Friday, May 9th

Europe Day

Romania is celebrating the Europe Day also known as the Schuman Day, commemorating the historical declaration by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman in 1950. The declaration proposed the pooling of French and West German coal and steel industries, leading to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community. Romania joind the European Union in 2007 along with Bulgaria. What is actually Romania's place in the group? "Romania is currently seated at a round table of 28 states where nobody is staying ahead of anybody as the table is really round, and this is the basic principle in the EU: all member states share the same rights and duties. I believe we are heading to a EU who is getting even more integrated. Such fields as defence or security become a common interest between member states who are more willing to share policies in this respect. And that also goes for the financial and banking systems and, who knows?, even for the fiscality", Angela Filote, the head of the European Commission Representation in Romania, told RADIO ROMANIA on Friday.

Jail sentence of former Romanian PM Adrian Năstase upheld

A court in the Romanian capital Bucharest upheld the four-year jail sentence for Adrian Năstase, the country's former PM, as it rejected the five-year term requested by anti-corruption prosecutors. Mr. Năstase is currently serving a four-year jail sentence after his previous convictions were merged. Adrian Năstase was involved in two high profile corruption-related cases known as the "Zambaccian File" and the "Quality Trophy File". However, the verdict on Thursday is not final and prosecutors may appeal the ruling. The former prime minister may also get a conditional release from custody as he is over 60, RADIO ROMANIA reported.

Earthquake in western Romania

An earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale and 9 km. depth was reported in Chevereşu Mare, a community in the western Romanian province of Banat, on Thursday. Residents in the area said the tremor was accompanied by a loud noise similar to an explosion. However, the head of the Seismology Center in Timişoara said the earthquake was part of usual seismic activity and there was no reason for concern, RADIO ROMANIA reported.

Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest final

Paula Seling and Ovi have returned to compete for the Eurovision Song Contest in the Danish capital Copenhagen. The Romanian duo were actually for the second time on the Eurovision stage after their song "Playing with Fire" did well in the contest's 2010 edition, RADIO ROMANIA reported. Their current song "Miracle" got enough votes in the semifinals of the competition on Thursday evening. Other semifinal winners include Hungary, Russia, Armenia, Montenegro, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Sweden, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Iceland while UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark went directly to the final. "Miracle is written by Ovi (aka Ovidiu Jacobsen), Philip Halloun, Victor Forberg Skogberg şi Frida Amundsen.

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