Tag: civilians

  • December 16, 2023

    December 16, 2023

    BUDGET The 2024 state budget and social security budget bills will be reviewed by Parliament’s specialist committees as of Monday. On Tuesday the draft laws will be discussed in a joint plenary
    meeting, with a final vote expected on Wednesday. On Thursday night the
    government passed the two bills, which rely on better spending of EU funds and
    on improving tax collection by means of a more efficient operation of the
    national tax agency and on curbing tax evasion. PM Marcel Ciolacu, the leader
    of the Social Democratic Party, spoke about an increase of budget revenues from
    27% to 30% of GDP. According to him, the 2024 budget earmarks the largest
    funding in Romania’s history for education and investments. The Opposition, on
    the other hand, says the budget is based on unrealistic figures and that
    payment of public pensions will be a major problem next year.


    EU President Klaus Iohannis says the EU winter summit, which came to an
    end in Brussels on Friday, will be remembered for the historic decision to initiate
    accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. The Romanian
    official encouraged the government of Moldova to step up the reforms required
    for EU integration. As for Ukraine, the president of the European Commission,Ursula von der Leyen, says the
    decision was a promise kept and an investment in stability and security. EU
    leaders also discussed the Israel-Hamas war, and condemned the continuing
    hostilities with growing numbers of victims among Palestinian civilians in Gaza
    and the West Bank. They argued that peace will only be achieved through a
    two-state solution. A revision of the 2021-2027 Multi-Annual Financial
    Framework, support for Ukraine, securitaty and defence, migration and the
    future EU Strategic Agenda were also discussed at the European Council meeting
    on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.


    COMMEMORATION Romania marks today 34 years since the start of the 1989 Revolution
    in Timişoara (west) which eventually led to the fall of dictator Nicolae
    Ceauşescu’s communist regime. In this context, the Revolution Memorial was
    opened to the public in Timişoara on Saturday. The organisers prepared a
    complex programme, providing information on the events of 1989, with a special
    section for the visually impaired.


    ISRAEL Hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv on Friday night,
    following an announcement that 3 Gaza hostages had been accidentally killed by
    Israeli troops. The protesters demanded that the government immediately signed
    a deal to free the remaining hostages. Over 100 people are still captive in
    Gaza, after being kidnapped by Hamas in the October 7th attacks on Israel.
    Meanwhile, humanitarian aid will reach Gaza via an Israeli checkpoint, for the
    first time since the start of the war, after Israel authorised access through
    the Kerem Shalom checkpoint. So far humanitarian aid could only go through the Rafah
    checkpoint from Egypt. After more than 2 months of armed conflict and the siege
    imposed by Israel since October 9th, living standards in Gaza Strip
    are described by the UN and NGOs for Palestinian civilians as a nightmare. According
    to the UN, some 1.9 million people, accounting for 85% of the region’s
    population, have been relocated. (AMP)

  • October 28, 2023 UPDATE

    October 28, 2023 UPDATE

    ISRAEL
    Romania and other countries are
    making joint efforts to help the over 3,000 people in Gaza with dual
    citizenship, including Romanian nationals, to leave that region, PM Marcel
    Ciolacu said. He explained that the situation was not easy to handle, and added
    that 260 applications have been received from Romanian nationals who want to
    leave Gaza, but many Palestinians are trying to do the same. What matters is
    for the situation not to spiral out of control, he also said. The
    Israeli army Saturday announced it entered the north of
    Gaza Strip and expanded military operations in the Palestinian enclave, while
    stepping up attacks against Hamas. The
    army once again asked the locals still in the north of Gaza Strip to move
    immediately to the south, explaining that the north is currently a battlefield.
    According to Israeli army estimates, some 700,000 people have already left the
    area, and the UN says out of the almost 2.2 million people in Gaza Strip, around
    1.4 million have been relocated since the conflict began. In fresh talks with the Israeli defence minister, the Pentagon chief
    Lloyd Austin called
    for the protection of civilians during the operation. On Friday night, the UN
    General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. The
    resolution is not compulsory, but it has political weight. Israel and the US
    voted against, while Romania abstained.




    DIPLOMACY
    The Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu Friday had a telephone
    conversation with the British foreign secretary James Cleverly, to discuss the
    security situation in Israel and Gaza Strip, focusing on the need to ensure
    close coordination in order to avoid regional spill-over. According to the
    Romanian foreign ministry, the 2 officials emphasised the importance of
    continued humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza and of the immediate and
    unconditional release of all hostages.The
    Romanian diplomacy chief also discussed with her Qatari counterpart, Sheikh
    Mohammed Al Thani, given that Qatar is a mediator in the Hamas hostage crisis.
    Odobescu appreciated Qatar’s diplomatic efforts to mitigate the humanitarian
    crisis, and spoke about the aid Romania has decided to send there.


    AMBASSADOR The Black Sea region plays an important
    role for NATO, and Romania is a very close partner for the USA, the US
    Ambassador to Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec reiterated. In an interview to Radio
    Romania, the US official said that Romania, which is located next to the
    conflict in Ukraine, has faced problems like the Ukrainian refugee crisis and
    the transport of grains via Romanian sea ports, and in this context the
    security and defence relations between the 2 countries have become even closer.
    We have tripled the number of US troops in Romania, so now we have over 3,000 American
    troops here and we are working with our Romanian partners with respect to
    defence and deterrence, to safeguard every piece of NATO territory, Kathleen
    Kavalec pointed out.


    POPULATION The population of Romania on July 1 was
    approx. 21.9 million, down 0.3% since the corresponding month of last year. Almost
    3 million of them are currently living abroad. Romania is also facing
    population ageing, with 125 elderly citizens for each 100 youth. The average
    age is 42.4 years, 0.3 years more than on July 1, 2022. The number of citizens
    in urban communities is nearly 3 million higher than the number of rural
    inhabitants, however urban population dropped by 0.8% over the past year while
    the rural population grew by 0.3%.


    UKRAINE Ukraine is seeking international support for its peace plan,
    in a 2-day meeting held as of today in Malta. As many as 50 countries are
    taking part, but Russia is not among them. According to AFP, this is the 3rd
    meeting of this kind, and organisers hope it would result in a joint
    declaration. The 10-point plan proposed by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr
    Zelenskyy includes, among other things, the pull out of Russian troops from the
    occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donbas, part of which is under
    separatist control since 2014, and Crimea, occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014.
    Last year, Moscow annexed 4 Ukrainian regions, partly occupied by its troops
    after the large-scale invasion of February 24.



    DST
    On Saturday night, Romania switches to winter time, setting clocks back one
    hour from 4 AM to 3 AM. Sunday will thus be 25-hour long. Daylight saving time,
    first suggested by the scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1784, is currently used
    in 70 countries. The concept has come under debate in recent years, with the EU
    asking member states to end seasonal clock changes and choose either winter
    time or summer time, but a decision in this respect is yet to be made. (AMP)

  • October 28, 2023

    October 28, 2023

    ISRAEL
    The Israeli Army has today announced it entered the
    north of Gaza Strip and expanded military operations in the Palestinian
    enclave, while stepping up attacks against Hamas. For the 3rd
    consecutive night, tanks entered the area, supported by 100 aircraft. According
    to the latest information available, clashes are on-going and Israeli troops
    are still on site. The Army has avoided official announcements regarding the
    land attacks, so as not to jeopardise the lives of the over 220 hostages taken
    by Hamas, Israeli media report. Israel
    had only made brief raids in Gaza during the 3 weeks of strikes designed to
    eliminate the Hamas fighters, who killed over 1,400 Israelis on October 7. Telephone
    and internet connections with Gaza have been cut in what the media describe as
    the largest strikes so far. An Israeli military spokesman said that today
    Israel will allow access to Gaza for trucks carrying food, water and medicines.
    In fresh talks with the Israeli defence minister, the Pentagon chief called for
    the protection of civilians during the operation. On Friday night, the UN
    General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. The
    resolution is not compulsory, but it has political weight. Israel and the US
    voted against, while Romania abstained.


    DIPLOMACY
    The Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu Friday had a telephone
    conversation with the British foreign secretary James Cleverly, to discuss the
    security situation in Israel and Gaza Strip, focusing on the need to ensure
    close coordination in order to avoid regional spill-over. According to the
    Romanian foreign ministry, the 2 officials emphasised the importance of
    continued humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza and of the immediate and
    unconditional release of all hostages.


    POPULATION The population of Romania on July 1 was
    approx. 21.9 million, down 0.3% since the corresponding month of last year. Almost
    3 million of them are currently living abroad. Romania is also facing
    population ageing, with 125 elderly citizens for each 100 youth. The average
    age is 42.4 years, 0.3 years more than on July 1, 2022. The number of citizens
    in urban communities is nearly 3 million higher than the number of rural
    inhabitants, however urban population dropped by 0.8% over the past year while
    the rural population grew by 0.3%.


    UKRAINE Ukraine is seeking international support for its peace plan,
    in a 2-day meeting held as of today in Malta. As many as 50 countries are
    taking part, but Russia is not among them. According to AFP, this is the 3rd
    meeting of this kind, and organisers hope it would result in a joint
    declaration. The 10-point plan proposed by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr
    Zelenskyy includes, among other things, the pull out of Russian troops from the
    occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donbas, part of which is under
    separatist control since 2014, and Crimea, occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014.
    Last year, Moscow annexed 4 Ukrainian regions, partly occupied by its troops
    after the large-scale invasion of February 24.


    DST
    On Saturday night, Romania switches to winter time, setting clocks back one
    hour from 4 AM to 3 AM. Sunday will thus be 25-hour long. Daylight saving time,
    first suggested by the scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1784, is currently used
    in 70 countries. The concept has come under debate in recent years, with the EU
    asking member states to end seasonal clock changes and choose either winter
    time or summer time, but a decision in this respect is yet to be made. (AMP)

  • The Odessa Massacre

    The Odessa Massacre

    The events that took place over October 22nd and 25th 1941, when the Romanian army rounded up and executed the Jewish population in Odessa are known as the Odessa Massacre. The operation was carried out in retaliation for a bomb attack on the Romanian Command headquarters allegedly masterminded by the Jews on October 22nd. The attack killed 16 Romanian officers, including the city’s military commander, general Ion Glogojanu. 46 troops and NCOs, several civilians and 4 German navy officers also died in the attack.



    Because the perpetrators had not been captured, the Romanian troops launched an operation against the Jewish civilians in the city, which were perceived at that time as supporters of the Soviets and the partisans. General Iosif Iacobici, who was in charge of the retaliatory measures, reported that many Jews had been hanged on lamp posts in the city squares, some had been shot dead on the spot while others rounded up outside the city for execution. The number of victims ranges between 22,000 and 40,000.



    Archivist Florin Stan from the Diplomatic Archives of the Romanian Foreign Ministry has written a volume of WWll Jewish History in which he explains that the Massacre in Odessa must be understood in the greater context of the war’s early days.



    Florin Stan: “In order to better understand what happened in that October 1941, we must go a little back in time and have a look at some events that had taken place on the frontline after the liberation of Bessarabia and North Bukovina in late June 1941. On August 6th 1941, in Berdicev, a town located in present-day Ukraine, the head of the Romanian state, gen. Ion Antonescu had met Hitler to confirm the intentions of the Romanian government to carry on military operations in the East alongside the Wehrmacht forces. A historian specialized in WWll history explains that out of all Germany’s allies only two could be considered effective participants in the anti-Soviet campaign, namely Romania and Finland, which operated at the extremities of the Eastern front at the same time enjoying substantial autonomy from Germany. Antonescu’s ambition to prove the potential of Romanian troops in the battles of liberating and conquering Odessa – a major strategic point on the Eastern front – was well known.”



    Anti-Semitism had reached its peak in the early 1940s. An ideology of hatred, intolerance and racism, fascism pervaded not only the politics, a certain regime or state, but also people’s daily life. So clichés used by the propaganda machine were seen as undeniable truth. Florin Stan believes that anti-Semitism was an attitude that preceded the massacre in Odessa, a logical effect of the entire climate of hatred instated in Europe, particularly in order to justify failures of one sort or another.



    Florin Stan: “The protracted campaign to seize Odessa forced the Romanian government of the time to come up with explanations. One such stupid explanation was provided by gen. Ion Antonescu himself, who described the Jews as the devil incarnate. Another slogan circulated back then was that ‘without Jewish commissioners we would have long been in Odessa’ and a counter-intelligence bulletin released in September concluded that all Jews were actually waging war against the Romanian troops. That kind of propaganda led to oversimplification, blaming civilians as well as the servicemen who were fighting on the eastern front. Romanian troops entered Odessa on October 16th, after the city had been abandoned by the Soviets. Shortly after the invasion, patrols started to mark the Jewish houses and a ghetto was set up on the premises of the local prison on October 18th. All the Jews who had been rounded up in this ghetto were awaiting deportation and the seizure of all their belongings shortly before the bomb attack on the Romanian Command headquarters was seen as a carefully planned move.”



    However there were people who took a stand against these atrocities, and even the authorities reached the conclusion that the Jews were used as scapegoats.



    Florin Stan: “An example is the attitude of Odessa’s mayor Gherman Pantea, who in the morning of October 23rd was horrified by what he saw at the crossroads. An angry city mayor had told the Romanian officers that the atrocities committed in the city are a blood stain on the Romanian military uniform, which nobody could ever wash away, as those executed had not been proved guilty of any crime. An inquiry into the massacre was launched shortly and in November that year, gendarme general Constantin Vasiliu briefed Ion Antonescu on its conclusions; it was clear that the victims of the massacre had not been among the masterminds of the attack on the Romanian Command headquarters.”



    The Odessa Massacre was one of the counts gen. Antonescu and three of his collaborators were charged on. The four were executed in June 1946 and the Court of Appeal in Bucharest in 2016 reconfirmed the death sentence in response to an appeal made by the son of one of those executed.


    (translated by: Daniel Bilt)