Radio România Internațional

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  • September 23, 2024 UPDATE

    September 23, 2024 UPDATE

    BUDGET The government in Bucharest on Monday endorsed the first budget adjustment this year. The new positive adjustment will be bringing the GDP deficit up to 6.9%, even though the Finance Ministry also forecasts income raises. The money will be mainly used for co-funding investment projects and also for pay rises approved amid a series of protests this year. According to Prime Minister Ciolacu, Europe’s developed countries, Germany and France, supported investment concurrently with the rising budget deficit. Ciolacu described this raise as sustainable, given that 8.5 lei out of 10 will be used for funding motorways, hospitals, schools, gas and water distribution networks and other objectives of local interest. Ciolacu went on to say that the invested sums would be returned eightfold to the budget as it happened in the case of the motorways built.

     

    FUNDS Romania is to receive 21.6 million Euros from the European Commission for the farmers who incurred losses from the bad weather this summer. The decision was made at the AgriFish Council, which takes place in Brussels and where Romania is being represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu. The European Executive has proposed the allotment of 120 million Euros out of its agriculture reserve in order to directly support farmers from Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia and Italy. According to Barbu, it’s for the first time when farmers get compensations in the same year with the calamities. Data released by the Agriculture Ministry in Bucharest says that over 16 thousand farmers have applied for investigations and the assessment of their destroyed crops. Minister Barbu says that roughly 2 million hectares of corn and sunflower crops have been affected by the extreme weather in Romania plus 100 thousand hectares of autumn crops like wheat and rape.

     

    UN President Klaus Iohannis will be heading Romania’s delegation at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly taking place in New York on the 24th and 25th September. The main theme is “Unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone everywhere”. According to a statement from the Romanian president’s office, Klaus Iohannis will give an address on Wednesday, in which he will call for maintaining multilateral dialogue, especially in a UN format, as an essential element of regional and global security. He is also expected to highlight his country’s efforts and contribution, at all levels, to finding solutions to current global challenges, from security crises like the war in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East, to major challenges facing the world, including the climate emergency and cyber threats.

     

    HANDBALL The Romanian women’s handball vice-champions CS Rapid Bucharest lost 37-29 to the German side HB Ludwigsburg at home on Sunday evening, in a Champions League Group B match. Rapid will next play Team Esbjerg away on 6th October. The Romanian side are in 4th place in their group, with 3 points in 3 matches. Previously, the Romanian champions CSM Bucharest defeated the Croatian side RK Podravka Vegeta Koprivnica 29-28 away, while CS Gloria Bistriţa-Năsăud lost at home to the Slovenian side Krim Mercator Ljubljana 30-35. CSM have four points in three matches played, and Gloria two points. The latter will play their next match away against FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria on 5th October, while CSM will face the Danish side Nykobing Falster Handbold at home on 6th October.

     

    ELECTIONS The Romanian foreign ministry has published a guide for postal voting ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections this year. The voter registration deadline for Romanian citizens with their domicile or residence abroad is 10th October for the presidential elections and 17th October for the parliamentary elections. Registration is made by filling in an online form available at votstrăinătate.ro, a website managed by the Permanent Electoral Authority.

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  • The Year 1918 and the New Romania

    The Year 1918 and the New Romania

    In order to understand the changes
    in borders and state structures that the year 1918 brought to the map of
    Europe, two realities, one physical and the other utopian, must be considered.
    The first was that of World War I, with over 20 million military and civilian
    deaths and approximately 23 million wounded. The two opposing military blocs,
    the Entente, consisting of France, Great Britain, Russia, Japan, Italy, and the
    United States, and the Central Power bloc, consisting of Germany,
    Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, engaged in an unprecedented struggle to
    fulfill their interests. The Great War, as it was called, was the
    one that decided the new frontiers, like almost any war in modern history. The
    second reality, the utopian one, was also experienced during the war, but one
    against it, namely the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Lenin’s great victory
    strongly motivated all those who wanted the profound change of the world, not
    just the borders, and who believed that the time had come to build a better
    world on the ruins of the old one.




    Romania paid a heavy tribute in
    blood during the years of the Great War. Although it entered the conflict in
    1916, two years after its beginning, Romanians paid a heavy toll. Estimates of
    Romanian human sacrifices, in percentages, stand between 7.5 and 9% of the
    entire population, i.e. between 580,000 and 665,000 dead, half due to the
    epidemic of exanthematic typhus. The sacrifice was rewarded with the union of
    the provinces of Bessarabia, on March 27, 1918, Bucovina, on November 28, 1918,
    Banat, Maramureș and Transylvania, on December 1, 1918, with the Kingdom of
    Romania. It was the price paid by all Romanians, and the King and Queen of
    Romania, Ferdinand and Maria, as well as the Romanian political class rose to
    the occasion, as the historian Ioan Scurtu says:


    Ion I. C. Brătianu, the
    president of the National Liberal Party, was involved in the events and had an
    important role in the realization of the Great Union. Both the Bessarabians,
    the Bukovinians and the Transylvanians came to Iasi with emissaries, before the
    proclamation of the Union, they discussed with King Ferdinand and Ion I. C.
    Brătianu and other politicians regarding the ways to proceed in the
    mobilization for the union. Brătianu led the Romanian delegation to the Paris
    Peace Conference and there he met with the great politicians of the time, from
    American President Wilson to the Prime Minister of Great Britain. King
    Ferdinand was German, he had been an officer in the German army. When, in the Crown Council, the
    opinion was voiced, for Romania to take sides in the war against his own country,
    against his family, his was a deed of personal sacrifice and at once an act of
    great importance for Romania. Queen Marie was, right from the start, an
    advocate of Romania taking sides with the Entente, in the war. She was English
    by birth and played a crucial role, talking King Ferdinand into making that
    personal sacrifice for the greater good of the Romanian people. All along, the
    king and the queen permanently stood with the Romanians, with the army, with the
    main political leaders.


    On the day of December 1st,
    1918, the National Assembly of the Romanians from Transylvania was summoned in
    Alba Iulia. The Great National Romanian Assembly, a representative body having
    the role of legislative power, called for 1,228 delegates to convene, with
    the purpose of composing the resolution of annexation of then the Kingdom of
    Romania. Jointly with the National Romanian Council, holding the executive
    position, the Great National Assembly ruled that they could not possible have a new beginning unless the universal suffrage was implemented. The time had come for the
    Romanians to fully use their right for universal suffrage, a system of voting that
    generated the largest electoral representation. It was a voting system for
    which the Romanian parties and the national organizations in Transylvania had
    been taking affirmative action beginning 1881.


    The voting that sealed
    Transylvania’s union with Romania was a voting of the national will. However,
    it was also an emergency voting. The end of World War One had sparked the
    transformative utopias. According to historian and political science pundit
    Daniel Barbu, the democratic practice of the universal suffrage must be seen
    through the eyes of those who back then were witnessing the Bolshevik
    revolutions and the anarchy that was taking shape, after four years of war.


    Were
    the participants in the Alba Iulia Assembly democrats, or at least those who actually composed the
    resolution and proposed it to the grassroots acclamation? They were, by all
    means, Romanian patriots. They were people with a long-standing parliamentary
    experience, they possessed the science and practice of politics. What would
    happen on December 6? The Romanian army occupied Transylvania. It was extremely
    instrumental in the demarcation of borders, furthermore, it once again restored
    peace around the country. The testimonies of that are very clear. Ion Lapedatu,
    in his memoirs, in the pages of the diary he wrote those very days, actually mentioned the villages were stirring. When we speak about the Soviet commune what we have in mind are Budapest and the Hungary
    beyond Tisa alone. Yet the whole Europe, England included, was galvanized by a
    revolutionary throb.


    Greater Romania
    was formed in the year 1918, as the outcome of Romanians’ will and against an auspicious
    international backdrop. And in the New Romania, all those people found their
    place, who thought the new Romania met their expectations.

  • September 21, 2023

    September 21, 2023

    ACCIDENT A
    criminal investigation was initiated with respect to the blast that occurred last
    night on a gas pipeline on the Moldova Motorway construction site in eastern
    Romania, in which four people died and 5 others were injured. Two men with burn
    wounds affecting 30% and 40% of their bodies, respectively, were transferred to hospitals in
    Bucharest. Prosecutors are investigating manslaughter and bodily harm offences,
    as well as failure to take or observe work safety measures. According to the
    Vrancea Emergency Inspectorate, the blast was caused by the construction works
    conducted in the vicinity of the pipeline, which was also carrying natural gas
    to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova.


    TAXES The
    Cabinet had a first discussion on the set of measures aimed at the long-term
    rebalancing of the state budget and at facilitating the absorption of tens of
    billions in EU funding. Apart from cutting down public
    spending, the bill focuses on fighting tax evasion, introduces taxes on large
    profits and wealth, and eliminates tax privileges. Ahead of the Cabinet meeting,
    the measures were discussed in the three-party Social Dialogue Council, which
    brings together government officials and representatives of employer
    associations and trade unions.


    UN The wider
    Black Sea area must be protected against the effects of Russia’s war against
    Ukraine, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said in his address at the UN
    General Assembly in New York. The Romanian official added that his country
    would not let down its most vulnerable partners, and mentioned the transit of
    Ukrainian grain via Romania, a topic he also approached in talks with the
    president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of the European
    Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister, Mariya
    Gabriel. President Iohannis also said Romania was concerned with the effects of
    climate change, of pollution, of energy insecurity, and is making visible
    efforts to fight them. According to him, climate education is a priority for
    Romania, and the climate-security interconnection should rank higher on the UN
    agenda. Stay tuned for more details on the Romanian president’s address at the
    UN after the news.


    WHEAT Egypt’s General
    Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) announced having purchased 120,000
    tonnes of wheat from Romania in an international purchasing tender, Reuters
    reports. GASC also said that since early June Cairo has imported approx. 2.14
    million tonnes of wheat, mainly from Russia (1.5 million tonnes) and Romania
    (420,000 tonnes). Egypt is the world’s largest wheat buyer, mainly for its
    national bread subsidy programme benefiting more than 70 million of its 103
    million citizens.


    BUCHAREST The
    Romanian capital city is celebrating these days 564 years since its first
    mention in official documents. Maps, plans, archive images and 3-dimensional
    scale models showcasing the 19th Century history of the city are
    displayed in an exhibition opened until Sunday at the ARCUB Cultural Centre. On
    Saturday, around 200 arts high school students will dance in front of the
    National History Museum of Romania, and the music of old-time Bucharest will be
    performed in the George Enescu Festival Square in front of the Romanian
    Athenaeum. (AMP)

  • September 22, 2021

    September 22, 2021

    INVESTIGATION
    Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors are looking into the procurement of
    anti-Covid vaccines, amid suspicions of abuse of office and obtaining undue
    benefits. Nobody is officially under charges as yet. The incumbent finance
    minister Dan Vîlceanu says he has no information regarding the procurement of
    anti-Covid vaccine outside the mechanism created by the European Commission and
    for prices negotiated at EU level. The former health minister Vlad Voiculescu
    claims however that based on the decision of PM Florin Cîțu, Romania ordered
    too many doses and was subsequently forced to sell or donate some of them. W






    COVID-19 7,045 new COVID-19 cases out of 54,000
    tests were reported in Romania on Wednesday. This is the highest daily figure
    this year. Also, 130 Covid patients died in the past 24 hours, and over 1,000
    people are in intensive care. The capital city Bucharest and 3 counties in
    Romania are in the red zone after reporting infection rates of over 3 per
    thousand. In places with infection rates between 3 and 6 per thousand,
    participation in indoor events is conditional on the green certificate. The
    Romanian Physicians College calls on citizens to understand the impact and
    consequences that the novel coronavirus infection may have, and urges the
    authorities to find fair and immediately applicable solutions to contain the
    disease. The college also warned that a high infection rate means increased
    pressure on hospitals, and supports the opinion of scientists around the world
    who say vaccination is one of the most efficient and readily accessible
    instruments to fight this pandemic.






    UN
    While in New York, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis addressed
    the heads of state and government of the over 100 countries attending the annual
    meeting of the UN General Assembly. In his speech, the Romanian official
    emphasized the importance of an international order based on rules. Klaus
    Iohannis is also scheduled to take part in a global summit aimed at
    coordinating the international response to the pandemic, organized by the US
    president Joe Biden, and in a meeting with representatives of Jewish
    organisations in the US.


    GOVERNMENT The Romanian government may pass today a
    programme entitled Caring for children. The short-term goal of the programme
    is to ensure psychological and emotional protection for children during the
    pandemic and post-pandemic period, and the long-term goal is related to a
    mechanism to protect children from physical, sexual and emotional violence both
    within families, society and online. The Cabinet is also discussing today the
    reorganisation of the Prime Minister’s control corps.






    INSURANCE At the request of the City Insurance
    shareholders, Romanian prosecutors will investigate the management of this
    insurance company. The shareholders filed a criminal complaint with the
    Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, and accuse the City
    Insurance employees in Romania of forming an organised crime group, fraud and
    embezzlement. Other criminal complaints, filed by the Financial Supervising
    Authority right before requesting the bankruptcy of City Insurance, may lead to
    investigations by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. Meanwhile, the
    Government may pass today an emergency order stepping up the payment of car
    insurance claims before the company is declared bankrupt.






    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan
    Aurescu is hosting today in New York the 10th ministerial conference
    of the Community of Democracies, on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly.
    The conference brings together foreign ministers and other top-level officials
    of CoD member states and civil society representatives, to discuss the current
    challenges and opportunities facing democracy. The event is titled Democracy
    and resilience: shared goals.ˮ






    FESTIVAL The 25th George Enescu International Music Festival
    continues in Romania. This edition brought together a total of 3,500 Romanian and foreign musicians, performing in
    Bucharest, Sibiu, Iaşi, Timişoara and Constanţa. Radio Romania is a co-producer
    of the festival, alongside the Romanian Television Corporation. (tr. A.M. Popescu)



  • September 20, 2021 UPDATE

    September 20, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The COVID certificate has become mandatory
    in Romania as of Monday for participants in various indoor events in all areas with
    an infection rate between 3 and 6 per thousand. The green pass proves the
    holder has been fully vaccinated, recovered from the disease or tested
    negative, and grants access to indoor events like theatre and cinema shows,
    sporting competitions, weddings or baptism ceremonies. Children under 6 are
    exempt. Authorities in Bucharest Monday announced 3,342 new infections out of
    over 21,000 tests conducted. 78 new Covid-related fatalities were also reported,
    while 952 patients are presently in ICUs. Over 100 towns and villages in
    Romania have infection rates of over 3 per thousand. Only 19 beds are currently
    available nation-wide for COVID patients, except for those set aside for people
    with certain medical conditions and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. According
    to the Strategic Communication Group, the capital city Bucharest has no more
    beds available at the moment.










    DRILL As of Monday, almost
    400 troops from Romania, Portugal and Poland with over 65 pieces of military
    equipment are participating in a drill called Green Scorpions 21.3 hosted by
    the National Training Centre ‘Getica’ close to Brasov, in central Romania.
    According to sources with the Defence Ministry, the drill’s main goal is the
    joint training of troops, raising the level of interoperability between NATO
    members as well as the setting up of some joint battle techniques, tactics and
    procedures for the successful accomplishment of missions. The command is
    provided by infantry battalion 22 jointly with Portuguese and Polish detachments.






    ELECTION The Foreign
    Ministry in Bucharest has announced it does not recognize the legitimacy of the
    election for the Russian Parliament held in the annexed region of Crimea. The
    Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated its support for the
    sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring Ukraine, recalling that
    Romania does not recognize the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of
    Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by Moscow. Bucharest also notes with regret
    that Russia has opened polling stations in Transdniester against the will of
    the constitutional authorities in Chisinau, a fact that runs against the
    sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova. According to
    the Central Electoral Commission, president Putin’s party, United Russia, is
    preserving its majority in the State Duma following the parliamentary election
    held for three days. United Russia got around 50% of the votes, but this
    accounts for over 300 of the 450 seats in Russia’s parliament, allowing the
    party to pass laws and implement reforms with no support from other political
    forces. Second came the Communist Party with some 19% of the votes. The
    nationalist LDPR party and the Fair Russia party also got into parliament,
    alongside a new party called New People, seen by some as a Kremlin project
    designed to divide Putin’s opponents.











    MEETING The
    Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, and the country’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan
    Aurescu Monday attended the 76th session of the UN General Assembly
    in New York. For the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the
    event has been attended in person by heads of state and governments of UN
    countries. Romania’s participation at the highest level in the UN sessions
    reconfirms Bucharest’s support for pragmatic and effective multilateral
    diplomacy as a landmark of Romania’s foreign policy, as well as the Romanian
    contribution to international and UN activities. On the sidelines of the event
    in New York, the country’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu will be attending a
    number of multilateral meetings. According to the Foreign Ministry in
    Bucharest, special attention will be paid to bilateral meetings with
    counterparts from countries in the Caucasus, Central, East and South Asia, the
    Middle East, Africa and the Pacific area. (tr. A.M. Popescu, D. Bilt)

  • September 26, 2019

    September 26, 2019

    TALKS The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis had a short meeting in New York on Wednesday with his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon, on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly. President Klaus Iohannis emphasised during the talks that in Romanias view, the Republic of Moldovas European accession efforts, firmly supported by Bucharest, are the only way to ensure the prosperity of the Moldovan citizens. In turn, Igor Dodon emphasised that he supports the strategic partnership between Romania and Moldova, and added that Moldovas European accession remains a priority. The Romanian President also had a meeting with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The latter thanked Romania for supporting his countrys European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. Volodymyr Zelensky and Klaus Iohannis also discussed cooperation opportunities in the economic and energy fields, as well as bilateral business relations.




    CoD Romania is taking over the 2-year presidency of the Governing Council of the Community of Democracies, the Foreign Ministry announced. On this occasion, Foreign Minister Ramona Mănescu is taking part in New York today in an extraordinary meeting of this body. The Community of Democracies is a global inter-governmental structure aimed at promoting sustainable development, universal access to justice and efficient, responsible and inclusive institutions at all levels. Romania is one of the 106 UN member states that have signed the Warsaw Declaration, on whose principles the Community of Democracies has been founded.




    HEARING The candidacy of the Romanian Social Democrat Rovana Plumb for the post of European Commissioner for Transport was rejected on Thursday by the European Parliaments judicial committee, political sources in Brussels announced. Only 6 MEPs voted in her favour, 15 voted against and 2 abstained from voting. Without the approval of the judicial committee, the hearing in the Transport Committee cannot be held. The European Parliaments judicial committee had invited Rovana Plumb and Lazslo Trocsanyi, the European Commissioner nominated by Hungary, to a special hearing. Plumb was asked to clarify controversial aspects in her declaration of assets, related to a loan taken out in order to fund an election campaign.




    AMBASSADOR Lawyer Adrian Zuckermans nomination as US ambassador to Romania has been approved by the Foreign Relations Committee in the US Senate. According to the White House, Zuckerman immigrated to the US from Romania at the age of 10, and is fluent in Romanian. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1984, and was a partner in an international law firm. He was previously an arbitrator for the Real Estate Board of New York. He received his undergraduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his law degree from New York Law School.




    UNEMPLOYMENT In Romania, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in the second quarter of the year, with the highest rate (15%) reported among youth 15 to 24 years of age, the National Statistics Institute reports. The data also indicates that unemployed men outnumber the women, and that unemployment is higher in rural communities. During the same period, the employment rate in the 15-66 age bracket was slightly over 66%, up since the previous quarter. Moreover, the employment rate for citizens aged between 20 and 64 was 71.6%, higher than the 70% national target set in the Europa 2020 Strategy. Romanias active population was 9.1 million people, of whom 8.8 million were employed in the second quarter of this year.




    HANDBALL Romanias womens handball team Wednesday night defeated Ukraine, at home, 27-24, in the first match in Group 7 of the 2020 European Championships qualifiers. On Sunday the Romanians will play against Faroe Islands away from home. Group 7 also includes Poland, and the 2 top-ranking teams will qualify in the final tournament. Romanias national team came in 4th in the previous European Championships, losing the bronze medal to the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Romanias champions Dinamo Bucharest won 35-28 against Danish vice-champions GOG Gudme, in Group D of the Champions League. Romania tops the group ranking, having outplayed the Swedish team IFK Kristianstad in Bucharest and drawn against the Swiss side Kadetten Schaffhausen, away from home. Dinamo will play next against Cehovskye Medvedy on October 12, in Russia.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • President Iohannis at the United Nations

    President Iohannis at the United Nations

    Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who delivered a speech on Wednesday at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York, said that the United Nations needs consolidation and increased effectiveness, in order to cope with the present challenges. People around the globe are suffering the brutal effects of war, poverty, inequity and injustice, and tensions related to cultural identity and religion are affecting even the traditionally open and tolerant societies. Moreover, terror attacks make people feel unsafe, while increasingly destructive natural hazards are reported each season.



    Under these circumstances, President Iohannis said, achieving and preserving peace requires not only a quick and adequate reaction of the heads of state and government, but also an understanding of the roots and the causes of conflicts and insecurity, which rarely stem from one source alone. Romania, he said, hails the reform of the UN mechanisms for fighting terrorism and the organizations steps towards making the fight against terror a key element of its prevention agenda. As no country can fight this plague alone, Iohannis went on to say, Romania reaffirms its firm commitment to setting up, alongside Spain, an International Court Against Terrorism.



    Talking about the ongoing conflicts in Romanias vicinity, which are a threat to the security of the Black Sea region, Iohannis emphasized the importance of regional cooperation and of confidence building measures. Bucharest expects an enhanced contribution of the UN to the global efforts in the field of international migration.



    Also, according to President Iohannis, by focusing on education and ensuring prosperity for their people, world leaders can prevent instability and crises. Although some believe that the UN has not been very good at managing the multitude of new crises that have emerged, it is clear that there is no better way of finding viable solutions to current world challenges than the multilateral approach. With that in mind, the UN needs some vital instruments in order to be effective, while member states need to commit themselves more to the organization.



    In this respect, President Iohannis voiced Romanias willingness to contribute substantially to the activity of the UN Security Council, by taking over a new non-permanent member seat in 2020-2021, should its candidacy end successfully.


    (translated by: Elena Enache)