May 14, 2019 UPDATE
Former mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazare, to be extradited to Romania from Madagascar
Newsroom, 14.05.2019, 20:10
REPORT – Direct foreign investment went down in the first three months of 2019 by around 20% as against the same period last year, to 1.24 billion euros, according to data made public by the Central Bank on Tuesday. At the same time, between January and March 2019, the number of new companies running on foreign capital went up by more than 9% as against the same period of 2018, to almost 15 hundred units. On March 31st, 2019, there were over 220 thousand companies running on foreign capital in Romania.
COUNCIL – Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea on Tuesday presided the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels. The main topic on the agenda was the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy Reform Package. Ministers also exchanged views on the new delivery model set out in the Commission proposal for a regulation on the CAP strategic plans. On the sidelines of the Council meeting, ministers discussed a long-term strategic vision for a climate neutral economy in terms of agriculture, as well as the declaration of cooperation for a smart and sustainable digital future for European agriculture and rural areas.
EXTRADITION – Romanian interim Justice Minister Ana Birchall announced on Tuesday that the Madagascan authorities approved the extradition to Romania of Radu Mazare, a former mayor of the Black Sea city of Constanta. The authorities in Madagascar detained Mazare last week and placed him under provisional arrest for six days. The former mayor fled to Madagascar at the end of 2017, to avoid trial for corruption. He received a final sentence of nine years in prison in February this year, in a case of illegal allocation of state-owned land along the Black Sea coast and beaches in Constanta.
CANNES FESTIVAL – The 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival kicked off on Tuesday and will run until May 25. Romania is represented in the official and alternative film sections. Corneliu Porumboiu this year competes for the Palme dOr with his latest feature “La Gomera / The Whistlers”, his first film produced abroad, on La Gomera island in Spain and in Singapore. The short reel program entitled Romanian Short Waves will also be featured in the Short Film Corner devoted to short reels and young talent. Among the 13 short reels selected are Bogdan Muresanus “Christmas Gift”, Adi Voicus “The Last Trip to the Seaside” and “Today Artist, Tonight Taximetrist” by Dumitru Grosei. Also representing Romania is filmmaker, screen writer and producer Catalin Mitulescu as a jury member for the Cinefondation and short reel section.
MILITARY – An Italian military unit is deployed by NATO at the Mihail Koglniceanu base in southeastern Romania, charged with carrying out air policing missions for the first time in Romania. Over the next four months, 130 Italian military, pilots and technical crew and four Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft will join Romanian Air Force military and MiG-21 Lancer jets to carry out these missions under NATO command. The joint air policing missions are aimed at developing the reaction and deterrence capacity and consolidate interoperability between the two countries Air Forces. The deployment of the Italian unit to Romania is part of the action plan for ensuring NATO operational capacity in response to security challenges on the Alliances eastern flank.
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu (29 WTA) defeated the former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (27 WTA) 6-2, 5-4, in the opening round of the WTA tournament in Rome. In the second round world no. 2 Simona Halep will play the winner of the match pitting Merketa Vondrousova against Barbora Strycova, both from the Czech Republic.
(Translated by E. Enache)
