ELECTION CAMPAIGN – The campaign for the European Parliament and local election, both slated for June 9, has started on Friday across the country. The Central Election Bureau has urged candidates to observe the relevant legislation, to preserve a balanced, honest and constructive approach to all communications and to refrain from misrepresenting and manipulating information. Throughout the campaign, all messages and slogans with discriminatory overtones, inciting to hate and intolerance are prohibited, in addition to the use of any means and actions designed to slander or stir religious or ethnic hatred. The head of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Toni Greblă, has in turn recommended candidates to promote their political programs with the observance of regulations in force, urging citizens to trust their vote will be taken into account. Some 900 polling stations will open abroad. People can consult the “Code of best practices on disinformation” and “Guidelines on preventing and combating voter disinformation”, both documents being available online. A similar effort to prevent disinformation and manipulation was launched by the European Commission, which published a video designed to encourage critical thinking and provide practical advice on how to identify and combat such actions.
MAY 10 – Romania is a respected member of NATO and the EU, a status that provides top-level security guarantees and a robust platform for cooperation with international partners that share the same values, with a view to developing and consolidating stability and resilience against contemporary threats, the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, said earlier today in a message marking National Independence Day. Three major events in the history of Romania are observed on May 10. In 1866, King Charles I was crowned the first monarch of the freshly created Kingdom of Romania. 11 years later, on May 10, 1877, Romania proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire. On May 10, 1881, Romania officially became a monarchy. Over the course of 1866-1947, May 10 marked Monarchy Day, Independence Day as well as the National Day of Romania. May 10 was declared a national holiday in 2015. Special military ceremonies are today being held in Bucharest and other cities.
MISSILES – The USA have greenlit the sale of Sidewinder Block advanced missile technology to Romania, in a deal worth 70 mln USD. The missile systems will provide advanced air-air capabilities for F-16s owned by the Romanian Air Forces. The procurement is part of a broader and long-term effort to modernize the Romanian Air Forces, a US Embassy press release reads. US Chargé d’Affairs, Michael Dickerson, said the deal is an excellent example of robust security and defense cooperation between Romania and the USA. In turn, Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr said the access of Romanian Air Forces to state-of-the-art air-air military technology will give a significant boost to the security of Romanian and allied airspace, also increasing interoperability with similar structures of the US Army.
EXERCISE – Some 2,300 paratroopers from France, Germany, Romania, Spain, the USA and the Netherlands are taking part in the Swift Response 24 multinational exercise, hosted by Romania over May 5-24. According to the Defense Ministry, the exercise will comprise one of the biggest airdrops ever held in Europe after WWII and will take place over the course of several days. The main activity in Romania is scheduled to take place on Sunday in Câmpia Turzii. Similar operations will unfold in another five Allied and partner states – Estonia, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Poland and Sweden. The exercise will test the troops’ response capacity as well as the degree of interoperability of participating structures and their commitment to ensuring collective defense, the Romania Defense Ministry reports.
WRESTLING – Romanian wrestler Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu has qualified to the Paris Olympics after grabbing a series of wins at the pre-Olympic World Wrestling Championship hosted by Istanbul. The Romanian competed in the 130-kg Greek-Roman category. This will be the fourth edition of the Olympic Games for Alexuc-Ciurariu, after the London Olympics of 2012 (16th), Rio Olympics of 2015 (5th) and the Tokyo Olympics of 2020 (12th). Another two Romanian wrestlers are still trying to secure qualification to the Olympic Games – Răzvan Arnăutu and Nicu Ojog. Romania’s delegation includes 13 wrestlers, and its objective is to qualify at least 2 athletes to the Olympic Games. Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu is the second Romania athlete to secure qualification after Andreea Beatrice Ana, who booked her tickets to the Paris Olympics in the 53-kg category at the pre-Olympic tournament hosted by Baku in April. So far, 83 athletes have secured qualification to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in 12 Olympic events.
TENNIS – Irina Begu (161 WTA) is today playing Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan (4 WTA) in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome, offering 4.8 mln USD in total prizes. On Thursday, another two Romanian players, Sorana Cîrstea and Jaqueline Cristian, advanced to the third round of the women’s singles. Cîrstea (32 WTA) won 7-5, 6-0 against Brenda Fruhvirtová of Czechia (102 WTA), and will go up against another Czech player, Markéta Vondroušová (7 WTA), who in the second round ousted Ana Bogdan (63 WTA), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. In turn, Jaqueline Cristian (68 WTA), who reached the main draw as “lucky loser”, knocked out Elina Avanesyan of Russia (72 WTA), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. In the third round, Cristian will play Coco Gauff (3 WTA) of the USA in their first head-to-head match. (VP)
