July 17, 2019 UPATE
Simona Halep presented the trophy she won in Wimbledon at the National Arena, Mircea Geoana appointed Deputy Secretary General of NATO
Newsroom, 17.07.2019, 19:44
Tennis — On Wednesday tens of thousands of people applauded Simona Halep, the trophy winner in Wimbledon, as part of an event hosted by the National Arena in Bucharest. World no. 4 player presented the trophy to the public. Halep brought Romania the first trophy in the singles competition defeating the American Serena Williams. The event was attended by many Romanian sports personalities. Simona Halep thanked everybody for their support. Ion Tiriac reviewed alongside Simona Halep the main moments of the Wimbledon final. We recall that only Ilie Nastase previously played in a Wimbledon final but he lost twice, in 1972 to Stan Smith from the US and to Bjorn Borg of Sweden in 1976. Simona Halep confessed that her main objective in 2020 would be winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, where she will be Romania’s flag bearer. President Klaus Iohannis will grant Simona Halep the National Order of the Star of Romania in the Rank of Knight, the highest distinction of the Romanian state. Simona Halep won the 2nd Grand Slam title in her career after the one in Roland Garros in 2018.
NATO — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has decided to appoint Mircea Geoana from Romania as the next Deputy Secretary General, shows an official communiqué published on Wednesday on NATO’s website. Geoana will replace Rose Gottemoeller from the United States, who took up her position in October 2016. According to Mr. Stoltenberg Mircea Geoana, the first Romanian to hold this senior office, is a staunch advocate of the transatlantic bond and will bring long experience as a statesman and diplomat to this post. He will take up his post in mid-October 2019. Mircea Geoana is the founder and president of the Aspen Institute Romania and he previously served as President of the Romanian Senate, Foreign Minister, and Romania’s Ambassador to the United States. Mircea Geoana said he was deeply honored to be appointed to this post which acknowledges Romania’s important contribution within NATO. He went on to say that this position is a huge challenge and an opportunity to represent the interest of the Alliance, which ensures the security of more than 1 billion people.
EU – The PM of Finland, Antti Rinne, on Wednesday presented in Strasbourg the priorities of her country’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Romania, that previously held the position, had as its main priority cohesion, while Finland will pursue European sustainability promoted under the slogan ‘Sustainable Europe – Sustainable future’. The Finnish presidency intends to consolidate common values and the rule of law, to increase competitiveness and social inclusion, to consolidate the EUs position as a world leader in relation to fighting climate change and ensuring the security of its citizens. The Finish presidency’s priorities also focus on capitalizing on research, on development, innovation and digitization, on promoting education and professional training as well as regional fairness and gender equality. Also on Wednesday MEPS talked about humanitarian aid to be granted to migrants and asylum seekers who want to enter Europe through the Mediterranean. On Tuesday, in the EP in Strasbourg, Romanian PM Viorica Dancila presented an overview of Romania’s presidency of the Council of the EU. The German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen has become the first woman to be elected president of the EC. (news update by L. Simion)
