Tuesday, February 23rd

Romanians abroad have no specific plans of returning home, Romanian president claims

Romania’s President Klaus Johannis deplored the fact that Romanians abroad had no specific plans of returning to their home country. A strong diaspora may become an important force in the effort to encourage the country’s growth, President Iohannis told a conference on „Romanian Diaspora, Vector of Development” at the Presidential Palace of Cotroceni in the capital Bucharest on Tuesday. However, Klaus Iohannis expected the Romanians’s comeback would be encouraged at a time when the Romanian state was about to change its attidude towards its citizens. The event was also attended by Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş who unveiled his plans of getting the Romanians abroad involved in projects such as the opening of an Investment Agency or scholarships for Romanians abroad wishing to accomplish their studies in their home country.

Miners’ protests in Romania’s south-western Jiu Valley

Further protests were reported in Romania’s south-western region of Jiu Valley on Tuesday when miners in the mining town of Vulcan joined their comrades at a mine in Lonea. Nearly one hundred miners in the fourth shift late into the night decided to stay in the undergound while others in the first shift this morning said they would also remain in the underground at the end of their working hours. The miners are concerned about their future following the collapse of the Energy Complex of Hunedoara (CEH), a plant currently facing bankruptcy. All four shifts at the Lonea mine are currently blocked in the underground with some of the miners on hunger strike since Monday.

1 million euro missing from Romania’s FRF

Prosecutors with Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) opened a new file involving top officials at the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) where 1 million euros went missing between 2010 and 2012. The former vicepresident of the Referee Central Committee appeared before prosecutors on Tuesday. Patriţiu Abrudan is a suspect for his alleged involvement in a corruption-related case of organised crime, embezzlement and money laundring. Mr. Abrudan was followed by Iuliu Mureşan, current president of the CFR Cluj football club who was a member of the FRF Executive Committee at the time at the incident.

Opening of Gaudeamus Book Fair in Craiova

Radio Romania’s Gaudeamus Book Fair opens in the southern Romanian town of Craiova on Wednesday. Marin Sorescu National Theatre will host an event expected to close its doors on Sunday, February 28. At the opening ceremony, teens are expected to form a chain and circulate books in a move aimed at promoting reading. The human chain will start at the Radio Romania building in Craiova with its end at the National Theatre.
Alexandru Danga