30 June 2019, UPDATE

Romanias rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union has come to an end, with Finland taking over on 1 July.

Newsroom, 30.06.2019, 19:12

EU presidency. For the last six months, Romania
has held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, a role
it took over from Austria and which it fulfilled for the first time since
becoming a member in 2007. Finland takes over from Romania on July 1st.
The president of the European Council Donald Tusk has sent a message to the
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on the conclusion of Romania’s term, characterising
its presidency as energetic and successful and saying 90 pieces of legislation were
agreed. Romania’s term was
marked by key moments such as the Sibiu summit held on Europe Day on 9th
of May and the elections for the European Parliament held between the 23rd
and the 26th of May.

Republic of Moldova. Romania has supported the Republic of
Moldova both politically and financially, in all projects, Moldova’s new
prime minister Maia Sandu told an interview on Radio Romania Chisinau ahead of
her trip to Bucharest next week. She said the talks with the Romanian
authorities would focus on the development of energy and infrastructure
projects for which Chisinau counts on Romania’s support. Also, Maia Sandu said
the neighbouring Romania is the most important advocate of the Republic of
Moldova in its process of European integration. Sworn in this month, the
pro-European head of the Moldovan government has decided to make her first
foreign trip to Bucharest, on the 2nd of July, although she had said
earlier that she would travel first to Brussels.

Pogrom. President
Klaus Iohannis sent a message on Sunday on the 78th anniversary of
the Iasi pogrom of 1941. Tolerance, respect and solidarity are essential,
defining elements that underlie Romanian contemporary society, principles we
must nurture and defend, his message writes. Iohannis also welcomed the
initiative of the local authorities to turn the former police headquarters into
a place for the commemoration of the Jews killed in 1941. He said he would
continue to support the creation in Bucharest of a national museum of the
history of Jews and the Holocaust. In June 1941, almost 15,000 people were
killed in Iasi, in the north-east, in the biggest massacre against the Jews
committed in Romania.

Party congress. Prime minister Viorica Dancila
was re-elected on Saturday at an extraordinary congress as leader of the Social
Democratic Party, the main force in the ruling coalition in Bucharest. She is
the first woman to hold this position in her party. The former president of the
party, Liviu Dragnea, is now in prison for acts of corruption. The finance
minister Eugen Teodorovici was elected executive president and
former defence minister Mihai Fifor secretary general.

Tennis. The no. 7 seed Simona Halep of
Romania will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus in the first round at
Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins on Monday.
Another Romanian player, Mihaela Buzarnescu, plays against Jessica Pegula of
the US in the first round and will meet Halep if she makes it to the second
round. Qualifier Ana Bogdan is up for a tough match against the British no. 1 Johanna
Konta, who is seeded 9th. Sorana Cirstea will face 25th
seed Amanda Anisimova of the US. Monica Niculescu, who got a wild card for
Wimbledon, plays Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. Qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse faces
Germany’s Julia Goerges in the opening round, seeded 18th. In the
men’s draw, Romania’s Marius Copil faces Argentina’s Guido Pella in the first
round.

Film. The European Film Festival, held at the weekend in
Sibiu, brought together seven recent titles and a classic film from the 1990s.
The line-up included the French-Belgian production Memoir of War directed by Emmanuel
Finkiel, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s political thriller The Realm, Benedikt Erlingsson’s
comedy Woman at War, Bálint Kenyeres’s Yesterday, Elina Psykou’s Son of Sofia
and the 1998 Irish production My Left Foot by Jim Sheridan. The European Film
Festival was also held this year in Bucharest, Ramnicu Valcea, in the south,
Targu Mures, in the centre, as well as in Chisinau, in the Republic of Moldova,
an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population.