June 25, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of the main local and international news
Newsroom, 25.06.2024, 20:04
EU The ex-Soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova and Ukraine on Tuesday officially kicked off their EU-accession talks. According to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, ‘the path ahead will be challenging, but also filled with immense opportunities for Moldova and Ukraine. Together, we can forge a larger, more dynamic and forward-looking Europe.” The first talks are taking place in Luxembourg and along the process Chisinau and Kyiv must bring their legislations in line with the EU one. According to Radio Romania correspondent in Brussels, since they were given the candidate status the two countries have carried out adjustments in key areas proving their readiness to bring their legislation in line with that of the EU. Starting with these inter-governmental conferences, the accession roads of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova are splitting now and the two countries will be treated differently, according to the speed they are applying reforms. Pundits believe this could be an advantage for the Republic of Moldova, which, from the European Commission’s viewpoint, has progressed better than Ukraine, heavily affected by war.
DATE The ruling PSD-PNL coalition in Bucharest on Tuesday postponed their decision on the presidential election as they failed to reach an agreement in this respect after several hours of talks. Two days are being considered for the first round of voting, September 15th or 29th. The government has a deadline by the beginning of the next month to endorse an emergency ordinance over the presidential election schedule, if the ballot is to take place in September. However, the Liberals insist that the election be held later this year, although they had initially agreed for the month of September. They argue the September election will disrupt the beginning of the new school year and the election campaign will overlap the period of summer holidays. The Social–Democrats are ruling out the idea of changing the election date. The two parties also have to decide whether they will have one candidate or will each present their own candidate. On June 9th PSD and PNL ran on joint tickets in the election for the European Parliament but had their own candidates for the local administration.
FUNDING On Monday Romania received close to EUR 1.1 bln from the European Union for projects in the energy sector, particularly for renewable energy production. According to an EU news release, Romania and 9 other countries received total funding of EUR 3 bln, intended for 39 programmes. The largest amount was given to Romania, followed by the Czech Republic (EUR 835 mln) and Poland (EUR 700 mln).
THEATRE The Performing Arts Market opened in Sibiu (central Romania) on Tuesday as part of the famous Sibiu International Theatre Festival. Currently in its 27th edition, the Performing Arts Market has, this year as well, face-to-face, hybrid and online components. More than 80 officials for cultural organisations and institutions in over 30 countries convene in Sibiu to establish contacts and implement joint projects. The Festival founder and president, Constantin Chiriac, says this is the only performing arts market in Romania and in Eastern and Central Europe.
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