Radio România Internațional

Tag: border security

  • September 8, 2017 UPDATE

    September 8, 2017 UPDATE

    UPDATE (21.00):

    The Romanian-Dutch pair made up of Horia Tecau and Jean Julien Rojer has won the finals of the men’s doubles of the US open, defeating the all-Spanish pair Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, 6-4 ,6-3. 12th-seeded Tecau and Rojer had previously defeated the first seeds Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia 1-6, 7-6, 7-5. Tecau and Rojer’s opponents came after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win against twins Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA.


    Budget – Romanian Finance Minister Ionut Misa announced on Friday a positive budget revision. Misa said that following the economic results reported in the first eight months of the year, the budget structure would take into account a 5.6% economic growth instead of an initial 5.2%. Based on this modification, the budget revision brings more money to the agriculture, health, labour, justice and home affairs ministries and to the Romanian Intelligence Service. On the other hand, the regional development, transport and communication ministries will receive less money due to delays in the execution of EU funded projects.




    UKRAINE – Minister for Romanians Worldwide, Andreea Păstîrnac on Friday had a meeting with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Bucharest, Oleksandr Bankov, during which she voiced discontent with the new education law passed in Ukraine. The new law provides for exclusively Ukrainian-language teaching in high-schools and universities, while restricting teaching in the mother tongue in kindergartens and elementary schools. According to Minister Păstîrnac the new law violates the right of the Romanian ethnic community in Ukraine to study in their mother tongue and is against the previous commitment by the Kiev authorities to support education for Romanian ethnics and to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of education. Almost half a million Romanian ethnics live in Ukraine, most of them along the common border, on the eastern Romanian territories annexed by the USSR in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over in 1991 by Ukraine, as successor state.




    Visit – EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu said on Friday in Bucharest that investments in the field of transportation were vital and that the situation was worrisome. She mentioned that one of the topics of her meeting with Transport Minister Razvan Cuc was the project of the subway line connecting the capital Bucharest to Henri Coanda International Airport. This project is particularly important given that Romania will host some of the European Football Championships matches in 2020.




    Moldova – Moldovas President, the pro-Russian Igor Dodon, who is also supreme commander of the countrys armed forces, signed a decree on Friday that forbids Moldovan military to take part in any activity abroad, without his consent. Also, Dodon asked the pro-Western Prime Minister Pavel Filip to dismiss the deputy defense minister Gheorghe Galbura and ordered an investigation in trying to find out who was to blame for his previous order, that banned Moldovan soldiers from taking part in military exercises in the neighbouring Ukraine, being disobeyed.




    Celebration – Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Catholic believers in Romania celebrated on Friday the birth of St. Mary, the first important celebration of the new liturgical year that started on September 1st. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary also marks the transition from summer to autumn. Over two million Romanians celebrated their name day on Friday.




    Education – Romania ranks third in the EU in terms of school dropout, according to the latest Eurostat report. The highest school dropout rates have been reported in Malta, 19.6%, Spain, 19% and Romania 18.5%. Croatia, Lithuania and Slovenia, on the other hand have the smallest school dropout levels. According to Eurostat, in the past 10 years the school dropout figures have decreased in all member states except from the Czech Republic, Romania and Croatia, where they went up. The target for 2020 is to reduce the school dropout rate in the EU to less than 10%.




    Quake – A crisis cell of the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) has been activated after the earthquake in Mexico. Romanian citizens affected by the quake can require consular assistance at Romanias Embassy in Ciudad de Mexico. A 8.1 magnitude quake took place off the southern coast of Mexico late on Thursday, the most powerful such earthquake to hit the country in decades. The quake, which was stronger than the devastating 1985 one that killed thousands, tore through buildings, forced mass evacuations and triggered alerts as far away as Southeast Asia.

    (Translated by E. Enache, updated by D. Vijeu)

  • September 8, 2017

    September 8, 2017

    VISIT — EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu on Friday is meeting Transport Minister Razvan Cuc in Bucharest as part of her visit to Romania. The two will tackle the EU funds allotted to road and rail infrastructure in Romania. On Thursday, Commissioner Cretu said transportation is a field of concern for the Commission.



    UKRAINE — Minister for Romanians Worldwide, Andreea Pastarnac, has called a meeting with the Ukrainian ambassador to Bucharest to discuss the new education law passed in Ukraine. According to a ministry release, Romania is concerned over the recent changes in the education system, which provide for exclusively Ukrainian-language teaching in high-schools and universities, while restricting teaching in the mother tongue to kindergartens and elementary schools. Over half a million Romanians in Ukraine will be affected by the new law. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the “delicate situation” in Ukraine. The Ministry recalls that, according to the provisions of the Framework Convention on protecting national minorities, a state commits to granting ethnic minorities the possibility to become literate in their mother tongue.



    MILITARY DRILL — The Resolute Castle 17 military drill is coming to an end today. Kicked off in April, the drill brought together some 450 Romanian soldiers. Training and implementing infrastructure projects, jointly with US military of the 926th Engineer Brigade of the US Terrestrial Forces, as well as other units of the US army and naval forces, the US national guard and US ground forces put on reserve, in addition to military engineers from the UK, were the highlights of the exercise. Held for the third year in a row, the drill was aimed at increasing the operability of military and crisis-response capabilities, developing inter-operability between the engineer divisions of the Romanian, American and British armies, as well as improving training facilities and infrastructure. Projects carried out during the Resolute Castle 17 drill are part of the European Reassurance Initiative program.



    BORDER SECURITY — Romania will strengthen its borders, the Romanian Police has announced, one year since the first measures to consolidate our country’s border with Serbia were implemented in the wake of a wave of immigrants trying to illegally cross into our country. The measures included using daytime and night-time monitoring equipment at full capacity, enhancing technical equipment and supplementing staff. In the first seven months of the year, the Romanian border police identified as many as three thousand foreign citizens trying to illegally cross the border. In most of the cases the migrants were trying to cross into Romania in route to Hungary and Western Europe. Several groups of migrants tried to forcefully cross the border from Bulgaria and from the Black Sea, the Border Police reports.



    MOLDOVA — Romania remains Moldova’s top trade partner, says the National Bureau for Statistics in Chisinau. According to data collected in the first seven months of the year, two-way trade between Romania and the Republic of Moldova stood at 660 million dollars. Moldova’s main foreign market remains the EU, accounting for 64% of its exports.



    ENERGY — Serbian Energy Minister, Aleksandar Antic, said his country was interested in striking a deal with Romania in the field of natural gas. Attending an energy forum in Alexandroupoli, Greece, Minister Antic said Romania had good results in exploring the natural gas pockets in the Black Sea. Moreover, the Serbian official said he would attend the meeting of Energy Ministers from Central and South-eastern Europe hosted by Bucharest over September 28-29.



    TENNIS — Romanian Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands will play Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of Spain in the men’s doubles final at the US Open. In the semis Tecau and Rojer, seeded 12 in the competition, defeated first-seeds Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia, 1-6, 7-6, 7-5. Horia Tecau has also qualified to the mixed doubles final alongside CoCo Vandeweghe of the US, where the two will play Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Jamie Murray of Great Britain. (Translated by Vlad Palcu)

  • April 13, 2017 UPDATE

    April 13, 2017 UPDATE


    EU FUNDS– Romania currently has some 6.8 billion Euros available for investments in the transport sector, of which 5.1 billion from EU funds, the European Commissioner for regional policy Corina Cretu has stated. According to a news release issued by the Representation of Romania to the EU, Creţu discussed in Brussels on Wednesday with the Romanian Transport Minister Răzvan Cuc, and emphasised the need to spend up the funds provided by the EU. Corina Creţu also mentioned the benefits entailed by the programmes in this sector, which allowed for the transport network in Romania to be extended and improved. In turn, Minister Răzvan Cuc presented the commitment of Romanian authorities to finalising the current investments and starting new projects.



    FINANCE– The Romanian Financial Oversight Authority on Thursday sanctioned NN, the largest private pension fund in the country, with a fine of 750,000 lei, accounting for 1% of the companys registered capital, for transmitting information aimed to destabilise the pension fund, Ion Giurescu, the vice-president of the Authority has announced. The decision was made as a result of the fact that on Wednesday, NN sent an e-mail to its clients warning them about an alleged nationalisation of private pension funds. Also, the Financial Oversight Authority decided on Thursday to witdraw the authorisation of Raluca Tintoiu as general manager of NN Pensions and to give her a fine of 100,000 lei. In the coming days, Romanias Parliament will initiate the procedures to dismiss the entire management of the Financial Oversight Authority. The announcement has been made by the president of the governing Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea, following the scandal about the alleged nationalisation of private pension funds. According to Dragnea, the head of the Authority Misu Negritoiu was the one who started the rumours. Both the Social Democratic leader and the Finance Minister Viorel Stefan have denied that such a scenario is being considered.



    CORRUPTION – Romanias President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday approved the request made by the National Anticorruption Directorate to start the prosecution of Gabriel Sandu, a former minister of communications and IT between 2008-2010. He has been investigated for abuse of office in a new case of corruption, known as Microsoft 2. On Tuesday, anticorruption prosecutors started the prosecution of another 5 people, among whom the former tennis player Dinu Pescariu and the businessman Claudiu Florica, also accused of abuse of office. Prosecutors say that the two allegedly paid Gabriel Sandu, the communications minister back then, more than 2 million Euros, through another businessman, to help them win a public tender. In this case, the estimated damage stands at some 51 million Euros. Gabrel Sandu already got a prison sentence in October 2016 in the case known as Microsoft 1, one of the biggest cases of corruption in Romania. In that case, bribe stood at 60 million Euro, and the damage to the Romanian state was estimated at 27 million.



    FDI – Foreign direct investments in Romania went up by 85% in the first months of the year, as compared to the same period in 2016, reaching 655 million Euros, according to a press release made public on Thursday by the National Bank of Romania. According to the Bank, between January – February 2017, the current account of the balance of payments registered a surplus of 204 million Euros, as compared to a deficit of 139 million in the first two months of the year 2016.



    EXPORTS– Romanian exports to Syria were 80% lower in 2016 than in 2011, when civil war broke out in that country. In 5 years, Romania has lost at least 500 million euros in exports, the daily Ziarul Financiar reports. Syria mostly imported livestock from Romania, sheep and goats, as well as dairy, eggs and fish. The daily also mentions that Romania has stayed uninvolved in the conflict in Syria, and in 2012 the then President Traian Băsescu would not close the Romanian diplomatic mission in Damascus, arguing that the country hosted a large Romanian community. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, 10,000-12,000 Romanians live in Syria, mostly women married to Syrian citizens. The Embassy of Romania also provides consular assistance to citizens from other countries, like Canada, France and Australia.



    COOPERATION Airbus Helicopters and the Romanian company IAR Ghimbav on Thursday signed an agreement on the manufacturing in Romania of the multi-role twin-engine helicopter H 215 M. The embassies of France and Germany in Bucharest have hailed the agreement and have stated they support this cooperation. According to the French Ambassador to Bucharest Francois Saint-Paul, the agreement strengthens the strategic partnership and is a symbol of Romanias, Frances and Germanys European commitment in the field.



    BORDER SECURITY– Romanian check points are getting crowded, because of a new European regulation tightening border checks, which took effect last week, and because of increased traffic ahead of the Easter holidays, the General Border Police Inspectorate reports. Waiting times for the trucks entering Romania at the Siret checkpoint in the north-east reach 10 hours. Problems are also reported at Giurgiu in the south and Petea in the north-west, where waiting times are around 90 and 60 minutes, respectively, while in Albiţa, in the north-east and Ostrov, in the south-east, those who want to cross the border have to wait for at least 30 minutes. The longest automobile queues are reported in Giurgiu and Petea. Border police say they are trying to strike a balance between citizen security and smooth traffic.



    AFGHANISTAN – In a video conference on Thursday, the Romanian Defence Minister Gabriel Les addressed the Romanian soldiers deployed in Kandahar and Kabul on the occasion of the Easter holidays. He thanked them for the way in which they had been serving their country, far from their families and the loved ones. Currently, Romania has in Afghanistan infantry, advisers to the Afghan military, intelligence structures, logistical support staff and special operations forces.



    GOOD FRIDAY – Christians all over the world, including in Romania, which is a predominantly Orthodox country, will recollect on Good Friday Christs crucifixion. Some believers drink only water on this day and many attend the religious masses symbolizing the carrying of Jesus to his tomb. On Thursday, Christians commemorated Holy Thursday, when the Saviour washed the feet of his disciples, had the Last Supper and was arrested following Judass betrayal. On Saturday night Christians will celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Christ. This year, the Orthodox and Catholic Christians celebrate Easter on the same day.




  • August 19, 2016 UPDATE

    August 19, 2016 UPDATE


    EUROBAROMETER Romanians’ confidence in justice and the legal system in general has dropped by 13 % as
    compared to 2015, the Eurobarometer issued by the European Commission shows. 60% of the respondents say they do not really trust the judiciary in Romania, which is a 12% increase as compared to
    2015. 72% of the respondents say they have confidence in the Army, 4% less than
    in 2015. Some 50% of the respondents trust the police, 1% more than in the fall of 2015. Higher percentages are also registered in the case of political parties, amounting to 13%, one percent more than in the fall of 2015. The poll was conducted between May 21 and
    31, 2016.






    ROAD CARRIERS Romanian
    road freight carriers have decided to go on a token strike and run every day at
    a speed of 30 km/hour anywhere in Romania, until the car insurance premiums are
    reduced to 4,907 lei per year, that is 1,100 Euro, reads a communiqué
    issued by the National Union of Road Carriers in Romania and made public by the
    AGREPRES news agency on Friday. Apart from the token strike, the Union,
    together with the other employers’ associations in the field of road
    transportation will organise a big protest movement, at national level, on
    September 15, 2016. Most commercial carriers are on the brink of bankruptcy
    after insurance premiums for commercial freight and passenger transportation
    have increased by over 300% as compared to the previous year and by over 500%
    as compared to 2014. The union also believes that insurance companies are not
    interested in reducing risks, but in concealing their inefficiency and placing
    the burden on carriers.






    DROUGHT Prolonged
    drought in Romania has affected over 350,000 ha of farm land, but it is only at
    the end of the year that the relevant authorities can made public the exact
    surface of the affected area, as they are still receiving notifications from
    the field, agriculture minister Achim Irimescu has said. He has added that the
    ministry he runs has taken into consideration an assistance plan to compensate
    the debts accumulated by farmers who no longer afford to pay electricity and
    water bills. In another move, farmers protested again on Thursday in front of
    the Government headquarters, unhappy with the delayed payment of subsidies in
    agriculture. Some of them went on hunger strike and said they would continue
    this extreme form of protest until the government made all the payments. They
    have rejected any invitation to negotiations extended by the agriculture minister,
    whom they blame for failing to comply with the commitments he has made.






    BORDER SECURITY The
    Romanian Interior Ministry has increased the number of border police and gendarmes deployed along the border with Serbia, after two illegal border
    crossing attempts by small groups of migrants have been registered this week, a
    communiqué issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry reads. Furthermore, the
    troops already deployed are now accompanied by thermo-vision cars, canine
    border patrols and additional ground troops. These ground missions will be
    backed by a helicopter. These actions are aimed at maintaining public order and
    fighting cross-border crime on Romania’s south-western border.






    HUMAN RIGHTS The Romanian
    Foreign Ministry firmly condemns the attacks and threats against humanitarian
    aid workers and calls for the unconditional observance of international human
    rights, including with regard to ensuring civilians’ protection. The
    announcement was made on Friday, which was World Humanitarian Day. The Romanian
    Foreign Ministry honours all those who take risks and make personal sacrifices
    to reduce suffering and help the victims of conflicts, violence and natural
    disasters. According to a communiqué issued by the Ministry, last year 109
    humanitarian aid workers died in crisis areas and, this year in June, the tall
    stood at 24 people. According to the UN, there are some 130 million people
    currently affected by conflicts and disasters, in more than 40 countries across
    the world.






    INTELLIGENCE More than
    8,000 Romanians were the object of police exchanges of information at
    international level, in the first half of the year. According to a communiqué
    issued by the Romanian General Police Inspectorate, as a result of the exchange of messages through INTERPOL, 623 people were arrested
    and 46 were located abroad to be subsequently extradited. The International
    Police Cooperation Centre of the Romanian Police processed over 200,000
    operative messages in the first half of the year, with the aim of combating crime at global level. 32 operations concerning serious crimes were run through Europol, in partnership with law
    enforcement agencies in Romania.






    SUMMER UNIVERSITY The 14th
    Summer University in Izvorul Muresului ended with the participants adopting a
    resolution, which will be submitted to the Presidential Administration,
    Parliament, Government and political parties in Romania. Representatives of the
    historical communities around the borders and the Diaspora formulated requests
    regarding Romanian citizenship and the setting up of cultural institutes. Also, they
    stressed in the resolution the fact that Romanians in the historical
    communities around Romania’s borders in the Balkans are subject to an
    aggressive assimilation process, without them benefiting from the European
    rights for national minorities. The participants ask for the setting up of a
    Ministry of Romanians Around the World, the passing of the law on the status,
    role and functions of Romanian language as official language, and the Romanian
    political parties on both sides of the River Prut making a re-union pact with a view to completely
    integrating the Republic of Moldova into Romania by 2018.

  • August 19, 2016

    August 19, 2016

    EUROBAROMETER – The Romanians confidence in justice and the legal system has decreased by 13 % as compared to 2015, the Eurobarometer issued by the European Commission shows. Figures show that 60% of the respondents say they tend not to take confidence in the judiciary in Romania, thus registering a 12% increase as compared to 2015. 72% of the respondents say they have confidence in the Army, 4% less than in 2015. Some 50% of the respondents trust the police, registering 1 percentage point more than in the fall of 2015. Higher percentages are also being registered in the case of political parties, amounting to 13%, one percentage point more than in the fall of 2015. The poll was conducted between May 21 and 31, 2016.



    ROAD CARRIERS – Romanian road freight carriers go on a token strike and will run every day at a speed of 30 km/hour anywhere in Romania, until the car insurance premiums are reduced to 4,907 lei per year, that is 1,100 de euros, a communiqué issued by the National Union of Road Carriers in Romania and made public by the AGREPRES news agency on Friday, shows. Apart from the token strike, the Union, together with the other employers associations in the field of road transportation will organise a big protest movement, at national level, on September 15, 2016. Most commercial carriers are brought to the brink of bankruptcy after insurance premiums for commercial freight and passenger transportation have increased by over 300% as compared to the previous year and by over 500% as compared to 2014. The union also considers that the insurance companies are not interested in reducing risks, but to conceal their inefficiency and place the burden on carriers.



    DROUGHT – Prolonged drought in Romania, in recent times, has affected over 350,000 ha of farm land, but it is only at the end of the year that the relevant authorities can made public the exact surface of the affected area, because they are still receiving notifications from the field, agriculture minister Achim Irimescu has said. He has added that the ministry he runs has taken into consideration an assistance plan to compensate the debts accumulated by farmers who no longer managed to pay electricity and water bills. In another move, farmers protested again yesterday in front of the Government headquarters, being discontent about the delayed payment of subsidies in agriculture. Some of them have gone on hunger strike and claim they will continue this extreme form of protest until the government makes all payments. They have rejected any invitation to negotiations by the agriculture minister, who has been reproached for failing to comply with the commitments he has made.



    BORDER SECURITY – The Romanian Interior Ministry has increased the number of border police officers and gendarmes deployed along the border with Serbia, after two illegal border crossing attempts by small groups of migrants have been registered this week, a communiqué issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry writes. Furthermore, the already deployed troops are now accompanied by thermovision cars, canine border patrols and additional ground troops. These ground missions will be backed by a helicopter. These actions are aimed at maintaining public order and fighting cross-border crime on Romanias south-western border.



    TENNIS – Romanian Simona Halep, the worlds no. 4 tennis player, qualified on Thursday to the quarter-finals of the WTA tournament in Cincinnati, totalling 2.5 million dollars in prize money. In the round of 16, Halep knocked out Daria Gavrilova of Russia, 47th WTA. In the next round, Halep will go up against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 5th WTA. Halep is seeded 2nd in Cincinnati and may win her third consecutive tournament, after Bucharest and Montreal.



    ​RIO OLYMPICS – On the 14th day of the Olympics, Romanian athletes are competing in the womens 20 km race walk, the mens 50 km race walk and the womens 4×400 m relay team events, as well as in wresting and rhythmic gymnastics. So far, Romania has grabbed only four medals: the gold obtained by the women’s epee team, the silver obtained by the pair Florin Mergea/ Horia Tecau in the men’s tennis doubles, and two bronze medals, obtained by Gabriel Sincraian in weightlifting, and by the women’s coxed eight rowing team.


    (Translated by Diana Vijeu)

  • March 31, 2016 UPDATE

    March 31, 2016 UPDATE

    PRESIDENCY-Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis is attending the nuclear security summit in Washington. He said on Thursday that he will hold consultations with all political parties in Romania in the following weeks on the legislation in the field and said he gladly received the echo coming from the country as regards the change and modernisation of the security law. The president also said that Romania meets the highest standards when it comes to nuclear security. On Thursday, Klaus Iohannis visited the Holocaust Memorial in Washington. “I wanted to personally pay a pious homage to all the victims of the Holocaust and to express my gratitude for the activity of this internationally acclaimed institution”, the president also said. Klaus Iohannis will participate on Friday in the session opening the summit, will attend a working dinner and talks starting from a scenario designed by the organisers, which consists in the presentation of a hypothetical case of nuclear terrorism. The Romanian President will make a declaration for the press at the end of the summit. Also on Friday, he will meet with representatives of the Romanian community in Washington.



    VOTE BY MAIL — The Romanian Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Electoral Authority in Romania announce the start of the enlisting in the Electoral Register of the Romanian voters with the domicile or residence abroad. As of April 1, 2016, the Romanian nationals who want to vote in the future parliamentary elections can request to be enlisted in the Electoral Register. The enlisting period comes to a close some 3 months ahead of the elections, depending on the voting date, still to be set. In a press conference, the minister delegate for the Romanians abroad, Dan Stoenescu underlined that the enlisting of the voters in the Electoral Register is a huge and necessary step forward in exerting the right to vote in this year’s parliamentary elections, considering the amendments to the electoral law and the introduction of the vote by mail.



    CORRUPTION– The Bucharest Tribunal on Thursday ruled to authorize the preventive house arrest, for 30 days, pending trial, of Craiova mayor, Lia Olguta Vasilescu. She was detained on Wednesday on charges of bribe taking, influence peddling to obtain undue financial benefits and goods and money laundering. According to a measure taken by the prosecutors on Thursday, MP Sebastian Ghita is on bail subject to legal restrictions pending trial. The bail is set at 13 million Euros. A close friend of the former Social Democratic Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Sebastian Ghita is accused of bribe giving, blackmail and securing influence. This the highest bail set so far by a Romanian court.



    BORDER CONTROL — Romanian interior minister, Petre Toba, met on Thursday in Djerdap-Serbia with his Serbian counterpart, Nebojsa Stefanovic. The focal points of the talks between the two officials were migration-related issues and the need to identify additional security measures on the common border. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Interior Ministry “the two officials agreed that in the following period of time, the legal framework should be ensured to establish a common patrol made up of Romanian and Serbian border police officers. Romania has taken additional measures to tighten border security, because it has to manage some 2,070 km of the EU’s external border”, minister Toba said on the occasion.



    SECURITY– According to the Pentagon, the US will deploy an armoured brigade in Eastern Europe with continuous rotations starting in February 2017, as part of efforts to discourage possible Russian aggression. The brigade will number 4,200 troops, as well as tanks and other types of armoured vehicles. The troops will rotate in and out of the allied states on the eastern flank, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. US combat brigades of the ground forces are also stationed in Germany and Italy. About 62,000 US military forces are permanently based in Europe. To reassure its allies in Eastern Europe, NATO took a series of measures in the spring of 2014, such as opening logistical centres and deploying fighter aircraft in the Baltic states and additional ships in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Moscow says the permanent deployment of troops along its borders violates the NATO-Russia Founding Act signed in 1997.



    PHONE CARDS-The Romanian Intelligence Service is investigating, together with national and international partners, the use of Romanian anonymous pre-paid phone cards in areas with terrorist organisations. The Service has recently said that persons affiliated to terrorist groups have used pre-paid phone cards in Romania to communicate abroad. The investigation also looks at the possible use of such cards in the attacks carried out in Europe.



    ENERGY— Romania may become an important player on the regional energy market by 2020 if the BRUA natural gas pipeline is developed, the Romanian economy minister Costin Borc told the Bucharest Forum held by Aspen Institute Romania. According to the minister, the pipeline, which links Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, provides new opportunities for the Romanian energy sector on the European market. He also said Romania must continue work on the Arad-Szeged pipeline between Romania and Hungary and on the Iasi-Ungheni pipeline linking Romania to the Republic of Moldova, which will allow Romania to consolidate its position as an exporter on the natural gas market. The minister also emphasised the need to develop the country’s transport and IT infrastrucure.



    YOUTH COUNCIL — Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, on Thursday sent a congratulation message to the Youth Council of Romania, on its 10th anniversary. “On this occasion, I congratulate the Council on its involvement in projects which monitor governance and the decision making process, as well as the legislative process, from legislative proposals to the enforcement of laws. It is regrettable that a large number of young people do not find solutions to build themselves a future in Romania and choose to leave the country. It is the state’s duty to create all the premises for the young people who complete their studies and for those unemployed, alike, to stand chances to get integrated into society and on the labour market. To that end, I support the implementation of the program Youth Guarantee Scheme, as a huge step forward in order not to waste the talent and work force that the young generations have, as we well know”, Romania’s President also writes in his message.



    THE HAGUE— The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia Hague has acquitted the former leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj, who was on trial for inciting and committing war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia Hertzegovina during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Held for 12 years at the Scheveningen prison from February 2003 to November 2014, Seselj was temporarily released on humanitarian grounds. He did not attend the reading of the verdict. A week ago, the court in The Hague sentenced the former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.



    TENNIS— The Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu and Margarita Gasparian on Friday face the Hungarian-Kazakh pair Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semifinals of the Miami tennis tournament worth 6 million dollars in prize money. While this is Niculescu and Gasparian’s third tournament as a pair, they pulled of a surprising win over the Swiss-Indian pair Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. In the singles event in Miami, world no. 5 Simona Halep of Romania lost to the Swiss player Timea Bacsinszky, world no. 20, in the quarterfinals.


    (Translated by Cristina Mateescu and Diana Vijeu)

  • Europe and the Immigration Issue

    Europe and the Immigration Issue

    After around 300,000 migrants transited Hungary in mid-2015 en route to Western Europe, Hungarian authorities halted this flow by sealing its Serbian border in September and its Croatian border a month later. The decision to put up barbed wire fences was heavily criticised by Brussels and Western capitals, but it nonetheless enabled Budapest to redirect migrants to Slovenia.



    Recently, Hungary has announced that the number of people entering the country illegally is once again on the rise. This comes after neighbouring Austria announced it would tighten border checks and restrict the number of people who may get on its territory. Among the immigrants there are a growing number of people coming from North Africa, Kosovo, Pakistan, but also from Sri Lanka or Haiti, whose chances to get asylum in the EU are very low, unlike those of Syrian refugees.



    As pressure mounts at his countrys borders, PM Viktor Orban ordered the preparation of defence lines along the frontier with Romania. This is not a new idea. Back in November 2015, Hungarian officials had announced plans to build a metal fence at the border with Romania, if necessary. As the Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in January, Budapest is ready to build the fence on its Romanian border “the next day. The same official argued that the measures are in full compliance with international and national regulations, and warned all those who criticised his country that, by protecting the Schengen border, Hungary was fulfilling its obligations, as defined by the EU legislation.



    In his annual address this past weekend, PM Viktor Orban announced having sent new military units to the border regions, having activated an emergency response service in two border counties and having instructed his defence and interior ministers to make preparations for the defence line on the Hungarian-Romanian border. Orban added that, if necessary, the Hungarian authorities would tighten security along all its frontiers, from Slovenia to Ukraine.



    At the EU summit held last week in Brussels, the EU leaders agreed that Europes borders need to be protected and illegal migration must be stopped, while the rules of the visa-free Schengen area must be respected by everybody.