January 28, 2023
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Newsroom, 28.01.2023, 13:55
COOPERATION
France and the Netherlands are eagerly waiting
for Romania’s Schengen accession as soon as possible. This is one of the main
elements in a joint statement on security cooperation signed in Bucharest on
Friday by the foreign ministers of the 3 countries. The message was also
highlighted by the Dutch diplomacy chief, Wopke Hoekstra, in the bilateral
talks with his Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu. The 2 officials, together
with the French foreign minister, Catherine
Colonna,Friday visited the Getica National Joint Training Centre in
Cincu, where French and Dutch troops are deployed as part of the NATO Battle
Group created in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, after the
trilateral talks concerning Moscow’s armed aggression, Catherine Colonna said
Ukraine must be helped to defend itself, to regain its independence and
sovereignty. In Bucharest, the foreign officials were also received by
president Klaus Iohannis and PM
Nicolae Ciucă.
CINEMA Two
Romanian films, ‘Metronome’ by Alexandru Belc and ‘M.R.I.’ by Cristian Mungiu, are
in the competition of the Gothenburg International Film Festival in Sweden, which
started on Friday. According to the Romanian Cultural Institute in Stockholm,
the event brings together around 400 works from around the world every year,
with 160,000 viewers attending. ‘Metronome’, the debut feature of the director Alexandru
Belc, is a love story in 1972 communist Romania, and critics describe it as a
social and historical analysis of a generation forced to live in a society
marred by suspicion and distrust. Cristian Mungiu’s ‘R.M.N.’ is set in a
Transylvanian village, where a small factory hires new workers, troubling the
apparent peace of the locals. The over 40-year old
film festival in Gothenburg is the most important such event in the
region.
SURVEY As many as 80% of Romanian consumers allow the use of their
personal data for advertising purposes, according to a survey conducted on the
European Data Protection Day. The latest data in the Survey on the usage of ITC
in households and by individuals indicate that 1 of 2 Europeans aged between 16
and 74 do not allow the use of their personal data for advertising purposes
when using the internet. As many as 46% reported having allowed only restricted
access to their location or having denied access to their data altogether. The
countries where the use of personal data for advertising is mostly denied by
users include the Netherlands (73%), Finland (70%), Denmark and Germany (63%
each), Spain (62%). At the opposite pole, the lowest rates were reported in
Bulgaria (10%), Romania (20%), Greece (29%), Slovakia (30%) and Latvia (32%).
ELECTION
Petr Pavel looks set
to win the runoff of the presidential elections in the Czech Republic, ahead of
ex-PM Andrej Babis, AFP reports. Polling
stations opened on Friday and close today. Petr
Pavel, 61, a retired general who held a senior NATO post, is running as an
independent candidate and has the support of the right-of-centre government. Billionaire
Andrej Babis, 68, who was the country’s PM between 2017 and 2021, promised to
force the government to help citizens handle the rising inflation. The winner
of the vote will replace the controversial Milos Zeman, who had had close ties
with Moscow before changing course during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
WEATHER In Romania, weather experts issued code orange and yellow alerts
for heavy snowfalls, snowstorms and rainfalls in over 20 counties in the east
and centre of the country. The bad weather left thousands of households without
electricity, road, railway and air traffic was disrupted and several national
and county roads were closed. (AMP)
