October 29, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 29.10.2018, 19:23

ANNIVERSARY Radio Romania on Monday kicked off a series of events
aimed at marking 90 years of its activity, which the radio broadcaster celebrates
on November 1st. Monday also saw the launch of the first radio
sitcom in Romania entitled ‘Somewhere in 28, a series with 11 episodes about
the birth of the radio drama. As of Monday, one of the studios of the Romanian
Radio Broadcasting Corporation is bearing the name of a leading figure of the
public radio, Paul Grigoriu, in a bid to pay homage to his radio career of 40
years, which began in 1969. Paul Grigoriu, who passed away in April 2015, serves
a model of professionalism for all radio journalists. Events dedicated to Radio
Romania’s 90th anniversary will continue with concerts given by the
Radio Chamber Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra, the Academic Choir and
the Children’s Radio Choir.

DRAFT The Senate in Bucharest on Monday rejected a
legislative draft on the civil partnership. Only the opposition Save Romania
Union (USR) supported the initiative. According to the initiators of the draft
law, cohabitation outside marriage is a reality, which cannot be ignored. The
draft will also be submitted to the decision-making Chamber of Deputies for
approval. The draft on the civil partnership has been submitted for approval
shortly after the referendum on October the 6th and 7th
aimed at amending Romania’s Constitution to redefine family as the freely-agreed
marriage between a man and a woman, not as it is now between spouses. 91.5% of
the voters voted in favour of the amendment but the referendum was invalidated
by the low turnout.

TALKS Romanian Prime minister Viorica Dancila held talks in
Bucharest on Monday with the European Commissioner for regional policies Corina
Cretu. High on the agenda was funding opportunities for building three regional
hospitals in Bucharest. According to a government communiqué the two officials also
tackled the issue of EU funds absorption in the field of transport
infrastructure. Earlier in the day, the EU official said that Romania had lost
between 1.8 and 2 billion Euros out of the total 19.5 billion Euros earmarked
for a domain sensitive for this country, namely its transport infrastructure.
Cretu underlined that in the present financial cycle, Romania had been earmarked
roughly 31 billion Euros, including money for agriculture.

MINISTER Professor Nicolae Hurduc was sworn in on Monday
before the country’s president Klaus Iohannis, as Romania’s new Minister of
Research and Innovation. Last week Prime Minister Viorica Dancila proposed
Hurduc who is replacing Nicolae Burnete who resigned on August 31st.

(translated by bill)