3 October, 2019

No-confidence motion against the Social Democrat minority government is read in Parliament./ Radio Romania organises Media2020 Conference in partnership with Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.

Newsroom, 03.10.2019, 14:00

No-confidence.
A motion of no-confidence initiated by the opposition against the Social
Democrat minority government was read in Parliament today. The motion, entitled
To rebuild Romania, the Dancila government must be urgently dismissed!, will
be debated and put to a vote next Thursday, on the 10th of October. The
government is described as one of missed chances, because, although the
country’s economy is going through a favourable period, with significant growth
rates, no major infrastructure project has begun, the motion reads. Trust in
the Romanian economy is diminishing, mainly because the legislation governing
the economic sector changes almost every week, the document also says. The
leader of the Social Democratic Party and prime minister of Romania Viorica
Dancila says the opposition does not have the necessary number of votes to
bring down the government. The motion was signed by 237 MPs from across the
political spectrum. 233 votes are needed for the government to fall. We recall that
at the end of August, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats walked out of the
governing coalition with the Social Democratic Party.

Media2020. The 5th
edition of the Media2020 Conference organised by Radio Romania in partnership
with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union is held today in Bucharest. The
event brings together 40 representatives of some of the most important media
outlets in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Debates focus, among others, on
the future of public radio in the digital era, ways to protect copyright, how
to combat fake news and the promotion of cultural diversity through the use of
new digital technologies. Radio Romania and BBC Radio are also signing a
bilateral agreement to develop a creative cooperation partnership. Radio
Romania has signed similar agreements with Radio France and RAI as part of its
strategy of collaboration with the most prestigious media institutions in
Europe.

Brexit. EU leaders have
reacted with caution to the UK’s new Brexit proposals. The president of the
European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said the proposed deal contains both
positive advances and problematic aspects. The EU chief Brexit negotiator
Michel Barnier said a lot of work still needs to be done to reach a deal on
the backstop mechanism proposed by the
European Union to avoid a hard border with Ireland. On Wednesday, the British
government made public its proposals on the Irish border, but the Irish prime
minister Leo Varadkar said they are not enough
to maintain an open border.

Festival.
The Europalia International Arts Festival has got under way in Brussels, with
Romania as the guest of honour this year. The official opening was held on
Tuesday, and it was attended, among others, by King Philippe of Belgium, Queen
Mathilde and Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis. They visited the exhibition
devoted to the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi entitled Brancusi. Sublimation of Form and hosted
by the Bozar centre and organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute. This is
the most important exhibition devoted to the Romanian artist in recent decades
and the highlight of the festival. Over the next four months, Europalia events
will be held in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Great
Britain, featuring some 250 different visual arts, music, theatre, cinema,
literature and performing arts projects.

Football. The Romanian football champions CFR Cluj are today facing the Scottish side Celtic Glasgow in the second leg of the Europa League Group E. CFR Cluj currently top the group after the first leg, when they pulled off a home win against the Italian side Lazio Rome, 2-1. In the other group fixture, the French side Rennes drew 1-all against Celtic Glasgow. CFR have already defeated Celtic this season, namely in the Champions League preliminaries, when they won 4-3 in Glasgow.