COUNCIL Romania’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Petre
\nDaea, on Monday will be chairing the proceedings of the EU Agriculture and
\nFisheries Council in Luxembourg. This is the third suchlike council headed by
\nRomania since the country took over the EU rotating presidency. High on the
\nagenda there are the post-2020 CAP reform package, regulations regarding
\nstrategic plans within the CAP – opinion exchanges on green farming, as well as
\nresearch and agriculture. <\/p>\n
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TENNIS A pair made up of Romanian tennis players
\nSorana Cirstea and Andreea Mitu on Sunday won the doubles finals of the WTA
\ntournament in Lugano, Switzerland. In the finals, the Romanians clinched a 1-6,
\n6-2, 10-8 win against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.
\nThis has been the first finals this year for the two Romanian players. Cirstea
\nhas four WTA titles won in doubles matches and five finals played, while Mitu
\nhas three titles and a finals. <\/p>\n
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MARATHON Several thousands athletes participated on Sunday in the 9th
\nedition of the Cluj Napoca International Marathon, in north-western Romania.
\nThe competition brought together athletes from 37 countries, such as the USA,
\nIndia, Japan or Kenya. The competition had a section for children, which
\nincluded the 400 and 800 meter races. According to organizers, several DJs
\nplayed music during the event encouraging the athletes all along the race
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POLL
\nRomania’s main opposition party, the National Liberal Party (PNL) estimates the
\nturnout in the EU parliamentary elections on May 26th and the
\nreferendum on justice around 50%. Liberal leader Ludovic Orban believes the
\nForeign Ministry will open only few polling stations for the Romanians abroad voicing
\nhis concern about this situation. According to Orban, most of the Romanians who
\nleft the country did it because of the lack of prospects and the way in which
\nthe Social-Democrats ruled the country, and that means the Romanians abroad
\nwould vote for the opposition. The fact they aren’t allowed to cast their vote
\nwould affect the outcome of the elections. In another development, Calin
\nPopescu Tariceanu, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania,
\n(ALDE) currently ruling the country together with the Social Democrats, has said
\nthat president Klaus Iohannis is using this referendum for a better start in
\nthe presidential race. Iohannis has recently announced the issues to be voted
\non during the referendum – a ban on amnesty and pardon for corruption offenses
\nas well as a ban on emergency ordinances for crimes, penalties and judicial
\norganization, correlated with the right of authorities to directly notify the
\nConstitutional Court over these ordinances. <\/p>\n
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SOLDIERS The four Romanian servicemen wounded in a bomb attack in
\nAfghanistan on Saturday are now out of danger. An improvised explosive device
\nwent off close to the military vehicles of the Romanian Battalion 300 Saint
\nAndrew on a patrol mission on that day. The explosion was followed by an attack
\nwith light infantry weapons by insurgents, which was repelled with support from
\nthe US ground and air troops. The four wounded soldiers were stabilized and
\ntransferred to the Kandahar Air base. In 2019, the Romanian army will dispatch
\n780 servicemen to Afghanistan, the Romanian defense ministry announced last
\nyear. Romanian Battalion 300 participates in a NATO- coordinated mission, which
\nhas brought together 16 thousand servicemen from 40 countries. The most
\nnumerous contingents have been deployed by the USA, 85 hundred soldiers,
\nGermany 13 hundred and Italy with 9 hundred. <\/p>\n
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\n(translated by bill)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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