Radio România Internațional

Tag: Bucharest 9 Format

  • August 5, 2021

    August 5, 2021

    Covid Ro ▪ Secretary of state with the Romanian Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat, insists on the population’s vaccination and wearing protective masks to reduce the risk of infection with the novel coronavirus. Invited in Radio Romania’s studios, he explained that the risk of an increasing number of cases daily is real, but everyone can help limit the spread of the virus. Raed Arafat pointed out that no new restrictions are being considered, and reminded that if the threshold of 2 cases per thousand inhabitants was exceeded, the rules in force before August 1 would be re-applied, and if the threshold of 3 cases per thousand inhabitants is exceeded, the measures will be tightened. Meanwhile, the number of new cases of coronavirus is growing. On Thursday, 244 new cases were reported out of over 28,000 tests. At the same time, 2 deaths were reported. 72 people are hospitalized in intensive care. The UK has included Romania on the green list of countries with epidemiological risk, which means that Romanians traveling to the UK will no longer have to be quarantined, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. However, the Romanian citizens who travel to the UK must present a negative PCR test performed before entering the territory of this country and need to take a second test two days after arrival. The measure takes effect on Sunday.



    COVID world ▪ Covid cases worldwide exceeded 200 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report, as the more contagious Delta variant is threatening the areas with low vaccination rates and precarious healthcare systems. The global increase in Covid cases highlights the difference between vaccination rates in rich and poor countries. According to Reuters, the number of cases is on the rise in about a third of the worlds countries, many of which have not vaccinated even half of the population with a first dose. The World Health Organization is calling for a postponement of the administration of a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, at least until the end of September, so as not to widen the gap between vaccination campaigns in rich and poor countries. Meanwhile, in some European countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the number of new cases of COVID-19 is decreasing, while in others the 4th wave of the pandemic is in full development.



    Exercise ▪ More than 350 military divers from Romania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, the US and Ukraine are participating in a multinational training exercise off the Romanian Black Sea Coast. The “Eurasian Partnership MCM Dive” exercise, which will last 4 days, is led by the Diving Center 39 within the Romanian Navy. The Romanian Navy also participates in the drill with the “Vice Admiral Constantin Bălescu” minesweeper ship, the “Captain Commander Alexandru Cătuneanu” Hydrographic Maritime Ship, as well as with an autonomous underwater vehicle. Ukraine participates with the rescue and recovery tug “Oleksandr Okhrimenko”. The purpose of the exercise is to consolidate the skills of military divers and to develop the participants’ interoperability in two domains, namely searching, identifying and destroying mines in historic mine dams and underwater activities with hydraulic tools.



    Fires ▪ The heat wave persists in several European countries, which have been fighting vegetation fires for more than several days. The authorities are on alert in Greece, where flames threatened the capital Athens on Wednesday. In Turkey, the damage is huge, and a thermal plant threatened by flames has been evacuated. Forest fires are spreading also in Bulgaria, where two forest rangers have died and a third one has been injured. Italy, Albania and northern Macedonia are also facing fires. The European Commission has said it will send planes, helicopters and firefighters to Italy, Greece, Albania and northern Macedonia to help these countries fight the fires.



    Talks ▪ Romanias ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru, stressed the importance of strengthening security of NATOs Eastern Flank, during a phone conversation with Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, together with the ambassadors to Washington of the Bucharest-9 Format states, the Romanian Embassy in the US announced on Thursday on its Facebook page. The phone conversation was meant to consult NATO allies on US policies and activities of interest to the region. The Bucharest Format is an initiative launched by the presidents of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, and of Poland, Andrzej Duda, which includes NATO member states on the Eastern Flank participate: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The American president Joe Biden also participated online in the summit organized in May this year in Bucharest.



    Meeting ▪ The Romanian government is meeting today for its weekly session. High on the executives agenda is the Emergency Ordinance repealing an article from a law regarding the impossibility of electricity and natural gas suppliers to cut off or disconnect bad payers during the state of alert period. The law established that disconnection could be done after the state of alert ended, but the Government wants to repeal this provision because they realized that the failure to collect money from final customers was felt by all parties involved in the processes of electricity and natural gas production and supply in Romania. The executive also discusses a decision that completes the methodological norms of the SME Invest program. This law is necessary because regulation is needed for some situations related to certain terms, to areas that can be supported through SME Invest and to areas that cannot be supported through this program. (LS)

  • June 8, 2018 UPDATE

    June 8, 2018 UPDATE


    B9 FORMAT- On Friday in Warsaw, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda participated in the meeting of the Bucharest 9 Format, which includes NATO members from central and Eastern Europe. The participants adopted a joint declaration, about which the Romanian President said it reflects common evaluations and objectives focusing on strengthening Euro-Atlantic security. He also stated that NATOs eastern flank must be further consolidated. Also, the Romanian head of state has said that earmarking 2% of the GDP for defence and investing in modernizing the military capability are investments in a countrys own security and Romania has fulfilled its commitment to ensuring that. In turn, the Polish President Andrzej Duda has stated that the joint declaration will help the decision-making process at the NATO summit due in Brussels next month.



    CORRUPTION – The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest has postponed for June 21st its ruling in the case in which the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea is accused of acts of corruption. Its the second time that the court postpones its verdict. The reason invoked was that part of the defendants in this case filed some written conclusions on June 7th, and the judges need time to study them. Last month, prosecutors of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate requested a sentence of 7 years and 5 months in prison for abuse of office and 2 years and 6 months for forgery. They say that Liviu Dragnea, during his term as president of the Teleorman County Council, ordered the fictitious employment of two Social Democratic party members by the Directorate for Social Work and Child Protection. The two were paid from public money although they allegedly worked exclusively for the Social Democratic Party. Dragnea claims he is innocent and has denied prosecutors accusations. In 2016 Dragnea received a 2-year suspended prison sentence for attempted electoral fraud.



    DEFENCE – The very good cooperation in the field of defence, with focus on the British military contribution in Romania, was high on the agenda of the talks held in Brussels on Friday between the Romanian Defence Minister Mihai Fifor and the British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. The Romania – Great Britain bilateral meeting was held on the second day of the NATO Defence Ministers summit, at the general headquarters of the Alliance, reads a communiqué issued by the Romanian Defence Ministry. Minister Fifor appreciated Great Britains active participation in air-policing missions and also its constant presence in the Black Sea, thus proving its commitment to NATOs deterrence and defence posture in the region. In turn, the British secretary of defence stressed that the fact that Romania is a regional stability factor and has a substantial contribution to maintaining security in the Black Sea and Western Balkans regions.



    CEREMONY – General Nicolae Ciuca, the Chief of Staff of the Romanian Army, will attend on Saturday the ceremony occasioned by the anniversary of the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, at the invitation of Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart William Peach, according to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Defence Ministry. This is recognition of the good cooperation between the two armies and an opportunity to promote at military level the interests of the Romanian Army in the relation with the British Army, one of its most important allies, the communiqué also reads.



    G7 – At the opening of the G7 summit hosted by Canada, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk blamed the US President Donald Trump for defying world order, France Presse reports. On Friday, the first day of the two-day summit, Donald Trump urged G7 to reintegrate Russia, which was expelled from the format in 2014, after annexing the Crimean Peninsula. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that she expects difficult discussions at the summit, between Washington and its partners, especially with regard to international trade, climate protection, development and external policies.



    FESTIVAL- Almost 13 million Euros is the budget of this years edition of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, which started on Friday. Until June 17, the audience will have the opportunity to watch some 524 performances. The 25th edition of the festival has brought to Sibiu 3,300 artists from 73 countries. This is the first year when the festival has two honorary patrons: the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, a former mayor of Sibiu, and Prince Charles, the Heir to the British Crown, who is famous for his passion for the region of Transylvania, in central Romania.



    TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no.1 in the WTA rankings and first-seed at the Roland Garros, will play in the final against the American Sloane Stephens, no.10 in the WTA classification. In the semifinals, Halep defeated the Spanish Garbine Muguruza, number three in the world, and winner in Paris in 2016, while Sloane Stephens defeated her co-national Madison Keys (no.13 WTA). This is the third Roland Garros final for Simona Halep, after the ones in 2014 and 2017, which she did not manage to win.