Radio România Internațional

Tag: WTA 250

February 7, 2023

Earthquake. The powerful earthquakes that shook Syria and Turkey on
Monday have killed more than 5,000, according to the latest toll made public
today. Rescue teams are making efforts to save as many lives as possible. There
are also dozens of thousands of people injured. According to estimates in
Ankara, 13 million people have been affected in Turkey by the earthquake
measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, which was followed by lots of aftershocks. Romania
joined the international support effort for Turkey and sent to Andana 3
military aircraft with 60 Romanian professional rescuers, doctors and nurses, and
specialized rescue equipment.

Protest. The Sanitas Federation continues its protests against the
Salary Law and the underfunding of medical care and welfare in Romania. The
list of demands includes higher incomes for all the employees in the healthcare
and welfare system by at least 15%, to cover inflation, negotiations between
the Government and stakeholders on the new bill regarding the remuneration of
personnel paid from public funds, and the provision of a sufficient and correct
funding system for medical and welfare institutions. A delegation of the Sanitas Federation was
received at the Government headquarters on Monday, the first day of the
protest.

Bill. In Bucharest, senators voted unanimously in favor of a
legislative proposal to be added to the Criminal Code, under which drivers
found drunk or under the influence of prohibited substances while driving, as
well as those who drive without a license, will go directly to prison in the
situation in which they cause a road accident resulting in casualties. In
Romania, 100 people die annually in road accidents caused by drivers in such
situations, said the initiator of the legislative proposal, PSD senator Robert
Cazanciuc. Every year, approximately 20,000 people are prosecuted for driving
without a license, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and after the
adoption of the legislative proposal, judges will no longer be able to suspend
the execution of prison sentences. The document will now to the Chamber of
Deputies, which is the decision-making body in this matter.

Moldova. A new meeting of the European Union-Republic of Moldova
Association Council is taking place in Brussels today, chaired by the head of
European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliţa. This
is the most important format of dialogue in the Chisinau-Brussels relationship,
analysts in Chisinau say. Today’s meeting is the first meeting of this kind
after the Republic of Moldova (with a predominantly Romanian-speaking
population), together with Ukraine, obtained the status of a candidate country
for EU accession in June last year. Cooperation in overcoming the challenges triggered
by the war in Ukraine, including the energy crisis, the expansion of export
quotas on the European market for Moldovan producers, and border security are
just some of the topics that will be addressed in the bilateral discussions in
Brussels.

Strike. A general strike and demonstrations are taking place
again today in France, for the third time in a month, against the increase in
the retirement age provided for in the new pension law, which has been under
debate in Parliament since Monday. The Radio Romania correspondent in Paris
reports that public transport will, however, be less disrupted than in the
past, so that those who travel will encounter fewer problems. In Paris, there
are no completely closed metro lines, but some will only run during peak hours.
As for air traffic, at Paris Orly airport, in the south of the French capital,
20% of the flights have been canceled due to the strike of the control tower
employees. At Roissy Charles de Gaulle, in the north, where most flights from
Romania arrive, activities are expected to run as usual. Important strike mobilizations are announced
in education, energy, ports, refineries and in the private industrial sector.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian plays, today, against Camila Giorgi from
Italy, in the first round of the WTA 250 tennis tournament in Linz (Austria),
with more than 225,000 euros in prize money. On Monday, the Romanian-Spanish
pair Jaqueline Cristian/Marina Bassols Ribera was defeated by Dalma Galfi
(Hungary)/Oksana Kalaşnikova (Georgia), 7-6, 6-4, in the first round of the
doubles event. Also today, in Abu Dhabi, the Romanian Gabriela Ruse takes on
the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, in the first round of the WTA 500 tournament, with
prizes worth around 780,000 dollars. (MI)

7 February 2023
RRI Sports Club

Cluj-Napoca is hosting these days the most
important women’s tennis tournament in Romania. Transylvania Open is a WTA 250 tournament
with USD 251,750 in total prize money.

Participation in the tournament is remarkable,
with all 8 seeds among the world’s top 100 players. Only one Romanian player is
listed among the seeds, namely Ana Bogdan, number 46 in the world, seed no 3. However,
in Cluj-Napoca she failed to move past the first round, after being
defeated on Monday by Jule Niemeier of Germany, number 74 in the world, 7-6,
6-2.

Two other Romanians were outplayed on Tuesday: Irina
Bara, no 150 WTA, lost to Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain (75 WTA) 6-1, 7-5, and
Jaqueline Cristian (83 WTA) was defeated by seed no 7 Xiyu Wang of China, who
won 6-3, 6-3. Last year, Cristian reached the tournament’s quarter-finals. This
year, the only Romanian player to reach the second round was Gabriela Ruse. Ranking
104 in the world, she defeated Harmony Tan of France, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Worth noting is that the best-ranking Romanian
players in the world, namely Simona Halep ( no 9 WTA), Irina Begu (34 WTA) and Sorana
Cîrstea (40 WTA), chose not to take part in Transylvania Open.

In related tennis news, the Romanian-born
Canadian player Bianca Andreescu qualified into the eighth-finals of the WTA 500
tournament in San Diego, after defeating Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 7-6, 4-6,
6-2. (AMP)

12 October 2022
RRI Sports Club

Cluj-Napoca is hosting these days the most
important women’s tennis tournament in Romania. Transylvania Open is a WTA 250 tournament
with USD 251,750 in total prize money.

Participation in the tournament is remarkable,
with all 8 seeds among the world’s top 100 players. Only one Romanian player is
listed among the seeds, namely Ana Bogdan, number 46 in the world, seed no 3. However,
in Cluj-Napoca she failed to move past the first round, after being
defeated on Monday by Jule Niemeier of Germany, number 74 in the world, 7-6,
6-2.

Two other Romanians were outplayed on Tuesday: Irina
Bara, no 150 WTA, lost to Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain (75 WTA) 6-1, 7-5, and
Jaqueline Cristian (83 WTA) was defeated by seed no 7 Xiyu Wang of China, who
won 6-3, 6-3. Last year, Cristian reached the tournament’s quarter-finals. This
year, the only Romanian player to reach the second round was Gabriela Ruse. Ranking
104 in the world, she defeated Harmony Tan of France, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Worth noting is that the best-ranking Romanian
players in the world, namely Simona Halep ( no 9 WTA), Irina Begu (34 WTA) and Sorana
Cîrstea (40 WTA), chose not to take part in Transylvania Open.

In related tennis news, the Romanian-born
Canadian player Bianca Andreescu qualified into the eighth-finals of the WTA 500
tournament in San Diego, after defeating Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 7-6, 4-6,
6-2. (AMP)

12 October 2022
September 13, 2022 UPDATE

Funeral. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, signed, on Tuesday, the book of condolences opened at the UK Embassy in Bucharest. The head of the Romanian state will participate in the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The Custodian of the Crown of Romania, HRH Margareta, and Prince Consort Radu will also attend the funeral service which will be held at Westminster Abbey in London, on September 19th, Buckingham Palace announced on Saturday. The day will be a bank holiday in Britain, as the new monarch, Charles III, authorized on Saturday in one of his first orders. World leaders, including the president of the United States, Joe Biden, and representatives of the royal houses are expected to attend the funeral of Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Meanwhile, the new king – Charles III – continues his tour around the kingdom with visits to each of the four nations that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Forum. Romania and the Republic of Moldova plan to intensify joint efforts to mitigate the negative effects of the current context generated by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, the lack of material and human resources, the disruptions in the functioning of international trade chains and galloping inflation worldwide. The statement was made, in Bucharest, by the Prime Minister of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă, during the forum “Moldova – Romania: Capital Bridges” – the first high-level forum dedicated to the promotion of the capital markets on the two banks of the Prut. Romania will continue its support, including the technical and financial assistance program, based on the non-reimbursable aid of 100,000,000 euros made available to the Republic of Moldova, assured the Prime Minister, in the context of the visit to Bucharest of his counterpart from Chisinau, Natalia Gavriliţa. Nicolae Ciucă also said that Bucharest wants to contribute, in the future, to the implementation of projects that can help Chisinau join the European Union family more quickly.

Visit. Romanian Defense Minister Vasile Dincu is paying a formal visit to Israel until Friday. According to a communiqué issued by the Defense Ministry, the Ministers agenda includes talks with his Israeli counterpart, formal ceremonies at the Yad Vashem memorial, the Holocaust Museum and the Childrens Memorial as well as visits to companies in the defense industry. The two ministers will be tackling topical issues such as security in the Middle East and the Black Sea, as well as the stage and prospects of bilateral cooperation in the field of defense.

Pope. On Tuesday, on the first day of his apostolic journey to Kazakhstan, Pope Francis urged dialogue and multilateralism in the face of Russias “senseless and tragic war” in Ukraine. “I have come here as a pilgrim of peace, seeking dialogue and unity. Our world urgently needs peace: it needs to recover harmony”, Pope Francis said from the stage of the Qazaq Concert Hall in capital Nur-Sultan. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who supports the war in Ukraine, was expected to attend the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held in Kazakhstan, and Pope Francis had stated, several times, that he was willing to talk to him. The two met in 2016 in Cuba, the first meeting between a pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch. At the meeting in Nur-Sultan, 100 delegates from 50 countries are present.

Research. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă had, on Tuesday, in Bucharest, a meeting with the delegation of the Lockheed Martin company, led by the vice-president for international affairs, Ray Piselli. At the meeting, it was announced the launch in Romania of the American companys investment in AI R&D. According to a Government release, the results of the research, which will be carried out in the framework of the collaboration between Lockheed Martin and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, will be applied in the field of national security and environmental sciences. The Prime Minister welcomed the decision of the global aerospace and security company to start research and development activities in Romania, appreciating that it is a new proof of the strengthening of the Romania-USA Strategic Partnership. “The government supports investments, and the economic component comes to strengthen our partnership in the military field”, Nicolae Ciuca also said.

Tennis. Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan (65 WTA) qualified, on Tuesday, for the second round of the WTA 250 tournament in Portoroz, Slovenia, with over 200 thousand euros in prize money. In the first round, she defeated the Australian player Ajla Tomljanovich. Also on Tuesday, the Romanian player Gabriela Ruse (96 WTA) was defeated by the Ukrainian Lesia Ţurenko (92 WTA), 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, in the first round of the tournament. Ruse and Bogdan will be partners in the doubles event. (MI)

13 September 2022
June 19, 2022 UPDATE

Three Seas Initiative. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, will participate, on Monday, in the 7th Three Seas Initiative Summit, and in the 4th edition of the Business Forum of the Initiative, both organized in Riga, Latvia. The leaders of the participating states will analyze how to position themselves in the current European security situation created by the war in Ukraine. They will also discuss the contribution that the Three Seas Initiative can bring, through the implementation of strategic interconnection projects, in the three core areas of the Initiative: transport, energy and digital. According to the Romanian Presidential Administration, President Klaus Iohannis will reiterate Romania’s support for Ukraine both bilaterally and multilaterally. At the same time, Klaus Iohannis will highlight the importance of the Initiative providing similar support to the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, as states that, like Ukraine, have a vocation to become members of the European Union. The Three Seas Initiative is a presidential political platform that brings together the 12 member states of the European Union located between the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.

Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited
the troops fighting the invading Russian army in the south. He’s met with
military personnel defending the Black Sea region of Mykolaiv and Odessa near
the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. The president also went to the
former Mykolaiv regional administration headquarters, which was destroyed by
Russian bombing, which also killed 37 people there. A port and industrial city
with almost half a million inhabitants before the war, Mykolaiv remained under
Ukrainian control, but is close to the Kherson region, which is almost entirely
occupied by the Russians. The city is an important target for Moscow, because
it is on the way to Odessa, the largest port in Ukraine, located only 130
kilometers south of the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet, mostly Romanian-speaking)
and before the blockade imposed by the Russian military fleet , the main outlet
for Ukrainian grain exports. Russia has turned the Black Sea into a war
zone by blocking shipments of grain and fertilizers from Ukraine, and has
limited its own exports, said EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, who
accused Moscow of blackmail. In eastern Ukraine, in the Donbas coal
basin, heavy fighting continues for the towns of Severodonetsk and Lysiciansk.
Kyiv officials say they fear that their country could be attacked again and
again from the north, on the territory of Belarus, one of Russia’s most docile
allies.

Refugees.
Nearly 11,000 Ukrainian citizens have entered
neighboring Romania in the past 24 hours, up 19% from the previous day.
According to the Border Police, almost 6,700 refugees crossed the border with
Ukraine, and about 1,100 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania via the border with
the Republic of Moldova. In both cases figures are on the rise. Since the
invasion of their country by the Russian army on February 24, more than
1,200,000 Ukrainians have entered Romania.

Baccalaureate. The written
tests for the summer session of the Baccalaureate begin in Romania on Monday.
More than 126,000 high school graduates registered for the exam, the lowest
number since the anti-communist revolution of 1989. The first test to be held
is in Romanian language and literature. The compulsory profile test will take
place on Tuesday, and the optional one will take place on Wednesday. The mother
tongue and literature exam is scheduled for students of national minorities on
Thursday. The first results will be announced on June 27, when appeals can be filed. The
final grades will be published on July 1. Also next week, on Thursday, the
first results of the National Assessment will be announced, an exam for those
who’ve graduated from the 8th grade.

ANAF. The National Agency for Fiscal Administration
(ANAF) has announced that checks on individuals who cannot justify their assets
will start on July 1st. Those
taxpayers are targeted, for whom there are very big differences, of at least 50
thousand lei (the equivalent of 10 thousand euros) between the revenues
estimated by the controllers of the National Agency for Fiscal Administration
and those declared by the respective persons – said ANAF President Lucian Hey.
He stated that the institution he runs has found such differences between the
estimated revenues and those declared in the case of over 560 thousand people
and stressed that the number of control teams in this field will increase from
22, as they are today, to almost 100.

Tennis.
On
Sunday, Romanian tennis players Simona Halep and Sorana Cirstea lost the
semifinals of the WTA 250 tournament in Birmingham, England, thus failing to
qualify for the last round. Halep, second seed at the tournament, was defeated
by the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Cirstea lost to the Chinese
player Shuai Zhang 4-6, 6-1, 7-6. (MI)

19 June 2022
June 15, 2022 UPDATE

Gas. In Romania, the production of natural gas from the Black Sea, part of the Midia development project, has started, and the first quantities have arrived in the national transport system, the Blacksea Oil & Gas Company has announced. The project consists of five production wells, a shore monitored and operated rig and a 126-kilometer submarine pipeline, which connects to the new gas treatment plant in Corbu commune, Constanţa county (southeast). This year, production is estimated at half a billion cubic meters of gas. Midia is the first new project to exploit natural gas in the Romanian continental shelf of the Black Sea in the last 30 years and will cover 10% of the domestic demand.

Visit. Romania and France have increased their security cooperation recently amid the crisis generated by Russias military aggression in Ukraine, said Romanian president Klaus Iohannis after talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base in Constanţa county, in south-eastern Romania. During a joint press briefing, Iohannis again thanked France for the deployment of military and its coordination of NATOs new battle group in Romania. The two presidents talked about the need to consolidate the deterrence and defence posture on the NATO eastern flank, especially in the Black Sea, NATOs new strategic concept and the accession of Finland and Sweden. Emmanuel Macron said Romanian-French relations are based on a friendship that goes back two centuries. He added that the two countries wish to further boost bilateral cooperation and that an ambitious plan is being worked on, at the request of the Romanian authorities, to support the Romanian Navy. The agenda of talks also included Romanias accession to the Schengen free movement area and its active involvement in the protection of the EUs external borders. Emmanuel Macrons next stop was the Republic of Moldova, where he will be received by president Maia Sandu.

Ukraine. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday urged Western countries to step up their arms deliveries to Ukraine to allow it to defend itself against the Russian invading forces. “Ukraine is facing a key moment on the battlefield. Therefore, we need to step up our efforts so that it can defend itself, “Austin said during a meeting at the NATO headquarters of the so-called contact group set up by the US to help Ukraine. Earlier, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it had received only about 10 percent of the weapons it had requested from its Western partners. For his part, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West to send more weapons and military equipment quickly, because “the Russians have 10, 100 times more”, he said. Russia also announced on Wednesday that it had destroyed a depot housing weapons delivered by NATO countries to western Ukraine with cruise missile fire.

Protest. Some 8,000 members of healthcare unions staged a protest outside the government headquarters on Wednesday. They mainly requested higher pay, bonuses, holiday vouchers and the elimination of the 30% cap on bonuses, compensations and other salary rights for healthcare workers. Protesters say the Romanian government in the last two years has systematically violated the salary law by blocking salary increases. The most impacted have been the employees with the lowest salaries in the system. Members of the Columna Federation, the largest trade union in the welfare sector, also took to the streets asking for bigger salaries and a proper funding of their activities.

Corruption. Romanian Interior Minister Lucian Bode announced on Wednesday that extradition proceedings from neighboring Bulgaria for the former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea, convicted of corruption, would be completed by June 20. The relevant Romanian bodies will proceed to take over and transfer her to a unit of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, Bode specified. On June 10, the Sofia Court of Appeal admitted the request of the Romanian authorities regarding the extradition of the former minister, who has to execute in Romania a sentence of 6 years of imprisonment in the so-called Gala Bute case. The process lasted seven years, and during this time the former minister fled the country, in 2018, to Costa Rica, where she would have obtained political asylum. By a final decision, the Bulgarian court ordered the execution of the European arrest warrant issued for Elena Udrea and her extradition to Romania. The media in Bucharest considers Elena Udrea (48 years old) the most influential character in the entourage of the former president of Romania between 2004 and 2014, Traian Băsescu (70 years old). Under his protection she had a remarkable political rise, marked by mandates of general councilor in Bucharest, presidential adviser, deputy, minister and, after passing through the National-Liberal and Democratic-Liberal parties, she became the president of the Popular Movement Party (PMP), founded by Basescu. In 2014, Udrea was the PMP candidate for the Romanian presidency and obtained 5.20% of the votes in the first round. Her conviction comes after, on March 23, the High Court of Cassation and Justice finally ruled that former President Basescu collaborated in his youth with the Securitate, the political police of the communist dictatorship.

Production. Ireland (minus 30.9%), Slovakia (minus 9.6%), Malta (minus 9.4%) and Romania (minus 6.9%) registered in April, compared to the same period in 2021 , the most significant decrease in industrial production in the European Union, according to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). By contrast, the largest increases in industrial production were reported in Lithuania (20.6%), Denmark (17%) and Bulgaria (16.9%). Overall, industrial production fell by 2% in the euro zone and by 0.5% in the European Union.

Tennis. On Wednesday ,Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea qualified for the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 tournament in Birmingham, England, with 251,750 dollars in prize money, after winning 6-1, 6-1 the match against the Serbian Aleksandra Krunic. It took Cirstea an hour and 12 minutes to score the victory, and her next opponent will be Catherine McNally (USA) or Donna Vekic (Croatia). Also on Wednesday, the Romanian Simona Halep, former world leader, won the match with the British Harriet Dart. On Thursday, Gabriela Ruse will take on the Chinese Shuai Zhang.

Football. The three Romanian teams in the Europa Conference League in football will have accessible opponents in the second preliminary round, according to the draw made on Wednesday, in Switzerland, in Nyon. Thus, the vice-champion of Romania, FCSB, from Bucharest, will play against the winner of the match between FC Saburtalo (Georgia) and Partizani Tirana (Albania). Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe (center), winner of the Romanian Cup, will face either Olimpja Ljubljana (Slovenia) or Differdange 03 (Luxembourg). The University of Craiova (South) will play against the KF Vllaznia Shkoder team, which won the Albanian Cup. Round-trip matches are scheduled for July. On Tuesday, the draw decided that the holder of the title of champion in Romania, CFR Cluj (northwest), will play in the first preliminary round of the Champions League with Piunik Yerevan from Armenia and, if it qualifies for the second round, with the winner of the match between F91 Dudelange from Luxembourg and KF Tirana from Albania. If eliminated, CFR will play in the second preliminary round of the Europa Conference League with the winner of the qualifying tournament in which Levadia Tallinn (Estonia), Vikingur Reykjavik (Iceland), La Fiorita (San Marino) and Inter Club dEscaldes (Andorra) will participate. (MI)

15 June 2022
June 15, 2022 UPDATE

Gas. In Romania, the production of natural gas from the Black Sea, part of the Midia development project, has started, and the first quantities have arrived in the national transport system, the Blacksea Oil & Gas Company has announced. The project consists of five production wells, a shore monitored and operated rig and a 126-kilometer submarine pipeline, which connects to the new gas treatment plant in Corbu commune, Constanţa county (southeast). This year, production is estimated at half a billion cubic meters of gas. Midia is the first new project to exploit natural gas in the Romanian continental shelf of the Black Sea in the last 30 years and will cover 10% of the domestic demand.

Visit. Romania and France have increased their security cooperation recently amid the crisis generated by Russias military aggression in Ukraine, said Romanian president Klaus Iohannis after talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base in Constanţa county, in south-eastern Romania. During a joint press briefing, Iohannis again thanked France for the deployment of military and its coordination of NATOs new battle group in Romania. The two presidents talked about the need to consolidate the deterrence and defence posture on the NATO eastern flank, especially in the Black Sea, NATOs new strategic concept and the accession of Finland and Sweden. Emmanuel Macron said Romanian-French relations are based on a friendship that goes back two centuries. He added that the two countries wish to further boost bilateral cooperation and that an ambitious plan is being worked on, at the request of the Romanian authorities, to support the Romanian Navy. The agenda of talks also included Romanias accession to the Schengen free movement area and its active involvement in the protection of the EUs external borders. Emmanuel Macrons next stop was the Republic of Moldova, where he will be received by president Maia Sandu.

Ukraine. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday urged Western countries to step up their arms deliveries to Ukraine to allow it to defend itself against the Russian invading forces. “Ukraine is facing a key moment on the battlefield. Therefore, we need to step up our efforts so that it can defend itself, “Austin said during a meeting at the NATO headquarters of the so-called contact group set up by the US to help Ukraine. Earlier, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it had received only about 10 percent of the weapons it had requested from its Western partners. For his part, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West to send more weapons and military equipment quickly, because “the Russians have 10, 100 times more”, he said. Russia also announced on Wednesday that it had destroyed a depot housing weapons delivered by NATO countries to western Ukraine with cruise missile fire.

Protest. Some 8,000 members of healthcare unions staged a protest outside the government headquarters on Wednesday. They mainly requested higher pay, bonuses, holiday vouchers and the elimination of the 30% cap on bonuses, compensations and other salary rights for healthcare workers. Protesters say the Romanian government in the last two years has systematically violated the salary law by blocking salary increases. The most impacted have been the employees with the lowest salaries in the system. Members of the Columna Federation, the largest trade union in the welfare sector, also took to the streets asking for bigger salaries and a proper funding of their activities.

Corruption. Romanian Interior Minister Lucian Bode announced on Wednesday that extradition proceedings from neighboring Bulgaria for the former Tourism Minister Elena Udrea, convicted of corruption, would be completed by June 20. The relevant Romanian bodies will proceed to take over and transfer her to a unit of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, Bode specified. On June 10, the Sofia Court of Appeal admitted the request of the Romanian authorities regarding the extradition of the former minister, who has to execute in Romania a sentence of 6 years of imprisonment in the so-called Gala Bute case. The process lasted seven years, and during this time the former minister fled the country, in 2018, to Costa Rica, where she would have obtained political asylum. By a final decision, the Bulgarian court ordered the execution of the European arrest warrant issued for Elena Udrea and her extradition to Romania. The media in Bucharest considers Elena Udrea (48 years old) the most influential character in the entourage of the former president of Romania between 2004 and 2014, Traian Băsescu (70 years old). Under his protection she had a remarkable political rise, marked by mandates of general councilor in Bucharest, presidential adviser, deputy, minister and, after passing through the National-Liberal and Democratic-Liberal parties, she became the president of the Popular Movement Party (PMP), founded by Basescu. In 2014, Udrea was the PMP candidate for the Romanian presidency and obtained 5.20% of the votes in the first round. Her conviction comes after, on March 23, the High Court of Cassation and Justice finally ruled that former President Basescu collaborated in his youth with the Securitate, the political police of the communist dictatorship.

Production. Ireland (minus 30.9%), Slovakia (minus 9.6%), Malta (minus 9.4%) and Romania (minus 6.9%) registered in April, compared to the same period in 2021 , the most significant decrease in industrial production in the European Union, according to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). By contrast, the largest increases in industrial production were reported in Lithuania (20.6%), Denmark (17%) and Bulgaria (16.9%). Overall, industrial production fell by 2% in the euro zone and by 0.5% in the European Union.

Tennis. On Wednesday ,Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea qualified for the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 tournament in Birmingham, England, with 251,750 dollars in prize money, after winning 6-1, 6-1 the match against the Serbian Aleksandra Krunic. It took Cirstea an hour and 12 minutes to score the victory, and her next opponent will be Catherine McNally (USA) or Donna Vekic (Croatia). Also on Wednesday, the Romanian Simona Halep, former world leader, won the match with the British Harriet Dart. On Thursday, Gabriela Ruse will take on the Chinese Shuai Zhang.

Football. The three Romanian teams in the Europa Conference League in football will have accessible opponents in the second preliminary round, according to the draw made on Wednesday, in Switzerland, in Nyon. Thus, the vice-champion of Romania, FCSB, from Bucharest, will play against the winner of the match between FC Saburtalo (Georgia) and Partizani Tirana (Albania). Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe (center), winner of the Romanian Cup, will face either Olimpja Ljubljana (Slovenia) or Differdange 03 (Luxembourg). The University of Craiova (South) will play against the KF Vllaznia Shkoder team, which won the Albanian Cup. Round-trip matches are scheduled for July. On Tuesday, the draw decided that the holder of the title of champion in Romania, CFR Cluj (northwest), will play in the first preliminary round of the Champions League with Piunik Yerevan from Armenia and, if it qualifies for the second round, with the winner of the match between F91 Dudelange from Luxembourg and KF Tirana from Albania. If eliminated, CFR will play in the second preliminary round of the Europa Conference League with the winner of the qualifying tournament in which Levadia Tallinn (Estonia), Vikingur Reykjavik (Iceland), La Fiorita (San Marino) and Inter Club dEscaldes (Andorra) will participate. (MI)

15 June 2022