June 28, 2019

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today

Bogdan Matei, 28.06.2019, 14:58

EXTRAORDINARY CONGRESS – The National Executive
Committee of the Social Democratic Party, the main party of the ruling coalition in
Bucharest today convenes to validate the candidacies submitted for the
leadership of the party, as well as to set the agenda of this coming Saturday’s
extraordinary Congress. Running for the presidency are six social democrat
candidates. The press has rated the Social Democratic Party’s interim
president, the current incumbent head of the government Viorica Dancila as
favorite. The position became vacant a month ago, when the coalition’s former
strongman, Liviu Dragnea, was indicted and imprisoned on charges of corruption.

TOP-LEVEL MOLDOVAN VISIT TO ROMANIA – Romania has supported the Republic
of Moldova politically but also financially, through all its projects, the
Republic’s new Prime Minister Maia Sandu told an interview to Radio Romania
Chisinau, ahead of the visit Sandu will pay to Bucharest next week. Maia Sandu
went on to say talks with the Romanian authorities would mainly focus on the
development of energy or infrastructure projects, for which Chisinau heavily
relies on help from Romania. Maia Sandu also stated neighboring Romania was the
Republic of Moldova’s main supporter in the Republic’s European integration endeavor.
Sandu was this month sworn in as head of the pro-European government in
Chisinau. Maia Sandu decided her first official foreign visit would be in
Bucharest on July 2. Previously, however, Maia Sandu announced she would first
travel to Brussels.

EU
ACCESSION CONFERENCE CHAIRED BY ROMANIA – Romania’s Minister Delegate for European
Affairs, George Ciamba, as a representative of Romania’s presidency of the
Council of the European Union in Brussels has chaired the 10th
Intergovernmental Accession Conference with Serbia. Attending the conference
were the European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn
and the Serbian European Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimovic. Financial
services is the new negotiations chapter opened with Serbia, in this country’s
bid to gain accession to the EU. According to a press release, meeting this
target towards the end of Romania’s Presidency of the Council of the European
Union ties in with the objective which in Romania’s six-month term was pursued
and promoted, generating positive, merit-based results for candidates, capable
of encouraging and motivating future progress in key areas of the reform
process. Minister Ciamba hailed the fact that Romania’s presidency of the
Council of the EU, with respect to the West Balkans chapter, ended through an
intergovernmental Conference with Romania’s neighboring state Serbia, one of
the most advanced candidates to that effect.

DANUBE STRATEGY CONFERENCE – The 8th Annual Forum of
the of the European Union’s Strategy for the Danube Region, EUSDR, gets
underway in Bucharest today, According to the Romanian Foreign Affairs
Ministry, the Forum is the most important event of Romania’s acting presidency
of EUSDR, and the last large-scale event held under the aegis of Romania’s
Presidency of the Council of the EU which draws to a close on Sunday, June 30.
Re-launching the Strategy of the Danube is the eventual aim of Romania’s
presidency at EUSDR, while the revision of the action plan is a major step forward
to that end, a Foreign Affairs Ministry press release writes. To that effect, Romania
stepped up talks to include agriculture and aquaculture in the region’s areas
of interest.

BRACING FOOTBALL RECORD BY ROMANIA – Romania’s Under-21 football
team in Bologna on Thursday night sustained a 2-4 defeat by Germany, in the
semifinal of the Under-21 European Football Championship jointly hosted by Italy
and San Marino. In the other semifinal, Spain outclassed France, 4-1. Romania’s
under-21 football team have had an en excellent run in the aforementioned
tournament. Having qualified for the semifinals, Romania secured their ticket
for the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

TOP-LEVEL US-RUSSIAN MEETING – US President Donald Trump and Russian
president Vladimir Putin have openly reiterated their friendly relations,
according to Reuters and Agence France Presse, after the two heads of state
held a meeting ahead of the G-20 summit hosted by the Japanese town of Osaka.
President Trump apparently downplayed the scandal triggered by Russia allegedly
having a hand in the US presidential election in 2016. However, during the
event, President Trump was vocal in asking President Putin to stay out of the
election process. An appreciable number of Americans eagerly awaited the event
in Japan, against the backdrop of the Congress-initiated inquests continuing,
targeting alleged links between Donald trump’s election campaign and Russia.

EUROPEAN
FILM FESTIVAL – A new edition of the European Film Festival got underway in the
central Romanian town of Sibiu on June 28 and will draw to a close on June 30. Among this year’s novelties are seven recent
productions as well as a classic of the 1990s. As Happy as Lazarus a film by
Alice Rohrwacher will open the festival. The film scooped the Best Screenplay
award at the 2018 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. A France-Belgium co-production,
Emmanuel Finkiel’s romantic drama Pain will also be screened at the festival in
Sibiu. Also screened in Sibiu will be
Power Games by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Women in War, a comedy by Benedikt
Erlingsson, Yesterday by Balint Kenyeres, Sophie’s Son, a film by Elina Psykou
and Julia, a film by Elena Martin. Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan’s 1989
production My Left Foot is the classic to be screened at the European Film Festival
in Sibiu. Featuring Daniel-Day Lewis, the film is based on the true story of
Irish writer Christy Brown, who suffered from cerebral palsy since early
childhood. Previous editions of the European Film festival were this year
hosted by the capital city Bucharest,
Ramnicu Valcea in the south, Targu Mures in the center as well as by Republic
of Moldova’s capital city Chisinau. We recall the Republic of Moldova is a
former Soviet republic, with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population.