29 July, 2019

A roundup of the some of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 29.07.2019, 14:18

Killing. The chief of the special telecommunications service Ionel
Vasilica has resigned today in the context of the killings in Caracal that
shook the entire country. The interior minister Nicolae Moga and former and
current officials from the police and the General Directorate for Internal
Protection will today be heard by the defence committee of the Chamber of
Deputies in Bucharest. The MPs are looking into how those involved have fulfilled
their duties. A preliminary report in this respect is to be presented tomorrow
before the Country’s Supreme Defence Council at the request of president Klaus
Iohannis. The latter is expected to propose measures to prevent such tragedies
in the future. He says the resignations of all those who have mismanaged the
case are obligatory but in no way sufficient. Klaus Iohannis has emphasised the
need to address the profound causes that have made this tragedy possible. For
her part, the prime minister Viorica Dancila has decided to create an
inter-institutional working group to draw up a set of urgent measures to reduce
reaction time in critical situations. Last but not least, the Judicial
Inspectorate is looking into how the magistrates involved in solving the case
have met the procedures in place. Last Wednesday, 15-year-old Alexandra
Macesanu was abducted from the street, sequestered, raped and then killed.
Despite making three emergency calls, the authorities were unable to track her
location and only entered the house of her captor 19 hours after the girl’s
last emergency call. 18-year-old Luiza Mihaela Melencu met with the same fate
in April. Gheorghe Dinca, aged around 60, admitted on Sunday that he killed the
two girls.

Elections. Romanians living abroad
can register, beginning on Sunday, at www.votstrainatate.ro. The website has
been created by the Electoral Authority to have a better record of the
Romanians abroad and so that they can be better informed about the voting
process, in the run-up to the presidential elections in November. The ministry
for Romanians abroad has also launched an information campaign, with the
ministry saying over 5 million and a half Romanians have left the country.
Together with those living in the historical communities, the number of
Romanians living outside Romania’s borders is close to ten million. The
minister for Romanians abroad Natalia Intotero has told Radio Romania that the
role of her ministry is to support all institutions with responsibilities in
the organisation of the upcoming elections through all available means,
including the associations of Romanians living abroad and through collaboration
with the diplomatic missions and the representatives of the general consulates.

Anthem. National
Anthem Day is celebrated today in Romania, with various events being held in
the big cities and at all army garrisons across the country. In Bucharest, the
Flag Square hosted a special military and religious ceremony. Celebrated on the
29th of July, National Anthem Day was first established in 1998. The
current anthem of Romania, considered a national symbol and entitled Wake up, Romanians!,
was chosen after the collapse of the communist regime in December 1989. The
origin of the anthem is a patriotic poem by Andrei Muresanu published in 1848,
while the melody was collected by Anton Pann.

Festival. Rasnov, in central
Romania, has played host to the 11th Film and History Festival. Film
screenings, theatre performances and classical and rock music concerts were
held in a new venue in the centre of the city. The festival also hosted debates
about the revolution of December 1989, economic freedom, the music of freedom,
freedom won versus freedom lost, 30 years after 1989, and cinema and freedom.
Subjects were approached such as Romanian emigration, the future of Europe post-Brexit,
the new technologies and the minorities. The 50th anniversary of the
moon landing and the 70th anniversary of NATO were also celebrated.
This year’s edition of the festival also hosted a summer school attended by 72
students and 23 high school children from Romania and the Republic of Moldova,
a neighbouring ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population.