June 4, 2016 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 04.06.2016, 12:15
ELECTIONS Local elections are held in
Romania on Sunday, with over 250,000 candidates running for mayor and local
councilor in 3,200 towns and communes and 41 county councils respectively.
Complementary election lists have been drawn up for citizens of other EU
countries who have legally settled in Romania. As a first, polling stations
will have an IT system aimed at monitoring the turnout and prevent any form of
rigging. Mayors will be elected in just one round, and the winners will be
those who get the simple majority. The one-round voting system has been
criticized by both civil society and the media, because, if the turnout is low,
many of the future mayors will lack legitimacy.
STATE VISIT Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis will pay a visit to Luxembourg
on Monday and Tuesday, at the invitation of the Grand Duke Henri. The head of state
will hold talks with Duke Henri, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the speaker of
the Chamber of Deputies Mars di Bartolomeo and Foreign Minister Jean
Asselborn. The topics to be approached are means of strengthening political and
sectoral ties between Romania and the Grand Duchy, with focus on economic
cooperation, as well as cooperation in fields such as research, development and
industrial innovation. Another topic on the agenda of talks will be the
preparation of the NATO summit due in Warsaw in July. On the sidelines of the
visit, an exchange program in science and technology, education, culture and
sports will be signed by the governments of Romania and of the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg, covering the 2016-20121 period .
SMURD On Saturday, President Klaus Iohannis signed the decrees for the posthumous decoration of the SMURD rescuers who died on Thursday in a helicopter crash in the neighboring Republic of Moldova. Physician Mihaela Dumea, nurse Adrian Gabriel Sandu, commander Ilie Doru Gavrila and captain – commander Constatin Voicu Socae were decorated for the high level of professionalism, humanity and sacrifice proven in so many rescue operations they participated in. The proposal to decorate them came from the Health Minister Vlad Vasile Voiculescu and the Interior Minister Petre Toba. The helicopter crashed during a rescue mission, approximately 20 km from the capital of Moldova, Chisinau.
SARMIS 16 Between June 6th and 18th, Romanian, American and British soldiers are participating in the multi-national exercise SARMIS 16, held at the ‘Getica’ Land Forces Training Centre in central Romania. 1,200 soldiers of the Romanian Ground Forces, 150 from Great Britain and 200 from the US, supported by Romanian military aircraft will take part in the exercise. SARMIS 16 is an exercise based on a fictional scenario, aimed at training the 2nd Mountain Troops Brigade on planning, executing and assessing a military operation in a multi-national environment, on developing interoperability with the NATO forces and meeting the NATO standardization requirements.
FLOODS Over 100 people have been evacuated as a precaution, although floods are no longer a threat for the population, the Romanian Interior Ministry announced on Saturday. Most people are now returning to their homes, and there are no villages isolated by water. However, the floods have affected traffic on several national roads. The floods that hit Romania in the past days have killed two people and have affected some 90 towns and villages in seven counties.
FOOTBALL On Friday night, Romania’s national football team defeated the Georgian squad 5-1, in the last preparation match before the European Championship in France. Last week, at the training stage in Italy, Romania ended 1-1 the match against Congo and lost 3-4 to Ukraine. At Euro 2016, in the opening game on June 10th, Romania will take on the host country, in a group that also includes Switzerland and Albania.
