June 17, 2023 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 17.06.2023, 19:50

USR 800 delegates from all over the country
have arrived in Bucharest to participate in the congress of the opposition
group known as Save Romania Union (USR). High on the congress’ agenda is a
political alliance with the right-wing splinter known as the Force of the Right
led by the former Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, and PMP, founded by the former
Romanian president, Traian Basescu, and currently headed by MEP Eugen Tomac.
The USR wants to create an alternative to the present ruling coalition and
president Catalin Drula has asked for a mandate to hold talks with the other
right-wing groups as well as with the academic and business world. One of the
invitees to the aforementioned congress was UDMR leader, Kelemen Hunor, whose
political group has recently left the government coalition presently made up of
PSD and PNL. According to a poll ordered by the USR, the Social Democrats would
muster 28% of the votes, the nationalist opposition AUR comes next with 22%,
PNL 18, USR 13 and UDMR with 6%. PMP and The Force of the Right would not clear
the 5% threshold. Next year is an election year in Romania whose citizens will cast
their ballots for the European Parliament, as well as in the local, legislative
and presidential elections.

FOOTBALL On Monday Romania’s
national eleven will take on Switzerland in a new away match counting towards
Group 1 in the qualifiers for EURO 2024 in Germany. Switzerland ranks first in the
group’s ranking with the highest number of points, 9, followed by Romania with
7. Next comes Israel with four, Kosovo with 3 and Andorra with one. Belarus is
at the bottom of the ranking with no point. The first two sides in the group’s
ranking will qualify for the final tournament.

VISIT Romania’s new Prime Minister, Marcel
Ciolacu will be paying a formal visit to Germany for talks with German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz – government sources in Bucharest have announced. The
Prime Minister will be accompanied by several members of his executive team. As
for Romania’s accession to Europe’s border-free area, Schengen, the Prime
Minister expects a stepped-up round of talks involving Interior Minister
Catalin Predoiu and Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu.

RELATIONS Between June 14-16, the Romanian city of Timisoara, which is also
European capital of culture this year, played venue for the 26th
session of the Romanian-German government commission for the problematic of the
ethnic Germans in Romania. State Secretary Daniela Gitman has emphasized the
excellent level of the Romanian-German relations based on mutual trust,
stepped-up political dialogue, growing economic dynamics, and very tight
inter-human relations. The Romanian official has mentioned the significant
contribution of the German minority in Romania and the Romanian community in
Germany to the consolidation of the bilateral dialogue and their role as a
catalyst in the cooperation between the two countries. Gitman has also voiced
appreciation for the decision of the German government to carry on its 5.4
million Euro support for the ethnic Germans in Romania.

(bill)