29 September, 2016

Romanian President discusses Brexit; The new F-16 fighters arrive in Romania

Newsroom, 29.09.2016, 11:59

BREXIT – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis holds a government meeting to discuss the Brexit. On June 24, the head of state talked to head of government Dacian Ciolos on the topic, as well as with national bank governor Mugur Isarescu and heads of political parties in Parliament. President Iohannis, speaking at the meeting of the European Popular Party Group Bureau, said that Romania wishes to be a part of the EU’s core of integration, and fully involved, sharing a pro-European vision built around the fundamental principles of the European project. He underlined the fact that a strong EU and more involvement for Romania in EU affairs are national strategies for the country.

COMMISSIONER – European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu is today on a visit to Romania to talk to Bucharest authorities about EC priorities and European fund absorption. The commisisoner will also be discussing projects financed by Europe, and take part in meetings with government officials and conferences attended by members of Parliament and local administration officials. This year, the European commissioner has repeatedly pointed out the risks of low levels of absorption of Europen funds in the country. Moneys meted out by the EU run the risk of being wasted since no project has been submitted in this fiscal period, according to Corina Cretu. Romania has been allocated 22 billion Euro for the 2014-2020 fiscal period.

F-16 – The first batch of six F-16 fighter jets arrive in Romania today. After yesterday’s ceremony at the Monte Real airbasae in Portugal, Romanian pilots bring the aircraft to the airbase in Fetesti, southeastern Romania, after two years of training. The planes have undergone upgrades, in order to be able to operate on an equal footing with other multirole aircraft in NATO’s air wing. The F-16 group will be refreshed by three more aircraft to be delivered by the end of the year, and three more to arrive in 2017. Three years ago, Romania put in an order for the American made 12 war planes to Portugal for a transaction worth 628 million Euro.

FOOTBALL – Romanian football champions Astra Giurgiu are playing against AS Roma away from home in their second game in the Europa League groups. In their first game, in Bucharest, Astra was defeated 2-3 by Austria Vienna. Also today, Steaua Bucharest, the national vice-champions, play at home against Spanish team Villareal, after getting defeated in Turkey by Osmanlispor 0-2. Next, Steaua plays against FC Zurich. The two Romanian teams reached the Europa League groups after getting eliminated in the preliminaries of the Champions League.

RADIRO – The RadiRo 2016 symphonic music radio orchestra festival has reached its sixth day, after a show put on yesterday by the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra of Leipzig, the oldest radio orchestra in Germany, conducted by Estonian Kristian Jarvi, honorary director of the festival this year. The soloist was Stefano Bollani, playing four interludes from the opera Intermezzo, by Richard Strauss, Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwhin, and a suite from Swan Lake, by Tchaikovsky. Tonight’s show features the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Cornelius Meister, with Gideon Kramer as a soloist. The festival runs until October 1st.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTA 5th seeded, today qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament in Wuhan, China, a competition with prizes totaling 2.6 million dollars. She defeated American player Madison Keys 6-4, 6-2. She next plays against Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

AUTOMOTIVE – The Dacia Duster EDC car model is Renault’s most eagerly expected introduction at the Paris Auto Salon, featuring the latest in drive technology, the double clutch. It will be presented at the Dacia stand alongside the Dacia Sandero and Dacia Sandero Stepway, the Dacia Logan and Dacia Logan MCV. The Dacia brand was acquired in 1999 by Renault, and makes up for about 30% of its sales. Dacia recently confirmed that part of the manufacturing of the Logan MCV model, so far made in Mioveni, in Romania, will shift to Tangiers, in Morocco. The decision was made in order to boost output for the Duster model in Mioveni, against high demand in Europe.