February 7, 2014

The 22nd Winter Olympic Games open today in Sochi, a Russian resort between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. Prime Minister Victor Ponta represents Romania at the festivities. The games, wrapping up February 23rd, bring together almost 3,000 athletes in 90 delegations from all over the world, competing for the 294 medals up for grabs. Among them are 24 Romanian athletes competing in 8 disciplines- alpine skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, bobsleighing, luge and skeleton.

Ştefan Stoica, 07.02.2014, 12:00

The 22nd Winter Olympic Games open today in Sochi, a Russian resort between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. Prime Minister Victor Ponta represents Romania at the festivities. The games, wrapping up February 23rd, bring together almost 3,000 athletes in 90 delegations from all over the world, competing for the 294 medals up for grabs. Among them are 24 Romanian athletes competing in 8 disciplines- alpine skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, bobsleighing, luge and skeleton.

The National Liberal Party, the second member of the ruling coalition in Romania, decides on Friday who takes over the ministries of internal affairs and finance, left vacant by resignation. Radu Stroe resigned as minister of internal affairs after the scandal caused by the aircraft accident in the Apuseni Mountains in January. Former Finance Minister Daniel Chitoiu announced on Thursday he would relinquish his position in order to get more involved in his political party, as this is a European Parliament election year, as well as presidential election year in Romania.

The authorities in Bucharest have until Sunday, February 9, to submit a notification to the European Commission regarding the situation of visas for the United States and issues of reciprocity in the matter. The European executive asked for this notification as part of the process of lifting US travel visas for citizens of five European Union members, Romania included. The procedure is part of the new regulations adopted by the EC, which require visa reciprocity between EU members and third party countries.

Romania’s women’s tennis team plays on Friday in Budapest against the UK, in the first Europe- Africa group of the Fed Cup. In the initial stage, Romania defeated Hungary 2-1. The last game is scheduled for Saturday, against Latvia. If successful, the Romanians play against the winner in Group C, bringing together Ukraine, Austria, Slovenia and Israel. Romania has been playing in the Fed Cup since 1973, and its best achievement was reaching the quarterfinals five times.

The film festival in Berlin opened on Thursday night with the world premiere of the Wes Anderson film ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, one of the 23 to compete in the Berlinale. Over 400 films will be screened as part of the festival, one of them being Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s movie ‘The Second Game’. The festival also features two documentaries on Romania, and one Romania actress competes in the Shooting Stars event.