November 22, 2019 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 22.11.2019, 20:00

ELECTION – Romanians living abroad can cast their vote from Friday to Sunday, to elect the next president of the country. They will have to choose between the current president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, supported by the governing National Liberal Party, and the former Social Democratic Prime Minister Viorica Dancila. The first polling stations opened in New Zealand and Australia, and the election process for the Romanians in the Diaspora will end on the west coast of the United States. In all, 835 polling stations have been set up abroad. In the country, the election campaign ends on Saturday morning, and citizens will be able to cast their vote on Sunday. In the first round, the turnout was 51.19%.

MEETING— Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu held a meeting on Friday with the honorary president of the US Atlantic Council, retired general James L. Jones, exchanging views on current security challenges for NATO. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, they talked about the security situation on the Alliances eastern border, with emphasis on the Black Sea area. They also emphasized the importance for NATO and the EU of such regional initiatives as the B9 Bucharest Format and the Three Seas Initiative. Aurescu stressed Romanias keen interest in making progress in all the areas of the strategic bilateral partnership with the US, singling out cooperation in defence, energy and cybernetic security, as well as economic cooperation and investments. In turn, General Jones saluted Romania significant contributions regionally, as well as within the larger NATO framework.

FORESTRY — 38.6 million cubic meters of forests are cut down each year, 20 million above official figures because of illegal deforestation, according to the Romanian Minister of the Environment Costel Alexe. In October, the general director of the Romsilva National Forestry Administration, Gheorghe Mihailescu, claimed that the volume of wood illegally cut in state managed forests is 50,000 cubic meters per year at the most. This figure was constantly contested by NGOs, which called for a European initiative to put a stop to illegal forest exploitation and to protect virgin forests. Illegal activity in this area also led to the death of several forest wardens, with two losing their lives within one month this autumn alone. Since the beginning of the year, 16 cases of attacks against forestry personnel have been registered by Romsilva.

COLECTIV – The Bucharest Tribunal has finalized the inquiry into a case opened following the fire that broke out at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, four years ago, which killed 64 people and wounded 200. On Monday, the prosecutor will ask for sentences for those indicted. The trial started in April 2016. After two years of postponements, the magistrate dealing with the case retired, and since then, the new judge has heard dozens of witnesses and victims. The former mayor of Bucharests 4th district, Cristian Piedone, the owners of the club and two firefighters are among those sent to court in this case.

GAUDEAMUS — Friday was the third day of the Gaudeamus Book Fair Organized by Radio Romania. This years edition is marked by the celebration of 30 years since the anti-Communist revolution of 1989. On Friday, the Rador News Agency held a round table themed 30 years of free press, and PEN Club Romania held its general assembly to award the PEN Romania 2019 prize. On Saturday, professor Thierry Wolton will attend the launch of the second volume of his trilogy A World History of Communism. In this volume, titled The Victims, Thierry Wolton presents the perspective of the dozens of millions of people who suffered imprisonment, deportation, starvation, torture, degradation, and ultimately extermination.

EUROSTAT – According to data published by Eurostat on Friday, the statistical office of the European Union, in 2018, some 230 million people aged 15 to 74 were employed, 17 million were unemployed and 134 million were inactive from an economic point of view. Some 80% of the employed EU citizens (184 million) were full-time employees, and the other 20% (46 million) were part-time employees. The Eurostat data also show that, in most member countries, part-time workers are predominantly women, except for Romania (36%), Bulgaria (50%) and Malta (50%). Most part-time workers aged 15 to 74 who said they wanted to work more were in Greece (70%) and Cyprus (52%), followed by Spain (45%), Portugal (37%), Slovakia, Latvia and Romania (30%). At the opposite pole, the Czech Republic had the lowest percentage of part-time workers wishing to work more.

HANDBALL – The Romanian national womens handball team still aims to get among the first 6 teams at the world championships in Japan, which would allow it qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games, despite issues regarding some players accused of doping, the president of the Federation Alexandru Dedu has stated. Four handballers from Corona Brasov were replaced after it was discovered that they had used an intravenous laser therapy, which is a banned procedure. On Wednesday, when the team left for Japan, the Swedish trainer of the Romanian handball players, Thomas Ryde, said that Romanias goal had changed. At the championship in Japan, which will be held between the 30th of November and the 15th of December, the first representative is part of Group C, alongside Hungary, Montenegro, Spain, Senegal and Kazakhstan. Romania has won three world titles, two silver medals and one bronze. At the previous edition, in 2017, the national team ranked 10th. (translated by E. Enache)