7 September 2019, UPDATE
A roundup of news from Romania.
Newsroom, 07.09.2019, 18:37
Diaspora.
A debate entitled The
diaspora, the Romanians in the historical communities and the objective of
ReUnification is held this weekend in Bucharest. The meeting is organised by
the Committee for Romanian communities outside Romania’s borders together with the
Romanian World Council. The president of the committee, MP Constantin
Codreanu said in the opening of the event that the Romanian diaspora played an
essential role in the development of the country in the last 30 years. The
Romanian World Council is a non-governmental organisation of the Romanian
diaspora that militates for the preservation of national identity and the
reconstruction of the unity of the Romanian people. Bucharest is also playing
host to the forum of
Romanians abroad, which brings together 120 representatives of the Romanian
diaspora and of historical ethnic Romanian communities. The subjects discussed have
included education, financing opportunities, tourism, consular services and the
voting process abroad.
Frigate. The King Ferdinand frigate, a military vessel associated with many firsts in the post-communist history of the Romanian Navy, will celebrate 15years on the 9th of September since entering the service of the Romanian navy forces. A special ceremony was held on Saturday at the military port in Constanta to mark this anniversary. The event was attended by the first crew of the vessel, who were trained in Britain in 2004 to carry out missions at NATO standards together with the crews of the allied vessels. In its 15years of service, the King Ferdinand frigate sailed thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and 8 seas and has carried out hundreds of missions and exercises. It conducted Romania’s first NATO combat mission after WWII, namely along the coast of Libya in 2011, and was involved in real combat missions as part of efforts to fight piracy in the Indian Ocean, in 2012, under the aegis of the European Union. In October, the Romanian frigate will take part in the NATO Sea Guardian multinational exercise.
Talks. Foreign
minister Ramona Manescu on Friday had talks with the UK ambassador in Bucharest Andrew Noble. They discussed mainly
Romanian-British cooperation in the coming period in the context of the UK’s
scheduled exit from the European Union. Manescu reiterated Romania’s support
for an orderly exit and the close attention it pays to the protection of the
rights of Romanian citizens living in the UK. More than 140,000 Romanian
nationals have applied for the new residence permit in the UK, a system created
to ensure the rights of EU citizens residing in the UK after Brexit.
School. More than
2.8 million children begin school on Monday, according to data provided by the
ministry of education. The teaching staff this year numbers 215,000 members. More
than half of schools across the country are yet to receive their fire safety
permits following controls carried out by the General Inspectorate for Emergency
Situations, while a number of schools lack sanitary permits.
Repatriation. A Romanian minor who was in a refugee camp in Syria
has been safely repatriated via Turkey, the Romanian foreign ministry announced
on Friday evening. The case was handled by an inter-institutional crisis cell
that worked with the Syrian and Iraqi authorities to return the minor to
Romania. The case was managed by the Romanian foreign ministry ever since it
was first reported on, at the beginning of June.
Enescu festival. 16 different performances, including concerts and recitals, are taking
place this weekend as part of the George Enescu International Festival in
Bucharest and other cities in Romania as well as abroad, in Florence, in Italy
and in Toronto, in Canada. Radio Romania has been a co-producer of the festival ever since its
first edition in 1958. This year, Radio Romania’s music channel is broadcasting
most concerts in the festival, while the Radio Concert Hall is playing host to
a series of concerts. Radio Romania’s Children’s Choir, Academic Choir and
National Orchestra are also themselves giving performances as part of the
festival.
Table tennis. Defending
champions Romania are facing Portugal on Sunday in the final of the women’s
European Table Tennis Championship held in the French city of Nantes. In
Saturday’s semifinals, they defeated Poland 3-1, while Portugal defeated
Hungary by the same score. Romania’s men’s table tennis side, however, failed
to qualify for the quarterfinals of the European championships in Nantes after
losing to Sweden 3-nil in their final Group 2 match.
