September 21, 2019

More candidates join the race for presidential elections this November./ Bucharest Court rules that Romanias ex-president Traian Basescu collaborated with the communist secret police./ The city of Bucharest celebrates 560th anniversary.

Newsroom, 21.09.2019, 14:03

Presidential race. Two more
candidates have joined the race for the presidential elections to be held in
Romania in November. They are Kelemen Hunor, from the Democratic Union of
Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, and Mircea Diaconu, who has the backing of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Pro Romania party. The incumbent
president Klaus Iohannis, on behalf of the National Liberal Party, and Dan
Barna, who is backed by the USR-PLUS alliance, officially joined the race on
Friday. Other candidates include the Social Democrat prime minister Viorica
Dancila and Theodor Paleologu, on behalf of the People’s Movement Party. The
deadline for registering in the election race expires Sunday at midnight. The
election campaign begins on the 12th of October, but the outdoor
advertising has already begun in Bucharest. Political commentators say this
pre-campaign period is characterised by a greater variety of political figures
compared with the previous elections, while in terms of the aesthetics of the
advertising materials, the focus appears to be on images rather than slogans.

Securitate. The former president of
Romania between 2004 and 2014 Traian Basescu collaborated with the Securitate,
the communist secret police, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled on Friday,
almost 30 years after the collapse of the communist regime. The ruling is not
final and Basescu, who currently serves as an Euro MP on behalf of the People’s
Movement Party, says he will appeal it in the Supreme Court. According to the
National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives, the former president
wrote two reports signed under the secret name of Petrov in 1957, when he was
an officer in the commercial navy. As a result of one of these reports, the
Securitate prevented one of Basescu’s colleagues from being sent to work on a
ship that sailed abroad. Since the early 2000s, the National Council for the
Study of the Securitate Archives has issued a number of memos saying Traian
Basescu did not collaborate with the Securitate. Also, to be able to occupy
public positions, Basescu himself had to sign declarations stating that he did
not work with the communist secret police.

Waste. It’s been nine years since
the Let’s Do It, Romania! organisation has been organising a campaign in which
tens of thousands of volunteers gather to collect tonnes of waste. The
initiative forms part of a wider project involving more than a hundred
countries from around the world. A volunteering action to clean Romania’s
beaches has also got under way. According to its organiser, the Act for
Tomorrow association, waste floating on the water surface near the Black Sea
shore is collected. On Monday, divers will pick some of the solid waste on the
sea bed along the coast. An activity to clean the banks and waters of the river
Danube will be carried out in October. 254 kg of household waste per capita per
year is produced in Romania, and less than 10% is recycled, much below the
European average of 28%. If Romania fails to achieve a recycling rate of 50%
starting next year, it faces penalties of up to 200,000 euros a day and the
suspension of EU funds for environmental protection.

Anniversary. The city of Bucharest
celebrates 560 years since it was first recorded in historical documents. To
mark this anniversary, a number of events are taking place this weekend around
the city, including performances, concerts, light projections and others. The 6th
edition of an international 3D video mapping competition is held on Saturday
evening, with 8 teams projecting their videos on the facade of the Palace of
Parliament. Bucharest is also hosting the 10th edition of the
Aero-Nautical Show, the only festival in the country combing air and water
acrobatics.

Enescu festival. Two days are left until the final concert of
this year’s George Enescu International Festival. Saturday’s highlights include
a concert by the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Nicolae Moldoveanu;
a performance by the French pianist François-Frédéric Guy, who has earned an
international reputation in particular for renditions of the music of German
Romanticism; the Mahler Chamber Orchestra which brings together musicians from
20 different countries give a performance at the Romanian Athenaeum featuring
the pianist and conductor Mitsuko Uchida; while Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra are giving a concert in the evening. The George Enescu International
Festival, which is co-produced by Radio Romania, has this year brought together
over 2,500 of the world’s greatest musicians in 84 different concerts and
recitals.