August 31st, 2015

A roundup of domestic and international news

Bogdan Matei, 31.08.2015, 12:03

Cultural events organized
simultaneously in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and by the Romanian
communities abroad are today marking the Romanian Language Day, celebrated
every year on August 31st. Bucharest is hosting concerts and book
launches devoted to this celebration, and Chisinau is playing host to an
international conference titled ‘Romanian Language – a Language of European
Integration’. In Cernauti, western Ukraine, where half a million of ethnic
Romanians live, the 26th anniversary of the Society for Romania
Culture is being celebrated. Also, Romanian cultural institutes across the
world have adapted their programs to mark Language Day, established by the
Romanian Parliament in 2013. The celebration coincides with the national day of the Republic of Moldova
and is a homage paid to the national awakening movement in the neighboring
country, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian-speaking
population. On August 31st, 1989, when the Soviet regime was in
power, the Parliament in Chisinau, picketed by some 750,000 people, accounting
for one sixth of the country’s population, declared Romanian as the official
state language and decided the passing to the Latin alphabet instead of the
Cyrillic one, which had been imposed upon annexation back in 1940.

The new Fiscal Code and
postal voting for the Romanians living abroad are two of the priorities of the
Romanian Parliament’s autumn session, which starts on September 1st.
The interim president of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, has stated
he would like to have a session dominated by dialogue and not by the political
war between power and the opposition. The Social – Democrat Prime Minister
Victor Ponta has also stated that the law on state employees’ salaries, which
provides for higher salaries in the public sector, as well as the 2016 state
budget and the procurement law could be adopted by November 1st,
through political consensus. The opposition Liberal Party, through its
co-president Alina Gorghiu, has called for the passing, by November 1st,
of the postal voting bill and believes that drafting a new law is useless, as
the bill already contains the requirements formulated by the Romanian
communities abroad. The law became a hot debate issue after the disaster last
year, when thousands of Romanians who live abroad could not cast their votes at
November’s presidential election, although they queued for hours in front of
the insufficient polling stations.

Negotiations between trade unionists with the Romanian Air Traffic
Services Administration (ROMATSA) and representatives of the Transport Ministry
have again ended in a deadlock. Air traffic controllers threaten with an
all-out strike starting on September 1st. They demand higher
salaries, a lower retirement age, from 65 to 55, better working conditions as
well as the resignation of the administration’s management. On July 15th
they held a two-hour warning strike, an unprecedented event in the history of
Romanian aviation. According to
ROMATSA, which currently has approximately 1,500 employees, Romania’s air space
is transited by some 3 thousand airplanes every day.

On September 14th,
the EU Interior Ministers will gather in Brussels in a bid to find solutions to
the current migration crisis. Talks will focus on expelling procedures, when
asylum applications are rejected, cooperation with third countries and measures
to prevent human trafficking. Austria has tightened control on its eastern
borders, after, a few days ago, 71 refugees were found dead in a truck
abandoned on a highway in the east of the country. In the past days, the
Hungarian police has detained some 8800 immigrants, most of whom had entered
the country by crossing the border with Serbia. Europe is currently facing the
biggest flow of immigrants since WWII. Many of them are fleeing countries
devastated by war, such as Syria and Afghanistan, and are putting their lives
at risk trying to reach the west.

The Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta will this evening perform in Bucharest, on
the second day of the George Enescu international festival. The concert,
which is part of the ‘Grand Orchestras’ series, includes Chamber Symphony no.1
by Arnold Schoenberg and Symphony no. 8 by Anton Bruckner. Another concert is
hosted by the Bucharest Athenaeum, with the Romanian Liviu Prunaru conducting.
The 22nd edition of the festival started on Sunday with the Romanian
Youth Orchestra, who performed Romanian Rhapsody no.1 by George Enescu.

Romanian
tennis player Simona Halep, ranking 2nd in the WTA classification,
will play against Maria Erakovic of New Zeealand in the first round of the US
Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts today at
Flushing Meadows in New York. Besides Simona Halep, another four women tennis
players will represent Romania at the US Open. Irina Camelia Begu, ranked 28th,
will play against Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 40th ranked Monica
Niculescu will take on the Russian Alexandra Panova, Alexandra Dulgheru, placed
51st in the WTA rankings will play against the German Angelique
Kerber, and Andreea Mitu, no. 74, will face the Czech Tereza Smitkova. As a
first, Halep has registered for the mixed doubles and she will play alongside
the Romanian Horia Tecau. In the men’s doubles, Horia Tecau will pair the Dutch
Jean-Julien Rojer, with whom he won the Wimbledon final this June. In the
inaugural round they will take on the pair made up of the German Andre Begemann
and the Austrian Oliver Marach. The Romanian / Indian pair made up of Florin
Mergea and Rohan Bopanna will face the US pair Austin Krajicek/Nicholas Monroe.