Radio România Internațional

Tag: allies

Recent joint training sessions held on Romanian territory

The French colleagues of the NATO fighting group stationed in Romania, last week celebrated the 2024 edition of Goût de France, a Taste of France. The event was staged in a bid to promote French gastronomy. Attending were officials of Fagaras Municipality, Brasov County School Inspectorate, as well as partners, sponsors, collaborators and various other guests.

The atmosphere was extraordinary, with top-flight participation. The Aurel Vijoli Technological High School/The French Vocational School in Fagaras, in partnership with the Brasov French Alliance, the French Consular Agency in Brasov, with the AIGLE-NATO Mission representatives in Cincu made a team, with the contribution of each member being extremely important. The high school pupils currently on a programme enabling them to become cooks, waiters or pastry cooks took the opportunity and enjoyed a hands-on experience in the preparation of dishes, salty or sweet, dishes that were then on display, much to the delight of the people attending.

It was the perfect opportunity for participants to learn secrets of the French cuisine, but also to promote army cooks’ skills and culture.

A joint urban warfare training session with NATO allies has been scheduled on the premises of the Getica National Joint Training Centre in Cincu, central Romania. The joint combat exercise targets the practice of procedures in urban warfare, together with the allies. In the Cincu Centre, the Dolj 20 Infantry Battalion troops continued their training, jointly with contingents from North Macedonia, Poland and Portugal. The troops carried a situational training exercise as part of the BLACK SCORPION 24 multinational exercise.

The key objectives of the exercise were the improvement of interoperability and the joint training, mounted in order to cope with the international challenges, the learning and sharing of advanced attack tactics, as well as the capturing of strategic positions using modern infiltration, together with assault techniques.

Also, training has been conducted for the defence of urban territory and the management of resources, in a bid to resist long-term enemy attacks. Such exercises are crucial in their bid to make sure armed forces are prepared to cope with the complex challenges of urban warfare.
NATO fight groups are an obvious proof of the solidarity within the Alliance, of the determination and the capacity to defend NATO population and territory against any possible aggression.

As an absolute first, on October 16, the Veterans’ Relay, now reaching its 11th edition and jointly carried by representatives of the Invictus Association in Romania and the Romanian Ground Forces, was received at the headquarters of the Caracal-based (in the south) 22 Infantry battalion by the command of the battalion. After that, the Romanati 22 Infantry Battalion, together with their Portuguese and North-Macedonian partners, passed the baton, after a 55-kilometer-long route, to representative of the Tudor Vladimirescu National Military College in the Craiova garrison (in the south). Jointly staged with the Invictus Romania Association, the event was held against the backdrop of the celebration, on October 25th, of Romanian Army Day.

23 October 2024
Multinational procurement of Patriot missiles to enhance air defense

NATO has announced that its Support and Procurement Agency will support a coalition of Allies, including Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain to procure up to 1,000 Patriot air defense missiles. The consolidated multinational procurement, in the spirit of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), offers economies of scale and supports the expansion of production capacity for new GEM-T missiles to meet increasing demand, NATO said in a statement. The $5.5 billion contract has been awarded to COMLOG, a joint venture between an American company and a German company, and the large volume of the order will support the set up of a production facility for Patriot missiles in Germany. Patriot missiles cost around $4 million each, but the contract also covers the supply of spare parts and maintenance.

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency stated that this purchase aims to strengthen the deterrent posture of the allies in the context in which Russia is intensifying its air attacks on Ukraine. “Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilians, cities and towns show how important modern air defense is. (…) Scaling up ammunition production is key for Ukraines security and for ours, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

NATO provides Ukraine with only non-lethal support, but members of the organization send arms and ammunition to Kyiv individually or collectively. The United States and Germany have already delivered Patriot missiles to Ukraine to help counter Russian attacks on its cities and infrastructure, and those deliveries have partially depleted stocks. The US was even forced to ask other countries, including Japan, to help rebuild them. Following this request, in the second half of December, Japan relaxed its arms export restrictions, for the first time in the last decade, the historic decision of the Japanese authorities allowing the sale of Patriot air defense systems to the United States.

Washington, in turn, will be able to deliver more such systems to Ukraine. The Patriot program is currently the most expensive endowment program of the Romanian Army. Romania currently has four such systems, out of the seven ordered, for which it will pay a total of almost 4 billion dollars. Patriot missiles can fly at 5,000 kilometers per hour and can hit drones, helicopters, planes, and cruise missiles. The Romanian Army, which, starting from 2023, receives 2.5% of the GDP, will have 200 such missiles, worth 1 billion euros, with the delivery to be made gradually. (EE)

4 January 2024
February 19, 2023

ART Today on the National Day devoted
to Romania’s greatest sculptor, Constantin Brancusi, Romania’s Art Museum is
offering guided tours around a special gallery presenting his works of art. The
aforementioned gallery boasts the largest Brancusi collection in Romania
including works such as ‘The Sleep’, ‘Head of a Child’ ‘the Prayer’, or a
replica of the ‘Gate of the Kiss’. Children are invited to attend a workshop
entitled ‘Bird hidden in Stone’, a special event designed and staged by experts
from the Georges-Pompidou Centre in Paris. On this occasion, Romania’s Prime
Minister Nicolae Ciuca has conveyed a message, saying that through his works of
art, the great sculptor forged his own artistic identity revolutionizing sculpture
and has left behind a valuable heritage, which is impressive through its
universality at the same time bearing the hallmark of the simplicity and wisdom
of the Romanian peasant. Romania today celebrates 147 years since the birth of
this great artist.

CULTURE Today, on the last day of the
programme through which the city of Timisoara, in western Romania, has launched
its mandate of the European Capital of Culture, new artistic events are to take
place, including a spectacular Puppet Parade staged jointly by the European
capitals of culture in 2023. So puppeteers from Veszprem, Hungary jointly with
the artists of the Hungarian State Theatre ‘Csiki Gergely’ in Timisoara are presenting
the big puppets especially created for the official launch in Veszprem last
month. The cities of Timisoara in Western Romania and the Hungarian city of
Veszprem are sharing the title of the European Capital of Culture in 2023 with
the city of Elefsina in Greece. One of
the main highlights of last Saturday was the retrospective exhibition of the
great surrealist artist Victor Brauner housed by the Art Museum, which was also
a premiere for Romania. The inaugural programme also included a digital culture
festival as well as scientific experiments, light shows and ballet performances
in front of the Opera House in Timisoara.

MAE Romanian Foreign
Minister Bogdan Aurescu held talks with a delegation of the US Congress headed
by Mike Turner, chief of the House Intelligence Committee, on the sidelines of the
Security Conference in Munich on Saturday. During the talks he had with Mike
Turner, who is also co-chair of the Friendship Group with Romania, Aurescu
hailed the Congress’ support in the efforts to strengthen NATO’s Eastern Flank and
highlighted the importance of the US assistance in the transatlantic security,
including through the beefed-up military presence in Romania. The members of
the US delegation have highlighted the major role Romania plays among the US
allies. Mike Turner has thanked Minister Aurescu for the exceptional efforts
Romania made as part of the multidimensional support granted to Ukraine and for
its role as a leader in ensuring regional security.

HANDBALL Romanian
handball side SCM Ramnicu Valcea has qualified for the quarter finals of the
women’s competition EHF European League after a 28-26 win against Hungarian
side Praktiker-Vac in their last match in Group D. SCM has thus ended in the
second position after the group’s leader Thuringer of Germany. In the Champions
League, vice-champions CSM Bucharest have qualified for the quarters whereas
title holder Rapid Bucharest for the play-offs in the round of 16.

RALLY Over 100 thousand people took to
the streets of Israel on Saturday night to fight a plan to overhaul the
country’s court system that the justice minister says he is determined to carry
out. The Israelis have protested for seven weeks now against the legislation
that Netanyahu, his right-wing and religious allies hope to pass and which
would limit the Supreme Court’s powers to rule against the legislature and the
executive. The reforms would also give the government more influence over the
committee, which appoints the judges, including to the Supreme Court. According
to protesters, the plan will weaken the courts, endanger civil liberties and
harm the economy.

(bill)

19 February 2023
Ion Ratiu and the Rebirth of Romanian Democracy

Politician Ion Ratiu was one of the role models for Romanian society as it was beginning to rebuild democracy in 1990, after 45 years of communism. He was a descendant of a family that was instrumental in fighting for the national rights of Romanians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ion Ratiu had a considerable contribution to the improvement of the Romanian political climate after December 1989. He stood out by his signature bow tie, by his supremely polite way of expressing himself, and the slight English accent he had when speaking Romanian. Ratiu was one of the most important democratic Romanian politicians after 1990, one who had previously militated against both the Fascist and Communist dictatorships. Upon his return to Romania in 1990, he was instrumental in rebuilding the Christian-Democratic National Peasant Party, and got deeply involved in rebuilding a democratic climate.

Ion Ratiu was born to a family of intellectuals on June 6, 1917, in Turda, in what is now western Romania. He had a degree in law from Cluj, and one in economy from Cambridge. He was active in the youth organization of the National Peasant Party. In 1940 he was appointed as a diplomat with the Foreign Ministry, and was sent to London right away, in February of that year, before the fall of France. After France was occupied, a country which used to be one of Romanias most important allies, Ratiu continued to work at the Romanian legation to the UK until early September 1940, when power in Romania was grabbed by General Antonescu and the Iron Guard. As an anglophile and francophile, Ratiu refused to accept his countrys joining the alliance with Nazi Germany.

In 1985, in an interview with Radio Free Europe for the Romanian Current Events feature, preserved in the archives of the Center for Oral History by Radio Romania, Ion Ratiu described how he got to remain in the UK:

“After King Carol II departed, and the Legionnaire state was set up, I resigned, in September 1940. I went to the British Foreign Secretary and asked for political asylum, which they granted me right away. I had the great luck to get a scholarship at Cambridge, and I studied there for three years and got a Master of Arts degree in economic sciences. While I was at Cambridge I made several radio broadcasts on patriotic topics with regard to Transylvania, especially after Northern Transylvania got taken away in 1940, and I was active in student life in the association of Romanian students in Great Britain.”

Ion Ratiu got involved in the propaganda to get Romania out of the Axis and have it join the Allied side. He deeply wished for CEE, Romania included, to remain under the influence of Western democracies after the end of the war:

“I worked on the International Student Council, where they made me vice-president during the war, and in the World Youth Executive Committee. Because we were all concerned about the future of Europe after the war, as exiles in England, we set up an organization we called Central East European Students for a New Society. Also, even though I was young, I was co-opted into the movement of free Romanians who opposed Romanias falling in line with Nazi Germany policy, and who said that Romanias place was next to the great democratic powers in the West who had created Greater Romania. During that time I wrote articles, I held conferences, and I spoke on the radio, as I said, at the BBC, of course.”

As the prosperous businessman he became, Ion Ratiu did not watch passively from afar as Romania was being turned communist. He set up an anti-Communist organization, the World Union of Free Romanians, and printed democratic leaning publications, such as The Free Romanian, one of the most influential publications for Romanian exiles. In 1985, Ion Ratiu was convinced that only the unity of all Romanians could make democracy return. The organization welcomed all who wanted to help in the effort of restoring democracy:

“In 1980, together with Professor Brutus Coste from America, we launched an appeal telling everyone that it would be the time to do something for this country to be represented in a dignified manner in the West. Until 1975 we had had the Romanian National Committee, which ceased its activities that year. We believed that this struggle needs to continue, and so we launched the appeal and we set up in 1984. We said from the beginning that this cannot be done around parties, we said that all Romanians who want to make an effort for the national cause should join us, irrespective of party, past or present. This did not mean that parties should not function. Quite the opposite, parties have to function, because there is no democracy without parties.”

On January 3, 1990, the National Salvation Front issued a law decree on the creation and official registration of political parties in Romania. This act meant the renaissance of political parties and political pluralism in Romania, after 45 years of absence. Returning to Romania in 1990, right after the decree was issued, Ion Ratiu continued to display the same firm democratic beliefs, as a true moral compass. He passed away in London on January 17, 2000, and, as per his wishes, was laid to rest in his native Romanian town of Turda.

27 January 2020
NATO, increased involvement in the Middle East

The worsening of the security situation in the Middle East is mainly affecting the stability of Iraq, of the entire region and also of the world. And the rising tension in the region is not benefiting anyone. Now that tensions seem to have calmed a little bit, it’s high time the international community acted to consolidate peace in the region. This is what the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told a press conference on Thursday in Bucharest when he referred to the latest developments in the Middle East. Fortunately, Klaus Iohannis said, Romania’s interests have not been affected so far, in the sense that the security of the Romanian citizens and of the Romanian troops in Iraq has not been affected.

Early this week, the authorities had announced that the 14 Romanian soldiers deployed in Iraq were relocated, and that they were safe and sound, just like the 180 Romanian civilians in the Iraqi region of Erbil which was hit by Iranian missiles. According to President Iohannis, Bucharest is cooperating with its partners within the EU and NATO and with its strategic partners at bilateral level, mainly with the US, for tension in the Middle East to deescalate.

Klaus Iohannis: “Romania supports the unity, independence, sovereignty and integrity of the Iraqi territory. Along the years Romania has had an important contribution to the efforts of stabilizing and reconstructing this country as part of collective international actions. This process needs to continue first and foremost to the benefit of the Iraqi citizens and to avoid wasting substantial effort in this regard. Our common fight — of the international partners and of the Iraqi institutions and citizens — against terrorism needs to continue firmly. Nobody needs new conflict hotspots, we need to boost efforts to bring peace to the region and provide the security and safety necessary for reconstruction.”

An increased NATO involvement in the Middle East, as the US President Donald Trump has proposed, would be, according to President Iohannis, opportune in terms of the region’s security and reconstruction, and Romania is interested in contributing. Actually, NATO is currently looking into ways to respond to the proposal made by President Trump to get more involved in the Middle East, as announced by the Alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The latter had talks on Thursday in Brussels with the Romanian PM Ludovic Orban and thanked Romania for its contribution to the NATO mission of training the Iraqi troops.

Romania plays a key role within NATO and has an essential contribution in providing security in the Black Sea region and not only — Jens Stoltenberg went on to say. He also talked about the need to invest in defense and reminded that Bucharest had already allotted 2% of the GDP for defense purposes. Jens Stoltenberg concluded that he counted on Romania and the other allies to carry on with the same determination, and received assurances from the Romanian PM that Romania would support the Alliance in reaching its targets. (translation by L. Simion)

10 January 2020
27.08.2013

Syrie – Dans le dossier syrien, la Roumanie est solidaire avec ses alliés, a déclaré le président roumain, Traian Basescu, lors de la Réunion annuelle de la diplomatie roumaine, à Bucarest. La Roumanie a déjà élaboré ses propres études visant l’utilisation des armes chimiques en Syrie, mais elle ne rendra pas publique sa position avant que les experts des Nations Unies ne se prononcent, a indiqué le chef de l’Etat roumain. Une dizaine de milliers de Roumains vivent actuellement dans ce pays, a encore dit Traian Basescu.

Dans le même temps, le ministre roumain des Affaires étrangères, Titus Corlatean, a lui aussi fait part de la préoccupation de Bucarest face à la détérioration de la situation en Syrie, soulignant qu’il était essentiel que la mission de l’ONU puisse finaliser aussi vite que possible son enquête sur l’utilisation des gaz toxiques. Bucarest condamne toute action qui porte atteinte aux droits fondamentaux de l’être humain, a conclu le chef de la diplomatie roumaine.

Gazoduc – Le lancement des travaux de construction du gazoduc Iasi-Ungheni, reliant la Roumanie et la République de Moldova, représente un moment remarquable dans la coopération entre les deux Etats et l’UE. C’est ce qu’a déclaré mardi, le premier ministre moldave, Iurie Leanca, lors de l’inauguration du chantier. Présent à l’événement, le commissaire européen à l’Energie, Gunther Oettinger, a estimé que ce gazoduc revêtait une importance stratégique pour les deux pays. Le chef du gouvernement de Bucarest, Victor Ponta, a également été présent à la cérémonie. Antérieurement, le premier ministre roumain avait félicité les citoyens moldaves à l’occasion du 22e anniversaire de la déclaration d’indépendance vis-à-vis de l’Union Soviétique.

Visite – Le ministre roumain de l’Economie, Varujan Vosganian, fait ce mardi une visite officielle à Kiev. Il y est accompagné par une délégation gouvernementale. La visite est destinée à reprendre les négociations avec la partie ukrainienne en vue de la récupération par la Roumanie des dépenses dans le cadre de sa participation à la construction du Combinat d’enrichissement des minerais acides de Krivoï Rog. Le montant est estimé à un milliard de dollars. Les travaux de construction de l’usine de Krivoï Rog ont démarré en 1983, à l’époque de l’Union Soviétique. Y ont pris part la République Démocratique Allemande, la Tchécoslovaquie, la Bulgarie et la Roumanie. En 1990 , les travaux, achevés à hauteur de 70%, ont été arrêtés, l’investissement étant gelé en 1998 jusqu’à l’identification d’une solution.

Economie – Le président roumain, Traian Basescu, s’est dit préoccupé par la hausse du chômage et la baisse accentuée des investissements étrangers directs. Selon le chef de l’Etat, qui s’appuyait sur les données fournies par l’Institut National de la Statistique, au mois de juin la Roumanie affichait un taux de chômage de 7,6%, en hausse de près de 1% par rapport à la même période de l’année précédente, alors qu’au premier semestre 2013, les investissements étrangers directs ont reculé d’environ 20%. Le président roumain a appelé dans ce contexte le gouvernement de centre-gauche au pouvoir à Bucarest à stimuler les investissements publics et à attirer les fonds européens.

Enquête — Les experts de l’ONU poursuivent ce mardi l’enquête sur une possible utilisation d’armes chimiques en Syrie, lors d’une attaque la semaine dernière près de Damas. Les experts ont recueilli des échantillons sur le site de l’attaque ainsi que des témoignages des médecins ayant pris en charge les victimes dans un centre de la Croix Rouge syrienne. L’opposition et les Etats occidentaux accusent l’armée syrienne d’avoir tué des centaines de civils dans cette attaque. Le secrétaire d’Etat américain, John Kerry, a déclaré que les Etats–Unis disposaient de preuves attestant l’utilisation des armes chimiques par l’armée syrienne, mais que le régime de Damas avait détruit ces preuves. Le ministère russe des Affaires étrangères a appelé mardi les Etats-Unis et la communauté internationale à la « prudence » en Syrie, soulignant quune intervention militaire aurait des conséquences « catastrophiques » pour les pays du Moyen Orient et de lAfrique du Nord. A Bucarest, le ministère des Affaires étrangères a fermement condamné toute utilisation présumée d’armes chimiques par les parties impliquées dans le conflit en Syrie.

27 August 2013