9 May, 2017

Romania celebrates State Independence Day, World War II Victory Day and Europe Day./ A country project needs clear-sightedness from politicians and cohesion between the latter and society, Klaus Iohannis tells Parliament.

Newsroom, 09.05.2017, 13:40

Celebrations.
Romania celebrates three important public holidays today: the proclamation of
its state independence in 1877, World War II Victory Day and Europe Day. The
defence ministry organised military and religious ceremonies in Bucharest and
garrisons across the country in memory of the heroes fallen on the battlefield.
The Romanian Academy hosted a solemn meeting to celebrate the 140th
anniversary of the proclamation of Romania’s independence. The Romanian
soldiers fought in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 and obtained their country’s
independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Klaus Iohannis address. A
country project requires the clear-sightedness of the political class and the
cohesion between the latter and society, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis
told Parliament on Tuesday on the 140th anniversary of Romania’s
state independence and the celebration of Europe Day. The president explained
that authentic democracy cannot do without a strong Parliament, and a modern
Romania cannot develop without a coherent legislative framework. Also, the
president said the lessons of the past clearly showed that Romania only
developed when it joined European progressive political processes and when
visionary politicians put national projects above party interests. The
president thus believes that there is no other option for Romania but to
develop as part of a united and strong Europe, while pointing out that Romania
is not a second-rank state in the European Union and that this prejudice must
be overcome.

Europe Day. The European Commissioner for regional policy
Corina Cretu celebrates Europe Day in Bucharest, where she is attending a
series of events held by the EU Representation in Romania. These include
debates on the Union’s future, photography exhibitions, arts and crafts demonstrations
and dance performances by members of the Greek ethnic community. The head of
the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker is also expected to travel to
Bucharest, at a time when Romania celebrates its ten-year EU membership. He
will address Parliament on Thursday and meet Romanian citizens.

Austria trip. The Romanian prime minister Sorin Grindeanu is today
having talks with the Austrian chancellor Christian Kern in Vienna. The two
also met in March at a meeting of the Party of European Socialists held in
Brussels. Also today, Sorin Grindeanu will attend the opening of the
Romanian-Austrian business forum and will have talks with representatives of
Austrian companies. Austria is one of Romania’s biggest economic and trade
partners and its second largest in terms of foreign investment. Trade exchanges
between the two countries stand at more than 1.8 billion euros. Grindeanu’s
trip to Vienna will end with a meeting with the governor of the Lower Austria
land, Johanna Mikl-Leitner.

Vaccine shortage. The European Commission
has approved a request by the Romanian health minister Florian Bodog to
temporarily suspend intra-community exports of combined vaccines against
measles, mumps and rubella. According to a ministry press release, the
Commission viewed the measure as justified, given that Romania is facing a
measles epidemic that broke out a year ago. There is a shortage of vaccines,
especially in the west of the country, where the largest number of cases has
been reported. 24 persons have died because of measles over the last year.

Madrid Open. Romania has
as many players in the Madrid Tennis Open as the host country Spain. In the
second round, Romania’s highest ranked player Simona Halep, no. 8 in the world,
will face world no. 34 Roberta Vinci of Italy, world no. 36 Irina Begu will
face world no. 54 Johanna
Larsson of Sweden, while world no. 83 Sorana Cirstea will face world no. 55 Catherine Bellis of the US. In the men’s tournament,
Romania’s Marius Copil, who has just entered top 100 after defeating Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round, will have a difficult match against world no. 1 Andy Murray. Halep and Begu are also playing the doubles and will face the Japanese-polish pair Nao
Hibino and Alicja Rosolska. The Romanian-American pair Monica Niculescu and Christina McHale will be facing
fourth-seed pair Sania Mirza of
India and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.