May 21, 2018
European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu visits Romania for two days, to discuss sustainable urban development
Newsroom, 21.05.2018, 14:02
EU FUNDS– European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu visits Romania for two days to discuss sustainable urban development. The European official joins PM Viorica Dancila and the minister in charge of European funds, Rovana Plumb, in a conference in Bacau on the issue. Corina Cretu will also visit an astronomic observatory in town financed by European funds. In a press release issued before the visit, Commissioner Cretu said that over a billion Euro are earmarked for urban development in Romania.
CELEBRATION — Orthodox and Greek Orthodox faithful in Romania celebrate the feast of Saints Constantine and Helena, whom almost two million Romanians are named after. Emperor Constantine issued the Milan Edict in the year 313 CE, making Christianity an official religion in the Roman Empire. His mother Helena built churches in Bethlehem and Golgotha.
REGULATIONS— New traffic regulations have been issued in Romania. Drivers who do not get their mandatory annual check-up are up for a fine and seizure of their registration and tags. The same penalty applies for cars that exchange owners, but do not get registered in the new owners name within 90 days of the purchase. As a novelty, auto mechanics who perform annual check-ups have an obligation to make a video recording of the procedure.
DECISION — Romania and Ukraine have convened to introduce two pairs of trains linking Suceava, in northwestern Romania and Cernauti, in western Ukraine, starting on January 1st, 2019. The announcement was made by the Ukrainian ministry in charge of infrastructure after a meeting between Ukrainian Minister for European Integration, Viktor Dovhan, and Junior Secretary for the Ministry of Transportation, Maria Magdalena Grigore. The Ukrainian community in Romania is estimated at 400,000.
CHISINAU — In the first round of snap elections for the mayoral seat in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova, no candidate got the majority. The top ranked candidates will face off in the decisive round in two weeks, pro-Russian Socialist Ion Ceban, who got 41% of the vote, and Andrei Nastase, pro-European, on behalf of the Dignity and Truth Platform, with around 32%.
HANDBALL — Mens handball team AHC Potaissa from Turda, in north-western Romania, won on Sunday the Challenge Cup, in spite of a defeat away from home 26-27, against AEK Athens from Greece in the second leg of the final. Potaissa had crushed their adversary in the first leg 33-22. The team played their second final in the Challenge Cup, after being defeated last year by the Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon. Potaissa is the fourth Romanian team to win the tournament, after CSA Steaua Bucharest in 2006, UCM Resita in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and HC Odorheiu Secuiesc in 2015. This month, womens team SCM Craiova won in the EHF finals against Norwegian team Vipers Kristiansand, and Romanian champions CSM Bucharest won in Budapest the bronze medal in the Final Four of the Champions League.