1 May, 2019

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 01.05.2019, 14:04

Labour Day. Romanians celebrate
International Labour Day on May 1st immediately after Orthodox
Easter, so many took an extra day off to have an extended holiday. Popular
destinations for this period are the Romanian Black Sea coast, where the summer
season has officially opened and which plays host to a whole range of
festivals, car races and concerts. Mamaia and Vama Veche are the busiest
resorts again this year. Other popular destinations for the Easter and Labour
Day holidays are the Danube Delta and the rural Maramures area in the
north-west. Extra interior ministry staff have been deployed in places where
large gatherings of people are expected. Medical units and firefighters are
also on stand-by to prevent accidents, given the large number of outdoor events.

Weather. Eight
counties in the southern part of the country and the capital Bucharest were hit
by storms and torrential rains on Tuesday. More than 1,000 firefighters were
deployed to assist the population and the local authorities, by pumping off the
water from the basements of public buildings and private homes and removing the
electricity poles and trees felled by the wind. In Calarasi county, in the
south, a tornado of average intensity overturned a bus, crashing it into a
nearby field. 12 people were injured. The roofs of some 20 houses were also ripped
off. A code yellow alert for strong wind is in place today in 18 counties in
the south and Bucharest. A warning for storms has also been issued for most of
the country and floods are expected in the north and west.

Viorica Dancila The Romanian prime minister
Viorica Dancila is on a two-day visit to Poland. She is taking part in a conference
of the heads government of the central and eastern European states that joined
the European Union after 2004, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. On Thursday,
Dancila will attend the International March of the Living, an annual
educational event involving a walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, two Nazi
extermination camps. In Birkenau, Viorica Dancila will attend a commemorative
event alongside other international leaders, government officials and
representatives of religious denominations, student organisations and children.

Klaus Iohannis. On Friday, Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis is invited to attend as a guest of honour the State of
the Union conference organised by the European University Institute in
Florence. His participation is connected to Romania’s holding the presidency of
the Council of the European Union. The theme of the conference this year is 21st
century democracy in Europe, given the upcoming elections for the European
Parliament. In Florence, president Iohannis is also expected to meet the
Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte.

Japan. The Custodian of the Crown of Romania Margareta has congratulated Emperor Naruhito for his succession to the throne of Japan, wishing him success in his important mission in the service of his people. Her Majesty Margareta has met Emperor Naruhito three times in the last 15 years, during royal events in Madrid, Luxembourg and Stockholm. Romania established diplomatic ties with Japan in 1917, during the reigns of King Ferdinand I and Emperor Yoshihito. The first Romanian royal visit to Japan took place in 1920, when crown prince Carol visited Tokyo. Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito, aged 59, ascended to the throne on May 1st, following the abdication, a day earlier, of his father Akihito, aged 85. Naruhito became the 126th emperor in the history of Japan, marking the start of a new Reiwa era. Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world, going back 2,600 years.

Pope visit. The registration deadline for
those who wish to attend Pope Francis’ visit to St. Joseph’s Cathedral in
Bucharest has been extended until the 15th of May. Around 40,000
people are expected in the area around this Roman-Catholic cathedral. 15
screens will be put in place, as well as two stages for prayer and a religious
and artistic programme. Pope Francis will make an apostolic visit to Romania
from 31st of May until the 2nd of June. He will travel to
the capital Bucharest, to Iasi, the biggest city in the east and home to a
sizeable Roman-Catholic community, to Blaj, in the centre, the spiritual
capital of the Romanian Greek-Catholic community, where he will beatify seven
bishops who died as martyrs in communist prisons, as well as to the Franciscan
monastery in Şumuleu Ciuc, in the centre, in an area with a majority ethnic
Hungarian population. Hundreds of thousands of people, including from abroad,
have registered online to attend the services held by Pope Francis during his
Romanian trip.