EU foreign policy chief on a visit to Romania
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is expected in Bucharest on Friday. It is the first such visit by Ms. Mogherini to Romania’s capital. The EU official is expected to meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the Presidential Palace of Cotroceni before addressing the international conference of the Bucharest Forum on Ensuring Stability, Building Resilience, and Harnessing Opportunity. Speakers will also include Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş, Foreign Minister Lazăr Comănescu, Defence Minister Mihnea Moţoc and his Dutch counterpart Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges Sorin Ducaru and Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Ihor Dolhov. Ms. Mogherini is also expected to meet Romanian legislators in the country’s Committees for European and Foreign Affairs in Parliament.
First six F-16 fighter planes expected in Feteşti, Romania
A ceremony in the Romanian southern town of Feteşti will mark the arrival of six from a total of twelve F-16 fighter planes from Portugal on Friday. Romania will become the latest operator of the F-16 following the event. The $203 million deal includes nine F-16AM single-seaters and three F-16BM two-seaters as well as an overhaul of engines, initial logistics support, training of up to nine pilots, 75 technicians, and four mission planers, two years of on-site support, and updating the fleet to operational flight program (OFP) with support from Lockheed Martin. Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş and defence ministers from Romania and Portugal are expected to atted the event.
A corruption file back to DNA
A Bucharest court decided to sent a corruption-related file back to Romania’s anti-corruption watchdog, the DNA, on Friday. Lia Olguţa Vasilescu, currently mayor of the Romanian southern town of Craiova, was sent to court in July for her alleged involvement in a bribe and money laundring case. But the Bucharest court sent the probe back to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate while claiming the DNA had been ignoring Ms. Vasilescu’s right to defend herself as the probe was conducted by police officers in the absence of a delegate prosecutor for the case.
Leontina Văduva Gala at Radio Romania Concert Hall
The Anniversary Gala of „Leontina Văduva – a 30-Year Career” opens the 2016-2017 concert season of Radio Romania’s ochestras and choirs. Living in France for many years, Ms. Văduva also remains a presence on Romanian opera stages, and the Gala on Friday is seen as one of the most acclaimed musical events of the year. Daughter of Maria Ciobanu, one of Romania’s most famous folk music singers, Leontina Văduva made her international opera debut at Toulouse, France, in the title role of Jules Massenet’s „Manon”. Her reputation grew and she was soon invited to sing at major theatres such as Covent Garden in London, Metropolitan in New York or Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Alexandru Danga
