June 23, 2024 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 23.06.2024, 20:00
PENTECOST Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christians in Romania Sunday celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles of Jesus, a feast day also known as the Pentecost and in Romanian as “Rusalii”. The Pentecost is a symbol of the establishment of the Christian Church, 50 days after the Resurrection of Christ and 10 days after Ascension Day. Believers evoke the moment when the Holy Spirit gave the 12 Apostles the gift of speaking many languages to preach to the crowds, and when the first 3,000 people were baptised, thus establishing the first Christian community.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS The Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu takes part on Monday in the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, focusing on the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, the developments in Georgia. The EU foreign ministers will also have an informal exchange of opinions with their counterparts in the Western Balkans, as part of a working luncheon. According to the Romanian foreign ministry, talks on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine will focus on the recent developments on site and the support the EU must provide to Ukraine, particularly in the military area. The participants will also discuss new restrictions against Russia and Belarus, the EU-Ukraine security commitments and will assess the Ukraine Peace Summit held in Switzerland on June 15-16.
MOLDOVA The Republic of Moldova’s Sovereignty Day was marked in Romania’s neighbouring country on Sunday. Since it adopted its Sovereignty Declaration on June 23, 1990, Moldova has struggled with difficulties, but it has remained a peaceful and democratic state, in which the Moldovan nation has been sovereign and has decided the fate of the state, the country’s president Maia Sandu pointed out. She added that the citizens will decide whether to join the EU in a referendum scheduled for this autumn. In her address, Sandu also said that the years of independence have taught Moldova democracy and freedom cannot be taken for granted and must be defended every day.
TIFF The winner of this year’s Transylvania International Film Festival is the Indian film “Girls Will Be Girls”, directed by Shuchi Talati, a drama on the condition of women in a repressive system. Another Indian film, “The Adamant Girl,” by Vinothraj Palani, received the jury’s special award. The Indian director was also awarded at TIFF in 2021, for his debut work, “Pebbles”. Also at the TIFF Gala, the director Sebastián Quebrada won the best director award for “El Otro Hijo.” The best actor award went to the Iranian Hasan Pourshirazi, for his performance in “The Old Bachelor”, while “Dismissed” by Horia Cucută and George ve Ganćaard was voted the best feature in the Romanian Film Days.
EU Next week the European Union starts its accession negotiations with the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The EU Council’s Belgian presidency announced the official opening will take place on June 25, and that the 2 countries’ accession roadmaps will be assessed separately. The EU Council brings together the 27 Member States, which have already approved the accession and negotiation frameworks for the 2 candidate states. Chişinău and Kyiv submitted their candidacies shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
FOOTBALL Romania lost 2-0 to Belgium, on Saturday night in Cologne, but remains top placed in the most evenly balanced group at the European Football Championship. Romania, Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine all have 3 points each ahead of the last round in Group E, with better goal differences for Romania and Belgium. Romania’s decisive match for qualification in the eighth-finals is scheduled on Wednesday against Slovakia, in Frankfurt. Moving up into the next stages of the competition are the top 2 teams in each group and the best 4 third-ranking teams in each group. (AMP)
