Radio România Internațional

Tag: elections

  • November 26, 2024

    November 26, 2024

     

    ELECTIONS The leaders of the Social Democratic Party (in the ruling coalition in Romania) have decided that Victor Negrescu should be in charge with the party’s political communication until the December 1 general elections, PM Marcel Ciolacu announced. The latter stepped down as party leader after failing to move into the second round of the presidential ballot. The leaders of the other party in the ruling coalition, the National Liberal Party, also resigned, beginning with its president Nicolae Ciuca, who only came out fifth in the first round. Party heavyweight Ilie Bolojan will serve as interim president for the Liberals. He announced his party would support the pro-European, right-of-centre Elena Lasconi in the second round due on December 8, against the pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu, the surprise winner of the first round.

     

    NATIONAL DAY Nearly 2,500 troops and specialists from the defence ministry, the interior ministry, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunications Service, the National Penitentiary Administration and the Romanian Customs Authority, with about 190 vehicles and 45 aircraft, will take part in the military parade organised on Sunday, December 1, in Bucharest, on the occasion of Romania’s National Day. Along with Romanian soldiers, around 240 foreign troops will also march in the parade, deployed to Romania from Albania, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Spain, the USA, Turkey and other countries. The foreign units include about 21 vehicles, including combat aircraft.

     

    EUROPEAN UNION A European Parliament plenary session has begun in Strasbourg, where the final vote on the new European Commission will be held tomorrow. The EU’s support for Ukraine, amid North Korea’s growing involvement on Russia’s side, and another hot topic, the Gaza Strip situation, are being discussed. Talks are also taking place ahead of the adoption of the Union’s 2025 budget. According to the Romanian MEP Victor Negrescu, one of the negotiators, Parliament managed to secure a EUR 10 billion higher budget for next year compared to 2024, namely almost EUR 199.5 billion in commitments and EUR 155 billion in total payments, including amounts for special instruments outside the multiannual financial framework. The issue of Romania and Bulgaria’s full Schengen accession will also be discussed in the evening, following a recent agreement in Budapest, according to which Austria will withdraw its veto in the Council to allow this last step. Discussions could also include references to the fact that the Dutch Parliament might block this full accession in early December, as the “Financial Times” wrote a few days ago.

     

    MIDDLE EAST Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah are about to conclude a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. According to Lebanese sources, the US and French presidents are expected to announce the ceasefire soon, after intense diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the conflict that began last October, concurrently with Israel’s war against the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza. The deal between Israel and Lebanon is not backed, however, by all the political forces in the state or by the presidents of local councils in the towns on the border between the two states, Radio Romania’s correspondent reports. According to him, PM Netanyahu has talks today with all the heads of the political factions in the ruling coalition in an attempt to convince them to support the agreement, and in the afternoon he will convene a meeting of the political and security cabinet to the same effect. What seems to have convinced the Israeli PM to accept the deal, the correspondent also says, was the United States’ guarantee that it would support Israel’s right to attack Lebanon if the terms of the agreement were violated. (AMP)

  • Surprising result in Romania’s presidential elections

    Surprising result in Romania’s presidential elections

    The independent candidate Călin Georgescu takes the lead in the first round of the presidential elections in Romania.

     

     

     

    Over 9.4 million Romanians cast their ballot for the country’s next president in the first round of voting on Sunday. The voter turnout rate was 52.55%, much higher than five years ago, when it stood at 42.19%. Over 820,000 Romanians voted abroad, most of them in the United Kingdom (150,000), Germany (145,000) and Italy (123,000). The big surprise of the election is the independent candidate Călin Georgescu, a 62-year-old agronomist engineer, who ranked first in the voters’ preferences. He worked as an expert in sustainable development and was secretary of state in the Ministry of Environment. He headed a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then held various positions at the UN in the field of environment, for several years. Since 2013, he has been head of the European Research Centre of the Club of Rome, and is currently a professor at the University of Piteşti (south).

     

    The international media reports that Romanians are voting for extremism, which from a geopolitical point of view is a disaster. Electoral earthquake in Romania: a pro-Russian candidate that no one expected came out first in the first round of the presidential elections, ahead of the pro-European Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, France Presse reports. A hard-right Romanian politician and NATO critic has achieved a shocking result that threatens Romania’s firm pro-Ukraine stance, Reuters reports. Călin Georgescu was associated with the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), a party that had repeatedly mentioned his name as a candidate for prime minister. He was later removed by the AUR leadership, who accused him of damaging the party’s image with his pro-Russian and anti-NATO stance. In a 2021 interview, Călin Georgescu described NATO’s missile shield at Deveselu as “a shame of diplomacy” and said the Alliance would not protect any of its members if they were attacked by Russia. In addition, he said that Ion Antonescu, Romania’s de facto leader in World War II, who was sentenced to death for his role in the Holocaust, and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the Legionary movement – ​​one of the most violent and anti-Semitic in Europe – are national heroes.

     

    A criminal case was opened against Georgescu for promoting the personality cult of individuals suspected of genocide. Romania’s best chance is “Russian wisdom,” he said in another interview. Extremely religious and nationalist, he campaigned for reducing Romania’s dependence on imports, supporting farmers and increasing domestic food and energy production. Călin Georgescu stayed out of the spotlight and focused on social media. Romanians voted for him, including those in the diaspora, despite his strongly anti-Semitic, legionary, “messianic,” pro-Russian and anti-Western discourse. “I said we are not doing politics, we are doing history. It came true,” he pointed out, after the polling stations closed.

     

  • November 23, 2024 UPDATE

    November 23, 2024 UPDATE

    A roundup of local and international news.

     

    ELECTIONS – The election campaign for the first round of the presidential elections that takes place on Sunday in Romania ended on Saturday morning. The presidential elections are scheduled for November 24, the first round, and December 8 the second round. Over 18 million voters are expected to cast their ballot on Sunday, in the nearly 19,000 polling stations opened in the country. Abroad, Romanians can vote in the 950 polling stations opened by the authorities for three days, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. On Saturday, 14 hours ahead of the opening of the polling stations in the country, about 143 thousand Romanians had voted in the Diaspora, of whom over 4,000 opted for postal voting. Most Romanians abroad voted in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Moldova, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. There are 13 candidates in the presidential race, 9 representing political parties and 4 independents. Most ideological currents are represented in the competition, from social democrats to liberals and from pro-Europeans to populist and ultranationalists. On December 1, when the National Day is celebrated, legislative elections will be held. We recall that on June 9, local and European parliamentary elections were also held in Romania.

     

    REFERENDUM – On Sunday, the Bucharest residents entitled to vote are expected at the polls in a referendum initiated by the General Mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan. Voters must answer two questions proposed by him, which concern the way that funds are divided between the General City Hall and the city halls of the 6 Bucharest districts, and also have their say on the issuing of construction permits in the capital Bucharest. At the same time, at the initiative of the Social Democratic Party, a third question was added, through an amendment, which refers to combating drug use in schools. In order to validate this consultation, a 30% voter turnout rate is required.

     

    SCHENGEN – The interior ministers of Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Hungary, alongside the European Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, agreed on Friday in Budapest that Romania and Bulgaria will join Schengen with the land borders as of January 1, 2025. The final decision will be taken at the meeting of EU interior ministers on 12 December in Brussels. Austria has been opposing Schengen enlargement since 2022. Eventually, Vienna later accepted partial Schengen membership for Sofia and Bucharest in March, with air and sea borders, and set a roadmap for a possible extension to land borders. The agreement made public on Friday provides for border checks for an initial period of six months to minimize the potential change in migration routes that could occur.

     

    NATO – NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with the US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Friday, the North Atlantic Alliance spokeswoman said Saturday, according to Reuters and France press. The two discussed global security issues facing the alliance. Rutte’s meeting with Trump comes ahead of a NATO-Ukraine Council scheduled for next week, after Russia launched a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile on military infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday. Moscow described the action as a response to the first Ukrainian attacks with US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles on military targets on Russian territory.

     

    RUGBY – The Romanian national rugby squad will face Uruguay in a test match this evening in Bucharest. The Romanian team has met Uruguay 13 times so far. Romania has won ten matches, one of which ended in a draw, while two were won by the South Americans. Romania defeated Tonga (25-15) and Canada (35-27) in test matches this month.

     

     

     

     

  • November 21, 2024 UPDATE

    November 21, 2024 UPDATE

    A roundup of local and international news.

    RULING – The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Al-Masri, known as Mohammad Deif. The Hague-based court’s Pre-Trial Chamber rejected Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction and said there were sufficient grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by approving attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip. The ICC also issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of Muhammad Deif, Hamas’ military chief. Israel said in August that it had killed Deif but Hamas has not confirmed his death.

     

    ENERGY – The Bucharest Government on Friday adopted the national energy strategy for the next 10 years, with an extension until 2050. It aims at gradually shifting from coal-based production to natural gas-based production, which is less polluting, and, in the medium and long term, to nuclear energy. Three other economic strategies were also on the Government’s agenda. The first is the Romanian industrialization strategy for the period 2024-2030. This involves the transition of Romanian industry towards clean energy. The second strategy is the one regarding non-energy mineral resources and aims to develop an integrated chain in the mining industry, from research, exploitation and development to processing. The third national strategy is the one for market surveillance. It is about a single market and the need, on the one hand, to guarantee the free movement of products in the European Union and, on the other hand, to make sure that these products meet quality standards.

     

    ELECTION – The first round of the presidential election takes place in Romania on November 24. The second round is scheduled for December 8, and legislative elections are held on December 1. There are 13 candidates in the race for president, 10 supported by parties and 3 independents. There are 14 names on the ballots, but one of the candidates withdrew in favor of another. The authorities opened 950 polling stations for Romanians outside the borders, a record number. They can vote, in the first round of the presidential election, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

     

    TRACTORS – Small Romanian farms that own old and polluting tractors will be able to buy new ones by applying to the “Tractors Scrap” program. The budget allocated to the project by the administration of the environmental fund is 500 million lei (the equivalent of about 100 million Euros). The registration of the companies from which farmers can purchase the tractors starts on Friday and can be done until November 28 at the latest. The vouchers acquired by farmers will cover between 65% and 80% of the purchase value, which should not exceed 55,000 Euros.

     

    TOURISM – The autumn edition of the 2024 Romanian Tourism Fair opened on Thursday in Bucharest. Visitors have access to a wide range of promotional packages, exclusive discounts and holiday ideas for all tastes and budgets, the organizers say. More than 100 participating companies offer destinations from all over the world, and discounts on vacation packages during the fair are up to 50%. Among the participants are tour operators from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Austria, Hungary, Egypt, Vietnam and Italy.

     

    EC – The right-wing, centrist and social democratic parties in the European Parliament reached, on Wednesday evening, a political agreement to approve the new European Commission makeup. The Romanian Roxana Mînzatu will thus become Executive Vice-president for People, Skills and Preparedness in the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen. The European Parliament will give its final vote on the new EC membership on November 27, in a plenary session in Strasbourg.

     

     

  • 13 for Romania

    13 for Romania

     

     

    In Romania, presidential elections usually spark the greatest interest and emotions. Even more so this year, when the two rounds of the election for president are held before and after the legislative ballot, thus increasing the electoral stakes.

     

    In business terms, the demand is high among the voters, but the supply is rather poor, perhaps the poorest in the last 35 years, commentators and analysts agree, talking not so much about numbers, because there are 13 candidates in the race, but about their quality.

     

    Their arguments include the fact that most of the candidates lack a well-defined professional profile, even if they have political experience, that they have little if any charisma, and that some of them are tainted by corruption scandals.

     

    On the other hand, there are also candidates whose competence in ​​foreign policy and security, the key areas in the president’s job description, has been proven and is indisputable, but who suffer in terms of political support, because they are running independently.

     

    One other thing that affects this presidential election is that, while at least two contenders, possibly even 3, are fighting for the second place in the decisive round on December 8, one candidate is virtually certain to qualify to the final, and this paradoxically dilutes the tension of the competition.

     

    The debates between Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu in 1992 and 1996, the one between Traian Băsescu and Adrian Năstase in 2004, or the one in 2014 between the outgoing president Klaus Iohannis and his opponent at the time, Victor Ponta, have been truly memorable. They were all competitions between the main political blocs, the left and the right, with the latter winning for the past two decades. Unlike what we’ve seen in the past, during the current presidential campaign there has been just one televised debate, and even that one has not been attended by all the candidates.

     

    In terms of ideologies, all leanings are represented in the presidential race, from the social-democratic to the liberal and from centrist pro-Europeans to populist and sovereignist nationalists.

     

    The election season in Romania opened on June 9, when local and European parliamentary elections took place simultaneously. The two rounds of the presidential elections will be held on November 24 and December 8, and in between, on December 1, the National Day itself, general elections are scheduled. Romanian voters living abroad will be able to vote in the first round of the presidential elections for 3 days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The authorities have set up around 950 polling stations abroad, the largest number so far. According to the Permanent Electoral Authority, around 7,000 Romanian citizens living abroad have opted for postal voting. (AMP)

  • November 19, 2024 UPDATE

    November 19, 2024 UPDATE

     

    PARLIAMENT The parliament of Romania convenes on Wednesday to approve 2 inquiry committees and their membership. The joint standing bureaus approved a draft resolution on setting up a joint parliamentary inquiry committee to check the spending by and on behalf of the Presidency in 2014 – 2024, initiated by the Social Democratic Party. Another joint inquiry committee will look into real estate mafia, beginning with the Nordis affair, initiated by the National Liberal Party. The Liberal Party president Nicolae Ciucă said the number of victims identified in this case is over 400. Many Romanians in the country and abroad were persuaded to purchase apartments in residential compounds and hotels built by Nordis, but the developers have sold the same apartments several times over to different buyers.

     

    ELECTIONS Romania sees the last days of the campaign for the first round of the presidential elections, scheduled for Sunday, November 24. There are 13 candidates for the president post, 9 of them backed by political parties and 4 running independently. The head of the Permanent Election Authority, Toni Greblă, says the official results of the election may be announced by late Monday, November 25. The second round of the presidential elections is due on December 8.

     

    ISRAEL The Romanian foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu Tuesday discussed over the telephone with Israel’s new diplomacy chief, Gideon Saar. According to the Romanian foreign ministry, Luminiţa Odobescu praised the dynamics of bilateral dialogue and cooperation, and its potential for development in key sectors. The 2 officials also exchanged opinions regarding the security situation in the Middle East. Odobescu voiced support for the international community’s efforts towards de-escalation, a ceasefire, the freeing of all hostages and the improvement of the humanitarian situation in the region. The Romanian minister also reiterated Bucharest’s firm commitment to fighting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, a topic constantly on the agenda of the Romanian government and supported by concrete measures. Gideon Saar praised the special relations between the 2 countries and thanked for Romania’s steady support.

     

    UKRAINE Despite 1,000 days of terrible warfare, Ukraine stands unbowed, the US Ambassador in Bucharest, Kathleen Kavalec said in a statement on Tuesday, marking 1000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She also said that, according to the UN, Russian forces have killed more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilians, including more than 600 children, and continue to engage in shocking war crimes, including torture of civilians and prisoners of war. Russian bombs have obliterated schools, hospitals, and treasured sites of Ukrainian history, culture, and memory. According to the American diplomat, Ukraine has shown remarkable courage and resolve in defence of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, helped by the enduring support of its friends and allies around the world. Romania has shown true leadership in support of Ukraine and its citizens and, as strategic partners and NATO allies, the United States and Romania stand together to counter the threats posed by Russia in Ukraine and in Europe, Kathleen Kavalec also said.

     

    FOOTBALL The Romanian national football team defeated Cyprus 4-1 on Monday night at home, in their last match in Group C2 of the Nations League. The Romanians thus won their fifth victory in the group and moved into the competition’s League B. Romania is still waiting for UEFA’s decision regarding the match against Kosovo in Bucharest on Friday, when the guests left the pitch little before the end, at a goalless score, when they heard pro-Serbian chants from the host fans. The Kosovo Football Federation denounced what it saw as an “unacceptable and unsafe atmosphere”. The Romanian Football Federation dismissed the accusations as unfounded.

     

  • Preparations for the elections abroad

    Preparations for the elections abroad

     

    After the local and European parliamentary elections, held simultaneously on June 9, Romanians are preparing for an election marathon. They will vote three Sundays in a row, on November 24 and December 8 for the presidential elections and on December 1, on Romania’s National Day, for the legislative elections. Leaders of the parliamentary parties, representatives of marginal or independent factions, make up the 14 candidates for the position of head of state. One of them will replace the incumbent president, Klaus Iohannis, whose second and last presidential mandate to which the Constitution entitled him to, expires next month.

     

    As regards Parliament, there are 330 deputy and 136 senator positions at stake, for which thousands of people are competing. About 200 envelopes with postal votes for the parliamentary and presidential elections have already been received and are “on hold” until the moment when the votes cast at the ballot boxes will be counted, the president of the Permanent Election Authority (AEP), Toni Grebla, explained. He added that 6,650 citizens received envelopes to vote by mail and they must send their option no later than two days before the start of physical voting, in order to be received on time. If they report having voted incorrectly by mail, they can cast their vote at the nearest polling station in their country of residence.

     

    Toni Grebla, alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminiţa Odobescu, held a press conference on the topic of elections abroad. Greblă recalled that Romania has a record number of polling stations set up for the Romanian Diaspora, 950. Minister Odobescu warned that there are 11 polling stations with different addresses in the three rounds of elections, in Finland, France, Spain and Britain. She also mentioned that the address of some polling stations in Spain has changed, due to the recent catastrophic floods there.

     

    Odobescu has called on the Romanian citizens abroad to check the list of polling stations and to carry with them the documents they need in order to be allowed to vote – an identity card or passport, valid on the day of voting. All polling stations abroad will be permanently video monitored, the minister also said. The distribution of the ballot papers for the first round of the presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as of the other materials, such as control stamps, stamps with the mention ‘VOTE’ and the minutes recording the voting results, ends this week. Voting abroad in the first round of the presidential elections will unfold over three days: Friday, November 22, between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time, Saturday, November 23, and Sunday, November 24, between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time.

  • November 5, 2024

    November 5, 2024

     

    EUROPEAN COMMISSION Roxana Mînzatu, Romania’s nominee for European Commissioner for People, Skills and Preparedness is interviewed today by Parliament’s specialist committees. She is one of the six vice-presidents of the European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Layen. Mînzatu aims to make the teaching career more attractive, given that at least 24 EU member states are facing a shortage of teachers, and at the same time to improve the Erasmus+ programme, viewed as far too expensive by many Romanian students. On November 12, next week, Roxana Mînzatu will be heard in the specialist committees of the European Parliament.

     

    DEFENCE “The Romanian and French military are fully engaged in ensuring security and stability in the Black Sea region,” the Romanian defence minister Angel Tîlvăr said in Paris, at a meeting with his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu. The agenda included current topics related to bilateral cooperation, with an emphasis on strategic defence priorities, in the complex security context of the Black Sea region and of the Russian Federation’s continuing war of aggression in Romania’s neighbor, Ukraine. The 2 officials also discussed aspects related to the collaboration between the two states within NATO, the European Union and bilaterally. Minister Tîlvăr was among the Romanian officials accompanying PM Marcel Ciolacu, who met with his counterpart Michel Barnier on Monday.

     

    FINANCE The Romanian finance minister, Marcel Boloş, took part  in Brussels today in the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, where they discussed VAT in the digital age, the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the annual reporting, EU statistics, international meetings and financing the climate transition. The Council will also pass two legislative acts in the field of insurance.

     

    FORUM Bucharest is hosting the Romania-Japan Energy Forum, an event that brings together companies and public institutions in the field of energy from both countries. The forum stepped up joint projects in the field of energy, in particular the development of new generation nuclear power, the expansion of renewable energy storage capacities, the production of green hydrogen and the implementation of carbon capture, use and storage technologies. As part of the forum, the Romanian energy ministry and the Japanese company Itochu Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the Tarnița-Lăpuștești investment (central Romania), a project of strategic importance for balancing the energy system in Romania in the context of increasing the share of energy from renewable sources. Relations between Romania and Japan were raised to the strategic partnership level on March 7, 2023.

     

    ELECTION DAY US citizens today elect their president. Running for office are vice-president Kamala Harris, supported by the Democratic Party, and the former White House leader Donald Trump, the candidate of the Republican Party. Both finished their campaign in Pennsylvania, a state that could decide who the next president will be. Over 80 million voters have already cast their early vote by mail, a record number that shows interest in this election, seen by many as critical for the future of American democracy. A staggering USD 2.6 bln has been spent in the last eight months to convince the voters. Opinion polls show that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are practically tied.

     

    GEORGIA Thousands of Georgians gathered in the centre of the capital city Tbilisi on Monday evening, to protest the results of the October 26 legislative elections, won by the ruling party, Georgian Dream, and challenged by the opposition, whose supporters are now announcing protests will continue until the election is repeated. The newly elected opposition MPs refused to enter Parliament, and described the election as illegitimate, while Western observers speak of irregularities during the campaign and the vote. The opposition parties, supported by the pro-Western president Salome Zourabichvili, claim that there have been frauds and demand an international investigation or repeat elections under ‘international administration’. Both ideas are rejected by the government. Attending the protest, Salome Zourabichvili told the demonstrators that the Republic of Moldova won, referring to the victory of her pro-European counterpart Maia Sandu, and that “Georgia must not give up either”. Russia dismissed the Georgian opposition’s accusations of meddling in the election process, and the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation last Wednesday to investigate election fraud allegations. (AMP)

  • November 1, 2024 UPDATE

    November 1, 2024 UPDATE

     

    DEFENCE Romania and Norway continue to stand by Ukraine at these critical times, the defence minister Angel Tîlvăr said on Friday, after a meeting in Bucharest with his Norwegian counterpart, Bjorn Arild Gram. Minister Tîlvăr highlighted the successful cooperation between the two countries’ air forces under a programme in which the Romanian government awarded to Norway a contract for the procurement of 32 F-16 aircraft with initial logistic support, and for complementary goods and services from the US. A total of 12 airplanes have been received so far, after less than a week ago 3 F-16 Fighting Falcon multi-role aircraft arrived in Romania. The entire lot is expected to be received by the end of 2025.

     

    FLOODS A person on the list of Romanian nationals missing following the devastating floods in Spain has been found dead, the Romanian foreign ministry announced on Friday. The foreign ministry via the Romanian consular office in Castellon de la Plana and the Romanian Embassy in Madrid continues to check information on an estimated 15 Romanian nationals on the list of missing persons. The region of Valencia, in the south-east of Spain, has been hit by unprecedented floods. At least 205 people died in Spain following the rainfalls and floods, according to updates provided by the Spanish authorities. Scores of people are still missing. Spain declared 3 days of national mourning.

     

    ELECTIONS The election campaign for the parliamentary elections of December 1st officially got under way on Friday. Romanian voters will elect 466 MPs, 330 in the Chamber of Deputies and 136 in the Senate. The election campaign will come to an end on 30th November. Romanian citizens residing abroad will be able to cast their ballots either through postal voting or in person at one of the polling stations set up abroad. The Romanian foreign ministry submitted to the Permanent Electoral Authority its proposals for the 950 polling stations to be set up abroad for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. The election campaign for the presidential elections began a week ago. The first round will take place on 24th November, and the second round on 8th December. In June, Romania also saw European and local elections.

     

    ANNIVERSARY Radio Romania Friday celebrated 96 years of uninterrupted service. With over 3 million listeners a day, the public radio station must reinvent itself and make itself more attractive to younger audiences, said the director general of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, Răzvan-Ioan Dincă. Radio Romania broadcast its first programme at 5 pm on 1st November 1928. In recognition of its decisive role in the country’s history, in December 2019 Parliament declared 1st November National Radio Day in Romania. To mark this occasion, the Radio Concert Hall Friday night hosted an anniversary concert conducted by the celebrated Romanian conductor Cristian Mandeal.

     

    TRADE The Romanian minister of the economy, entrepreneurship and tourism, Ştefan-Radu Oprea, and the trade minister of Turkey, Omer Bolat, Friday chaired the second session of the Romanian-Turkish Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO). The Romanian official said there is evident progress in terms of the value of bilateral trade, while Omer Bolat said bilateral economic relations have grown in all areas, from trade to investments, tourism, transport and services. He also appreciated Romania’s support for his country within the EU, in respect of the modernisation of the customs union. The Romanian-Turkish JETCO establishment declaration was signed by the two economy ministers on the sidelines of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Romania on April 1, 2015.

     

    JOURNALISTS In most cases in which journalists get killed around the world, their killers go unpunished, said UNESCO in a report on International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which is marked every year on 2nd November. 85% of all crimes against journalists recorded by UNESCO in 2006 are still not solved, the report also writes. Over the two years covered by the UNESCO report, namely 2022 and 2023, 162 journalists were killed, almost a half of them in countries with ongoing armed conflicts. In 2022, Mexico reported the largest number of journalists killed, 19, followed by Ukraine, with 11 journalists killed. In 2023, Palestine reported the largest number of journalists killed, namely 24. (AMP)

  • October 27, 2024 UPDATE

    October 27, 2024 UPDATE

    Debt – Romania’s government debt rose, in July, to 876.288 billion lei, from 860.331 billion lei in the previous month, according to data published by the Finance Ministry. As a percentage of the GDP, the government debt rose to 52% from 51.1% in June. Most of this debt was represented by government bonds. The Romanian government approved, on Wednesday, an emergency ordinance which establishes the increase in the public debt ceiling, according to the European Union’s methodology, to the level of 53% of the gross domestic product for the end of 2024. According to the government, this change aims to ensure flexibility in attracting the financial resources necessary to implement the financing plan of 2024, to pre-finance the needs in the year 2025, as well as to maintain the foreign currency reserve at the disposal of the State Treasury at a comfortable level.

     

    Moldova – The pro-European President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, accused, on Sunday, during an electoral debate, her opponent in the second round of the presidential election, the pro-Russian Alexandr Stoianoglo, of being just a ‘Trojan horse’, a man through whom others want to rule the country’. In reply, Stoianoglo, who is supported by the Socialist Party from the Republic of Moldova, said that he is a ‘firm supporter of the country’s European integration’ and that he wants ‘the transformation of Moldova into an active provider of peace and security in the region’. The electoral debate took place without a moderator, because the journalist proposed to be moderator by the Stoianoglo camp was accused of not being honest and impartial. In the first round of the presidential election, the incumbent president obtained 43% of the votes, while Stoianoglo took 26%. The second round of the presidential election will take place on November 3. A week ago, together with the first round of the presidential election, there was also a referendum for EU integration, which was validated and in which the pro-accession voters were 12 thousand more. Maia Sandu pointed an accusatory finger to the meddling in the electoral process of some criminal groups that would have acted alongside foreign forces hostile to the interests of the country. Moscow denied any interference in the elections and referendum.

     

    Georgia – Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, won the parliamentary elections against a pro-European opposition coalition that refused to concede defeat, the Central Electoral Committee announced on Sunday morning, according to AFP and Dpa. The Georgian Dream, a conservative and nationalist party led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, allegedly obtained 54% of the votes, compared to 37.58% for the pro-European coalition, according to the counting carried out in over 99% of the constituencies.  The pro-European opposition coalition did not recognize the preliminary results and announced the organization of protests. The opposition accuses the Georgian Dream, in power since 2012, of pro-Russian authoritarian drift and Georgia’s distancing from the EU and NATO, which it intends to join. Brussels has warned that Georgia’s chances of joining the EU will depend on the elections held in the former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, which has enshrined this aspiration in its constitution. Georgia was rocked, in May, by protests against a law on ‘foreign influence’, after the model of the Russian legislation on ‘foreign agents’ used to crush civil society, AFP reports.

     

    Winter time – Romania switched to winter time on Saturday night to Sunday. The clocks were set back by one hour, so that Sunday will have 25 hours and will be the longest of the year. Changing the time twice a year is based on the idea of ​​saving energy, by aligning the interval of human activity with that of natural light. Although this is the most important argument for changing the time, there are studies that suggest that the energy savings are minor, and citizens are more and more complaining about negative health effects. The EC and EP tried to abandon this system as early as 2021, but the member countries did not agree on which of the systems should be kept.

     

    Iran – The UN Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss Israel’s attack on Iran. The meeting was requested by Tehran with the support of Algeria, China and Russia. The Israeli regime’s actions represent a serious threat to international peace and security and further destabilize an already fragile region, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter to the Council. Dozens of Israeli jets carried out three waves of strikes on the night of Friday to Saturday against missile factories and other military centers near Tehran and in western Iran, the Israeli army representatives said. They were in retaliation for Iran’s October 1 attack on Israel with about 200 ballistic missiles, and Israel warned its heavily armed enemy not to retaliate after the latest strike. On Sunday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, rejected Iran’s complaint saying in a statement that Iran ‘is trying to act against us in the diplomatic arena with the ridiculous claim that Israel has violated international law’. (LS)

  • October 25, 2024

    October 25, 2024

    DAY The Romanian Army Day is being celebrated today through a series of religious services and military ceremonies at the main army barracks across the country and in the operation theatres where the Romanian servicemen have been deployed. The series of ceremonies kicked off at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Carol Park in Bucharest in the presence of the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the Senate President Nicolae Ciuca. The Romanian army is the main pillar of the national defence system, president Iohannis said highlighting that it must continue to benefit ‘a solid financial ground’ significantly over 2% of the GDP. The Day of 25 October has been celebrated since 1959. We recall that on 25 October 1944 the Romanian Army liberated the north-western part of the country occupied by Hungary upon the Vienna Dictate in August 1940. In WWII, Romania’s war effort consisted of the deployment of 540 thousand troops, out of which 90 thousand lost their lives, roughly 60 thousand were reported MIA and over 330 thousand got wounded. After liberating the national territory, the Romanian army continued to fight on the territories of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Austria alongside the Allies contributing to the Great Victory on 9 May, which marked the end of WWII in Europe.

     

    ELECTIONS The campaign for the first round of the presidential election in Romania has kicked off and is due to end on November 23. The presidential elections are scheduled this year on November 24 (the first round) and on December 8 (the second round). In between, on December 1, the parliamentary election will be held. Competing in the presidential race are 14 candidates, 10 of them backed by political parties and 4 running independently. Local and EU parliamentary elections were also held in Romania this year, on June 9.

     

    CONGRESS Speaking at the European Farmers Congress underway in Bucharest, Romania’s Agriculture Minister, Florin Barbu, has called for a referendum on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) at European level. The Minister wants the farmers to decide in the aforementioned referendum that the CAP remain structured on two major pillars being separated from other European funds after 2027. Barbu says that the European Commission wants to integrate the CAP into the total funds allotted to every member state. Over 500 farmers from Europe are participating in the European Farmers Congress due in Bucharest over October 23-25.

     

    FOOTBALL Romania’s football champions, FCSB, came a cropper in Glasgow on Thursday, four-nil to local side, Rangers. The Romanians managed to win the games against Latvian side RFS and the Greek champions PAOK Thessaloniki, a side coached by the Romanian Razvan Lucescu. Rangers, whose lineup includes the Romanian Ianis Hagi, is presently ranking 11th, while FCSB, with six points out of three matches, ranks 13th.

    (bill)

  •  Moldova, between the West and the East

     Moldova, between the West and the East

    The Republic of Moldova held  presidential elections and a referendum on EU membership.

     

    Casting their vote in larger numbers than in the previous presidential elections, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova decided that the future head of state should be elected in a new round of voting, in two weeks. The incumbent president, the pro- European Maia Sandu, and the candidate supported by the pro-Russian party of socialists, Alexandr Stoianoglo are the two contenders.

     

    In the first round, the former World Bank economist and the first woman to become president of Moldova, obtained 42% of the votes, the highest share of the 11 candidates, but still insufficient to secure a new mandate at the helm of the country. A country which, under her leadership, turned its back on Moscow after Russia’s invasion of the neighboring Ukraine and which this year officially opened accession negotiations to the European Union. Maia Sandu even called a referendum on the inclusion in the Constitution, based on the people’s vote, of the country’s irreversible European path The referendum, held on October 20, was meant to validate the strategy to determine the destiny of the former Soviet republic of 2.6 million inhabitants. A lost bet? Before the votes of the Diaspora are counted, the results show a higher number of people who oppose EU accession, prompting president Maia Sandu to denounce an unprecedented fraud, “an unprecedented attack on democracy”: “Criminal groups, together with foreign forces hostile to our interests, attacked our country with tens of millions of euros, lies and propaganda, with the most wretched means, in order to lead our citizens and our country to an area of ​​uncertainty.”

     

    In a vote suspected of Russian interference, rejected “categorically” by the Kremlin, 53% of Moldovans voted against the inclusion of the European accession objective in the Constitution, according to results after counting more than 90% of the ballots. However, the pro-European camp took the lead after the counting of more than 98% of the votes, the advance being most likely due to the Diaspora, who supports EU accession. The extremely tight result is surprising, given that recent polls showed the YES vote would be dominant. Without questioning the negotiations with the 27, the result weakens, in a way, the pro-European image of the population and Maia Sandu’s leadership, analysts specialised in the ex-Soviet area say.

  • October 17, 2024

    October 17, 2024

    A roundup of local and international news.

     

    CORRUPTION – Anti-graft prosecutors have today searched the office of the former Minister of Health Nelu Tătaru, in the Huşi Municipal Hospital in eastern Romania, where he works as a surgeon. Last week, Tătaru,  who is a Liberal MP representing the county of Vaslui, was put under criminal investigation in a case in which he is accused of having received as bribe, from his patients, sums of money between 20 and 100 euros, as well as foodstuffs. Tătaru claims he is innocent.

     

    WAGE – The minimum wage in Romania will be 810 euros starting January 2025, the Bucharest government and the social partners, who got together in the Tripartite National Committee, decided on Wednesday. Thus, according to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, Romania is entering the path of the European minimum wage. We comply with the directive according to which the minimum level must be somewhere between 47% and 52% of the European minimum wage, Ciolacu explained.

     

    DEFENSE – The Romanian Minister of National Defense, Angel Tîlvăr, is participating, on October 17 and 18, in the meeting of the NATO defense ministers, taking place in Brussels. The meeting’s agenda includes topics of importance for the Alliance, in order to implement the decisions adopted by the heads of state and government at the NATO Summit, which took place in Washington DC in July. The ministerial event includes three sessions of talks – one in allied format, dedicated to strengthening the allied deterrence and defense posture, one session in the format of the NATO-Ukraine Council, as well as another, for the first time, with partner states in the Indo-Pacific/IP4 region ( Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand). The Minister of Defense will also participate in the ministerial meeting of the Global Anti-ISIS Coalition.

     

    AID – The American President, Joe Biden, announced, on Wednesday, during a conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a new military aid for Ukraine worth 425 million dollars which includes additional air defense capabilities, France Presse reports. Biden spoke with Zelenskiy about his efforts to increase military aid to Ukraine until the end of his term in January 2025. Since the start of the war in 2022, the United States has approved about $175 billion in economic or military aid for Ukraine. Joe Biden will be in Germany as of Friday for one of his last visits as American President, during which he will discuss the situation in Ukraine.

     

    COUNCIL – Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, is participating, for two days, in Brussels, at the European Council meeting, which has on the agenda topics such as Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, EU competitiveness, migration, foreign affairs, as well as the Republic of Moldova. European leaders will discuss the latest developments in Russia’s war of aggression, as well as multidimensional support for Ukraine. Regarding the Middle East, the ‘alarming’ situation and the ‘risks of escalation of violence in the region’ will be discussed. At Romania’s proposal, the agenda of the meeting will also include discussions about the situation in the Republic of Moldova, as well as about support for its accession to the European Union, especially for supporting internal reforms and for strengthening resilience and stability. In the perspective of the upcoming elections and the referendum on the European integration of the Republic of Moldova, the issue of Russian interference in the election process will also be discussed. On Wednesday, the first EU – Gulf Cooperation Council Summit took place, aimed at strengthening the political and economic partnership between the Union and the member states of this structure, in a difficult geopolitical context.

     

    TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan qualified for the quarter-finals of the WTA tournament in Osaka (Japan), after defeating the Czech Marie Bouzkova in two sets. In the quarters, Bogdan will face the Dutch Suzan Lamens. Another player from Romania, Jaqueline Cristian, is today up against the Czech Karolina Muchova, in the round of 16 of the WTA  tournament in Ningbo (China).

     

     

  • October 2, 2024 UPDATE

    October 2, 2024 UPDATE

     

    ALERT A new RO-Alert message was issued for the northern part of ​​Tulcea County (south-eastern Romania), after the national defence and security structures detected a possible attack by the Russian Federation on some targets on the territory of Ukraine. These messages are aimed at informing the people in the Romania-Ukraine border area that there are possible Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory and that some objects might fall on Romanian territory. The Romanian defence ministry firmly condemns once more these attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which are unjustified and are serious breaches of international law.

     

    WARNING The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly advises Romanian nationals who are in Lebanon to leave that country by the air routes still available. The travel warning regarding major security risks is still valid, and commercial flights and travel routes may also be affected, according to the ministry. Some 1,136 Romanian citizens and their family members have so far registered their presence in Lebanon, at the Romanian Embassy in Beirut. On the ground, Iran announced that its attack on Israel had ended, after it launched more than 180 missiles in its direction on Tuesday night. Tehran says it targeted the infrastructure of the enemy state. According to international media, targets included the headquarters of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, as well as the most important air base, Nevatim, which is also used by Israel’s F- 35 long-range stealth strike fighter fleet. According to the Radio Romania correspondent in Israel, there is no information regarding the loss of human life and damages.

     

    VISA WAIVER Romania meets all the technical conditions to be part of the Visa Waiver Program, the Romanian ambassador to the US, Andrei Muraru, said in a social media post. He also said that Romanians would most likely be allowed to travel visa-free in the first half of next year. “Should all the conditions and preparations proceed successfully, the program could take effect sometime in 2025” the US ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, said on Tuesday. However, Ambassador Kavalec said, a number of important steps still need to be completed in the coming months to establish whether Romania is, in fact, eligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program.

     

    ELECTIONS The president of the National Liberal Party in the ruling coalition in Romania, Nicolae Ciucă, has officially entered his candidacy in the presidential election with the Central Electoral Bureau. He has submitted lists of over 1.5 million signatures supporting his bid. Also today, the president of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians has also announced his candidacy, after gathering over 270,000 signatures. So far, candidates for the top position in the Romanian public administration also include George Simion (AUR party), Elena Lasconi (USR party), and Călin Georgescu, running independently. The deadline for entering candidacies for the presidential election is October 5, and lists of at least 200,000 supporters are required. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled on November 24, and the second one on December 8.

     

    NATURAL GAS OMV Petrom, a corporation in which the Romanian government holds 20% of the stock, announced that 2027 will see the first natural gas supplies extracted via the “Neptun Deep” project. “Neptun Deep” is the largest natural gas project in Romania’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea and the first Romanian deep-water offshore project. OMV Petrom says works on the gas platform to be installed in 2026 have already started in shipyards in Italy and Indonesia. The platform will be approx. 140 high, with a 40 sq m base and will weigh over 7,000 tone. It will support the upper section of the Neptun platform, an element of the infrastructure required for the development of natural gas deposits. OMV Petrom also pointed out that “Neptun Deep” will contribute to the country’s energy security.

     

    DEFENCE The Romanian defence minister, Angel Tîlvăr, had an official meeting on Wednesday with his Portuguese counterpart, Nuno Melo. The 2 officials discussed the Romanian-Portuguese cooperation in the defence and security sector, both in bilateral terms and as members of NATO and the EU. other topics on the agenda included the Black Sea security situation and measures to consolidate NATO’s defence and deterrence posture on the Eastern flank. Angel Tîlvăr appreciated Portugal’s contribution to joint exercises and activities, the country’s commitment as part of the NATO Enhanced Vigilance Activities, with the deployment of a military unit to the Multinational Brigade South-East, headquartered in Craiova, and its presence in other Allied structures on Romanian territory.

     

    TENNIS The Romanian player Simona Halep made her comeback to professional competitions, with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win against Arina Rodionova (Australia), in the first round of the WTA 125 tournament in Hong Kong. A former WTA leader, Halep last played in May, when she was forced to exit the first round at Trophee Clarins, in Paris, in a match against McCartney Kessler (US). In Hing Kong, Halephas secured 15 WTA points, and in the round of 16 she will face Russia’s Ana Blinkova, the 2023 winner of the Transylvania Open. (AMP)

  • September 25, 2024

    September 25, 2024

    UNO The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is in New York to attend the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting’s central theme is ‘Unity in diversity for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone everywhere.’ In his address before the General Assembly, the head of the Romanian state is expected to plead for maintaining dialogue at a multilateral level, mainly within the UN format as an essential element of regional and global security. For this reason, Klaus Iohannis will be highlighting Romania’s multilateral contribution to solving all the present global issues, from security crises, such as the war in Ukraine or the Middle East, to major challenges for mankind such as climate change, the erosion of human rights and cyber threats.

     

    BUDGET During its session today, the government in Bucharest is expected to increase the budgets of the Environment Ministry and the Finance Ministry. Hundreds of families and people in emergency situations as a result of severe fires and weather phenomena or in special situations that might increase the risk of their social exclusion will be benefitting from emergency funds from the government amounting to roughly 300 thousand Euros. The budget of the Finance Ministry is expected to increase by over 50 thousand Euros. Also high on the agenda are budget raises for the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

     

    ELECTION The Central Election Committee in Chisinau has approved the participation of 11 candidates in the election for the presidential seat of the ex-Soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. According to experts, the incumbent president, Maia Sandu, who is running for another term in office, is the odds-on favourite. Her main opponents are the former prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo, backed by the socialists and the former mayor of the district of Balti, Renato Usatîi, leader of a political group entitled Our Party. The presidential elections are due on 20th October and a referendum on amending the Constitution so that the country may join the EU, is due concurrently. Most of the 14 parties running in the election are backing the idea of European integration. The socialists, however, are boycotting the referendum while the communists and one party belonging to the political bloc of oligarch Ilan Shor have declared themselves against the country’s EU accession.

     

    MEASURES The rising level of the Danube waters shouldn’t cause any problems whatsoever, the Romanian hydrologists believe. According to their estimates, the river’s maximum level would be lower than initially believed. The river’s waters are expected to reach their peak of eight thousand cubic meters per second on September 30th, but this level shouldn’t create any problems for the authorities who can handle it easily, is the conclusion of the representatives of all the central and local institutions in charge of the emergency situations. Thousands of sandbags have been made ready and part of them have already been deployed.

    (bill)