Radio România Internațional

Tag: Curtain

  • December 21, 2021 UPDATE

    December 21, 2021 UPDATE

    TALKS Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca met NATO’s Secretary
    General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Tuesday. Ciuca gave assurances that
    Romania’s commitment to earmarking 2% of its GDP to defence would continue.
    Bucharest will also get actively and significantly involved in the debates over
    NATO’s strategic concept and its future missions. The present Russian military
    buildup is significant, unprovoked and unjustified and we cannot understand how
    NATO’s and Ukraine’s actions can be considered provocations, the Romanian
    official went on to say. He reiterated Romania’s support for Ukraine’s
    sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized
    borders. Also in Brussels on Tuesday, Ciuca met the European Commission
    president Ursula von der Leyen with whom he discussed ways of handling the
    pandemic. The Romanian Prime Minister presented the efforts of economic
    recovery included in the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, highlighting
    the concern for ensuring fiscal-budgetary stability. Ciuca also reiterated the appeal
    that a quicker decision be made over Romania’s joining the border-free zone,
    Schengen.








    PROTEST The protesters who forced their way into the Parliament’s
    building courtyard in Bucharest on Tuesday resorted to cars that had unlimited
    access to the institution, says a communiqué issued by the Interior Ministry.
    About two thousand people, supporters of the ultranationalist political party
    AUR protested in front of Parliament on Tuesday the authorities’ intention to prevent
    access to the workplace without the green certificate. The unauthorized protest
    was promoted on AUR social networks and the authorities are presently trying to
    identify and sanction the protesters. Part of them became violent and attempted
    to storm the premises. According to the Interior Ministry sources, the police
    made an appeal to calm and the observation of legal rules without resorting to
    violence. About 100 protesters later gathered in front of the government.
    Romania has the second lowest vaccination rate in the EU, almost 40% of the
    total population, data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention
    and Control shows.










    COMMEMORATION The
    heroes of the anti-communist uprising of December 1989 were commemorated in
    Bucharest on Tuesday. Religious services and military ceremonies were held at
    the Revolution Heroes Cemetery and at the dedicated monuments downtown. Similar
    events are scheduled on Wednesday at the Romanian Revolution Heroes Monument,
    at the Radio Hall and the Romanian Television Corporation. Originating in Timișoara
    (west), on 16th December, the uprising spread across the country,
    culminating with dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu fleeing the capital city on 22nd
    December amid the protests of hundreds of thousands of Romanians. Captured by
    the Army, Ceauşescu and his wife Elena were subject to a summary trial and
    executed in the southern town of Târgovişte. Romania was the only country behind the
    Iron Curtain where the change of regime was accompanied by bloodshed. Over 1,000
    people were killed and some 3,000 wounded.












    BUDGET The draft 2022 state budget and social security budget laws will
    be discussed and voted on in Parliament on Thursday. The budgets of the main
    public institutions were being discussed in Parliament’s specialised committees
    on Tuesday. The government passed the bills on Monday and promised they are
    based on predictability and stability. The budget is based on an estimated
    economic growth rate of 4.6% and a GDP of some 260 billion euro, a predicted
    inflation rate of 6.5% and gross average salaries of 1,200 euros per month,
    with the budget deficit expected to stay within the limits agreed on with the
    European Commission under the excessive deficit procedure, namely 5.84% of GDP.
    The public pension fund will receive 7.32% of GDP. The Liberal
    president Florin Cîţu criticised the fact that only 6.7% of GDP was earmarked
    for investments, instead of 7% as agreed within the ruling coalition. The
    Social Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu argued however that the budget
    execution is more important than the exact breakdown of expenditure. The leader
    of USR party in opposition, Dacian Cioloş, says the draft budget relies on
    over-estimated revenues and said although public education is a priority for
    President Iohannis, not enough funding has been earmarked for the sector.






    (bill)

  • Europe renews its commitment to unity

    Europe renews its commitment to unity

    The city of
    Sibiu in central Romania on Thursday, May 9, became the political capital of
    the European Union, a community that is trying to regain its strength and
    reassert itself as a haven of prosperity and the rule of law.






    In Sibiu EU
    leaders adopted a Declaration comprising 10 commitments focusing, among other
    things, on defense, solidarity in difficult times, openness to find joint
    solutions, protecting democracy and the rule of law, observing fairness and
    safeguarding the future for the next generations of Europeans.






    We will defend
    one Europe, from East to West, from North to South. Thirty years ago millions
    of people fought for their freedom and for unity and brought down the Iron
    Curtain, which had divided Europe for decades. There is no place for divisions
    that work against our collective interest, one of the points in the
    Declaration reads.






    EU leaders
    further argue that the Union of today is stronger than that of yesterday and
    we want to continue to build its strength for tomorrow. This is our commitment
    for the future generations. This is the spirit of Sibiu and of a new Union of
    27 ready to embrace its future as one, the document also reads. President Klaus
    Iohannis, a former mayor of Sibiu for many years, hailed the positive message
    the EU has sent from Sibiu to consolidate the Union based on a clear set of
    principles and values. The President also referred to the upcoming strategic
    agenda of the EU.




    Klaus Iohannis: We
    want a strategic agenda that should reflect our ambitions for the future of the
    European Union, one that should bring real benefits to all EU citizens. In that
    sense, we believe that the new strategic agenda should focus on promoting an
    increase in convergence across the community bloc, consolidating the single
    market, strengthening the internal security of the Union and ensuring an
    effective foreign policy.




    In turn,
    European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who is nearing the end of
    his term in office, said the unity expressed at the summit is not just for
    show, but real and robust. Saying that everything is going wrong wouldn’t be
    exact, the same as saying that everything is going well, President Juncker
    argued. In turn, European Council President Donald Tusk delivered a speech in
    Romanian:






    Donald Tusk: When
    we met in January, at the beginning of your Presidency – when I spoke with such
    conviction, and so emotionally about Romania – I was speaking with confidence,
    because I know that you are truly remarkable. You have organized an exceptional
    summit and you can be proud of your work, just as Europe is proud of you. I
    have fallen in love with Sibiu, the whole of Europe has fallen in love with
    you.






    European Union
    leaders will meet on May 28 after the European Parliament election to agree on
    the configuration of the upcoming Commission.