The European Journalism Centre will organize next year a contest for bloggers that want to cover the European Parliamentary Elections.
That’s a great idea - especially for countries like Romania, where the voters still need a great deal of information on this matter. And the Internet seems, for the moment, the best way to do it.

Only three conditions should be fulfilled before you register:

1. Nationality of EU Member State
2. Possibility to submit your posts in English
3. Previous publication(s) if applicable

and afterwards:

1. Participation in the launch event in Brussels (25-27th January, 2009)
2. At least one post per month (from February 1 to June 9, 2009)

Think about it!

Under the motto “European citizenship is not just words, but also concrete rights”, the European Commission launched a new campaign to inform EU citizens about their rights, as define in the Charter of Fundamental rights of the European Union.
The campaign started yesterday in Romania by a press conference at the Commission Representation Office in Bucharest, and takes theform of a roadshhow that will visit 40 cities between 23rd September and 4th October.
List of cities visited in Romania:
24 September- Constanţa
25 September -Tulcea
26 September -Brăila
27 September -Galaţi
28 September -Focşani
30 September- Bacău
1 October - Piatra-Neamţ
2 October - Iaşi
3 October - Botoşani
4 October - Suceava
24 September- Bucureşti
25 September- Ploieşti
26 September- Braşov
27 September- Miercurea-Ciuc
28 September- Târgu-Mureş
30 September- Bistriţa
1 October - Baia_Mare
2 October - Cluj-Napoca
3 October - Alba-Iulia
4 October - Deva
24 September - Călăraşi
25 September - Olteniţa
26 September - Giurgiu
27 September - Alexandria
28 September - Craiova
30 September - Târgu-Jiu
1 October - Hunedoara
2 October - Sibiu
3 October - Râmnicu-Vâlcea
4 October - Piteşti
24 September - Drobeta Turnu-Severin
25 September - Petroşani
26 September - Caransebeş
27 September - Reşiţa
28 September - Lugoj
30 September - Timişoara
1 October - Arad
2 October - Oradea
3 October - Zalău
4 October - Satu-Mare

The next roadshows will be held in Germany (October 2008) and Bulgaria (November 2008). Other Member states visited will be Slovakia and Slovenia in 2009.
Source

P. S. Maybe someday Romanians will stop being treated (and stop acting) as second rate European citizens.

… nu tine doar de ADN.

Maine (Sambata, 16 august 2008), in Bucuresti, Parcul Moghioros - Drumul Taberei, Intrarea Principala, intre orele 8 - 21, are loc actiunea de colecta pentru sinistratii din Moldova. Spuneti si prietenilor / cunoscutilor, poate vor vrea sa ajute si dansii!

Sursa

Actualizare 18 august 2008:

Necesarul de haine a fost acoperit, sunt insa foarte mari probleme cu apa potabila. Cei care pot dona baxuri de apa plata sau minerala sinistratilor, pot contacta pe organizatori (telefonic: 0742.019.011 sau prin email: donatii@sinistrati.info).

In March 2008, the 17-year old winners of the “Juvenes Translatores” (27 - one for each Member State) contest will be invited for a three-day visit to Brussels and they will receive a certificate from the European Commissioner for Multilingualism, Mr. Leonard Orban. The list of the 27 students is published on the contest website.

The Romanian winner is Radu Florea, a highschool student from Galati.
Here you can find the text he translated at the competition. Nice job!

Andrei Pandele’s Exposition “Banned photos and personal images” is open in December 20th - February 3rd , at Galeria etaj 3/4, MNAC Bd. Nicolae Bălcescu, nr.2 (National Theatre), Wednesday to Sunday, between 10:00 and 18:00.
Part of these photos have been projected in France, with the title: “Bucarest, Ma Ville”. You can see them here.
The images are from 70s, 80s and early 90s - a real travel in time. The darkest time.

Cristian Mungiu’s ‘4,3,2′ is nominated for the Golden Globe, which will be awarded on January 13th, 2008. This increases the chances for an Oscar nomination.

After winning the Golden Palm, Hollywood World Award, Bronze Horse, European Film Award etc. the Cristian Mungiu’s film ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days’ is now facing the opportunity to run for an Oscar … fingers crossed! The Romanian director is competing with very big names like: Nikita Mihalkov, Andrzej Wajda, Manoel de Oliveira and Giuseppe Tornatore.
The final five nominees for the Oscar (best foreign film) will be announced on January 22nd, 2008.

The presence was: 22.79% for referendum and 27,29% for European elections (I have my doubts, but close to what I was predicting earlier)
Anyway, I was listening (until I’ve turned off the TV, it was too much for my stomach) the speeches of political leaders: it’s a collective deliria, they really think this was their success (what success?!!) and the other parties’ failure. All of them. Obviously, their mental health should be urgently tested, they’ve lost any contact with reality.
Or they just have lost any form of common sense, the nerve they have is incredible.

Till this hour (around 16:00) only 14% of Romanian have voted. I cannot say that I am surprised. Any figures above 20-25% presence (and I am optimistic) might be suspicious, from my point of view. What surprises me is that there were approx. 50-50% urban/rural voters. Usually, Romanians from rural area are more ‘disciplined’ and do vote mainly in the morning. I wonder if the politicians will get the [real] message: they are no longer credible, any of them (including all parties, Prime Minister and President). I think not.
And something tells me that the number of voters will miraculously increase in the evening, and the share of traveling voters (even though it is autumn, foggy day, cold, bad weather etc.) will be very important.

Latest figures: 19%

One of my favourite masterpieces, “The Thinker”, together with “Woman sitting” (also known as “The Thinker and his companion”) will start an European tour, first in Switzerland, then in Belgium and other European countries, in an exhibition including 1,200 works from 39 museums, dedicated to the neolithic period. But, before that, they can be admired, for three months, at the National Museum of History, in Bucharest, during a preview - “The birth of a great exhibition: “A l’aube d’ Europe. Les grandes cultures neolithiques de Roumanie”

The two pottery figurines belong to Hamangia Culture from middle neolithics, second half of the 6th millenium BC.