Radio România Internațional

Tag: defense shield

  • May 30 – June 5

    May 30 – June 5


    Local elections in Romania


    Local elections are held in Romania on Sunday, June 5. More than 250,000 have entered the race for a mayor, local or county councilor seat, and the election will take place in one round alone. A novelty in Sunday’s elections is the digitization of polling stations, in order to prevent voting fraud. There are 18,600 polling stations in the country. The election is hoped to rejuvenate a local administration stained by countless corruption scandals. Last year alone, as many as 14 city mayors, nine county council presidents and a prefect were sent to court.



    Romania’s Response to Russian statements


    The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis says the recent statements made by Moscow are inaccurate and emphasized that the missile defense system in Deveselu does not target Russia. According to the head of state, such ungrounded threats reconfirm that Romania’s approach, namely strengthening NATO security as a legitimate response to Moscow’s stance in the Black Sea region, is appropriate.



    Klaus Iohannis: The recent statements coming from the Russian Federation, concerning the anti-missile platform, are essentially inaccurate, because the system has nothing to do with Russia. These speeches cannot intimidate us. On the contrary, such ungrounded statements reconfirm that our endeavor to strengthen NATO security as a legitimate response to Russia’s stance in the Black Sea region is the right one.



    In turn, the Romanian Foreign Ministry expressed its surprise with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that Romania might find itself in the sights of Russian rockets, because it hosts elements of the American missile defence system. These statements, the Foreign Ministry said, may be read as a threat to regional security.



    Protests in Bucharest


    Trade unions in education protested in Bucharest the salary system in the Romanian public education sector. The unionists primarily demand that 6% of the GDP be earmarked for education, as stipulated in the Education Law. The decision to resort to street protests followed several failed rounds of salary negotiations with the Government. The Labour Minister Dragos Paslaru said the Government did not have the necessary funds to raise salaries in this sector, and explained that what should be done is to correct the salary calculation method, rather than to increase wages in a populist move. The Government announced that on June 7 an order would be passed, regulating salaries in the state sector. According to the Labor Minister, the order will address the dysfunctions in the system, correcting a number of errors. The emergency order particularly addresses the entry-level teaching staff, administrative staff, kindergarten teachers and assistant professors, who will get 16% to 20% pay rises.



    The Labor Minister emphasized that not all salaries in the public education sector can be increased:


    Had we given a 3% increase for all categories, we would have seen the university professors’ salaries go up as well, so the wage gap we are talking about would have further widened. Because when you apply a percentage increase to all salaries, from the lowest level to the highest, the gap between them grows even wider.


    The planned corrections are estimated to benefit 120,000 of the total 260,000 teaching staff in the system.



    New aviation tragedy


    Four employees of Romania’s Mobile Emergency, Resuscitation and Extrication Service, SMURD, lost their lives on Thursday, when their helicopter crashed in the neighboring Republic of Moldova. The accident took place in a village near the Romanian – Moldovan border, as the mobile unit was trying to get to a patient. Two Romanian investigation teams joined forces with the experts in Chisinau to establish the causes of the tragedy. Eyewitnesses have reported that the helicopter went down because of the bad weather and low visibility. The Military Prosecution Division in Bucharest also initiated a criminal investigation, suspecting failure to observe work place safety standards. The Republic of Moldova observed a day of national mourning for the four Romanian rescue workers on Friday.



    Romania at Euro 2016


    The manager of Romania’s national football squad Anghel Iordanescu announced the list of 23 players selected for the European Championship scheduled to take place in France between June 10 and July 10. In the Euro 2016 opening game, Romania is playing the host team, in a group that also includes Switzerland and Albania. Also in sports, the national women’s handball team has secured the tickets for the 2016 European Championship, after defeating Lithuania, 34-24, in Kaunas, in the last but one stage of Preliminary Group 1. The same team will also represent Romania in this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.




  • December 18, 2015 UPDATE

    December 18, 2015 UPDATE

    ANTI-MISSILE SHIELD– The anti-missile shield in Deveselu is a confirmation of the extraordinary relationship that the US and Romania share, the US ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, said on Friday, when elements of the US missile defence system installed at the military base in Deveselu, in southern Romania, became operational. The facility in Deveselu, which includes a sophisticated radar system, ballistic missile interceptors and state-of-the-art communication equipment, will be a major module of a larger NATO security project. To mark the occasion, the Romanian Foreign Ministry held a special ceremony. Hans Klemm underlined the defensive character of the project and the fact that it was exclusively directed against threats coming from outside Europe. In turn, Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc said this is the most important Romanian-American project.



    ROMANIAN SUPPORT FOR MOLDOVA– Romania intends to grant financial support to the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, if a government willing to make reforms is instated in Chishinau. The announcement was made in Brussels on Friday, at the end of the European Council, by Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, who approached this issue with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has expressed Romanias readiness to work closely with the European Commission and the IMF to make sure that the financial assistance package reaches Chishinau in due time and that it will support a reform process, the fight against corruption, the efforts of rendering the administration more efficient and of creating more open economic and business environments. In another move, Dacian Ciolos has announced that early next year, he will pay visits to Germany, France and the Netherlands and will return to Brussels for thorough talks on the role Romania wants to play within the European Union. Gathered in Brussels, the European leaders on Thursday and Friday discussed such issues as the fight against terrorism, ways to manage the flow of migrants and the protection of Schengens borders. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has expressed Romanias solidarity with the EU in the migration file, but he made clear that Bucharest would also like to see that some conditions are met, such as strengthening the EUs capacity to control the migration flow and to ensure a functional Schengen area.



    BUDGET– Romanias President, Klaus Iohannis, on Friday promulgated the 2016 state budget and social securities laws, respectively, which were adopted by Parliament on Wednesday. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has given assurances that his cabinet will manage the money transparently, efficiently and with caution. In another move, 63% of company managers in Romania expect an improvement of the Romanian economic situation in 2016. A poll conducted in nine Central and East European countries shows almost all managers in Romania (98%) believe the black economy is a problem, with 39% of them saying that avoiding paying taxes by not declaring the real incomes is a major reason of concern. Also, business people in Romania take higher confidence in a positive evolution of the Euro than respondents from other Central and East-European countries.



    COMMEMORATION– Timisoara on Friday hosted a series of events marking 26 years since the flame of the Anti-Communist Revolution of December 1989 was kindled in that western Romanian city. Floral tributes were paid at the Metropolitan Cathedral, where tens of protesters were shot dead on December 18, 1989. That day goes down in history as the day when the army opened fire at people in Timisoara, a city where the martial law had been declared. Started on December 16, 1989, by the Timisoara inhabitants opposition to an abusive measure taken by the local authorities, the Revolution spread to the whole country at a fast pace. It culminated on December 22, when dictator Nicolae Ceausescu fled Bucharest, leaving power. Over 1,000 people died and some 3,400 others got injured between December 16 and 25, 1989. Romania was the only country in the former Eastern Bloc that violently overthrew the communist regime and executed its communist leaders. Romanias Parliament will meet in a solemn session on December 21, to mark 26 years since the 1989 Revolution.


    (Translated by: Diana Vijeu)