4 September 2017

A round-up of local and international news.

Newsroom, 04.09.2017, 13:44

PM’s Hour. Prime minister Mihai Tudose is today holding the
prime minister’s hour in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time since
taking office. He will be presenting the state of the economy at the request of
the main opposition party, the National Liberal Party. The priorities of the
ruling coalition in the coming period include drafting the bill on a referendum
to redefine the concept of family in the Constitution, justice, pensions, the
creation of a Romanian House of Commerce and a state budget bill expected to
reach Parliament next month. The list containing national objectives of
strategic importance is also to be finalised, so that a series of major
investments could be funded and quickly implemented. According to prime
minister Mihai Tudose, this includes the Bucharest Airports company, Tarom and
the motorway linking the capital Bucharest to the central city of Brasov.

North Korea. US defence
secretary James Mattis has warned North Korea that any threat against the US
and its allies will be met with massive military response. He made these
statements after informing president Donald Trump of the military options for
the US following North Korea’s most recent nuclear test. The regime in North
Korea said this test, its 6th and largest so far, was for a hydrogen
bomb. This type of bomb can be mounted on the new type of intercontinental
ballistic missile available to North Korea. The test has been harshly
criticised by the international community, in particular the European Union and
the US. The foreign ministry in Bucharest has expressed deep concern for the
provocative actions of the authorities in Pyong Yang, which gravely violate the
UN Security Council resolutions and have escalated tension in the Korean
Peninsula to an unprecedented level.

Protests. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the
government building on Sunday evening to protest against the latest measures
announced by the government. Protesters are opposed to a bill to amend the
justice legislation and to attempts to withdraw the application of the Rosia
Montana site to be added on the UNESCO World Heritage list. An international
court of arbitration will this month begin the case filed by the Canadian
company Gabriel Resources requesting compensation of 4.4 billion dollars from
the Romanian state for not being able to begin gold mining in Rosia Montana
because of the UNESCO application. Similar protests were held in Cluj, in the
north-west, and in Brasov, in the centre.

Strategic Forum.
Romania’s foreign minister Teodor Melescanu, who will be attending the
Strategic Forum in Bled, Slovenia, held on the 4th and 5th
of September, will also take part in an informal meeting of foreign ministers
from the South-East European Cooperation Process. The Strategic Forum in Bled
will bring together over 1,000 participants from 70 countries, including
political leaders, business people and representatives of international
organisations, the academic community and NGOs. Talks will focus on the future
of Europe and security, given the growing threats to security in Europe and the
world posed by terrorist attacks, the migration crisis and Brexit.

Festival. The George Enescu International festival
continues in Bucharest, an event co-produced by Radio Romania. The Radio
Academic Choir led by Ciprian Tutu today give a concert together with the
Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. Three other music ensembles will today be playing
pieces by Haydn, Puccini and Vivaldi. More on this after the news.

US Open. The Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau and his
doubles partner CoCo Vandeweghe have reached the mixed doubles quarterfinals at
the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. They defeated the
Serbian-Taiwanese pair Nenad Zimonjic and Yung-Jan Chan. Tecau and Vandeweghe
will next face the Hungarian-Brazilian pair Timea Babos and Bruno Soares, who
have defeated the Romanian-Croatian pair Raluca Olaru and Nikola Mektic. Last
year, Tecau was in the quarterfinals at the US Open also in the men’s doubles,
together with the Dutch player Jean-Julien Rojer. In the women’s doubles, Romania’s
Monica Niculescu and Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh have reached the quarterfinals,
where they will face the Indian-Chinese pair Sania Mirza and Shuai Peng.

Football.
Romania play Montenegro today in a Group E match as part of their qualifying
run for the World Cup to be held in Russia next year. On Friday, Romania won in
Bucharest against Armenia. Currently ranked 4th in their group,
Romania only have a theoretical chance to qualify. Cristoph Daum, the team’s
manager and the first foreign national to coach the Romanian national side, has
recently come under more and more criticism from the media and the public over
the team’s poor performance.