October 27, 2014
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 27.10.2014, 12:00
The Romanian Parliament is to decide today, in plenary session, on the request made by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate for the preventive arrest of conservative MP Ion Dinita, accused of corruption. Also today, the Chamber of Deputies takes note of Social Democrat Viorel Hrebenciuc’s resignation from Parliament, as he is being prosecuted for corruption and influence peddling.
The Romanian Chamber of Deputies is voting today on the simple motion regarding the situation of the Romanians in the Diaspora, titled: ‘Romanians around the world — victims of an untalented and uninterested actor.” Its initiators, MPs members of the National Liberal Party and of the Liberal Democratic Party, call on the Minister Delegate for Romanians around the world, Bogdan Stanoevici, to start a serious and credible assessment procedure for the Romanians who live outside the country’s borders. In another move, minister Bogdan Stanoevici continues his three day visit to Italy with Turin and Florence. He will meet with members of the business community in the two cities, the president of the Region of Tuscany, Enrico Rossi, and other local officials.
At Sunday’s legislative elections in Ukraine, two thirds of the voters strongly and irreversibly supported the orientation of the pro-Western government in Kiev. Preliminary results show that first came the Porosenko Bloc and Prime Minister Arseni Iatieniuk’s Popular Front, with over 20%, followed by the Radical Party and the Opposition Bloc. For the first time since 1991 the Communist Party did not manage to get over the election threshold and will not be represented in Kiev’s Parliament. The turnover on Sunday was approximately 40%. More on this after the news.
Almost one fifth of the banks in the Eurozone have failed the stress tests conducted in parallel by the European Banking Authority and the Central European Bank. They are Italian, Greek and Cypriote banks, as well as two banks from Belgium and Slovenia, followed by one bank each from France, Germany and Austria. Among the banks on the list who operate in Romania are the National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, Volksbanken, Veneto Banca, Banco Comercial Portugues — BCP and Bank of Cyprus. In the coming two weeks they must announce how they intend to cover the deficit of capital within the 9 months that they have at their disposal.
The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Teofil 3rd of Jerusalem have today performed the holy mass of Saint Dimitri the New Basarabov, known as the protector of Romania’s capital Bucharest. Also today, the two church officials will meet with Prime Minister Victor Ponta. On Saturday, they were received by President Traian Basescu, who awarded the Patriarch of Jerusalem, on his first formal visit to Romania, the Star of Romania” National Order in recognition for his contribution to the protection of orthodox values, promotion of church communion and a very good collaboration with the Romanian Orthodox Church.
RRI’s listeners Philippe Sonnet and Cynthia Marie Rosewich, winners of the contest ‘From the wine route to the princes route’, organised by RRI together with the Prahova County Council, have just ended their stay in Romania. For four nights they were guests of the Cumpatu Hotel in Sinaia, and for another 4 they stayed at Cautis Hotel in Azuga. Accompanied by journalist Andrei Popov from the French Section of RRI, the two Belgium listeners visited the most important tourists sites in Prahova County, including the resorts of Sinaia, Busteni, Azuga, Predeal and Bucegi Plateau, but also vineyards included in the ‘Wine Route’ tourist promotion project.
Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is back on the third position in the WTA classification, after losing on Sunday the final of the Singapore Champions Tournament. The American player Serena Williams, the winner of the competion, continues to rank first, followed by Russian Maria Sarapova. Irina Begu is the second Romanian in top 100, holding the 42nd position, followed by Monica Niculescu, ranked 47th and Sorana Carstea, on the 95th place in the WTA classfication.
