January 28, 2023 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 28.01.2023, 20:00
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 ‘M.R.I.’ 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 IT&C
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
The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis Saturday
congratulated the president elect of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, and
pleaded for strengthening the relations between the 2 countries. Petr Pavel, a former
chairman of the NATO Military Committee and supporter of military support for
Ukraine, Saturday won the runoff of the presidential elections in the Czech
Republic, with 57.4% of the votes, according to international news agencies,
after over 90% of the
ballots were counted. His opponent, ex-PM Andrej Babis, got around 42% of the
votes. The turnout was 70%. Petr Pavel, a retired general aged 61, ran as an
independent candidate with the support of the right-of-centre government. He
will replace the controversial Milos Zeman, who had had close ties with Moscow
before changing course during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Petr Pavel vowed to
be an independent president, without political bias, and to continue to support
war-torn Ukraine and Kyiv’s bid for EU membership.
SPORTS The Romanian
athlete Laura Ilie won the bronze in the 10m air rifle women event of the ISSF
World Championship on Saturday in Jakarta, Indonesia. The gold went to Eszter
Meszaros (Hungary), who defeated Poland’s Aneta Stankiewicz in the final. Another
Romanian, Roxana Sidi, came out 28th in the qualifiers. (AMP)
