Romania is holding the second round of the presidential elections<\/strong><\/p>\n
This was the last week of the election
<\/p>\n
The Romanian currency hits record low against the euro<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Romanian currency, the leu, has
<\/p>\n
The hearings of the 27
The vote on the
<\/p>\n
New US Ambassador to Romania<\/strong><\/p>\n
The New
<\/p>\n
Radio Romania Gaudeamus Book Fair<\/strong> <\/p>\n
The 26th Gaudeamus Book
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A roundup of the main stories in Romania this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40944],"tags":[29333,33458,30247,29517,34432],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-124692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-week-in-review","tag-ambassador","tag-commission","tag-elections","tag-gaudeamus","tag-leu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ncampaign for the presidential elections in Romania. On Sunday, November the 24th,
\nRomanians will find out who their president will be for the next five years. In
\nthe race are the incumbent president Klaus Iohannis, who is backed by the
\nruling National Liberal Party, and Viorica Dancila, the leader of the Social
\nDemocratic Party, in power until recently. Just like in the first round of
\nvoting, Romanian citizens living abroad have three days to cast their ballots.
\nThis measure and others were taken so as to prevent the long queues seen in the
\nprevious presidential elections in 2014 and the European elections last May. To
\neliminate the risk of overcrowding at polling stations, their number in the
\ndiaspora has basically doubled compared with the European elections, to reach
\n835. The same number of polling stations has been maintained for the second
\nround, but the location of some of them has been moved for objective reasons.
\nThe countries with the largest number of polling stations are Spain, Italy,
\nGermany, the UK and France. In Romania, the voting process only takes place on
\nSunday, on the 24th of November.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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\nthis week gone over the psychological threshold to reach 4.78 for one euro,
\nhitting a record low against the European single currency. The leu has been
\ndepreciating for some two and a half months. The exchange rate we’ve seen
\nrecently is a reflection of the Romanian economy, the spokesman of the National
\nBank of Romania Dan Suciu has told Radio Romania. He has explained that growing
\nimports and the trade deficit implicitly are the main cause for the
\ndepreciation of the leu.
\nAt the beginning of the month, the governor of the National Bank of Romania
\nMugur Isarescu was saying that these variations are minor compared with those
\nof the Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty, which have seen very much bigger
\nfluctuations. Specialists expect the national currency to depreciate even
\nfurther next year. A strong euro in relation to the leu means a chain of price
\nhikes, from higher interest rates on loans in euros to higher utility bills and
\nmore expensive homes. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nCommissioners-designate, officially closed<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\ninvestiture of the new European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Leyen,
\nwill be held during the plenary session of the European Parliament on November
\n27 in Strasbourg, the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli
\nannounced on Thursday. The Conference of Presidents, made up of the Parliament
\npresident and the political group leaders, Thursday concluded the hearings of
\nthe 26 Commissioners-designate and gave the green light for the last procedure
\nrequired before the new Commission can start its work on December 1, one month
\nlater than originally scheduled. The Commission needs a majority of votes to be
\nvalidated. On Monday, parliament’s committee on foreign affairs approved the
\ncandidacy of Oliver Varhelyi, put forth by Hungary for the Enlargement
\nCommissioner post. On November 14, the relevant specialist committees also
\napproved the candidates nominated by Romania and France: Adina Valean for
\nTransport Commissioner and Thierry Breton for Internal Market Commissioner.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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\n
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\nYork-based lawyer Adrian Zuckerman will be the new US Ambassador to Romania,
\nreplacing Hans Klemm. Zuckerman was confirmed on Wednesday by the US Senate, by
\na 65-30 vote. Zuckerman immigrated to the US from Romania at the age of 10 and
\nspeaks fluent Romanian. In 1984, he was admitted to the New York Bar. A member
\nof the Real Estate Board of New York and also involved in education and charity
\nwork, Adrian Zuckerman is a member of the Kids Corp Board and of the New York
\nLaw School alumni association.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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\n
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\nfair organised by Radio Romania is coming to an end on Sunday. This year’s
\nedition is dedicated to the
\nanti-communist revolution of December 1989. Initiated by Radio Romania a
\nquarter of a century ago concurrently with the Gaudeamus Book for Learning fair, the Radio
\nRomania Gaudeamus project has become a landmark of the local book market. Its
\nprogramme has expanded constantly since its inception, today featuring 116
\nexhibition-type events and 13,600 different activities and attracting more than
\n3 million visitors. The current edition features 900 editorial and professional
\nevents and brings together over 250 exhibitors. The poet Mircea Dinescu, an
\noutspoken opponent of the dictatorial regime, and the actor Ion Caramitru, both
\nof whom were emblematic figures of the Revolution, are the honorary
\nco-presidents this year. The fair hands out three Gaudeamus trophies and a book
\nof the year award, all of them based on the public’s vote. The excellence prize
\nwill be awarded to one of the publishing houses taking part in the fair and is
\nmeant to finance, either fully or partly, an editorial project of national
\nimportance and with international recognition. Other prizes include a
\ntranslation award and an education award, among others. <\/p>\n