​KEY STORIES TODAY Romania Under 21 match against Germany claims all interest

Romania’s Under 21 national team was defeated by Germany 4-2 in the semifinals of the Euro 2019, but this by itself was a result Romanian football fans were yearning for a quater of a century.

• A defeat may be a defeat, but for Romanians who have not had relevant football for decades the match of the country’s Under 21 team against Germany drew massive praise at home. People compared the emotions delivered by the youth team with those of the glory days of the World Championships in 1990 and 1994. Full HotNews.ro report on the match, in Romanian – here. Romanian President Iohannis praising the team after the match – here (in Romanian). Full HotNews.ro op-ed article on the match – here (in English)

ALSO TODAY:

• Romania’s biggest theater, the Bucharest National Theater, announced in a press release on Thursday that it was on the „brink of artistic survivability” due to major budget cuts and that it was forced to drop some of its activities. Its manager Ion Caramitru called the situation faced by the institution – but also all other institutions subordinated to the Culture Ministry – „unprecedented”. Actors and other artists are expected to organise a protest in Bucharest on Sunday. More on this in Romanian here

• Romanian MP Viorica Dancila, interim president of Romania’s governing Social Democrats (PSD), moved to appease European Socialists on Thursday when she attended their leaders’ summit. She said a renewed dialogue and the „consolidation of relations with friends and partners” in the European Socialist family were very important. The move comes after the European Socialists opted to freeze relations with the PSD in April until the Government in Bucharest reconsiders its position on the state of law. Since then, PSD’s ex-leader Liviu Dragnea was sentenced to prison in a corruption case and Dancila took over as interim leader until this weekend, when she runs for leadership of the party in a congress. More on Dancila’s moves on Thursday – in Romanian here

• On Russian ridesharing service Yango entering Romania and other stories earlier on Thursday – here