22 July, 2018 UPDATE

A round up of some of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 22.07.2018, 17:57

The Romanian
justice minister Tudorel Toader said on Sunday that no application has yet been
submitted for the position of chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption
Directorate, Monday being the deadline. The post has been vacant since the
dismissal of Laura Codruta Kovesi on the 9th of July, when president
Klaus Iohannis signed the dismissal order, one month after the publication of
the Constitutional Court’s justification of a ruling to that effect. Kovesi’s
dismissal had been requested by the justice minister and following the
president’s refusal to do so, considering the request to be unfounded, the
Constitutional Court ruled that this would lead to a legal conflict of a
constitutional nature.

The French
and German ambassadors to Bucharest, Michele Ramis and Cord Meier-Klodt,
respectively, are advising Romania to overcome internal fighting and take
advantage of the opportunities provided by its upcoming presidency of the
European Union Council. The two diplomats, alongside the US ambassador Hans
Klemm, took part in a debate about Romania’s place in Europe and the world held
during the Histories and Film Festival in Rasnov, in the centre. Michele Ramis
and Cord Meier-Klodt say Romania has the potential to play a crucial role in
the region in an international context full of challenges. They warned that the
European Union is today facing challenges both from inside and outside, such as
terrorism, migration, scepticism and the violation of international laws. The
US ambassador Hans Klemm praised the efforts made by Romania both before and
after its NATO entry. He added that, as far as the US is concerned, Romania
occupies an important place in the Alliance and recalled that it deploys the fourth
largest amount of troops to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.

The Romanian government is
determined to support local cinematography and it encourages film producers to
apply for funds as part of a state-funded scheme, said the first deputy prime
minister Ana Birchall, who has attended the Ischia Global Film and Music Festival
in Italy between the 19th and the 21st of July. She said
the scheme covers non-reimbursable funds amounting to 35% of total expenses.
Funding may increase if the production in question promotes, for example, a
given geographical area or town or city from Romania. Ana Birchall had talks in
Italy with leading producers and representatives of big international
production companies, telling them to come and invest in Romania and make use
of the opportunities provided by the local film-making industry.

Between the 23rd of July
and the 6th of August, the Bucharest University is hosting its 58th
edition of the summer courses for Romanian language, culture and civilisation,
which is attended by 28 foreign students from Europe and the US. This year’s
edition is dedicated to the celebration of the Great Union of 1918 and the
commemoration of the Romanian poet Nichita Stanescu. The young students take
part in intensive Romanian language courses, workshops, conferences on Romanian
culture and civilisation and cultural events and visit museums. This year will
see the introduction of two workshops, one for media and advertising and the
other for comic books. Other events include meetings with writers and literary
critics, a debate on Cristian Mungiu’s films, a less conventional encounter
with traditional musical instruments and a music concert at the Romanian Athenaeum.

The Romanian pair Irina Begu and Andreea Mitu on Sunday
defeated the Montenegrin-Belgian pair Danka Kovinic and Maryna Zanevska 6-3,
6-4 to win the doubles final of the BRD Bucharest Open tennis tournament worth over
226,000 dollars in prize money. Begu also won the doubles title last year, when
she paired up with Raluca Olaru.

The Romanian
fencer Ana Maria Popescu won the silver medal in the women’s individual epee event
at the Fencing World Champions in Wuxi, China. She lost the final to Italy’s Mara
Navarria, 13-9. Ana Maria Popescu has two bronze medals in individual
events, which she won in 2002 and 2011, as well as two world team titles.

A yellow alert code for heavy rain
and storms is in place in most of Romania for the next 48 hours. The first
areas to be affected by heavy rain are the west and south-west and rains will
then expand to the rest of the country, to the south, centre and east and at
higher altitudes. Hail storms are also expected in some areas. Forecasts say
the weather remains unstable all week.