February 25, 2018 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 25.02.2018, 19:31
PROTESTS Hundreds took to the streets of Bucharest and other Romanian cities on Sunday to protest the main left-wing ruling party, PSD and Justice Minister Tudorel Toader. Protests commenced on Thursday night after minister Toader had launched the procedure of sacking the head of Romania’s Anti-corruption Agency (DNA), Laura codruta Kovesi. Toader had accused Kovesi of abuse of authority, of intervening in several files under prosecution and of having failed to check on some prosecutors who have allegedly committed abuses. The Justice Minister also blamed the chief prosecutor for having defied Parliament and contested some Constitutional Court rulings. The request for Kovesi’s dismissal has reached the Higher Council of Magistracy but it is only the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis who can sack the chief prosecutor. President Iohannis has voiced support for Kovesi and the institution she heads. Backed by a PSD-ALDE majority, Toader’s report has attrackted a lot of flak from the right-wing opposition.
WEATHER Winter seems to have eventually arrived in Romania right at the end of a season, which mostly saw temperatures higher than usual. We recall that code yellow and orange alerts have been issued for most of the regions. A code orange alert for bad weather will be in place for Bucharest and 27 other counties in the south, east and center beginning Sunday night. Temperatures are to plunge to minus 22 degrees mainly at night, while during the day they are expected to be 10-15 degrees below the multianual average. Blizzards are also expected in these regions facing a wave of cold, which is believed to last until March 1st. Schools are to be closed on Monday and Tuesday because of the bad weather. Maximum temperatures will range between — 12 and — 2 degrees Celsius. Over 5000 firefighters backed by technical equipment are ready to intervene in the regions expecting extreme weather conditions.
COMMUNIQUE The Romanian Foreign Ministry has issued a communique firmly condemning any destructive actions against several schools with tuition in Romanian from the neighboring Ukraine after information was made available by the Security Services in this country on attempted arsons at these schools. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has voiced concern over the information presented by Ukraine’s Security Services about the aforementioned arson attempts in the Cernauti area adding that it would take action to glean further information on the circumstances. Russian special services have masterminded arsons at two schools with Romanian tuition in Cernauti, a press center for Ukraine’s security services announced on Friday.
FAC The head of the Romanian diplomacy, Teodor Melescanu, on Monday will be participating in the monthly session of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. EU Foreign ministers are to mainly tackle the situation in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet Romanian-speaking country, the situation in Venezuela and the Middle East peace process. Romania and France will be staging the 12th session of the Republic of Moldova’s European Action Group, which is also to be attended by the head of diplomacy in Chisinau, Tudor Ulianovschi — a communique issued by the Romanian Foreign Ministry says.
AWARD Romanian director Adina Pintilie’s debut feature film ‘Touch Me Not’ on Saturday night reaped the Golden Bear award at the 68th edition of the Berlin Film Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious events of this kind. Adina Pintilie has also reaped a prize for the best debut, from a jury, which also included Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer. ‘Touch Me Not’ is a personal exploration that cast a question mark over the preconceived ideas about intimacy as a fundamental aspect of human existence. This European co-production, was shot over a period of 10 weeks, between 2015 and 2017 and had a mixed cast of professional actors and common people. Adina Pintilie has become the second Romanian director to have reaped the Berlinale’s grand prize after Calin Peter Netzer for his production Child’s Pose.
translated by bill
