April 8, 2016 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 08.04.2016, 12:15
The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Friday that the state as well as the society as a whole had to work out solutions to overcome the marginalization of the Roma citizens and to better integrate them. He added that, although through its traditions, the ethnic Roma community gained special cultural identity, Roma citizens are still being discriminated against and their communities continue to be among the poorest and most disadvantaged. The Romanian president also drew attention to the danger posed by ignorance, intolerance, Xenophobia and racism. In turn, the PM Dacian Ciolos, expressed hope that the tendency of some European states to stigmatize the Roma citizens would be overcome. These statements were made on the occasion of the International Roma Day. According to official statistics in Romania there are more than 600 thousand Roma people, being the second largest ethnic minority, after the Hungarian one.
In 2015 Romania’s GDP registered a real 3.8% growth as compared to the previous year, shows a report published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) on Friday. The National Forecast Committee has revised up its forecasts on Romania’s economic growth in 2015 to 3.7% and to 4.2% for this year. In turn, the European Commission has improved its estimates on Romania’s economic growth for 2015, 2016 and 2017. According to the new data released in February, the EU executive estimates that Romania’s GDP growth in 2015 was 3.6%, the highest after 2008. In 2016, the GDP is believed to reach a peak of 4.2%, while in 2017 it would go down to 3.7%.
Romania’s communication and transport infrastructure must be modernized and the people’s IT skills must be strengthened, the European Commissioner for Internal market and industry Elzbieta Bienkowska told a news conference in Bucharest on Friday. She encouraged the Romanian government to increase investment opportunities and EU fund absorption. The European official held talks with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos who briefed her on the government’s main objectives, one of them being the improvement of Romania’s investment climate.
The Theater Union of Romania- UNITER expressed its deep sadness at the death of the great Romanian actor Mircea Albulescu, aged 81 years old. According to UNITER, Mircea Albulescu was one of the greatest Romanian actors, a university professor who formed many generations of actors. He held a PhD degree in arts, being also a publicist, poet and prose writer. A consummate artist whose career spanned 60 years, Mircea Albulescu performed hundreds of roles on Romania’s stages. He also played memorable roles in more than 70 films and over 300 roles in radio dramas. Among the many prizes he won during his career we can mention the “UNITER Awards for lifetime achievement” in 2005 and the “National Award for the entire artistic activity” granted in 2003 by the Culture Ministry. Mircea Albulescu died on Friday morning due to heart problems.
Romania’s women’s handball champion team, CSM Bucharest, will meet Saturday, in an away match, the Russian team Rostov Don, in the quarter finals of the Champions League. In the first round, CSM won 26-25. The other Romanian team participating in this stage of the competition, HCM Baia Mare, will play Sunday against the Montenegrin team Buducnost Podgorica. In the first round held in Baia Mare, Buducnost, holder of the trophy, defeated the Romanians 29-24. Romania has the chance to be the only country to be represented by two teams at the Final Four tournament, to be held in Budapest on May 7 and 8.
(news translated by Lacramioara Simion)
