The privatization of the Oltchim petro-chemical works, one of the largest in Romania and South-Eastern Europe, has failed.

The privatization of the big Romanian petro-chemical works, Oltchim, based in Ramnicu-Valcea, southern Romania, on the brink of bankruptcy, was given wide coverage by the media. However, the privatization ended in a failure. The controversial businessman Dan Diaconescu, owner of a tabloid television company and the leader of a populist party, won the tender for taking over 55% of Oltchim’s shares, but later on he didn’t sign the contract, allegedly because of a series of irregularities. Furthermore, he failed to prove he has the sum of 45 million Euros that he offered to the Romanian state in exchange for the shares in Oltchim. After this failure, the Romanian government replaced the Oltchim management and made public its intention to change the privatization strategy. The resumption of Oltchim’s activity and the payment of salaries are now the priorities of the cabinet, with respect to this issue.

Romanian foreign minister Titus Corlatean paid a visit to Budapest

Romania and neighboring Hungary want to boost bilateral cooperation, the two countries’ foreign ministers, Titus Corlatean and Janos Martonyi, respectively, said in Budapest on Monday. At the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart, Romanian foreign minister Titus Corlatean paid an official visit to Hungary. Talks focused on ways to improve sectoral and cross-border cooperation and to boost two-way trade exchanges. Another focal point on the agenda of the talks was related to the ethnic minorities living in the two countries. The Romanian official paid this visit shortly before the two countries celebrate, in late November, 10 years since the signing of the Strategic Partnership Declaration and 16 years since the signing and enforcement of the Treaty between Romania and Hungary on Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighborhood.

Romania firms condemns Syria’s aggressive actions against Turkey.

Romania will act together with the other NATO member states and Bucharest is overtly supporting Turkey, Romanian foreign minister Titus Corlatean said, after the Syrian shelling of a Turkish village, which killed 5 civilians on Wednesday. Bucharest has firmly condemned the action. The NATO member states have also showed solidarity with Ankara, and the Alliance has called on Syria to immediately halt any aggression against Turkey. Although Damascus has presented apologies to Turkey following the attack, the Turkish Parliament has approved a military operation outside the borders of the country, to discourage any similar action by Syria.

The return of Romania’s treasure transferred to Russia during WWI for safe-keeping is again in the focus of attention.

A sensitive dossier for Romania, the full recovery of the treasure transferred to Russia for safe-keeping some 100 years ago, during WWI, is back into the focus of attention. This week, the EC Parliamentary Assembly has passed a resolution requesting Moscow to continue bilateral negotiations on the return of cultural artifacts and properties confiscated from European countries, including Romania. In response, Moscow has called on Bucharest “not to stir up the past”, the Russian side saying that in the current political dialogue between the two countries, the issue of the Romanian treasure is not mentioned. However, Bucharest says the return of the Romanian treasure by Russia remains a priority for Romania. Tens of tons of gold, evaluated at over 3 billion Euros, assets belonging to Romanian private banks and individuals, as well as collections of art, jewelry and documents are all claimed by the Romanian state from Russia. A small, insignificant part of the treasure was returned by Moscow, first in 1935 and then in 1956.

Two Romanian football teams have played in important European competitions.

Romanian football side Steaua Bucharest on Thursday secured a one-nil win in their home game against Danish squad FC Copenhagen in the Europa League. With four points out of two games, Steaua has become leader in group E. In their first away game our footballers held German side VfB Stuttgart to a draw, two-all. In Europe’s most important football competition, the Champions League, CFR Cluj from Romania conceded a two-one defeat in the home game they played against English side Manchester United. CFR Cluj is currently ranking second in group H.