March 17, 2014
A look at the main stories in Romania today
România Internațional, 17.03.2014, 12:00
According to President Traian Basescu, Romania views the referendum on Crimea’s breaking away with Ukraine as illegal and would not acknowledge its results. In a press release, the Romanian president believes a referendum held under the threat of military occupation cannot be described as a democratic process and as such cannot be acknowledged by the international community.
It is unfair that certain EU member states take advantage of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism to deny Romania its entry into the Schengen area, said the European commissioner for agriculture Dacian Ciolos. He said Bucharest has a legitimate wish to become part of this free-movement area, given its full compliance with all accession requirements. Initially scheduled for the spring of 2011, Romania’s Schengen accession has been delayed repeatedly over the lack of legal reforms. Romania has been the subject of a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism on justice ever since its entry into the European Union in 2007.
Romania’s prime minister Victor Ponta travels to Greece and Albania on Tuesday. In Athens, he will have talks with the Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras and will be received by president Karolos Papoulias. Talks focus on the stage of bilateral ties and identifying new cooperation projects in various areas, such as the economy, tourism, culture and education. Other issues tackled are the priorities of the EU 6-month presidency currently held by Greece. In Tirana, Mr Ponta will be received by president Bujar Nishani, his counterpart Edi Rama and the speaker of the Albanian parliament Ilir Meta and will attend a Romanian-Albanian economic forum.
Over 1.7 million foreign visitors used Romania’s tourist infrastructure last year and spent almost 1.1 billion euros in the country, according to the National Institute for Statistics. 58% of the total number of foreign visitors came to Romania for business or to attend congresses, conferences, training courses, fairs and exhibitions, while 42% came on private trips.
This week, Bucharest is playing host to a documentary film festival dedicated to human rights entitled One World Romania. Its line-up features 50 titles divided into 5 sections, a documentary film workshop, screenings for high school children, theatre performances, a tourist programme and debates. Many of the films screened in the festival, which come from all over the world, have won awards at prestigious international festivals and are shown in Romania for the first time. The five sections are “25 Years Later”, “Rebels with a Cause”, “Rules of Corruption”, “Media Rehab” and “Love is a Human Right”. Initiated by the Czech Centre in Bucharest seven years ago and based on a similar festival held in the Czech Republic, One World Romania is this year held in memory of Vaclav Havel, a Czech playwright, politician and human rights activist.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has went up to number 5 in the WTA standings, which makes her the highest-ranked player in Romanian women’s tennis. She is the third Romanian tennis player to make it to the world’s top ten, after Irina Spirlea and Virginia Ruzici.
