May 25, 2019 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.05.2019, 19:39

ELECTIONS Romanians will be voting in the European Parliamentary elections
this Sunday and will also have their say in a referendum on justice summoned by
the country’s president, Klaus Iohannis. 13 political groups and 3 independent
candidates are vying for the 33 MEP seats earmarked to Romania but the 33rd
mandate will come into effect though only after Britain’s leaving the block has
produced judicial effects. 441 polling stations have been set up for the
Romanians abroad, most of them in Italy, Spain and the neighboring ex-soviet
Republic of Moldova, a country with a Romanian-speaking majority. Citizens in
20 other EU countries are called to cast their ballot in these elections on
Sunday. Britain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovakia, Latvia
and Malta have already voted in the European Parliamentary elections.

FINES Romanian police have given fines
up to 13,800 Euros to people involved in illegal fishing activities on Danube
River in a larger sting operation at European level, which involved several
riparian countries. 90 people are being investigated for their alleged
involvement in no less than 138 illegal activities on the Romanian side of this
river. According to Romanian police sources, 26,500 Euros worth of goods have
been seized by the police, consisting mainly in boats, fuel, fishing tools as
well as roughly 200 kilos of fish. Search operations at European level, involved
18 hundred vessels and over 25 thousand people.

CONFERENCE Romania’s Agriculture Minister Petrre Daea on Saturday attended a
conference entitled ‘Beekeeping in A European and Global Context’, an event
held in Bucharest during Romania’s holding the EU rotating presidency. The
event, staged on the occasion of the World Bee Day, was aimed at underlining
the importance of these insects for the entire ecosystem against the background
of the present climate change as well as their crucial role in raising crops
production. Daea said Romania comes second in the EU after Spain in terms of
bee families and the first in terms of honey production. Romania produces on an
average 22 thousand tons of honey annually ranking fourth in Europe in terms of
honey output. Statistics show though that Romanians are consuming 3-4 times
less honey than in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

DISEASE 90 fresh cases of rubella have
been reported in 8 counties across Romania and in capital Bucharest. According
to the National Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, the
total number of infections has reached 16,888; 64 of those infected have been
killed and statistics show that a quarter of the people infected need hospital
treatment, while a case out of one thousand dies. Doctors in Romania have again
drawn attention to the need for immunization, especially of children, against
serious diseases.

NAFSA 24 Romanian universities are presenting their educational offer
in Washington, over May 26th and 31st within the annual
NAFSA exhibition, the most prestigious international event of this kind,
Romania’s National Council of Rectors has announced. The conference is expected
to bring together more than 10 thousand participants and 35 hundred
universities from 100 countries. According to a communiqué of the National
Council of Rectors, Romania offers a high-quality education environment as well
as a series of facilities in its campuses up to European standards at better
prices than in other European countries.

(translated by bill)