December 26, 2018

Second Christmas Day celebrated in Romania, FM Melescanu pays visit to Serbia

Newsroom, 26.12.2018, 14:03

2nd Day of Christmas — Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians in Romania are celebrating, on Wednesday, the 2nd Christmas Day, a religious celebration devoted to Virgin Mary. This is one of the oldest celebrations honoring the Virgin Mary which dates to the 5th century. Also on Wednesday the Roman-Catholic believers celebrate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr saint. On Tuesday, on Christmas Day, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church Daniel, said that the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ was also an occasion to offer presents to children, old people, orphans, the sick and the lonely, as a symbol of the gift of love God gave us all. In turn, the Roman-Catholic archbishop in Bucharest, Ioan Robu, has urged people to continue educating and raising their children in the spirit of the light and teachings of Jesus Christ, of love for their country and people. The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, the PM Viorica Dancila and other politicians made Christmas wishes to all Romanians.

Belgrade — The Romanian foreign minister Teodor Melescanu is today paying an official visit to neighboring Serbia upon the invitation of his counterpart Ivica Dačić. According to the Romanian diplomacy, the Romanian official will also have talks with president Aleksandar Vučić, the PM Ana Brnabić and with the president of the National Assembly, Serbia’s Parliament, Maja Gojkovic. High on the agenda of talks are such issues as the development of bilateral economic relations, the speeding up of Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU during Romania’s presidency of the EU Council, in the first six months of 2019. Another issue to be tackled during the talks is the situation of the Romanian minority in Serbia. Foreign minister Melescanu will also meet with the representatives of the Romanian minority during his official visit to Serbia.

Handball — Romania’s national men’s handball team will go to Poland on Thursday to participate in the 4 Nations Cup alongside the teams of Poland, the Czech Republic and Japan. After January 1st Romania’s national team trained by Spanish Manuel Montoya and the former Romanian-born international handballer Eliodor Voica will go on a training camp to Slovakia and then they will participate in a tournament also involving the participation of the host country and the Netherlands. We remind you that the Romanian handballers failed to qualify to the World Championship due next month, which is organized by Germany and Denmark. In exchange, Romania’s national women’s team has already qualified to the World Championships to be held next year in Japan, after in December they ended on 4th place the European Championship hosted by France.

Chisinau — Registration of candidates for the parliamentary elections due on February 24, 2019 started on Wednesday in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population. The elections will be for the first time based on the mixed electoral system. Therefore, 50 deputies will be elected on party lists and another 51 in uninominal electoral constituencies, in one single round. According to opinion surveys, running as favourites in the elections are the pro-Russian socialists of president Igor Dodon, followed by the pro-European right and the center-leftist ruling Democratic party. At the same time with the parliamentary elections a referendum will be held on whether to cut down the number of deputies from 101 to 61 as well as on whether the deputies could be dismissed by citizens.

MAE — The Romanian Foreign Ministry has launched ‘The Travel Guide for the 2018 Winter Holidays’ destined for the Romanian citizens. The document includes useful recommendations for those who travel abroad as well as information on the most popular tourist destinations during this period of time, namely Austria, Bulgaria, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Hungary. The document can also be accessed on the ministry’s webpage. (translation by L. Simion)