May 9, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news.
România Internațional, 09.05.2014, 12:23
Europe Day, celebrated every year on May 9th, marks the anniversary of the historical “Schuman Declaration” At a speech in Paris in 1950, the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman, set out his idea for a new form of political cooperation in Europe, which would make war between Europe’s nations unthinkable. His vision was to create a European institution that would pool and manage coal and steel production. A treaty creating such a body was signed just a year later. Schuman’s proposal is considered to be the beginning of what is now the European Union. To celebrate Europe Day in the weeks leading up to the European elections the EU institutions will open their doors to the public in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Local EU offices in Europe and all over the world will organise a variety of activities and events for all ages. Each year thousands of people take part in visits, debates, concerts and other events to mark the day and raise awareness about the EU. Similar events are also staged in Romania, which became a EU member in 2007.
Russia showed off its military arsenal on Friday, May 9th, in the annual Red Square Parade in Moscow, marking victory over Nazy Germany at a time when the worlds attention is focused on Ukraine, where pro-Russian insurgents are preparing a referendum on secession. Similar parades are staged in another 24 towns, including 8 towns in the recently annexed Crimea. The United States and the European Union have slapped travel bans and asset freezes on members of Putins entourage in response to Russias annexation of Ukraines Black Sea region of Crimea. This is the most serious political crisis between Russia and the Western countries since the Cold War.
Over 40 films from 25 countries are screened at the 18th edition of the European Film Festival, held between May 9th and 18th in the Romanian capital city Bucharest and in Targu Mures, in central Romania. This year’s programme includes productions that won awards in important international festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam, Sundance and Karlovy Vary.
Romanian artists Paula Seling and Ovi qualified, on Thursday evening, to the Eurovision Song Contest final, due on May 10th in Denmark’s captal city Copenhagen. Switzerland, Slovenia, Poland, Norway, Greece, Malta, Belarus, Finland and Austria also made it to the final and are to compete alongside 10 other countries that have got past the first semifinal and the ones that qualified directly — Britain, Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Denmark. For Paula Seling and Ovi this is thenir second participation in the contest, after ranking 3rd in 2010, with “Playing with Fire”.
Steaua Bucharest has already won the race for the Romanian Football League title. With three more fixtures left to play, Steaua has a 10-point lead over runner-up Petrolul Ploiesti, after grabbing a nil-1 away win over Universitatea Cluj in the 31st round. For its performance, Steaua Bucharest will play in Champions League next season. Battling for the third place, which secures participation in Europa League, are Dinamo Bucharest, FC Vaslui and CFR Cluj.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has qualified to the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Madrid, totaling 3.6 million dollars in prize money. In the round of 16, Halep brushed aside Sabine Lisicki of Germany, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Seeded fourth in the competition, Simona Halep so far ensured an 87.000-dollar check and 215 WTA points. Halep’s next opponent is 11th-seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.
