September 29, 2019
Europalia Romania 2019 International Arts Festival starts on October 1, World heads of state and government pay homage to former French president Chirac on Monday
Newsroom, 29.09.2019, 13:55
Europalia – The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will participate on Tuesday, October 1, in Brussels, in the official opening of the Europalia Romania 2019 International Arts Festival. During the visit, the Romanian official will meet with the Belgian King Philippe. The two officials will visit the exhibition ‘Brancusi- Sublimation of Form’, the most important event devoted to the Romanian sculptor organized in the past decades and will attend the concert ‘Romanian Rhapsody’ given by the RaRo-SoNoRo ensemble. The Europalia Romania 2019 is held from October 2019 until February 2020 and includes various events from the field of visual arts, performing arts, music, film, literature and cultural education, which will be hosted by Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Great Britain. Romania will present over 250 events in the 27th edition of Europalia Arts Festival. The festival is one of the most important arts festivals of the world, this year’s edition marking the festival’s 50th year of existence. Romania previously participated in the 2007 edition of the festival.
Motion – The president of the opposition Liberal Party Ludovic Orban announced that the motion of no confidence against the Social Democratic government will be submitted in Parliament in the coming days. With 237 signatures, the Liberals have gathered more than the number of votes necessary for ousting the Dancila cabinet, Ludovic Orban said. He added that this was indicative of the clear majority formed in Parliament which wants the government to be dismissed. The speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu expressed doubts over the opposition’s success in toppling the government and accused the Liberals of failing to come up with a governing program and a proposal for prime minister.
Funeral — As many as 30 heads of state and government announced their presence in Paris on Monday to pay their last respects to the former French president Jacques Chirac who died on Thursday at 86, shows a communiqué of the French presidency. The French Embassy in Romania opened an online book of condolence on its website for those who want to pay homage to the former French president. Monday was declared a day of mourning in France and the flags of the French Embassy in Bucharest will be lowered at half mast.
Handball – Romania’s national women’s handball team are taking on, away from home, the team of the Faeroe Islands in a match in Group 7 of the preliminaries of the 2020 European Championship. On Wednesday evening, in their debut match, the Romanian handballers defeated, on home ground in Brasov (central Romania), 27-24 the Ukrainian team. The group also includes Poland. The two 1st ranked teams will qualify to the final tournament. In the 2018 edition of the championship, Romania’s handball team was ranked 4th, failing to get the bronze, won by the Netherlands.
Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (WTA 6) has today qualified to the second round of the WTA tournament in Beijing which has total prizes up for grabs worth a total of 8 million 3 hundred thousand dollars. She defeated the Swedish player Rebecca Peterson, cu 6-1, 6-1. Halep played in the 2017 final when she was defeated by Caroline Garcia of France. However, Halep’s victory in the semifinals against Jelena Ostapenko pushed her on top position of the WTA ranking for the first time. In the doubles, the Romanian player Monica Niculescu will pair up with American Vania King to play against the pair Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)/Daiana Iastremska (Ukraine). Another Romanian player Raluca Olaru will pair up with American Alison Riske and will be up against the American pair Sofia Kenin/Bethanie Mattek-Sands. (translation by L. Simion)
