7 September 2019

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

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Newsroom, 07.09.2019, 14:04

Diaspora.
Bucharest is playing host this weekend to the annual conference of the Romanian
World Council dedicated to the issues faced by Romanian communities around the
world. The capital city is also the venue of the forum of Romanians abroad, which brings
together 120 representatives of the Romanian diaspora and of historical ethnic
Romanian communities. The subjects discussed include education, financing opportunities,
tourism, preventing the abuse of vulnerable persons, consular services, voting
abroad and the media. The participants attend working meetings, workshops and
debates alongside representatives of the Romanian state institutions. On
Thursday in the opening of the forum, the Romanian prime minister Viorica
Dancila said she had requested the Standing Election Authority to extend the
deadline for Romanians abroad registering to vote, in order to increase the
number of those voting by post in the upcoming presidential elections in
November.

Talks. Foreign
minister Ramona Manescu on Friday had talks with the UK ambassador in Bucharest Andrew Noble. They discussed mainly
Romanian-British cooperation in the coming period in the context of the UK’s
scheduled exit from the European Union. Manescu reiterated Romania’s support
for an orderly exit and the close attention it pays to the protection of the
rights of Romanian citizens living in the UK. More than 140,000 Romanian
nationals have applied for the new residence permit in the UK, a system created
to ensure the rights of EU citizens residing in the UK after Brexit.

Economy. Romania’s GDP went up in the first six months of the year by
4.7% compared with last year, according to provisional data published by the
National Institute of Statistics. The increase is mainly the result of
household consumption. Compared with the first quarter of the year, the economy
grew by 1% in real terms in the second quarter. The authorities are expecting a
5.5% growth rate of the GDP this year, while the European Commission has
forecast a 4% rate.

Borders. Around 26 million persons
crossed the Romanian border during the summer season, between the 1st
of June and the 6th of September, 17% more than last year in the
same period, the border police says. 12.5 million entered the country and 13.5
million exited the country. The busiest border crossing points were those on
the Romanian-Hungarian border, with 7.7 million people, and the airports, with
6.4 million. The Romanian border police has created an online application
available at politiadefrontiera.ro, which shows the average waiting time at
road border crossing between certain periods.

Enescu festival. 16 different performances, including concerts and recitals, are taking
place this weekend as part of the George Enescu International Festival in
Bucharest and other cities in Romania as well as abroad, in Florence, in Italy
and in Toronto, in Canada. The Bucharest public is treated to performances from
violinist Julia Fischer and the pianist Henri Bonamy, as well as to a
performance given by the National Orchestra of France featuring the Romanian
pianist Alexandra Dariescu. Radio Romania has been a co-producer of the festival ever since its
first edition in 1958. This year, Radio Romania’s music channel is broadcasting
most concerts in the festival, while the Radio Concert Hall is playing host to
a series of concerts. Radio Romania’s Children’s Choir, Academic Choir and
National Orchestra are also themselves giving performances as part of the
festival.

Table tennis. Defending
champions Romania have defeated Poland 3-1 to reach the final of the women’s
European Table Tennis Championship held in the French city of Nantes. On Sunday
in the final, Romania will be facing either Hungary or Portugal. On Friday in
the quarterfinals, Romania defeated the host county 3-nil. Romania’s men’s
table tennis side, however, failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the
European championships in Nantes after losing to Sweden 3-nil in their final
Group 2 match.

US Open. The 19-year-old Canadian player of Romanian origin Bianca
Andreescu, ranked 15th in the world, and world no. 8 Serena Williams
today face each other in the US Open final. Andreescu, who was yet to go past a
Grand Slam second round, defeated Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, world no. 12,
in the semifinal. Serena Williams, who will be playing her 10th US
Open final, defeated Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, world no. 5, in the semis.