September 23, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 23.09.2019, 14:00

ELECTION – The
registration deadline for the November presidential election was Sunday at
midnight. The official list of candidates will be announced on Monday.
Challenges can be filed until Wednesday at the Constitutional Court, while the
final list will be made public on Friday. Acting President Klaus Iohannis and
Prime Minister Viorica Dancila have enrolled in the race, among others.

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
– President Klaus Iohannis is attending the UN General Assembly meeting in New
York. The agenda of the 74th session includes such topics as
stepping up multilateral efforts to eradicate poverty, quality education,
climate action and inclusion. The Romanian President will give a speech before
the UN General Assembly and take part in the high-level political forum, which
will focus on accelerating the implementation of the 2030 sustainable
development agenda. The 2030 Agenda is a global action program adopted four
years ago, with the aim of facing economic, social and environment-related
challenges. Eradicating poverty, zero hunger, health and prosperity, clean
water, decent work and economic growth are but some of the goals UN leaders
plan on achieving globally by 2030. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly
meeting, President Iohannis will also have a series of bilateral meetings and attend
the reception hosted by US President Donald Trump.

VISIT – This week
Romania’s Prime Minister Viorica Dancila is on a one-week working visit to the
United States. She is accompanied by Defense Minister Gabriel Les and Finance
Minister Eugen Teodorovici. The Prime Minister on Saturday announced she would
have talks with Vice-President Mike Pence and would attend a meeting on
combating terrorism. The Romanian official also said a memorandum on energy
would be signed, as well as a document in the area of health with the World
Bank. The agenda of the visit also includes meetings with American business
people, whom she will present with the advantages of investing in Romania. The
prime minister has also stated she plans to meet representatives of the Romanian
community in the United States.

COUNCIL MEETING -
Romania’s Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Petre Daea, is as of
today taking part in the informal meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries
Council, hosted by Helsinki on the sidelines of the Finnish Presidency of the
Council of the European Union. High on the agenda are promoting management
practices that should ensure the protection of soil resources, promoting
sustainable agriculture by sequestering soil carbon, the sequestration of soil
carbon for climate action. Romania is promoting measures to promote sustainable
agriculture development by sequestering soil carbon as part of its national
strategic plan as one of the provisions of the 2021-2027 Common Agricultural
Policy. Romania, Finland and Croatia are consecutively holding the rotating
presidency of the Council of the European Union over January 2019 – June 2020.

EUROSTAT -
Romania ranks among the last 4 EU member states in a 2017 Eurostat survey
measuring the expenditure governments allot to recreation and sport, with 23
euros per capita, as compared to the EU average of 100 euros per capita.
Romania is followed by Slovakia with 23 euros, Bulgaria with 16 euros and
Croatia with 13 euros. Luxembourg ranks first with 500 euros per capita,
followed by Sweden and Finland. Also in 2017, the 28 EU member states spent
51.3 billion euros of government expenditure on recreation and sport.

ENESCU FESTIVAL -
The George Enescu International Music Festival came to a close on Sunday. The
festival brought together famous musicians and orchestras from around the
world. Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu gave a recital in Toronto, while
the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest played host to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, performed by the Chamber
Orchestra in Basel. Also in Bucharest, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of
Amsterdam gave its second representation. Radio Romania was co-producer of the
Enescu Festival, established in 1958 to honor the memory of the great Romanian
composer and violinist George Enescu. Over August 31 – September 22, over 2,500
of the world’s most prestigious musicians performed in Bucharest, other cities
in Romania as well as cities in Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the Republic
of Moldova.

(Translated by V. Palcu)