Radio România Internațional

Tag: action plan

  • August 17, 2022 UPDATE

    August 17, 2022 UPDATE

    Measures – The measures to cap and compensate for the energy price will remain active in Romania in the formula necessary to protect citizens and the economy, the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă informed, during the first meeting of the Interministerial Committee for ensuring energy resilience and implementing energy infrastructure projects. According to a press release, the prime minister established an action plan to ensure predictability from the point of view of energy production, as well as from a budgetary point of view. At the request of the Prime Minister, the Energy Ministry will present, on August 22, the situation of the investment programs in the production capacities, both of the state companies and in those developed by the private sector. We remind you that electricity and natural gas prices increased with the complete liberalization of the market, in January 2021.



    Visit — The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, will pay a visit to Prague on Thursday, at the invitation of his counterpart, Jan Lipavsky, in the context of the Czech Republic holding the presidency of the EU Council. According to a Foreign Ministry press release, the discussions will focus on Romanian-Czech cooperation within the EU, with an emphasis on coordinating the two states’ stands. The visit is an important opportunity for boosting bilateral political dialogue and intensifying economic cooperation. Bogdan Aurescu and Jan Lipavsky will address current topics on the regional, European and security agenda, including the multiple consequences of the illegal war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The two ministers will also discuss the cooperation of the two states within NATO and the implementation of the decisions of the Madrid Summit, especially regarding the consolidation and efficiency of the deterrence and defense posture on the Eastern Flank, including in the run up to the meeting of the NATO countries’ foreign ministers. The meeting will be hosted by Romania in Bucharest at the end of November.



    Statistics – The Gross Domestic Product of the European Union and the Eurozone registered an increase of 0.6% in the second quarter of 2022, as compared to the previous three months, show preliminary data published on Wednesday by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat). In the first quarter of 2022, compared to the previous three months, the Gross Domestic Product registered an increase of 0.5% in the euro zone and of 0.6% in the EU. Among the EU member states for which data are available, the most significant economic growth rate in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the previous three months, was recorded in the Netherlands (2.6%), Romania (2.1%) and Sweden (1.4%). Compared to the second quarter of 2021, the GDP increased by 3.9% in the euro zone and by 4% in the European Union between April and June 2022, with all the EU member states for which data are available reporting increases. Romania registered an annual economic growth rate of 5.3% in the second quarter of 2022, after an annual growth rate of 6.4% in the first three months. The National Institute of Statistics announced that Romanias economy grew by 2.1% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the previous quarter, while compared to the similar period of 2021, the growth rate was 5.3%.



    Covid — 7,500 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been registered in the last 24 hours, 3,900 more than the previous day, the Health Ministry announced on Wednesday. 274 patients are in intensive care, most of them unvaccinated. In the last 24 hours, 42 deaths were reported in COVID patients. We remind you that Romania has not imposed any coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions since March 9 this year. The first case of infection with SARS-CoV-2 was declared at the end of February 2020 and, for about two years, there have been five pandemic waves resulting in almost 2.8 million infections, 2.6 million recoveries and about 65 thousand deaths associated with Sars-CoV-2.



    Swimming — The Romanian swimmer David Popovici, world and European champion in the 100m and 200m freestyle events, withdrew from the 400m freestyle final, scheduled for Wednesday evening at the European Swimming Championships in Rome, according to a Facebook post of the Romanian Swimming Federation. A few hours ago, Popovici, 17 years old, had qualified with the fourth time of the heats to the 400m freestyle final. The busy schedule of the next period, the very great effort that he would have made in the final and his wish to prepare as well as possible for participation in the World Junior Championship in Lima are the reasons behind this decision, Romanian Swimming Federation sources pointed out. (LS)

  • Action plan on military mobility

    Action plan on military mobility

    In accordance with the commitment made by Jean-Claude Juncker on building a genuine Defense Union by 2025, the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, presented at the end of March an action plan aimed at improving military mobility inside and outside the European Union. Facilitating the movement of troops and military equipment is essential for the security of European citizens and for building a more efficient, integrated Union with better response capabilities, Brussels explained.



    The document identifies measures aimed at removing physical, procedural and regulatory barriers. Close cooperation among states is viewed as essential for implementing this action plan. The action plan builds on a roadmap on military mobility drafted within the European Defense Agency. The European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc explained the reasoning behind these measures:



    Violeta Bulc: “Improving military mobility in the European Union is one of the very practical steps towards a fully fledged defense union by 2025. Second, we must be able to quickly deploy troops either within the EU or able to launch military operations abroad, and of course to do so we need infrastructure that is fit for this purpose. The EU is still facing a number of physical, procedural, regulatory barriers hampering military mobility, which is why we are here today.



    International political developments are hard to predict, but, as we said before, the European Union needs a common defence approach and good coordination of activities, the European Commissioner also said. The Commission Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said: “Promoting peace and guaranteeing the security of our citizens are our first priorities as European Union. By facilitating military mobility within the EU, we can be more effective in preventing crises, more efficient in deploying our missions, and quicker in reacting when challenges arise. It will be another step in deepening our cooperation at EU level, also in the framework of the Permanent Structured Cooperation we have formally launched recently, and with our partners, starting with NATO. For us, as EU, cooperation remains the only way to be effective in today’s world.



    Conducting an analysis of the situation of road and railway networks in Europe to identify suitable routes for military transport is one of the proposals made by the Commission. European officials say this is necessary, among others, because many bridges in the EU have not been designed to withstand the weight or height of oversized military vehicles. On the other hand, the railway infrastructure does not have enough load-carrying capacity for military use. A list will then be made of priority projects and the needed financial support will be established. What does this action plan imply in practice?



    Commissioner Violeta Bulc: “We are taking actions on two major fronts: the first front is infrastructure, transport infrastructure. And the main objective here is to make full use of our transport network for dual purposes, military and civilian. Looking back, one of the main purposes of transport networks was to transport armies. Today I am very happy that the primary reason for transport infrastructure in Europe is a civilian reason. But, of course, joint planning for the needs and of course to have infrastructure fit for purpose makes a lot of sense and it will also help us optimise our investments. So, the plan is as follows: first, by this summer, member states are invited to agree on a detailed list of military needs, requirements, and then secondly we will compare these with our transport infrastructure plans and its technical requirements. And this will cover the whole network and all modes. The next, third step, on the basis of what I just said, we will draw a priority list of dual-use projects. This work will be completed in the course of 2019.



    The second action front is the regulation and procedures section, the European commissioner went on to say. This focuses on customs and VAT procedures for the transport of dangerous goods, cross-border transportation and other aspects such as combating hybrid threats. In practical terms, it all comes down to harmonising fragmented national regulations, simplifying procedures to ease the administrative burden and cut costs, as all these may cause delays hindering military mobility. Brussels believe that by improving military mobility the EU can become more efficient in crisis-prevention and improve its response time to various challenges.


    (translated by: Mihaela Ignatescu)