June 21, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 21.06.2025, 19:54
MINISTER The PNL leader, Ilie Bolojan, has been designated by President, Nicusor Dan, for the position of Romania’s Prime Minister. His nomination comes after several weeks of intense and difficult negotiations between the president, the leaders and experts of the four pro-European parties in Bucharest Parliament, PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR. They were joined by MPs from the National Minorities Group. The president has thanked the pro-European parties for the efforts made in the process of forging a new government and for regaining the country’s financial balance by curbing its excessive budget deficit. According to Dan, it is in Romania’s interest that the government be backed by a solid majority as the key priority is the country’s economic relaunch. The Prime Minister designate, Ilie Bolojan, has mentioned among his priorities the regulation of the country’s financial system and the creation of development conditions in Romania.
EVACUATION 15 Romanian nationals and family members, were evacuated from Iran against the background of stepped up attacks between Israel and Iran, the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest announced on Saturday. Those evacuated benefitted from support from the Romanian embassy in Tehran, which provided transportation on the Turkish territory. The Romanian Foreign Ministry is in permanent contact with the local authorities and the Romanian citizens who announced their presence in the conflict area in order to identify the best solutions for their repatriation in safe conditions. An MAE crisis cell continues to cooperate with both the Romanian diplomatic and consular missions in the affected countries and with the representatives of other EU member countries.
MEDAL Romanian Catalin Chirila won gold in the 1000 meter single canoe event of the European Championship in Racice, the Czech Republic. Chirila has successfully defended the title he obtained last year in Szeged, Hungary. On Sunday Chirila will be running in the 500 meter single canoe race, while Ilie Sprancean and Oleg Nuta will be attending the 500 meter doubles.
TALKS Romania’s National Defence Minister, Angel Tîlvar, on Saturday held talks in Bucharest with US senator Chris Murphy. High on the agenda was the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States in the field of defence especially against the security challenges in the Black Sea area. The two officials have underlined the importance of the tight coordination within NATO and the US military presence in Romania as an essential element of defence and deterrence in the south-east of the alliance.
THEATER The International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, central Romania, one of the world’s most important events of this kind, is taking place in this Romanian city until June 29. The festival is the third in size, after the one in Avignon and the Edinburgh International Festival. At this year’s edition, over five thousand artists from 82 countries will be delighting the public with over 840 events, out of which over half are outdoor performances, which theatre lovers can attend free of charge. The entire city will actually become a huge outdoor stage hosting large-scale productions, impressive installations, drama performances, fireworks, live music concerts, dance shows etc. The festival’s main theme this year is “Thank You”, or in Romanian, ”Multumesc”. Besides international names such as Bill Murray, Kathleen Turner, Kuranosuke Sasaki or Alexandru Tomescu, the festival’s programme also includes an enlarged presence of Romanian artists from several troupes, such as the Theatre on Wheels, Discrete Circus, the Circus School in Timisoara, the PulsaR Troupe or the Fanfare of Cozmesti. Radio Romania is a media partner of the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu.
PEACE French President, Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said he talked on the phone with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pazeshkian and the two agreed to step up talks between the European powers and Iran over the latter’s contested nuclear programme with a view to ‘putting an end to the war and avoiding more serious dangers’, AFP and Reuters report. The head of the French state voiced ‘his profound concern regarding the Iranian nuclear programme’ more than one week after the onset of the Israeli-Iranian conflict. At the meeting in Geneva on Friday, the European diplomacy tried to convince the regime in Tehran of the need to scrap its nuclear programme, while the drone attacks between Israel and Iran continue. The conflict kicked off on June 13 when Israel attacked targets in Iran to allegedly prevent the latter from building atomic weapons.
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