qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2019, when he won the World Championship, the World Cup and the European Championship in U23 cross-country mountain bike.

Vlad Dascălu was born in the village of Buda, near Fălticeni, in Suceava County, in the north, on December 7, 1997. At the age of 9, he moved with his parents to Spain. It was there that he got his first bike, at 10 years of age. According to the home page of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Vlad was first introduced to a cycling circuit at the age of 14. At 16 he took part in his first cross-country race and he came out second, which is the moment that actually shaped his future sports career. Only a year later, at the European championship for juniors, he finished the 6th.

When he was 18, he came to Romania and won the national mountain bike championship, the Cross-Country Olympic event, although he was only taking part as an amateur, without being a member of any team. He was immediately recruited by Dinamo BikeXpert Superbet, and a string of major performances followed. He travelled regularly from Spain to Romania to train with his team, he won World Cup points and started being noticed by top-class teams.

In 2018 he signed a contract with Brujula Bike Racing Team in Spain, with which in July 2019, in Brno, the Czech Republic, he won the European Youth Championship in the U23 category. A month later, in Mont Sainte-Anne, Canada, he won the world title in the same category. He also had an excellent run at the World Cup, where he won 4 out of the 7 stages of the competition.

These performances made him the cyclist of the year 2019 in Romania.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

6 August 2020
“The Dracula Investigation” – an exhibition opened in Sighisoara, central Romania

Eight Romanian-born Dutch brothers
very fond of Romania’s history, as they were raised in Sighisoara, a medieval city
in central Romania, one day decided to enrich the travel offer of the city of
their childhood. We recall that this medieval city in central Romania is
arguably a top travel destination for all those interested in visiting
Transylvania.

So, the eight brothers decided to
open an interactive exhibition as an invitation into the fascinating world of
Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula, who was born in Sighisoara in 1431.
He inherited the name from his father, a nobleman who had been admitted to the monarchical
chivalric Order of the Dragon founded by Hungarian king Sigismund of
Luxembourg.

Tepes, who achieved notoriety
thanks to Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula, ruled Wallachia in 1448, then
again between 1456 and 1462 and in 1476. The exhibition bears a suggestive
name, ‘The Dracula Investigation and is presenting major historic events and
moments in the life of this famous Wallachian ruler. One of the initiators of
this project is 26-years old Timon who told us how things started rocketing.

Timon: For many years we had
seen a real exodus of young people lea

ving Sighisoara, in search of a better
future. Also very few are getting involved in fresh projects and activities for
tourists. After a couple of hours of sightseeing, tourists are usually leaving
the city as there is not much to see. And we believed we could change that one
day. It was a long process, we did a lot of talking and had arguments, but in
the end we came up with something good. Now we are also considering other
projects, we also have divergent opinions but we know than we shouldn’t take
them personally. We initially wanted to take up design too, and this is how we
hired Silvia, because we cannot do everything.

Stage designer Silvia Ioana
Horobeanu told us how she joined the project.

Silvia: I got contacted by
Timon who told me about the project and I thought it was interesting that
someone may want to present our history in such a new way. I came up with a
modern, minimalist version of the exhibition, as I believe in simplicity when
you have to present major moments in history. I was also considering the idea
of screening animated films in several rooms.

The exhibition consists of animated
films, shadow performances, molded artefacts and visitors are invited to all
the exhibition’s five rooms where the Wallachian ruler is telling the story of
his life. This interesting exhibition is combining technology and history
because those who initiated the project are young people. Here is Timon’s younger
brother Lemre with more.

Lemre: I like this medieval
thing because I like history a lot. We knew we had potential but didn’t exactly
know what we could do. Then we thought of Sighisoara, the city of our
childhood, a beautiful city in Transylvania on UNESCO’s heritage list. And when
people think of Transylvania, they think of Dracula first without any concern
for the real story. They prefer to think of vampires and all that stuff. We
believed the true story is also interesting and we wanted to present it in a
unique manner.

Design was created from scratch in
this exhibition showcasing events from the life of the famous Wallachian ruler.
Here is Silvia Ioana Horobeanu with more on the issue.

Silvia: I wanted something
special, I wanted to impress. Because the main story was actually placed
outside we had to figure out how to bring that atmosphere inside in these
halls. In order to achieve that atmosphere of authenticity, my idea was to pave
the rooms with gravel, to recreate that specific outdoor sound. The boys hated
me for that as they have to carry a lot of gravel inside, but the final result
eventually paid off.

Several Romanian artists, from
sculptors to narrators, have also joined the efforts to put in place this
special exhibition, which takes visitors 20 minutes to see it all. Organizers
are open to criticism and visitors can get their money back if they aren’t
satisfied with what they see in this exhibition, which, like the Old Princely
Court in Bucharest or the palace in Targoviste, southern Romania, may enable
visitors to get a clear picture of the famous Wallachian ruler.

4 February 2020
June 11, 2019

FOOTBALL Romania’s national football side on Monday night clinched
a 4-0 win against the selection of Malta in group F of the 2020 European
Football Championship preliminaries. On Friday Romania ended their away game
against Norway in a 2-all draw but in March they lost to Sweden in Stockholm
2-1. Our footballers have also secured a 4-1 home win against the Faeroe Islands.
Spain tops the table with 12 points followed by Sweden and Romania, each with 7
points. The preliminaries are to resume in September when Romania will be up
against Spain in Bucharest. The first two sides in the group will book tickets
for the final tournament whose lots are to be drawn in Bucharest on November 30th.
The Romanian capital is to host four matches of the final tournament, three in
the group stage and one in the round of 16. We recall that also this month,
Romania’s Under 21 football selection will be playing in the European
Championship in Italy and San Marino. Romania is part of group C together with
England, France and Croatia.

EXPLANATIONS Romania’s Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu has today been
invited to the Chamber of Deputies upon a request from the opposition National
Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union to speak in the ‘Government’s Hour’.
Also on Tuesday the Senate is debating upon a simple motion tabled against the
Foreign Minister on the situation during the May 26th election when many
Romanians abroad had difficulty in casting their ballot. The opposition MPs are
calling for Melescanu’s resignation. On Monday the Foreign Minister again asked
the Romanians abroad to forgive him but said that the Ministry had fulfilled its
legal obligations. Melescanu has announced that talks are to be held at the
embassies where voters faced difficulty during the elections in order to find
the culprits and see to it that the situation will not repeat.

FILE The Prosecutor General of the Republic of
Moldova, an ex-Soviet Romanian-speaking country, has opened a file on the
possible funding of the Socialist Party of president Igor Dodon by the Russian
Federation. In another development, Dodon has announced that he cancelled the
decree signed by Pavel Filip on dismantling Parliament and staging snap election
on September 6th. On June 9th the Constitutional Court in
the Republic of Moldova suspended Dodon from the position of president and
appointed Prime Minister Pavel Filip as the country’s interim president. The
Democratic Party of controversial businessman Vlad Plahotniuc believes the
legal government is that led by Filip. The first meeting of the new cabinet led
by pro-European Maia Sandu, which enjoys the Socialists’ support, in spite of
the Constitutional Court’s invalidation took place on Monday. Sandu has given
assurances the government will succeed in unblocking foreign funding,
especially from the EU. The meeting was held on the Parliament premises as the
new cabinet was denied access to the government building, which is controlled
by the executive team of Filip. The Democratic Party has invited all the
Parliament parties to identify solutions for overcoming the political deadlock.
Andrei Nastase, one of the leaders of the ACUM bloc, has answered favorably,
saying these talks must take place.

CONFERENCE Romania’s Foreign Ministry is today staging
an international conference on the strategic partnership relations between the
EU and China. The event, which is held under the auspices of Romania’s
presidency of the EU, is aimed at promoting an inclusive dialogue platform for
the relations between the EU and China. High on the agenda are talks about the
future strategic EU-China partnership, the Europe-Asia connectivity and the
cooperation between the EU and China in a multilateral format. The event has
brought together representatives of the foreign ministries and the academic
world from the EU members and China, as well as representatives of the European
institutions.

(translated by bill)

11 June 2019