April 23, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 23.04.2024, 20:00
ELECTIONS – The ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party has decided to back separate candidates for mayor general of Bucharest, namely the Senator Gabriela Firea, a former mayor of Bucharest between 2016 and 2020, supported by the Social Democrats, and the incumbent energy minister, Sebastian Burduja, for the Liberals. President Klaus Iohannis said the decision to have two separate candidates running for the same post in the local elections in Bucharest was not a success for the coalition. The politicians involved say the decision was made in order to fully mobilise the voters of the two parties. The announcement came at the end of a coalition meeting held following media allegations that the joint candidate Cătălin Cîrstoiu was in an incompatibility situation. The physician is accused of taking advantage of his post as manager of Bucharest’s Emergency Teaching Hospital to treat patients in a private clinic. The coalition leaders also decided to keep joint candidates for the Bucharest district mayors and for the local councils. The Social Democrats and the Liberals also have joint candidate lists for the European Parliament elections, due on June 9th, concurrently with the local ballots.
VISIT – The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis, while on an official visit to South Korea, had a meeting on Tuesday morning in Seoul with his counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol. After the official welcome ceremony, the two presidents and the Romanian and South Korean delegations had bilateral talks. According to Radio Romania’s special correspondent, the political consultations between the two heads of state focused on the consolidation of bilateral relations, on political, diplomatic, and defence cooperation, and on the main challenges at regional and global level. On the same occasion, a joint declaration was adopted on the consolidation of the strategic partnership between Romania and South Korea, a document setting the key cooperation directions for the coming 10 years. In the presence of the two presidents, other documents were also signed, concerning cooperation in fields like defence, nuclear energy, investments, foreign trade and culture.
AUTOMOTIVE – The vehicles produced in Romania are in demand in over 60 markets in the world, so that 2024 may end with a new profit record, says Adrian Sandu, the secretary general of the Board of the Romanian Carmakers Association. According to him, in 2023 the domestic automotive industry saw a record output of 513,000 units produced. On the other hand, Adrian Sandu says that, apart from the inadequate transport infrastructure, Romania’s economy loses huge amounts of money because of bottlenecks in the customs process, due to Romanian land borders not being accepted yet in the Schengen area.
FILM – Two Romanian films are included in the official selection for the famous Cannes Film Festival in France: the feature film “Three kilometers to the end of the world,” directed by Emanuel Pârvu, describing the complicated relations between a teenager and his parents, and the documentary “Nasty”, about the life and career of the first Romanian tennis player to make it to the top place in the world ranking, Ilie Năstase, a film directed by Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu and Tudor D. Popescu. The Cannes Festival also invited an Iranian filmmaker who criticizes the regime in Tehran, Mohammad Rasoulof. The 77th edition of the Cannes Festival takes place between May the 14th and 25th.
FOOD – Seven out of ten Romanians have strategies to reduce food waste, women being more open than men to taking measures in this respect, according to a study published on Tuesday. The main categories of wasted products are cooked food, vegetables, bread or other bakery products and fruit. Most of the Romanians indicate as the reason for food waste the excessive purchase of products and the expiration of the validity period before these products are consumed, as well as cooking too much. People aged 25 to 34 are more prone to overbuying and cooking more than they can eat, these behaviours reflecting an increasing trend towards consumerism in young people’s lifestyles. The main measures taken into account to reduce waste are: the correct storage and freezing of food to extend their validity period, the correct assessment of food portions, sticking to the shopping list purchasing food for food or shorter periods of time.
BILL – The Bucharest Senate adopted a draft law that ensures the access of all women to monitoring during pregnancy and after birth. According to the new provisions, all necessary investigations will be done free of charge, from a separate budget. The initiator of the project, the MP Oana Ţoiu, a member of USR, says that a third of the pregnant women in Romania do not have the recommended tests during pregnancy for financial reasons, although the law already guarantees free access to tests for pregnant women, whether insured or not. She also says that Romania has an increasingly low birth rate and a worrying infant mortality rate. (EE)
