1 October 2016, UPDATE

The European Commissioner for Regional policy Corina Creţu continued her visit to Romania.

Newsroom, 01.10.2016, 11:33

EU Commissioner visit. Romania has more than 300 million euros at its disposal from the
European Commission to modernise its healthcare system, but it risks losing
half of this money, warned the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina
Cretu during a visit to Romania. During a trip to Iasi, in the east, she told a
citizens’ debate that the north-eastern part of the country, despite being the
poorest, had the highest absorption rate of European funds between 2007 and
2013. The European Commission also highlighted the importance of cohesion
policies across the Union and the need to fight populism and euro-scepticism.
The debate in Iasi also tackled the future of the European Union, Romania’s
role in Europe and the opportunities and challenges facing the European
Commission.

Romanians abroad. On a
trip to Rome, the minister delegate for relations with Romanians abroad Maria
Ligor on Saturday attended a Festival of Young Talent featuring young Romanians
from the Diaspora with remarkable achievements in music, the visual arts,
sports and other areas, alongside young people from Italy, Denmark, Spain and
Britain. Earlier, Maria Ligor met the local authorities and representatives of
the Romanian community in Rome. She also presented the Italian central and
local authorities with her government’s initiatives to encourage the Romanians’
return to their native country and stimulate investment. Talks also focused on
the support granted to the Romanians affected by the earthquake that hit Italy
in August, in which 297 people were killed, including 11 Romanian nationals.

Republic of Moldova. The recent developments
concerning the regional security environment and the European and Euro-Atlantic
future of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority
Romanian-speaking population, have been the focus of talks in Bucharest on
Friday between the Romanian defence minister Mihnea Motoc and his Moldovan counterpart
Anatolie Salaru. Motoc was in favour of a more active involvement of Moldova in
the EU’s security and common defence policy. Anatolie Salaru said the Moldovan
army was undergoing a comprehensive reform process, including with the help of
Romania. He recalled that the authorities in Chisinau requested Bucharest’s
support so that the peace-keeping Russian troops in the pro-Russian break-away
region of Transdniester be replaced by UN representatives.

Paris Motor Show. The Paris Motor Show is under way between
the 1st and the 16th of October. Dacia Duster EDC is one
of the surprises prepared by the Renault Group for this edition. The car is on
show at the Dacia stand alongside the facelifted versions of Dacia Sandero,
Dacia Sandero Stepway, Dacia Logan and Dacia Logan MCV. The first Dacia car was
made in Romania in 1966. Since 1999, the brand has belonged to the Renault
Group and accounts for around 30% of the French company’s sales. The Dacia
carmaker recently announced that some production of its Logan MCV model made in
Romania, at Mioveni, would be moved to the Renault factory in Tangiers,
Morocco. Renault, which holds 99% of the shares in the Romanian factory, said
the move would free up production space for an increase in the production of
Duster cars, which are in high demand in Europe.

RadiRo Festival. For nine days, the RadiRo Festival, the only festival of this scope
dedicated exclusively to radio orchestras, brought before the Bucharest public
6 symphony orchestras from Europe and Asia and 19 of the world’s top conductors
and musicians: the Shenzen Symphony Orchestra, the radio orchestras from
Norway, Leipzig and Vienna, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Radio Romania
National Orchestra. This year’s concerts were broadcast live on the European Union Radio
Broadcasting network and the Asia-Pacific platform of public and private
broadcasters.

Tennis.
The Romanian tennis player Raluca Olaru and the Turkish player Ipek Soylu on
Saturday won the doubles title at the WTA tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,
worth 226,750 dollars in prize money. In the final, the Romanian-Turkish pair
defeated the Dutch-Czech pair Demi Schuurs and Renata Voracova in straight
sets. This is Raluca Olaru’s second doubles title, having obtained her first
also in Tashkent, in 2008, together with the Ukrainian player Olga Savchuk.