February 17, 2023 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.02.2023, 20:11

VISIT Marcel Ciolacu, president of the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest
on Friday said after the talks he had in Rome with the Italian Interior Minister
Matteo Piantedosi that Romania had wanted an updated strategic partnership with
Italy since 1997. The Romanian official underlined that this diplomatic binder
is also meant to help the community of 1.2 million Romanians, for whom Italy
has become a second home. Ciolacu has extended thanks to the Italian official
whom he described as one of the strongest voices in support of Romania’s
Schengen accession. On Thursday, the Romanian official held talks with the
mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, about the staging of a bilateral economic
forum in the Italian capital. Ciolacu met his Italian counterpart, Lorenzo
Fontana, in Rome also on Thursday.

CULTURE
The city of Timişoara, in western Romania, has officially become for one year,
the European Capital of Culture. Approximately 16,000 people are expected to
participate in the 130 events taking place this weekend, on the occasion of the
official opening of the program. The entire city will be animated by concerts,
exhibitions, street performances, theater plays, film screenings and workshops,
all under the slogan Shine your light – Light up your city!
More than 100 Romanian and foreign officials, including about 40 ambassadors,
the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and the European Commissioner Adina Vălean
have confirmed their participation in the opening gala at the Palace of Culture
in Timișoara. Moreover, Adina Vălean will hand the local authorities the
Melina Mercouri award, worth 1.5 million Euros, which is awarded to
cities that have fulfilled their commitments in the European Capitals of
Culture program.

HANDBALL Romania’s handball champions, Dinamo
Bucharest on Thursday conceded an away defeat to French side Paris Saint
Germain. The French secured a 33-26 win in the 12th leg of the
Champions League. With 11 points, Dinamo has qualified for the competition’s
next leg and is presently ranking fifth in a group dominated by PSG with 20
points. The Romanians will be also playing Danish side GOG on February 23rd
and SC Magdeburg of Germany on March 2nd. Only the first two sides
in every group will qualify for the quarter finals, while the sides ranking
between the third and sixth positions will go into play-offs.

EARTHQUAKE A moderate
earthquake, with a magnitude of 4.3 on the Richter scale, occurred on Friday in
Gorj county (southwest Romania), at a depth of 15 kilometers, according to the
data of the National Institute for Earth Physics. The intensity of the
earthquake was revised from 4.4 to 4.3 degrees, following the operator’s
calculations. On Tuesday, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred in Gorj county,
the biggest ever produced in that area. The day before, the area was shaken by
a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. On March 4, 1977, an earthquake with a magnitude of
7.2, the worst to hit Romania, resulted in the death of 1,570 people, most of
them in Bucharest, and caused property damage estimated at over two billion
dollars at the time. The earthquake generated an economic and social crisis
that, according to historians, the communist dictatorship of the time could not
overcome until its collapse in 1989.

(bill&LS)