Radio România Internațional

Tag: Borrell

  • February 19, 2023 UPDATE

    February 19, 2023 UPDATE

    ART On Sunday, the National Day devoted to Romania’s greatest sculptor, Constantin
    Brancusi, Romania’s Art Museum was 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 were
    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 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 On Sunday, the last day of the
    programme through which the city of Timisoara, in western Romania, launched its
    mandate of the European Capital of Culture, new artistic events took 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 presented the
    big puppets especially made 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. According to the city mayor Dominic
    Fritz, everybody is welcome to Timisoara. There were three days in which we
    showed that all the things that bring us together are more than those that
    separate us. The values that built this city – innovation, multiculturalism,
    diversity – have been seen and heard by the entire Europe, the mayor went on
    to say.






    AID The West must provide more military
    aid to Ukraine and speed up its deliveries, the EU Foreign Policy Chief Joseph
    Borrell said in Munich on Sunday. In a speech he delivered during the Security
    conference underway there, the EU high official said that much more had to be
    done and much quicker. Borrell went on to say that he supported an Estonian
    proposal for the European Union to buy ammunition on behalf of its member
    states to increase its military support to Ukraine. 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.






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  • EU-Parlament will Moskau abstrafen

    EU-Parlament will Moskau abstrafen

    Der Fall des russischen Oppositionellen Alexej Nawalny, der nach einem gescheiterten Vergiftungsversuch inhaftiert ist, bringt die EU und Russland in eine offene Streitsituation. Brüssel prüft neue Sanktionen gegen Moskau wegen der Verletzung von Grundrechten und der Verschärfung der Haltung gegenüber russischen Oppositionspolitikern, die der Kreml des Verrats bezichtigt.




    Am Dienstag forderte EU- Au‎ßenminister Josep Borrell, der gerade von einem Besuch in Russland zurückgekehrt war, in der Plenarsitzung des Europäischen Parlaments neue Saktionen. Er kündigte an, sein Initiativrecht zu nutzen, um den Mitgliedstaaten Vorschläge von Ma‎ßnahmen zur Bekämpfung von Fehlinformationen und Cyberangriffen zu machen. “Die russische Regierung begünstigt den Autoritarismus und ist in der Nawalny-Affäre rücksichtslos”, sagte Borrell. Seine Anwesenheit in Moskau habe einem doppelten Zweck gedient: die Position der Europäischen Union gegenüber dem russischen Gegner darzulegen und auszuloten, ob der Kreml den negativen Trend in den Beziehungen zu den Europäern umkehren wolle. Moskaus Leitwort sei ein NEIN zu allem gewesen, klagte der EU-Au‎ßenminster.




    Noch während Josep Borrell in Russland war, wurden drei Diplomaten – ein Deutscher, ein Pole und ein Schwede – des Landes verwiesen, und dem ranghöchsten europäischen Beamten wurde ein Antrag auf einen Besuch bei Alexej Nawalny im Gefängnis verweigert. Deshalb wurde der Besuch des Hohen Vertreters der Union für Au‎ßen- und Sicherheitspolitik von den mittel- und osteuropäischen Abgeordneten als eine Schande bezeichnet, einige forderten sogar seinen Rücktritt. Ihrer Ansicht nach war die Anwesenheit von Josep Borrell in Russland eine von Wladimir Putin gestellte Falle, um die Union zu demütigen.




    Selbst einige Mitgliedstaaten sind der Kritik nicht entgangen und wurden der Heuchelei bezichtigt, weil sie wirtschaftliche Beziehungen zu einem diktatorischen Regime unterhalten, das seinen eigenen Bürgern feindlich gesinnt ist. Andererseits waren sich die Abgeordneten einig, dass die Union dem russischen Volk helfen sollte, und zwar in Zusammenarbeit mit den Vereinigten Staaten, die die Entscheidung Russlands zur Verhaftung Alexej Nawalnys scharf verurteilt hatten. Die Europäische Union werde sich nicht einschüchtern lassen, polterte der Präsident des Europäischen Rates, Charles Michel, der das aggressive Verhalten Russlands anprangerte. NATO-Generalsekretär Jens Stoltenberg sagte, dass die Inhaftierung von Alexej Nawalny eine Perversion der Gerechtigkeit sei, weil sie sich gegen das Opfer eines Attentats richtet, während seine Angreifer noch auf freiem Fu‎ß sind.



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  • February 9, 2021 UPDATE

    February 9, 2021 UPDATE

    Budget bill – The state budget for 2021 has been finalized and will be made public on Wednesday. The budget is based on a 7% deficit of the GDP. The Government plans to cut back on spending in order to reach this target. Consequently, holiday vouchers will be slashed this year as well as 30% of the political parties’ funding, while inefficient state companies will no longer be subsidized. Pensions will not be raised starting January 1, 2022. Child allowances will not be raised this year either. The budget bill may be passed by the Government next week and is likely to be endorsed by Parliament by February 20.



    Vaccination — Registration for vaccination against COVID-19 will be resumed on Wednesday for all categories included in the second stage, after it had been limited to vulnerable categories for a certain period of time. Dr. Valeriu Gheorghiță, the chairman of the National Committee for Coordination of Activities on Vaccination against COVID-19, announced that so far, Romania has received a total of over 1.2 million vaccine doses from Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zeneca. More than 667,000 people have been vaccinated, most with Pfizer vaccines. A new tranche of more than 128,000 doses of this vaccine arrived in Bucharest on Tuesday and the vaccines are currently being distributed throughout the country. According to the delivery schedule, the next tranche will arrive on February 15. Vaccines from Moderna have also been given to people in Romania for a week already. At the same time, the first tranche of the AstraZeneca vaccine was distributed in the country, which will be given only to people between 18 and 55 years old. On the other hand, almost 2,800 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported in the last 24 hours in Romania. The total number of contaminations is nearing 750,000, with the death toll exceeding 19,000. Almost one thousand people are in ICUs.



    Brussels – The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, recommended on Tuesday, in Brussels, the adoption of new sanctions against Kremlin, after the affront of the Russian foreign minister during his visit to Moscow, and announced his intention to make proposals in this regard to the member states, France Press reports. The official is to present his proposals to the EU foreign ministers at the February 22 meeting. On Friday, Russia expelled three diplomats from Germany, Sweden and Poland for allegedly participating in support rallies for the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The announcement was made while the EU foreign policy chief was on an official visit to Moscow. He claims he learnt from social media about the expulsion of the European diplomats, while he was having talks with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. We recall that, upon his recent return from Germany, where he was treated for poisoning, the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested and sentenced to prison in Russia. He is to serve a sentence of two years and eight months.



    COVID-19 world — World Health Organization officials have warned against the excessive pessimism over the AstraZeneca vaccine in the context in which the top priority is to limit hospitalizations and save lives. The efficiency of this vaccine, which has not yet obtained the WHO approval, but has still been green-lighted by the health authorities from several countries, has been doubted by people over 65. South Africa has indicated the possibility of a limited ‘efficiency’ of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the local virus variant, which is considered more contagious. Meanwhile, in the EU, Spain decided on Tuesday to extend, by March 2, the restrictions for flights coming from the UK, Brazil and South Africa, for fear of the new variants of the novel coronavirus. Also on Tuesday, the Swedish government announced a plan to reduce the number of passengers for long-haul train and bus travel, as part of the measures taken to limit the pandemic. In another development, the issue of lifting travel restrictions for the people who have been vaccinated is still controversial, and the 27 member states are working on a common vaccination certificate. Israel and Greece have reached an agreement on tourism which will allow the two countries’ citizens who have been vaccinated to travel freely between the two countries.



    MAE – The Romanian Foreign Ministry – MAE informs the Romanian citizens who are transiting or intend to travel to Spain that the State Meteorological Agency has issued code orange and yellow alerts for storm, snowfalls, wind or blizzard for some areas of the country. At the same time, the Romanian Foreign Ministry informs that the Italian Civil Protection Service also issued a code orange alert for precipitations, wind, lightning and hail, as well as a code yellow alert for heavy rainfalls and wind for several regions of the Peninsula, valid on Tuesday and Wednesday. MAE recommends Romanian citizens to constantly consult the public information provided by the Spanish and Italian authorities and to strictly follow their recommendations. Romanians traveling abroad have at their disposal, on the MAE page, the application Travel safely which provides information and travel advice. (tr. L. Simion)