26 April 2019, UPDATE

Easter holidays begin for Orthodox and Greek Catholic Christians in Romania./Campaign for European Parliament elections kicks off in Romania on Saturday.

Newsroom, 26.04.2019, 18:37

Good Friday. The Easter holidays began on Friday for Orthodox
Christians, who are the majority in Romania, as well as for the Greek-Catholic.
On Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion of Christ, a big cross is
placed in the middle of churches on which an image of the crucified Christ is
painted. A cloth icon called epitaphios is placed in front of the cross,
depicting the burial of Christ. A long lamentation service was held in churches
expressing sadness at the news of Christ’s death and hope that he will be
resurrected. Catholic and Protestant Christians celebrated Easter last Sunday.

Holidays. More than 22,000 police, security and border
forces, firefighters and paramedics have been mobilised each day of the Easter
and Labour Day holiday to oversee traffic and large gatherings of people, the
interior ministry has announced. Over 900 public events will be held in this
period, attracting around 1 million people. The Romanian authorities are
working with their counterparts in the neighbouring Hungary and Bulgaria at the
busiest border crossing points. The Romanians’ favourite tourist destination
for the Easter and Labour Day holidays are Bukovina, in the north, Maramures,
in the north-west, in the mountain resorts in Prahova Valley, in the south, on
the Romanian Black Sea coast and in the Danube Delta. Popular foreign
destinations include Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

European elections. The electoral campaign for the European Parliament
elections scheduled on the 26th of May begins on Saturday and comes
to an end on the 25th of May. If the UK leaves the European Union,
Romania is entitled to 33 seats in the future parliament, one more compared
with the current figure. The Romanian candidates include a former president,
former prime ministers and ministers, Euro MPs and big city mayors. Leading in
opinion polls are the Social Democratic Party, the senior party in the ruling
coalition, and the National Liberal Party, the biggest party in opposition.
They are followed by the 2020 Alliance formed by the Save Romania Union and
PLUS and ProRomania, both in opposition, and the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats, the junior partner in the ruling coalition. The Democratic Union of
Ethnic Hungarians and Romania and the People’s Movement Party also have chances
to win seats in the European Parliament. The 2019 elections come at a time when
Romania is holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Referendum. At the same
time as the elections for the European Parliament on the 26th of May,
a referendum on the subject of the judiciary will be held in Romania, initiated
by president Klaus Iohannis. Voters will be asked to say if they agree to ban
amnesty and pardon for corruption cases and to ban the passing of legislation
in the area of the judiciary through government emergency orders. President
Iohannis says Romanians have the chance to vote and say what they think about
the Social Democratic Party and what he described as this party’s attacks on
the judiciary, referring to some controversial amendments to the criminal
legislation and the laws regulating the organisation of the legal system. The
president has urged people to vote, assuring them that the results will be
taken into account. The parties in the ruling coalition says the referendum is
not something society needs, while the opposition supports the president’s
initiative.

Criticism. Romania’s judicial system
must serve every Romanian, not just some, said the president of the European
People’s Party Joseph Daul in a release published on Friday and cited by
Agerpres news agency. He says it is discouraging to see that a ruling coalition of a EU
Member State amend the Criminal Code in order to be sure that their leader and
other politicians avoid responsibility for their mistakes. According to Daul,
such actions affect Romania’s fight against
corruption and the good functioning of the judiciary. It
is unbelievable that a governing majority in a European Union Member State,
holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union, continues to
frequently violate the European rules and norms, Daul also said. He calls on
the Romanian government to take the necessary steps as soon as possible to enforce all the
recommendations of the Venice Commission and of the European Commission from
its latest report as part of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

Weather. A
code yellow warning for heavy rain has been issued for Saturday afternoon until
Sunday morning in the south-west, centre and north-west of the country.
Torrential rain, lighting and thunder, strong wind and hail storm are expected.
Precipitation will exceed 25 to 30 litres per square metre, and even 35 to 40
in some places. Hydrologists have also issued a yellow code alert for several
rivers in these areas. The weather will become unstable and cool down in the
west and in the mountains.

Frequency changes. A number of Radio Romania International’s short wave
frequencies have changed since April 27th. The 3.00 UTC broadcast to
the West Coast of North America is broadcast analogically on 7375
kHz and on 13.630 kHz, digitally, in the DRM system, to India.