August 29, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 29.08.2014, 12:01
Romanian President Traian Basescu announced on Friday he would call on the European partners to support the Ukrainian army with military equipment. He motivated his decision by saying that for the past week, Russia had been supplying the rebels with military technique and experts. Traian Basescu also said that on Saturday, at the European Council in Brussels, he would ask for fresh sanctions to be imposed on Russia.
Cultural events staged simultaneously in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and the Romanian communities in the diaspora will mark, as of Saturday, the Romanian Language Day, celebrated on August 31st. Bucharest will host, on this occasion, book launches and concerts while in Chisinau will be held an international conference dubbed “The Romanian Language — a European Integration Language”. In Cernauti, in western Ukraine, a country that is home to almost half a million Romanian ethnics, the 25th anniversary of the Society for the Romanian Culture is celebrated. The Romanian Cultural Institute offices all over the world will also mark the Romanian Language Day this weekend. Set up last year by the Parliament in Bucharest, this day is also celebrated in the Republic of Moldova, with a majority Romanian-speaking population. On August 31, 1989, with the communists still in power, the Parliament in Chisinau was picketed by about 750 thousand people, and had to declare Romanian as the countrys official language and switch to the Latin Alphabet from the Cyrillic one, imposed by the Soviets in 1940.
The Romanian Foreign Minister, Titus Corlatean is taking part on Friday and Saturday in an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers, held in Milan, Italy. Approached at the meeting will be, among other things, the recent developments in Ukraine. On Saturday, the Social Democratic prime minister of Romania, Victor Ponta, will take part in a meeting of the leftist European leaders, staged in Paris at the initiative of the French President Francois Hollande. The meeting is aimed at coordinating the positions of the leftist governments in the process of nominating the European institutions’ leadership.
The Romanian defence minister, Mircea Dusa, continues his official visit to France. On Friday he visited the EU command and control facility in Mont Valerien, near Paris. On Thursday, Mircea Dusa conveyed to his French counterpart Jean Yves le Drian Romania’s appreciation for France’s efforts in the context of the security crisis on the eastern flank of NATO. High on the agenda of talks were also the NATO summit to be held next week in Wales and other important issues on the EU agenda among which the European integration efforts of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.
The autumn session of the Baccalaureate exam in Romania ended Friday with the written examination in the subject matter chosen by students according to specializations. The results will be made public on September 4th. In the June-July session more than 59% of the 12th grade graduates passed the Baccalaureate exam, 3% more than last year. In spite of small irregularities, the exams unfolded without major incidents.
Romania’s football champion Steaua Bucharest will play against Dinamo Kiev of Ukraine, Rio Ave of Portugal and Aalborg of Denmark, in Group J of Europa League, following Friday’s group-stage draw in Monaco. This is the second European competition for Steaua after being eliminated, on Wednesday, by the Bulgarian side Ludogoreţ Razgrad, in the Champions League’s playoffs. Holder of Romania’s football Cup, Astra Giurgiu, which managed to qualify in the Europa League groups although it was defeated Thursday, on home turf, 0-1 by the French side Olympique Lyon, in the 2nd round of the competition’s playoffs, will play in the Europa League’s Group D against Red Bull Salzburg of Austria, Celtic Glasgow of Scotland and Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia.
