A spokesman for Hunedoara police, Bogdan Nitu, told The Associated Press that a guard discovered the theft at the Corvin Castle in Transylvania early Tuesday.

He said thieves made off with about 170,000 lei ($40,800), the takings from tickets sold during the three-day holiday weekend. Police are investigating the case.

The 15th-century Gothic Renaissance castle in western Romania is one of the country’s top tourist attractions and a popular location for movies and documentary films.

Filming will start for Warner Bros horror movie “The Nun,” later this month. Sequences from the adventure movie “Dragonheart 4,” and Bollywood action comedy “Singh is Bliing,” were also shot at the castle.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.

The post Romania: Thieves Break Into Castle, Steal $40,000 appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

Sergiu Rogojinski, administrator of one of the Jewish cemeteries of Bucharest, is in his seventies and has seen many incidents of vandalism over the years.
He walks slowly along the alley in the oldest part of the Giurgiului Cemetery, in the south of Bucharest, and points at the graves that were destroyed the night before Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 24.
Headstones in the cemetery are overturned and broken. One lies in the area where the victims of the 1941 pogrom in Bucharest are buried.

“They [the police] say this is the work of a few young boys. They confessed. They’re young boys, not very educated and didn’t seem to know much,” he explains.
“But they destroyed some of the most valuable monuments, some of which are quite far apart and heavy for 13-year-olds to break,” he added.

The Giurgiului Jewish Cemetery ought to be safe. Surrounded by a tall concrete wall it has two private guards at both gates. By day, visitors can only enter after explaining the purpose of their visit. The cemetery is also guarded at night. But only two guards cannot watch the entire 16 hectares and monitor all 35,000 graves.

Every few years, someone breaks in and desecrates graves. It happened in 2008. Rogojinski says the destroyed monuments are often old, unique and cannot be repaired.
Most of the time, the perpetrators are teenagers or even children. When police catch them they charge them with vandalism, motivated by “rebellion,” but they are never charged with antisemitism.

Anti-Semitism is no longer obvious in Romania because the remaining Jewish community remaining is so small, Rogojinski explained. “Anti-Semitism has been left without an object of hatred,” he said.
The Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, FCER, and the 2011 census, show only around 3,271 Jews still live in Romania.
Back in 1930s, Romania had one of the biggest Jewish communities in Europe, numbering around 800,000, according to official records.
During the Second World War, the then government under Marshal Ion Antonescu, one of Hitler’s allies, killed over 340,000 Jews in Romania and in territories controlled by the Romanian army.
Many more died of maltreatment in the concentration camps or on the death trains being sent to the camps.
Anti-Semitic violence predated the war and the Holocaust in Romania, however.
In the 1920s, university students formed anti-Semitic groups like the Legion of Archangel Michael, which carried out Romania’s first pogrom in 1927, in the western city of Oradea, in Transylvania.
In the mid-1930s, the Fascist Iron Guard movement claimed responsibility for the assassination of several Jewish figures. In 1937, an anti-Semitic law stripped a third of the country’s Jews of their citizenship.
In June 1941, Romanian and German army officers, supported by Iron Guard police, rounded up Jews in the eastern city of Iasi and in Bucharest, destroyed synagogues and houses and killed 13,000 people.
After this horrific history, most of the surviving Jews in Romania emigrated to Israel after the war.
The new communist government reportedly received cash in exchange for every Jew allowed to leave the country.
Even though most Jews have long gone, Jewish cemeteries continue to be vandalized in Romania, however.
Last summer, the Bucharest State Jewish Theatre was also broken into and its costumes and decor damaged.
“Because Jews in Romania are not as present in public life, anti-Semitism is also not very obvious,” Maximillian Marco Katz, founder of the Center for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism in Romania, told BIRN.
But, he says it still exists in people’s mentality and when incidents like vandalizing a cemetery happen, the mainstream media fails to react the same way that it reacts when there is a similar act against Romanians.
Anti-Semitism in Romania is active online:
According to a report by the Center for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, released in 2014, 65 websites in Romanian, blogs and online publications, spread anti-semitism, and 27 are constantly updated.
Many of them praise people such as Antonescu or Fascist movements and promote their articles on social media. Writers are often anonymous.
Even members of the academic establishment as well as politicians and journalists openly deny the Holocaust and spread ultra-nationalist ideas.
The Fascist Legion of Archangel Michael is active again in Romania; in 2013, it asked the Bucharest Municipality for permission to stage a public event. In 2017 it still has a website.
After the event, members of the group took pictures of themselves performing the Nazi salute in front of state institutions, including ministries and the Supreme Courts, as well as the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of Holocaust.
Law against anti-Semites not enforced:
Romania first banned Holocaust denial in 2002, as a reaction to a growing movement to rehabilitate Antonescu, who was executed as a war criminal in 1946. A government decree punished Holocaust denial with up to six years in prison.
One year later, however, Social Democrat Party spokesperson Dan Sova repeated that no Holocaust had occurred within modern Romania’s borders.
“Most Romanians believe the Holocaust happened, but many still think Romanians did not perpetrate it,” Liviu Rotman, a historian at the University of Bucharest, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2014.
“To them it was the Hungarians or the Germans, but never Romanians, despite a wealth of evidence.”
Anti-semitism shows up in key moments, as in 2015, when Romania debated outlawing Fascist, racist and xenophobic organizations as well as symbols.
It also amended the 2002 a decree, specifically pointing out that Holocaust denial – not just Nazi German crimes but also those of the Romanian fascists – would be punished.
The debate was especially heated because the Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of Holocaust actively contributed to drafting the law together with the National Liberal Party.
Orthodox publications wrote many articles criticizing the law because many Romanian cultural personalities between the two world wars, including poets, writers as well as priests and monks, were sympathizers, supporters or members of the Archangel Michael Legion.
The Elie Wiesel Institute itself has been criticized in nationalist circles for pressuring the municipality of Bacau to withdraw the honorary citizenship of a member of the Legion who participated in the 1941 pogroms and died in a communist prison in 1952.
It was also criticized for pressuring the authorities to remove a statue of the Romanian philosopher and politician Mircea Vulcanescu, a member of Antonescu’s government and Romania’s negotiator with Hitler’s Reich.
Katz, a descendent of one of the victims of the 1941 pogrom in Bucharest, says that during the past 15 years governments have improved in terms of recognizing the Holocaust.
But he says there is still a lot of work to be done at the level of people’s mentality.
Romania has now come up with a Holocaust manual to be used in schools. It set up an Institute for the Study of Holocaust and inaugurated a Memorial of the Holocaust in Bucharest in 2009.
“I call these “the flags,” Katz told BIRN. “Whenever we talk about anti-Semitism in Romania, they [the government] put up the ‘flags’ to show things have been improving.”
But the 2015 law is still not enforced, and Katz believes that if there is no real punishment of anti-Semitic statements and acts, there will be no improvement in education either.
He also says it is problematic that history is generally taught with a nationalistic framework, which is an obstacle to educating the young about the Holocaust and the survival of anti-Semitism.
Back in the cemetery in Giurgiului, Rogojinski agrees that the problem has a lot to do with education.
“Even nowadays Romanians still use pejorative words when they talk about Jews. Many are not even aware that they’re using pejorative words. This is Romania, what can we do?” he asks.

Source: Balkan Insight

The post Smashed Graves Highlight Romania’s Lingering Anti-Semitism appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

The May 4-5 meeting organized by Romanian think tank Strategikon will also focus on populism and Britain\’s decision to leave the European Union.

A statement sent to The Associated Press Thursday said there will be discussions on the need for officials to cooperate with the private sector and academics.

Former CIA director David Petraeus and retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who oversaw sweeping changes at NATO to deal with a resurgent Russia and the threat of armed Islamic extremism in the Middle East and Africa, will also attend. Breedlove left the post in 2016.

Source: Associated Press

The post Former NATO, CIA Chiefs to Discuss Security in Bucharest appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

More than a third of all EU vineyard holdings are in Romania, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. However, Spain, France and Italy account for three-quarters of vineyard area in the EU.

In all, in the European Union (EU) in 2015, there were 2.4 million holdings cultivating 3.2 million hectares (ha) of vineyards. The average area per holding was 1.3 ha, however with significant differences between Member States.

2.5 million hectares (78%) of vineyards were dedicated to the production of grapes for quality wine. Quality wine refers to both protected designation of origin (2.1 million ha, or 83% of total quality wine area in the EU) and protected geographical indication (0.4 million ha, or 17%).

Source: New Europe

The post Eurostat: More than a third of all EU vineyard holdings are in Romania appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

After a long audition process from 5 to 11 February and a semi-final on 26 February, in tonight’s final 10 acts were running for the ticket to the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest in May. The televoting process had a 100% stake at the final outcome.

Source: ESCToday/ Eurovision Song Center

The post Romania \’makes up the mind\’ and decides its Eurovision Representatives appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

On Tuesday US Ambassador Hans G. Klemm said the deployment highlights \”the strong US-Romania strategic partnership exists in both word and deed,” and the presence of American soldiers \”expands our capacity….in maintaining peace and security in southeastern Europe and the Black Sea region.\”

While at Mihail Kogalniceanu, soldiers will participate in different multinational exercises and conduct shooting exercises with fighting ammunition, rotating from the base every 9 months.

NATO’s military presence in Eastern Europe has been increasing since April 2014 after conflict broke out in Ukraine, responding to what NATO considers an aggressive Russian foreign policy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently ordered snap drills in response to to the Sea Shield 2017, where 2,800 soldiers from Greece, Spain, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Canada and the US conducted exercises with 10 warplanes, 16 warships and a submarine near Russia’s borders in the first week of February.

Cmdr. Andria Slough of the, USS Porter said at the time that \”Advanced exercises like Sea Shield provide us with an opportunity to work across all warfare areas, ultimately improving our combined readiness and naval capability with our Black Sea allies and partners.\” according to Navy website.

Source: Sputnik International

The post Hundreds of US Troops, Tanks Arrive in Romania appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

The Prime Minister Grindeanu confirmed that the governmental decree, which upset most Romanians not willing to see corrupt politicians get away with \’murder\’, will be annulled tomorrow during a government emergency meeting.

\”We\’ll hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to cancel the decree, you can call it withdrawal, annulment …., and find a legal way to block it from entering into force,\” said Grindeanu said in televised speech from his office, where some 140,000 people were protesting.

Grindeanu added that Justice Minister Florin Iordache will be blamed for the \’confusion surrounding the decree\’.

Romania has been paralysed by massive protests during the last week, as its newly elected social democratic government decided to approve a \’special\’ decree granting corrupt politicians more maneuver space to get away with shady deals. This move prompted hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, who feared that the fight against corruption would weaken.

International reactions were also stern as the European Union warned Romania not to go back on its fight against corruption.

The EU executive body’s President Jean-Claude Juncker and Vice-President Frans Timmermans reminded Bucharest in a statement that: “The fight against corruption needs to be advanced, not undone. We are following the latest developments in Romania with great concern.”

Romania has been a positive example in South East Europe with its tough anti corruption special prosecutor DNA putting hundreds of public officials behind bars on corruption affairs.

“Romania seems to be broken in two pieces at this moment and it is my last wish for this to happen,” Grindeanu said.

Copyright 2017  Tirana Echo. All Rights Reserved.

The post Romania’s Government Backs Off in Face of Massive Protests appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

This is Dragnea’s first step back after four days of massive but peaceful protests in Bucharest and all over Romania against the Government’s intention to weaken the fight against corruption. However, the PSD leader says he is willing to do this in order to prevent potential confrontations in Bucharest between the anti-Government protesters and his party’s supporters.

“I can say that the PSD members and sympathizers can no longer be held in check, they want to go to the streets and express their profound disapproval to the Soros-inspired movement that we are now witnessing. The party is organizing on its own and I feel that I can no longer hold in check, from the center, the pressure of the organizations all over the country, which can bring almost a million people on Bucharest’s streets,” Dragnea said for local publication DCNews.ro.

He added that, being a responsible person, he could not stand and watch how Romania is broken because of “President Iohannis’ irresponsibility” and that he would propose to the Prime Minister and the Government coalition partners from ALDE to find a solution for ending this situation.

“I will propose a solution to end the conflict related to the emergency ordinance that I hope the Prime Minister will accept. We can even speak about revoking the ordinance, if the Prime Minister accepts. We hope that this will also convince our members and sympathizers not to go to the streets and escalate the tension. I don’t want a conflict to pit Romanians against Romanians and break Romania in two,” he added.

The PSD leader, who is also the leader of the parliamentary majority made of PSD and ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats), and has a firm grip on the Government led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, has tried to distance himself from the emergency ordinance on justice letting justice minister Florin Iordache and PM Sorin Grindeanu take responsibility for it.

The Government unexpectedly adopted the ordinance on Tuesday evening, in a cabinet meeting that had only one thing on the agenda: the budget for 2017. After the justice minister announced that the ordinance was adopted, some 15,000 people gathered in Bucharest for a spontaneous protests in front of the Government’s headquarters in Victoriei Square.

Reactions to the ordinance started pouring in: President Iohannis called it a “blow to the rule of law” in Romania, the top prosecutors explained that it would weaken the anticorruption fight in Romania, the Opposition filed a no-confidence motion against the Government, and Romania’s international partners expressed their concerns related to the future of the anticorruption fight in the country.

On Wednesday evening, almost 150,000 people protested in Bucharest’s Victoriei Square and more than 300,000 all over Romania, this being the biggest protest the country has seen in almost 25 years. The internal and international reactions became more powerful, calling on the Romanian Government to reconsider its decision.

Despite all the protests and negative reactions, the PSD leaders voted on Thursday to continue supporting the Government and its ordinance. Liviu Dragnea held a press conference on Thursday afternoon, in which he only marginally tackled the ordinance issue. Instead, he accused President Iohannis of instigating people against the Government and said that the people who protested were misinformed and manipulated. Then he let Prime Minister Grindeanu talk about all of his Government’s generous decisions to raise salaries, pensions, and cut taxes. Only when the journalists asked what PSD and the Government planned to do about the ordinance, the Prime Minister said his Government wouldn’t revoke it.

Romanians continued their protests on Thursday and Friday, when close to 300,000 people were again in the streets demonstrating peacefully. The highlight of Friday’s protest was when more than 120,000 people in Bucharest sang the national anthem.

Meanwhile, Romania’s Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea attacked the ordinance at the Constitutional Court and the Orthodox Church launched a powerful message that the fight against corruption should continue.

Source: romania-insider.com

The post Romania’s Social-Democratic leader signals withdrawal in face of massive street protests appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

This is the largest street protest in Romania in the last 25 years, according to local media, and the crowd keeps getting bigger, despite the -5 degrees Celsius in Bucharest.

Update 9 PM RO time: 125,000 protesters in the Romanian capital.

Protesters in Bucharest’s Victoriei Square were joined by thousands of people who took to the streets Romania’s main cities, bringing the total number of street protesters to some 200,000.

Demonstrators are asking the Socialist – led Government to repeal the Emergency Ordinance which changed the Criminal Code, decriminalizing major corruption offenses. They also want the Executive to step down after repealing the infamous ordinance which was published during the night, after a late Government meeting on Tuesday, January 31.

The protests ended around midnight, after a small group of violent protesters, most likely ultras fans of some football teams in Bucharest, attacked the gendarmes, forcing the security forces to clear the square. Most of the peaceful protesters started leaving the square around 10:30, after the first violent incidents occurred.

 

Photos by Andrei Chirileasa/Romania-Insider.com

The post Largest street protest in 25 years takes place in Romania appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.

Election authorities said on Monday that with 99 percent of the votes from Sunday\’s elections counted, the PSD held about 46 percent.

PSD\’s main rival, the centre-right National Liberal Party, came a distant second with about 20 percent of vote.

The Save Romania Union, a new party that ran on an anti-corruption ticket, finished third with 9 percent, allowing it to enter parliament.

\”There should be no doubt who won the elections. Romanians want to feel at home in their own country and I want Romania to be a good home for all Romanians,\” PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said about the results.

Dragnea resigned as a minister last May after his conviction in a case involving voter fraud. He is serving a two-year suspended sentence and is barred from holding office. He has denied the charges.

The PSD leader said his party will start talks to form a parliamentary majority with longtime ally the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which took about 6 percent of the vote.

The election follows a year of a technocrat government in Romania, the EU\’s fastest-growing economy but also one of its poorest, put in place after massive street protests brought down the previous PSD-led government.

Triggered by a deadly fire in the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest which lacked emergency exits and other safety measures, the protests called for sweeping change in Romania to address chronically inept public administration and corruption.
Low turnout

However, observers say many of the younger voters who took to the streets then failed to vote on Sunday, underscoring a lack of belief that reforms can take root. Turnout was just 39.5 percent in the polls.

The PSD\’s electorate traditionally stems from older, poorer Romanians, eager to hear the party\’s message which centres on public-sector wage hikes, tax cuts and higher pensions.
Romania PM resigns over nightclub fire

Both PSD and ALDE politicians have accused anti-corruption prosecutors of being politically motivated in their investigations. Romanian prosecutors have been praised by EU officials various times for their efforts against corruption.

During its previous years in government, between 2012 and 2015, the PSD reversed austerity policies put in place after a 2008 property crash by cutting taxes and raising the minimum wage and public-sector pay.

The European Commission, the EU\’s executive arm, now expects Romania\’s deficit to quadruple from 0.8 percent of economic output in 2015 to 3.2 percent in 2017 under European accounting terms.

Source: News agencies/Al Jazeera

The post Romania Elections: Centre-left PSD stages sweeping comeback appeared first on BletaPunetore.al.