August 24, 2013

Click here for a roundup of news from Romania.

Valentin Țigău, 24.08.2013, 14:14

The Romanian Foreign Ministry further recommends to the Romanian citizens to avoid travelling to Egypt until the situation in that country is restored to normal. Romanian foreign minister, Titus Corlatean, has recently had a phone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Nabil Fahmy, and he underlined that the only real option to solve the crisis in Egypt is to start a process of national reconciliation and to invite all political forces in Egypt at the negotiation table. The Romanian Foreign Ministry also recalls that a state of emergency was declared by the Cairo authorities on August the 14th. Egypt is going through a difficult crisis which deepened on July the 3rd, when the army removed from power Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood, the party of former president Morsi, organises daily protests, calling for his return to power. Over 900 people have died in clashes between the law enforcers and the protesters in recent days.

The Romanian car Dacia, belonging to the French Group Renault has become the most successful car make in Europe, after the volume of its sales increased considerably, a survey carried out by the daily “Financial Times” writes. The British paper also notes that Dacia has managed to stand out, although its cars were not designed for the developed markets, in a first stage. The makes produced in Romania sell for small prices, because of low production costs and the simplicity of the design. Furthermore, the trend followed by West European consumers to save money during the economic crisis has led to an increase in the volume of Dacia car sales. Renault has announced that the sales of the Romanian make accounts for 24% of the total volume of sales made by the group in Europe, in the first half of the year. In Romania, the production capacity is of 350 thousand cars per year. The exports made by the Dacia Plant last year accounted for 7.7% of Romania’s exports.

The High Representative of the Romanian Government for the Republic of Moldova launches a literary contest for the Romanians around the world, on the occasion of the Romanian Language Day, to be celebrated on August the 31st. The literary contest of poetry and essays is entitled “The Romanian language is my country.” According to a communiqué issued by the government, the literary works can be submitted by August 31st at the following e-mail address: limbaromanapatriamea@gmail.com. The best literary pieces will be published in a first volume bearing the name of the contest, and the winners will be invited to attend the Days of the City of Bucharest, as honorary guests. The Government will also organise, between August the 30th and September the 1st, film screenings from and about the Republic of Moldova, at the Patria Cinema Hall in Bucharest.

State secretary Bogdan Aurescu on Saturday expressed Romania’s commitment to supporting the Romanian language publications issued abroad. Aurescu made the statement during a conference entitled “The Presence of mass media in the Romanian language issued outside the borders of the country”, held in Mangalia, on the Black Sea Coast, between August the 19th and 25th. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry, during the talks with Romanian journalists from abroad, the Romanian official approached the current challenges facing the print press, as well as the broadcast media in the Romanian language, issued or airing abroad, laying emphasis on the main difficulties and concrete ways to overcome them. During the exchange of ideas, the participants focussed on the situation of the Romanian language media in Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and its impact on the efforts to promote and preserve the Romanian cultural identity.

The 13th edition of the “Transylvanian Citadels” Medieval festival is unfolding in the central town of Sibiu until Sunday. This year’s edition brings to Sibiu six medieval music bands from Romania, Hungary, Germany, Serbia and Latvia. Other highlights include commedia dell arte shows, theatre performances, traditional puppet shows for children, juggling and street animation.

The Romanian government is drafting a new salary law, meant to eliminate disparities between the salaries of state sector employees, junior minister for social dialogue, Doina Pana, has announced. She gave, as an example, the existing situation at the government, where some of the employees earn more than the prime minister, or the abnormal situation registered at some ministries, where the ministers have smaller incomes than some of their subordinates. Doina Pana has also said that the law, which will impact all state institutions, will reduce the gap between the lowest and highest salary in the sector.

The draft law on suspending the special pensions of the magistrates who receive a final sentence for corruption charges and who get expelled from magistracy for this reason is now publicly debated in Romania. The provisions of the draft law are to be applied retroactively- that is -also in the case of those sentenced before the law comes into force, irrespective of the moment they retired. Justice minister, Robert Cazanciuc, has recently explained that the magistrates who are currently receiving special pensions, will benefit from that pension until the law takes effect. The special pensions of the magistrates amount , in some cases, to some 3,500 Euros (15,000-16,000 Romanian lei), in the context in which the average pension in Romania stands at 180 Euros ( 795 lei).

“The Child’s Pose” directed by Romanian Calin Peter Netzer, who won the Golden Bear in Berlin this year, will be screened at the 36th edition of the Film Festival in Douarnenez, France, which runs until August the 31st. “The Child’s Pose” is a psychological drama on the sick relation between a dominating mother and her grownup child. The film is Romania’s proposed entry to “the best foreign film” category at the 2014 Oscars. Apart from this feature film, other Romanian movies will be projected at the festival in France, among which “Beyond the Hills”, directed by Cristian Mungiu, which won prizes for best script and best female in a leading role at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.