June 17, 2024 UPDATE

Romania wins their opening Group E match at EURO 2024.

Newsroom, 17.06.2024, 20:00

EURO 2024 – Romania defeated Ukraine on Monday, 3-0 in their opening Group E match in Munich, at the European Football Championship hosted by Germany. The goals were scored by Nicolae Stanciu, Razvan Marin and Denis Dragus. The tournament brings together 24 national sides, divided into six groups. Romania will next play Belgium on 22^nd June in Cologne and Slovakia on 26^th June in Frankfurt. This is Romania’s 6^th participation in the European Championship after 1984, 1996, 2000, 2008 and 2016. Romanian referees are also taking part in the tournament, with Istvan Kovacs as main referee, two assistant referees and a video assistant referee.

SENATE – The Romanian Senate marked on Monday 160 years since its establishment, through a solemn meeting. Current and former leaders of the institution evoked its importance and role in the development of the Romanian state and democracy. The Senate Speaker, Nicolae Ciucă, said that a democracy is only as strong as parliament. “At the same time, a strong parliament is a parliament that enjoys the trust of the people. People’s trust is the foundation that determines the stability of the political regime,” he said. The interim speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfred Simonis, emphasized the role of the Senate in strengthening Romanian democracy.

VISIT –  Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu on Monday started a two-day official visit to Bavaria, Germany, to mark the 25th anniversary of Romanian-Bavarian relations. He will coordinate on Tuesday, together with the Bavarian prime minister Markus Soder, the first joint meeting of the Romanian-Bavaria government. Foreign and European policy files, security, cooperation, social affairs and labor will be discussed. “The economic dimension is a pillar of our collaboration. Among the German states, Bavaria is the most important investor and commercial partner for Romania, with a trade volume of more than 8 billion euros”, Marcel Ciolacu said. “We want the big companies based in Bavaria in the automotive, engineering and aerospace industries to invest in Romania,” he also said. The Romanian community is the largest foreign community in Bavaria. According to official data, 213,000 Romanian citizens are settled there.

SALARY –  The government is this week due to discuss draft legislation to adopt the European minimum wage in Romania. The bill transposes a European directive stipulating that the minimum wage in a country must account for at least 50% of the average income. The gross minimum salary in Romania currently stands at 660 euros and is set to go up to 740 euros from 1^st July.

CAMPAIGN – French political parties on Monday entered the election campaign for the snap elections which will take place in two rounds, on June 30 and July 7. The early elections were called by President Emmanuel Macron, after he dissolved the National Assembly, following the European elections, when the far right won a resounding victory and the presidential party was severely punished by the electorate, mainly due to the decrease in purchasing power. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Paris, last week President Macron explained his decision to dissolve the Assembly by the need for a clarification on the French political scene, after two years of tensions in Parliament, which blocked the activity of a government that lacked majority and especially after the result in the European elections. Macron called on moderate politicians to unite against the far right and far left. (EE)