May 1, 2018

A roundup of domestic and international news

Roxana Vasile, 01.05.2018, 13:46

1 MAY – While in other countries
across the world the International Labour Day is used an opportunity to ask for
pay rises or better working conditions, in Romania people celebrate May 1st
by traveling, hiking or just partying. As early as Friday afternoon, dozens of
thousands of tourists, mostly Romanian, but also foreign, hurried to the
mountain, sea and Delta resorts. On the Black Sea Coast, the main attraction
are the fancy clubs in Mamaia, while in the Danube Delta, which is part of the
UNESCO heritage, tourists are taking advantage of the beautiful weather to
spend time in a unique natural place. Also crowded are the resorts in Prahova
Valley, Sinaia in particular. Celebrating May 1st is tradition for
most Romanians, and, as regards food, one particular must these days are the so
called ‘mititei’, made of minced meat and herbs. According to specialists in
the field, during this year’s May 1st mini-holiday, Romanians will
grill no less than 30 million ‘mititei’, which is 15% more than last year.

PROTEST – The Romanian Health Minister
Sorina Pintea will hold a fresh meeting with trade union representatives on
Wednesday, in order to find solutions for their discontent. Last week,
thousands of employees in the sector attended a protest meeting in Bucharest.
Several staff categories in the health-care sector say their incomes have
dropped as a result of the implementation of the latest salary regulations.
Among other things, they call for the elimination of the 30% cap on benefits.
Trade unionists have announced that last week’s meeting will be followed by a
warning strike on May 7th, which could be followed by an all-out
strike on the 11th of May.

FRONTEX – A Romanian Coast Guard vessel
will patrol along the European borders in the Aegean Sea for three months. The
ship has left the port of Mangalia, on the Romanian Black Sea Coast, to join
the operation organized by FRONTEX (the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency). The crew, made up of 26 border police officers, will carry out
individual patrol, research, search and rescue missions. Also, the Border
Police will post one officer at the operation’s Coordination Center in Piraeus,
to maintain the link between the Romanian ship and the bodies that are taking
part in the mission. The European operation is aimed at managing illegal migration
in the Aegean Sea.

AFGHANISTAN – The eight Romanian soldiers
who got wounded in a suicide attack in Afghanistan on Monday are stable, and
they are getting medical care in Kandahar. The Romanian Defense Minister Mihai
Fifor has announced that he is permanently updated on their condition.
President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Viorica Dancila have sent messages
of encouragement and support to the families of the wounded soldiers. Romania
is taking part in the NATO mission in Afghanistan with 625 military staff,
while another 300 soldiers are deployed in operations carried out under the EU,
UN and OSCE command in different regions of the world. So far, 29 Romanian
soldiers have died and 185 have been wounded in operations abroad.

EUROVISION – The Humans, the band representing
Romania at the 2018 Eurovision contest, have arrived in Lisbon and are
rehearsing for the big day. In the coming days, the Romanian artists will also
take part in the concerts included in the programme and also in a special event
hosted by the Romanian Embassy in Portugal. On May 10th, The
Humans will perform, in the second semi-final, a song titled Good Bye. If
they manage to qualify, The Humans will take part in the final, on May 12th.
The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest will
bring on the Lisbon stage representatives of 43 countries.

TABLE TENNIS – The Romanian women’s table
tennis team is today playing against the teams of Taiwan and North Korea, in
the last matches that are part of Group C of the World Championships hosted by
Halmstat, Sweden. Yesterday, Romania defeated Poland 3-1. North Korea is
currently topping the rankings, followed by Taiwan and Romania, which have the
same number of points. In the men’s competition, in Group A, Romania’s team was
defeated by Germany 3-nil on Monday, but also won the match against Slovenia,
3-1. Today, Romania is playing against Egypt and tomorrow it will take on the
team of Hong Kong. In this group, Romania ranks fourth, on equal points with
Slovenia. The teams ranking first, second and third in each group will qualify
for the next round, and the winners of the fourth groups will go straight to
the quarters. (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)