ELECTION – Sunday’s vote for the
\nEuropean Parliament has earned MEP seats for six political parties, according to
\npartial results made public by the Central Election Authority. The National
\nLiberal Party in opposition grabbed 26.33% of the vote, followed by the Social-Democratic
\nParty in power with 23.16% and the 2020 Save Romania Union – Plus Alliance with
\n21.34% of the vote. The Pro Romania Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
\nin Romania and the People’s Movement Party will also be represented in the new
\nParliament, after grabbing 6.8%, 6% and 5.6% of the vote, respectively. The
\nAlliance of Liberals and Democrats failed the meet the election threshold.
\nVoter turnout stood at a record 49%. Romanians also voted in the referendum on
\nthe judiciary called by President Klaus Iohannis, 80% of them answering Yes.
\nThe turnout for the referendum was 41%, above the 30% threshold required to validate
\nthe vote. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
INFORMAL
\nMEETING – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis is today attending
\nthe informal meeting of the European Council in Brussels. High on the agenda is
\nthe result of the European Parliament election, held over May 23-26. EU leaders
\nwill also hold preliminary talks over the new leadership of community
\ninstitutions. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
PROTEST – Dozens of people on Monday evening protested in
\nfront of the Foreign Ministry building in Bucharest, calling on Minister Teodor
\nMelescanu to step down for the poor organization of Sunday’s European
\nParliament election in the Diaspora. Thousands of Romanians couldn’t exercise
\ntheir constitutional right to vote in the election and the referendum on the
\njudiciary after standing in line for hours in front of polling stations. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SOCIAL-DEMOCRATS -
\nThe Social-Democratic Party is today convening to analyze the result obtained
\nin Sunday’s European Parliament election and decide on the party’s future
\ncourse after the prison sentencing of its leader, Liviu Dragnea. Prime Minister
\nViorica Dancila on Monday took over as interim party leader, saying these are
\ndifficult times for the party. Dancila said she would not step down. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
POPE FRANCIS – Online registration for the visit of his Holy
\nFather, Pope Francis, continue until Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people
\nhave already registered, including Christians from Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine,
\nPakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, Madagascar, Australia, Israel, Canada,
\nNamibia or Reunion. Held under the motto Let’s go together!, the
\nvisit will have its first stop in the capital city Bucharest, the largest city
\nin the east of the country, then Pope Francis will travel to Iasi, the
\nspiritual capital of Romanian Roman-Catholics, Blaj, where he will beatify 7
\nbishops killed in communist prisons, and the Marian shrine in \u015eumuleu Ciuc. In
\n1999, Romania was the first country with a majority Orthodox population to have
\nbeen visited by a Pope, i.e. John Paul II 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
IMF -
\nA delegation of the International Monetary Fund led by IMF mission chief for Romania,
\nJaewoo Lee, will be in Bucharest until June 7 for its annual assessment of the
\nRomanian economy under Article IV. The IMF delegation will hold talks with the
\nRomanian authorities regarding economic developments and policies. IMF
\nofficials will also meet representatives of the Ministry of Public Finance, the
\nNational Bank and government agencies, as well as representatives of the private
\nsector and NGOs. Romania currently has no ongoing agreement with the IMF, an
\ninstitution that monitors the evolution of our country’s economy as a compulsory
\nprocess for all member states. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
NAFSA – 24
\nuniversities from Romania will be presenting their educational offer in
\nWashington, over May 26-31 within the annual NAFSA education fair, the most
\nprestigious international event of its kind, Romania’s National Council of
\nRectors has announced. The conference is expected to bring together more than
\n10,000 participants and 3,500 universities from 100 countries. According to a release
\nof the National Council of Rectors, Romania offers a high-quality education
\nenvironment as well as a series of facilities in its campuses up to European
\nstandards at better prices than in other European countries.<\/p>\n
TENNIS -
\nRomanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 3 in the world, is today playing Alja
\nTomljanovic of Australia (47 WTA) in the opening round at Roland Garros, the
\nsecond Grand Slam tournament of the year, where this year she returns to defend
\nher title. Also today Irina Begu defeated Lin Zhu of China (108 WTA), 6-1, 6-1.
\nOn Monday, Sorana Cirstea (93 WTA) won 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 against Kaja Juvan of
\nSlovenia (131 WTA) and advanced to the second round. Conversely, Mihaela
\nBuzarnescu (30 WTA) lost 4-6, 4-6 to Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia (60 WTA).
\nIn the men’s competition, Marius Copil (81 ATP) lost to Benoit Paire of France
\nin four sets. Copil is also enrolled in the men’s doubles, where together with
\nRohan Bopanna of India will play Raven Klaasen of South Africa and Michael
\nVenus of New Zealand. Also in the men’s doubles, Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien
\nRojer of the Netherlands will play Cristian Garin of Chile and Juan Ignacio
\nLondero of Argentina.
(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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