Radio România Internațional

Tag: Boeing

  • Tarife pentru produse americane în valoare de 4 miliarde de dolari

    Tarife pentru produse americane în valoare de 4 miliarde de dolari

    Într-un raport de 137 de pagini, Organizaţia Mondială a Comerţului a ajuns la concluzia că natura efectelor nefavorabile, care au legătură cu subvenţiile acordate constructorului american de avioane, se ridică la aproape 4 miliarde de dolari şi, în consecinţă, Bruxelles-ul nu poate solicita contramăsuri care să depăşească această sumă.
    Decizia, publicată cu întârziere din cauza pandemiei de COVID-19, vine după o altă rezoluţie adoptată de OMC anul trecut, când Statele Unite au obţinut aprobarea sa pentru a impune tarife vamale suplimentare pentru produse europene în valoare de 7 miliarde şi jumătate de dolari, din cauza subvenţiilor ilegale acordate de Uniunea Europeană grupului aeronautic Airbus.

    Cu doar trei săptămâni înainte de alegerile prezidenţiale din Statele Unite, ultima decizie a OMC ar putea relansa tensiunile comerciale între Washington şi Bruxelles sau, dimpotrivă, ar putea da negociatorilor ambelor părţi şansa de a închide un litigiu care durează de 16 ani.

    Comisia Europeană a anunţat că ar prefera o soluţie negociată, dar a avertizat că în lipsa unei astfel de soluţii va impune tarife vamale suplimentare. Executivul comunitar a pus deja la punct o listă de produse americane care ar putea fi vizate de noile tarife: avioane, vinuri, băuturi spirtoase, tractoare, peşte congelat sau suc de portocale congelat.

    Cel mai devreme când Uniunea Europeană va putea impune noile tarife este după o reuniune a OMC din 26 octombrie, însă puţini analişti se aşteaptă ca blocul comunitar să facă acest lucru înaintea alegerilor prezidenţiale din Statele Unite.

    Reuters aminteşte că OMC este, de peste 10 ani, arbitrul disputei dintre Boeing şi Airbus, cu privire la subvenţiile acordate de Statele Unite şi Uniunea Europeană pentru industria lor aeronautică.

    Ultima decizie a OMC vine într-un moment în care cei doi mari producători mondiali de avioane se confruntă cu o scădere fără precedent a comenzilor din cauza coronavirusului. Airbus şi-a redus producţia lunară cu o treime, iar Boeing intenţionează să renunţe la peste 10% din forţa de muncă.


  • March 12, 2019

    March 12, 2019

    GAC Bucharest is hosting today an informal meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC), organised by the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU. Taking part are the EU ministers for European affairs, the first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, and the European Commissioner for Budget, Gunther Oettinger. The informal meeting will include talks on the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and on the future of the EU, with an emphasis on the priorities that should guide the activity of the European bloc in the coming 5 years, ahead of Unions new strategic agenda. As for the financial framework, the goal of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU is to carry on talks at a dynamic pace, in order to ensure that a political agreement on this topic is reached this autumn.




    ECOFIN The Romanian Finance Minister, Eugen Teodorovici, is chairing today the 3rd meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in Brussels. The agenda includes topics like the Directive on alcohol excises, one on the general regime of excise duties, and the taxation of digital services. On Monday the Romanian official took part in an enlarged Eurogrup meeting and chaired the high-level talks on Macroeconomic Dialogue. According to the ECOFIN home page, the main topics were an information by the European Commission on the main findings of the 2nd enhanced surveillance mission to Greece, a thematic discussion on economic growth and employment, the housing markets and Latvias updated draft budget plan.




    BUDGET The 2019 state budget bill, sent by President Klaus Iohannis back to Parliament, might be subject to a new vote on Wednesday, in a joint meeting of the 2 chambers of Parliament. Meanwhile, Klaus Iohannis has signed into law the social security budget bill, so that pensioners may not be affected by what he called the incompetence of the Social Democratic Party. According to the President, the main ruling party in Romania is the only one to blame for the fact that the country does not have a state budget law yet, because the Government was supposed to send the bill to Parliament in November 2018, instead of 3 months later.




    PLANE CRASH The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis has today sent a condolence message to his Ethiopian counterpart, Sahle-Work Zewde, following the tragic plane crash of March 10. Also, given that over 20 UN staff died in the disaster, the Romanian official also addressed a condolence message to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. The UN flag was flown at half-mast in New York today, and the Security Council personnel in the city, as well as at the Geneva headquarters, observed a minutes silence. A Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines and heading for Nairobi (Kenya) from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) went down on Sunday, killing all the 157 people from 30 countries who were on board. This was a new blow for Boeing, after a similar accident in October 2018, off the Indonesian coast, involving the same aircraft model. The planes were new and both crashed just minutes into the flight.




    AFRICA Deputy PM Ana Birchall was on a working visit to African countries between March 4 and 11, to further the Governments efforts to revitalise relations with sub-Saharan African countries. On March 11, the Romanian official represented the presidency of the Council of the EU at the EU – Angola ministerial meeting held in Luanda. Between March 7 and 9, Ana Birchall made a working visit to Namibia, to promote bilateral relations and inaugurate the Romanian honorary consulate in Windhoek. On March 4-6 Ana Birchall was in South Africa, to promote Romanias candidacy to a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council.




    INTERNET Romania ranked 5th in the world in 2018, in terms of internet connection speed, after Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, but apart from benefits this also entails cyber-security risks. The statement was made on Tuesday by the former deputy director of the National Cyberint Centre in the Romanian Intelligence Service, Gabriel Mazilu, in a specialised forum. He mentioned that 2019 is an important year for Romania in the field of cyber-security, with the endorsement of Law 362/2018, transposing the EUs NIS (Networking Information Security) Directive. According to a survey made in 9 countries, including Romania, and released in mid-February, 40% of citizens are worried about a cyber-attack on the country. The highest concern level was reported in Spain, 47%, and Italy (39%).




    BREXIT The British PM Theresa May has asked for Parliament support for the Brexit agreement in a vote scheduled for today. On Monday in Strasbourg she announced a last-minute compromise with the head of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, designed to assure the British MPs that the UK will not remain tied to the single market indefinitely. This is the second vote on the Brexit deal in the British Parliament, and president Juncker warned that there will not be a third. Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29.




    TENNIS The Romanian Simona Halep, number 2 in the world, is playing today against the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (61 WTA) in the round of last 16 of the Indian Wells tournament (USA). If she wins and in case the Japanese Naomi Osaka (1 WTA) stumbles, Simona could regain world tennis leadership. The Romanian player won the Indian Wells in 2015. In the mens doubles, Horia Tecău of Romania and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands qualified into the quarter-finals after defeating Henri Kontinen (Finland) / John Peers (Australia), 6-3, 7-6. In the next round, Tecău and Rojer will take on Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Fabio Fognini (Italy).



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • A la une de la presse roumaine 12.03.2019

    A la une de la presse roumaine 12.03.2019

    Pourquoi les avions Boeing 737MAX8 semblent-ils moins sûrs ?, s’interroge Adevarul en ce mardi, le lendemain du crash d’un tel appareil en Ethiopie soldé par 157 victimes. Pour sa part, Jurnalul National donne la parole aux experts pour passer en revue les principales questions à se poser avant d’acheter un logement. Enfin, Gandul informe que la Roumanie se prépare à faire la guerre aux cabanes au fond du jardin qui servent de toilettes.

  • March 11, UPDATE

    March 11, UPDATE

    BUDGET The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis Monday signed into law the 2019 social security budget bill. As regards the state budget bill, he asked MPs to reanalyse it thoroughly. The head of state once again criticised the Government led by the Social Democrats. The two-chamber Parliament in Bucharest will re-discuss the 2019 budget bill this week at the request of president Iohannis. The government majority formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats say they won’t make any changes to the bill because its current provisions ensure the necessary resources in the important sectors of the economy. The opposition say, however, that the budget cannot come into force in its current version, which is one of stagnation and under-development. Once the bill returns to the president, the latter has to sign it into law. He sent the bill back to Parliament after the Constitutional Court dismissed his objections regarding the way the bill was drawn up. The government say Iohannis’ move is a political gesture ahead of the presidential elections later this year.




    GOVERNMENT The agenda of Tuesdays Cabinet meeting includes several draft resolutions, including one that concerns a financing contract with the European Investment Bank for the rehabilitation of the healthcare sector and another one concerning the organisation and functioning of the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption. A bill ratifying the agreement signed by Romania and Hungary in October 2018 on the mutual protection of classified information is also on the agenda. Viorica Dăncilăs Cabinet will also discuss a memorandum on the negotiation of a 177-million euro loan agreement between Romania and the Council of Europe Development Bank for a project aimed at upgrading Romanias judicial infrastructure.




    JUDICIARY The independence of the Romanian judiciary must not be affected, and the fight against corruption must carry on, said the first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, on Monday. He added he did not notice any progress since the latest Cooperation and Verification Mechanism report on Romania, and that he would like EC experts and the Government of Romania to discuss the issues that need to be settled. The European official was granted the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the National School of Political and Administrative Studies. In his address on this occasion, Frans Timmermans spoke about the rule of law, which he believes is one of the decisive topics for the future of Europe.




    COMMEMORATION The European Day of Remembrance for the victims of terrorism is commemorated every year on March 11, under a European Parliament resolution. The original proposal was September 11, the day of the largest-scale terror attacks in the world (USA, 2001), but the 4 attacks perpetrated in Madrid, in the morning of March 11, 2004, which left behind 192 dead, including 16 Romanians, and nearly 2,000 wounded from 17 countries, prompted the change of date. Fifteen years ago, in Madrid, 4 commuter trains were blown up by members of a Jihadi cell inspired by the Al Qaida terrorist network. Three attackers were caught and sentenced to thousands of years behind bars. This was the most severe terrorist attack in Spain, and it made the country pull out its troops from Iraq.




    VOTERS The total number of eligible voters in Romania included in the Electoral Registry on February 28, 2019 was 18,937,258, the Permanent Electoral Authority announced on Monday. At the previous public announcement on the topic, made late last year, the Electoral Registry counted 18,937,058 Romanian voters. The variation comes as a result of changes reported by mayors as regards the number of voters in their localities, and of data imports from the Directorate for Personal Records and Database Management. Of the total number of Romanian voters in the Electoral Registry, 18,266,936 have their declared residence in Romania, and 670,322 abroad.




    BOEING Boeing stock opened 11% down on Monday, after China, Indonesia and Ethiopia requested airlines to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, after a second deadly crash in 5 months. If the same level is reported on closing time, this will be the most severe fall for Boeing shares in nearly 2 decades, ending an upward trend that tripled the share value in little over 3 years, to a record-high 446 US dollars last week. A Boeing 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines, heading for Nairobi, went down within minutes after take-off in Addis Ababa, on Sunday, and all the 157 passengers died. The same plane model, operated by Lion Air, had crashed off the Indonesian coast in October, killing all the 189 people on board. Both planes were new and crashed just minutes into the flight.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)