20 May, 2016

New health minister takes over, Romanian film gets Cannes critical acclaim

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Newsroom, 20.05.2016, 11:59

APPOINTMENT — Economist Vlad Voiculescu, former head of cabinet in the Ministry of Finance, is being sworn in today as Minister of Health. He has 10 years experience as a financial consultant in Vienna, and has had various charitable activities in health in Romania. He replaces the former minister, who handed in his resignation on May 9 against the backdrop of the scandal of disinfectants in Romanian hospitals.

FILM — The movie Baccalaureate, by Crisitan Mungiu, which had its premiere Thursday night at Cannes, was a hit with critics in France. They expect the director to win a second Palme dOr, and a possible award for best male lead for Adrian Titieni, the protagonist of the movie. According to a French website, Mungiu is one of the favorites in the competition, running against another Romanian, Cristi Puiu, who recently premiered his film Sieranevada, which also received critical praise. A third Romanian movie is in the running, this time for the Un Certain Regard award, Dogs by Bogdan Mirica.

CRASH — Egyptian army sources announced they found fragments of the EgyptAir plane that crashed on Thursday 290 km north of Alexandria. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said there were no clues on causes of the crash. US analysis on satellite images have yielded no indication of an explosion, and experts have not ruled out any cause for the crash, including technical difficulties, terrorism, or a deliberate act on the part of the pilot or crew. The so-called Islamic State alleged they downed the airliner.

NATO — Montenegro, of the former Yugoslav federation, is now formally the 29th NATO member. The protocol was signed on Thursday in Brussels by NATO foreign ministers, including Romanian head of diplomacy, Lazar Comanescu. The membership comes into effect in two years, and in the meantime Montenegro has the role of observer at NATO meetings. This is the third state in the West Balkans, after Croatia and Albania, to join NATO, to the chagrin of Moscow, which sees this as an attempt to diminish its influence in the area. The parliaments of the 28 member states have to ratify the membership. The meeting continues with talks on cooperation with the EU. This is the last major event ahead of the NATO summit in Warsaw, in July.

COUNCIL — The EU Council of Justice and Home Affairs convenes today in Brussels. On the agenda are the recent proposals of the EC on migration and waiving visas for Turkish citizens. Participants will discuss the Commission recommendations on mandatory quotas and sanctions imposed on states which refuse to take in refugees. In its present form, the visa waiver for Turkish citizens applies for stays of up to 90 days, and does not apply to work.

TENNIS — Two Romanian tennis players, Sorana Carstea and Andreea Mitu, play today in the last qualifying round at Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year, with 32 million dollars in prize money. Carstea plays against Elise Mertens of Belgium, while Mitu faces offf against Swiss Viktorija Golubic. Four other Romanians play in the competition, Simona Halep, Irina Begu, Monica Niculescu, and Alexandra Dulgheru. In the mens competition, Romania has only one representative, Adrian Ungur.