September 27, 2014
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Bogdan Matei, 27.09.2014, 12:00
Klaus Iohannis, the representative of the Christian-Liberal Alliance made up of the National-Liberal and the Democratic-Liberal parties has today launched his candidacy for the Romanian presidency. The move comes after the High Court of Cassation and Justice in Romania has postponed the ruling on a file in which Iohannis, currently mayor of the city of Sibiu in central Romania, has been declared incompatible with his status by the National Integrity Agency (ANI). The agency has been accusing Iohannis of concurrently holding the positions of mayor as well as that of representative of municipality in the general assemblies of two companies. Another court had earlier ruled against the ANI report but the agency appealed. Under the law, people that have been declared incompatible cannot occupy a public position for three years. According to the latest polls on voting intentions, Iohannis stands good chances of going into the presidential runoff in November with current Social-Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta. 14 people are presently vying for the presidential seat, among whom president of the Senate Calin Popescu Tariceanu, Kelemen Hunor, head of the co-ruling Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, independent MEP Monica Macovei and the head of the pro-presidential opposition People’s Movement Party, Elena Udrea.
The Romanian women’s table tennis side will today take on the Netherlands in a match counting towards a position between places 5th and 8th in the competition’s ranking. The defending European vice-champion, Romania, failed to qualify for the finals after it had been defeated by Sweden three-two. The Romanians had previously clinched a three-nil win against Portugal and Spain but conceded a defeat to Poland. In the male contest, the Romanian side was edged out in the qualifying groups after a victory against the Czech Republic and two defeats against Russia and Croatia.
The international radio orchestras festival RadiRo is due to come to an end tonight with a gala concert given by the National Orchestra of France. Violinist Vadim Gluzman and conductor Vassily Sinaisky will tonight be performing on the stage of Radio Romania’s concert hall. Staged by Radio Romania, RadiRo is Europe’s only musical event exclusively devoted to radio ensembles. This years’ edition of the festival has brought together radio orchestras from Finland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Romania in an artistic programme devoted to the music of Richard Strauss, from whose birth we celebrate 150 years.
The head of the Romanian diplomacy Titus Corlatean has reiterated the top priority Romania has attached to finding a solution to the conflict in the neighboring Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a Romanian speaking majority. At the OSCE informal ministerial meeting in New York, Corlatean stood for carrying on the negotiation process over the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniester that came out of Chisinau’s control in 1992 upon an armed conflict with hundreds of dead, which was settled with the intervention of the Russian troops on the secessionists’ side. At the same time, Corlatean has reiterated Romania’s staunch support in the efforts of finding a solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine. The meeting was staged concurrently with the proceedings of the UN General Assembly, when Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that Bucharest clearly rejects any form of foreign pressure over the countries in Eastern Europe and firmly supports their integrity and sovereignty.
Most of the nine former ministers under investigation on alleged corruption charges are rejecting the accusations by the prosecutors. The National Anti-corruption Directorate on Friday called on Parliament to lift the immunity of some of them so that a penal prosecution may be launched for peddling in influence, bribe taking and abuse in office in a file on getting Microsoft licenses for several schools in Romania. Prosecutors are investigating a period ranging between 2001 and 2012, during the mandates of three Prime Ministers, Social Democrat Adrian Nastase, Calin Popescu Tariceanu from the National-Liberal Party and Emil Boc from the Democratic Liberal Party. One of the nine former ministers is currently an MEP, while three others are part of the Legislature in Bucharest.
