2 January, 2018 UPDATE

The Royal House of Romania publishes review of its 2017 activities./ Romanian-made Dacia car sees record sales in France in 2017.

Newsroom, 02.01.2018, 18:28

Royal House Romania. The Royal House of Romania
on Tuesday made public a review of its activities in 2017, which included 50
visits and more than 200 public actions in Bucharest and elsewhere in Romania
in military, diplomatic, economic, educational, social, sports, health,
scientific and cultural areas, as well as 8 foreign trips, to the UK, Turkey,
the Republic of Moldova, Poland, France, Bulgaria, Jordan and Switzerland, and
3 events with high public impact, including the funerals of Romania’s last
sovereign King Michael on 16th December. The Royal family notes that
all visits and events held at the royal residences were covered financially by
King Michael’s private funds. The publication of this report comes amid
controversies over the status of the Royal House following the death of King
Michael. Prime minister Mihai Tudose said recently that his government would oppose
a bill to recognise the Royal House as legal entity of private law.

Dacia cars. The French carmaker Renault on Tuesday announced that its 2017
sales in France were the highest in the last 6 years thanks to a 6.5% rise in
sales of Dacia cars. With 120,000 registered cars and utility vehicles, the
Romanian brand has seen record sales on the French market. Sandero is the brand’s
most popular model with individual persons and ranks 8th in terms of
sales. The Duster model also saw a rise in sales, despite a new generation
being launched. The Dacia company was taken over by Renault in 1999. Relaunched
in 2004 with the Logan model, Dacia quickly became a big player on the European
car market.

Republic of Moldova. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population, has
moved to suspend president Igor Dodon’s responsibilities in appointing cabinet
ministers. This comes after the pro-Russian president twice rejected the
nominations of seven new ministers proposed by the government. He described the
Court’s ruling as uninspired and said its members were doing what the
government dictates. Under the Moldovan Constitution, the president’s
deliberate and repeated refusal to appoint a nomination by the prime minister
is a grave violation of the former’s constitutional obligations and may be seen
as a case of the president’s no longer being able to exercise his duties.

Cultural heritage. 2018 will be
the European Year of Cultural Heritage, following a decision by the European
Parliament and the European Council. The programme runs under the motto Our heritage: where the past meets the
future and is an excellent opportunity to discover the richness of European
heritage and foster a sense of European identity. 8 million euros is allocated
to this programme, which features events and information, education and awareness
raising campaigns encouraging citizens to get involved in the protection of
cultural heritage. With 453, Europe accounts for about a half of UNESCO’s world
heritage sites.

Handball. The Romanian men’s
handball side have begun training for the Carpati Trophy which begins on the 5th
of January. Portugal, Tunisia and Bahrain are also taking part. Romania, who
are managed by the Spanish coach Xavi
Pascual, are also preparing for the first round of the 2019 World
Championships preliminary games to be held between the 11th and the
13th of January in Bolzano, Italy, and where they will face Ukraine
and the Faeroe Islands, as well as the host country. Only the winners of the
six preliminary groups qualify for the World Championships play-offs in June
2018. Last Saturday, Romania won the third place at the Yellow Cup tournament
in Winterthur, in Switzerland, after defeating Serbia in the third-place
play-off.