November 24, 2016
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 24.11.2016, 12:00
BRUSSELS — Brussels is hosting today the 18th EU-Ukraine summit, which will be dominated by issues such as the progress of reforms in Ukraine and the relationship with Russia. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent the EU is expected to confirm the granting of 15 million euros for the anti-corruption fight and more than 100 million euros for the continuation of the public administration reform. The EU will also continue to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The participants in today’s meeting will also discuss the stage of implementation of the Minsk Protocol meant to put an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that was started by the pro-Russian separatists.
LUFTHANSA STRIKE — The strike of the pilots at Germany’s Lufthansa continues on Thursday. 4 flights between Munich and Bucharest have been canceled as well as a flight linking Frankfurt to Bucharest. On Wednesday one third of Lufthansa’s flights, namely almost 900, among which 5 between Munich and Bucharest and 3 between Frankfurt and Bucharest were cancelled because of the strike started over a pay dispute. Trade unionists ask for an average 3.7% pay rise but the airline leadership offers only 2.5%, which the pilots rejected, as they claim this would be a virtual freezing of salaries. The pay dispute between the two sides has started in 2014 and ever since the trade union has staged more than 14 such protests.
BERLIN — The president of the European Parliament, Social Democrat Martin Schultz, announced he would leave the European body next year to return to Germany where he would get involved in federal politics, France Press and Reuters news agencies have reported. Schultz is seen as a potential candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Germany to the position of Chancellor. His candidacy will be an alternative to that of the minister for economic affairs and energy, Sigmar Gabriel, who also holds the position of Vice Chancellor in Angela Merkel’s government. He could also be designated as candidate for the foreign minister position, which will become vacant in February if the current foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, assumes the role of president of the country, as he is expected to. Angela Merkel announced Sunday her intention to run for a 4th term in office. Aged 62, the current chancellor has been in office for 11 years.
ANKARA — A car bomb outside the regional governor’s office in the Turkish town of Adana (in the south) has killed two people and injured 16, the governor said. Adana is located near an air base which the US military use to launch attacks against so-called Islamic State militants in Syria. The Turkish interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, had previously announced that since the beginning of the year, as many as 260 attacks have been thwarted.
FOOTBALL — Romania’s football champions Astra Giurgiu are playing today, away from home, against Austria Vienna in the 5th leg of the Europe League groups. With 4 points, Astra is ranked 3rd in Group E, after AS Rome and Austria Vienna and ahead of the Czech team Plzen. Also on Thursday, in the same leg, Romania’s vice-champions Steaua Bucharest will take on the Turkish eleven Osmanlispor on home ground. With three draws and a defeat, Steaua is ranked last in group L, which also includes Switzerland’s FC Zurich and Spain’s Villarreal. The first-ranked teams in each group will qualify to the next stages.
LUX PRIZE — The comedy “Toni Erdmann” a Germany-Austria-Romania production, has received the LUX Film Prize, which the European Parliament awards to promote the distribution of European films within the UE. The action of the film takes place in Romania and the story is about a father and daughter trying to reconnect in tragicomic circumstances, set against the backdrop of contemporary European society. The film, which looks at how corporate culture can destroy family relations and at the life of expats, prevailed over As I Open My Eyes by Leyla Bouzid and My Life as a Courgette by Claude Barras. Last year the LUX Prize was awarded to the film Mustang by the French-Turkish director Deniz Gamze Erguven.(translation by L. Simion)
