May 12, 2019 UPDATE
The Romanian/Duth team Horia Tecău/Jean-Julien Rojer have won the doubles final of Madrid Open
Newsroom, 12.05.2019, 19:16
Eastern Partnership — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday will participate in Brussels in a meeting of the representatives of the Eastern Partnership countries, which marks 10 years since the setting up of this initiative. According to the presidential administration, the Romanian president will highlight the fact that the partnership contributed to the strengthening of the economies and societies of the eastern countries, and also to an enlarged stability of the EU borders. President Iohannis will also underline that the EU expects a permanent political commitment from the partner countries in terms of the observance of commitments made in their relation with the EU. The Eastern Partnership is an initiative which created a common area of democracy, prosperity, stability and close cooperation among the EU member states and partners states such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The meeting will also be attended by other high-ranking EU officials.
Meeting – Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu is attending, on Monday in Brussels the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. The situation in Libya and the Sahel will be, among other things, among the the topics to be discussed. Minister Melescanu will also attend a series of events held in celebration of 10 years since the establishment of the Eastern Partnership. On Tuesday, a joint meeting of the EU foreign and defense ministers with their counterparts from the G5 group will be held.
Exercise – Exercise European Spartan 2019 will take place between May 13th to 24th at the 90th Airlift Base in Otopeni, in the context of Romania’s holding the rotating 6-month presidency of the Council of the EU. According to a Defense Ministry communiqué, this military exercise is part of a series of activities planned and organized by the European Defense Agency (EDA) and the Romanian Air Forces, as part of the EATF (European Air Transport Fleet) program. It is designed as a multinational training program in the field of air transportation. Participating in the exercise, alongside Romania are: Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, and Slovakia and observers from other states owning Spartan aircraft, from Europe and also from the US and Australia.
European elections – In Romania, the campaign for the European elections due on May 26 continues. In the future Parliament, Bucharest will have 33 MEPs, one more than in the current legislature, but only after Brexit takes effect. The candidates running in the election are former ministers or experienced MEPs, former prime ministers or mayors, popular journalists and an ex-president. As many as 13 political parties are part of the race, namely, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in power, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, that has a parliamentary collaboration protocol with the ruling coalition, the 2020 USR PLUS Alliance, the People Movement’s Party and Pro Romania, in the opposition, as well non-parliamentary parties such as the National Union for the Progress of Romania, the National Unity Bloc, the United Romania Party, the PRODEMO Party, the Romanian Socialist Party and the Independent Social-Democratic Party. 3 independent members are also enrolled in the race.
Tennis – The Romanian/Duth team Horia Tecău/Jean-Julien Rojer on Sunday won the doubles final of the Madrid Open over the Argentinean/Austrian team Diego Schwartzman /Dominic Thiem, 6-2, 6-3. The pair previously won the title in Madrid in 2016. In women’s singles, Romanian Simona Halep lost Saturdays final to Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4, and missed the chance to become world’s no. 1 again. Halep so far won in Madrid two titles out of four finals and is currently ranked no. 2 in the world. (Translated by Elena Enache)
