June 28, 2014
The top news headlines of the day in Romania.
România Internațional, 28.06.2014, 13:00
The Romanian government is today holding an extraordinary meeting to approve the bill on the ratification of the association agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union. According to prime minister Victor Ponta, Romania wishes to be the first state to initiate the ratification procedure, shortly after the agreement was signed in Brussels. The Parliament in Bucharest will meet at the beginning of July to ratify the document. On Friday, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia signed association and free trade agreements with the European Union, while Ukraine signed the economic section of the bilateral deal with the Union.
The National Liberal Party, the main right-wing opposition party in Romania, will elect its new leaders at a congress held today. Three political documents will also be signed concerning the merger with the Liberal Democratic Party, the second largest centre-right party in the country, the Liberals’ joining the European People’s Party in the European Parliament, and the designation of the party’s candidate for the presidential elections in autumn. The main contender for the position of party president is the acting leader and Sibiu mayor Klaus Iohannis, who also enjoys the biggest support among party members. His only rival is the senator Ioan Ghise. Last February, the National Liberal Party walked out of its alliance with the Social Democrats and withdrew from the government.
The European Parliament congratulated Radio Romania for its support in informing the public about the European elections held in May. A message conveyed by the European Parliament writes that the public radio station in Romania had a significant contribution to increasing public knowledge about the European elections, providing constant news about the European Union, Romania’s position within the European Union and the role of the European Parliament, and broadcasting news of European interest on its national and regional stations.
The capital of the majority Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova is today hosting a rally initiated by the Unification Council to commemorate the Romanians exterminated by the communist regime on the anniversary of 74 years since the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina by the former USSR. The organisers of the rally will present the Russian Embassy in Chisinau with a letter to president Vladimir Putin calling for a halt to Russia’s aggressive policies against Moldova and asking him not to support the breakaway regime in the Moldovan region of Transdniester. The Unification Council comprises a number of organisations campaigning for Moldova’s unification with Romania.
The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 3 in the world, today meets Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the third round of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. In the second round, she defeated Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in three sets. This is the first time Halep reaches the third round at Wimbledon. In the mixed doubles, the pair made up of Florin Mergea of Romania and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine qualified to the second round after winning against the pair Andre Begemann of Germany and Olga Savchuk of Ukraine.
