|
RRI newsletter subcription
(e-mail address):
|
 |
Archives:
|
|
| THE WEEK IN REVIEW 28/11/2010-04/12/2010 |
| (2010-12-03) |
| Last updated: 2010-12-06 14:12 EET |
On the 1st of December, Romanians around the world celebrated their national day. Commemorative events, parades and shows were held across the country and in tens of cities throughout the world.
Alba Iulia, in the centre-west, the city where the Great Union of 1918 was achieved, hosted a ceremony accompanied by cannon rounds, while the highlight of the celebrations in Bucharest was the already traditional military parade.
The economic crisis, on the one hand, and cold and glazed frost, on the other, left their mark on the events, which were far more modest than in previous years and attracted less people. In his National Day address, in which he spoke about the Romanians’ spirit of sacrifice, solidarity, courage and trust in the righteous ideals which made the 1918 union possible, president Traian Basescu said the union of all Romanians in a single state had required a great deal of sacrifice:
“This is a lesson our past taught us, an important lesson for our future as a nation. Romania can become stronger and more prosperous by resorting to the values that brought us our unity: determination, spirit of sacrifice and confidence in ourselves. It is primarily the duty of our political representatives to implement the reform of the state, just as it is the duty of the economic decision makers to responsibly assume the role of driving engines of Romania’s sustainable development.”
Chisinau and Balti, in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian speaking population, hosted a number of events recalling the significance of the 1st of December, while the Romanian cultural institutes abroad celebrated the National Day through a series of classical music concerts held all week long.
The Romanian military stationed abroad also celebrated the National Day. Romania’s contingent in Afghanistan, the largest one deployed by Romania abroad, received the visit of the Romanian president and Defence Minister Gabriel Oprea, as well as the American ambassador to Bucharest, Mark Gittenstein.
The government in Bucharest postponed for next week the adoption of the 2011 state budget and the social security budget bill, though both should have been ready two months ago. According to the government’s spokesman, the government is waiting for a meeting of the Economic and Social Council before approving both bills in a special meeting.
Finance Minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu said the government wanted the budget bill to focus more on investment and co-financing. The government’s goals for 2011 are a budget deficit of 4.4% of the GDP at the most and an inflation rate of under 3%. On a visit to Bucharest, the European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget, Janusz Lewandowski said Romania’s economic problems were not as big as those of other states.
He advised Romania to attract cohesion funds to bridge the development gap separating it from the economically advanced states. Lewandowski said the euro zone was facing bigger problems than Romania, adding that, when it joined the euro zone, under the Accession Treaty, Romania must be a reliable member and a source of credibility, not of problems.
In the opinion of the Romanian senate president, Mircea Geoana, who also met the European official, Romania needs more discipline in the creation and execution of its annual budgets and more severe control instruments from Europe.
President Traian Basescu represented Romania in the Kazakh capital Astana at an OSCE summit in which the 56 participating member states failed to adopt an action plan to consolidate the organisation. The main reason for this failure are the differences over the conflicts in the states that were once part of the former Soviet Union, Georgia in particular.
The final declaration, agreed on after heated debates, reiterates, however, the commitment to the idea of a free, democratic, indivisible, Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community. The lack of consensus is to blame for the very general nature of the final declaration, which makes no reference to frozen conflicts, something that had, in fact, been the main subject of the summit.
Bucharest congratulated Chisinau on organising transparent and fair early elections in the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, elections seen as a solution to overcome the profound political crisis facing Europe’s poorest state. However, no party managed to obtain a majority, so a coalition is needed to form the government and elect a new head of state.
The Communists’ Party won 42 deputy seats, while the remaining 59 are divided among three pro-western parties, namely the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party.
|
|
| |
WMA |
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
MP3 |
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
AAC+ |
|
|
48kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
 Historical mascot of
RRI |
2025-04-03
Print
Listen again