4 May 2019, UPDATE

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

Newsroom, 04.05.2019, 18:42

EU summit. The Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis, who was in the Italian city of Florence, on Saturday laid flowers at
a commemorative plaque dedicated to ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza
and located next to the residence where Cuza, who presided over the
union of the Romanian principalities in 1859, lived his final years in exile. The
representatives of the local authorities who attended the ceremony told the
president that Florence is home to 8,000 Romanians, the biggest community of
foreigners in the area. On Friday, Klaus Iohannis, who attended as a guest of
honour the State of the Union conference organised by the European University
Institute in Florence, also met the Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte. During
their talks, Iohannis highlighted the importance of the upcoming EU summit in
Sibiu, central Romania, for the future of the European project. The summit, to
take place on the 9th of May, will bring together EU heads of state
and government, 36 official delegations, 400 high-ranking guests, around 900
journalists and 100 interpreters. We recall that Romania currently holds the 6-month
rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.

European
elections. The European People’s Party is projected to win 170 seats in the
next European Parliament, followed by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists
and Democrats with 149 seats, according to a poll of polls published by politico.eu.
According to figures for the last 6 months concerning Romania, the ruling
Social Democratic Party is projected to win 9 seats, the National Liberal Party
in opposition 8 seats, the 2020 Alliance, also in opposition, 7 seats, the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the ruling coalition 4 seats and the Pro
Romania party led by the former Social Democrat prime minister Victor Ponta 4
seats. According to politico.eu, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in
Romania and the People’s Movement Party of the former president Traian Basescu
would not make it to the next European Parliament. The European elections will
be held between the 23rd and the 26th of May. In Romania
they will be held on the 26th.

Fire
protection. EU member states spent over 31 billion euros in 2017 for
fire-protection services and almost 300,000 persons were employed as fire
fighters in the European Union in 2017 and 2018, according to data published by
Eurostat. The ratio of government fire-protection expenditures to total
expenditure was highest in Romania and Bulgaria, 0.7 and 0.8% respectively, but
the two countries had some of the lowest rates in terms of expenditure per
inhabitant, namely 24 euros in Romania and 21 in Bulgaria, compared with 113
euros in Luxembourg for example.

National
Heart Day. Heart diseases are the main health problem in Romania, warns the
health ministry on National Heart Day. The death rate caused by cardiovascular
diseases is three times higher than that caused by cancer. In this context, a
screening programme is to be implemented this summer to identify people at risk
of cardiovascular disease. The programme will last for five years and is
allocated 20 million euros accounting for non-reimbursable European funds. More
than 170,000 people will be able to benefit. Heart diseases are the number one
cause of death across Europe, for both women and men. Controlling the main risk
factors, including smoking, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity, can
lead to a lower death rate.

Tourism. The
most popular tourist site in the Romanian section of the Danube gorges, a
depiction of the Dacian king Decebalus carved in stone, will from now on be
illuminated at night. The bas-relief, which is 55 metres high and 25 metres
wide, can now also seen at night by the tens of thousands of tourists who pass
through the area every year. The statue of Decebalus is Europe’s largest sculpture
in stone. It was produced between 1994 and 2004 by 12 mountain-climbing
sculptors working on the left bank of the Danube, where the river is the deepest,
at 120 metres. Decebalus was the last king of Dacia, reigning between 87 and 106.
During the 105-106 war, the Roman emperor Trajan conquered the Dacian kingdom
and turned it into a Roman province. Decebalus committed suicide so as not to
be captured by the Romans.

Ice hockey. Romania won Division I Group B at the Ice Hockey World
Championship in Tallinn, Estonia. In their final match on Saturday, Romania
defeated Holland 3-1. They also won their previous matches against Poland,
Japan, Estonia and Ukraine. Romania thus returns to Group A in world hockey
after 15 years.