February 7, 2014 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 07.02.2014, 19:50
The 22nd Winter Olympic Games started in Sochi, a Russian resort between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. Prime Minister Victor Ponta represented Romania at the opening festivities on Friday. The games, wrapping up on February 23rd, have brought together almost 3,000 athletes in 90 delegations from all over the world, competing for the 294 medals up for grabs. Among them are 24 Romanian athletes competing in 8 disciplines- alpine skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, bobsleighing, luge and skeleton.
The authorities in Bucharest have until Sunday, February 9, to submit a notification to the European Commission regarding the situation of visas for the United States and issues of reciprocity in the matter. The European executive asked for this notification as part of the process of lifting US travel visas for citizens of five European Union members, Romania included. The procedure is part of the new regulations adopted by the EC, which require visa reciprocity between EU members and third party countries. Stay tuned after the news for details.
The leadership of the National Liberal Party announced on Friday the replacement of four liberal ministers in the coalition government in Bucharest, headed by the Social-Democrat Victor Ponta. Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu will replace Finance Minister Daniel Chitoiu, and his office will be taken over by Cristian Busoi, former MEP and head of the National Health Insurance Agency. Teodor Atanasiu, a formerDefense Minister, will be appointed Minister of the Economy. The office of Interior Minister Radu Stroe, who resigned after the scandal triggered by the aircraft accident in the Apuseni Mountains in February, will be taken over by the mayor of Sibiu Klaus Johannis, who will also be Vice- Premier.
Next week, Romania’s President Traian Basescu will pay a visit to Brussels, where he will meet with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. According to the EC spokesman Mark Gray, the two officials will discuss a number of European issues. Basescu paid another visit to Brussels on January 16th, but he only met with the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, as Barroso was then on a visit to Spain. Basescu and Rompuy talked about Romania’s Schengen accession, the association of the Republic of Moldova with the EU and the development of the southern gas corridor.
The film festival in Berlin opened on Thursday night with the world premiere of Wes Andersons film ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, one of the 23 to compete in the Berlinale. Over 400 films will be screened as part of the festival, one of them being Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘The Second Game’. The festival also features two documentaries on Romania, and one Romanian actress competes in the Shooting Stars event.
Romania’s national rugby team on Saturday takes on the Russian squad, away from home, in a game counting for the qualifications to the World Cup next year, which will be hosted by England. Outranked only by Georgia, the Romanian team has scored a total of 23 points from 6 games, 5 victories and one draw. A victory in Russia will send Romania’s rugby team straight to the World cup.
