Radio România Internațional

Tag: emergency

  • April 22, 2017

    April 22, 2017

    SIREN WARNING DRILL – The outcomes of the alarm drill carried out in Romania this week indicate that the coverage of siren signal is below 50% of the total national territory. According to data provided by the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, hundreds of sirens could not be tested because of breakdowns or of a shortage of siren operators. In the capital city Bucharest, less than a quarter of the sirens were operational during the drill. Under these circumstances, the Inspectorate, jointly with the Communications Ministry, is analysing the option of setting up a complementary citizen information system for disaster situations. Mobile phone texting is one of the options, which will be discussed until mid-May with telecoms operators, said the Communications Minister Augustin Jianu.




    EARTH DAY – On April 22nd, every year, International Earth Day is celebrated. This year the event is held under the motto Environmental and climate literacy, launching a 3-year world education campaign, according to a UN resolution. In Bucharest, Earth Day is marked with an open door day at the National Geology Museum. Special activities for children, concerts and street art events are also organised, and in other cities in Romania people are also invited to take part in events, competitions and exhibitions on environmental topics.




    MILITARY – Romanian troops from Battalion 307 Marines are taking part, until April 30th, in a multinational exercise in Latvia, called “Summer Shield. Alongside the Romanian troops, over 1,000 military from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the US, Canada, UK, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland are taking part. Air defence, exploration and artillery support exercises will be held, as well as weapons of mass destruction defence, anti-tank defence and military engineering exercises. “Summer Shield has been held in Latvia since 2004. Starting 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, the exercise became part of NATO manoeuvres. As many as 1,300 troops took part in it in 2016.



    FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – Thursday nights attack on police forces on Champs-Élysées Boulevard in Paris was the main topic of the last hours of election campaign in France, upsetting the agendas of the candidates and bringing the fight against terrorism back to the forefront of the debate. A poll run after the Champs-Élysées attack finds Emmanuel Macron at the top of voter preferences, with 24.5%, followed by the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, with 23%, and François Fillon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who share the third place, with 19% each. Over 50,000 police and gendarme are working to ensure safety and order during the presidential election period, PM Bernard Cazeneuve has announced.




    TENNIS – Romanias womens tennis team is playing the UK at home, in the playoffs for the Fed Cup World Group II. The games are scheduled for April 22 and 23, in the Black Sea coast resort of Mamaia. Romanias team is made up of Simona Halep (5 WTA), Irina-Camelia Begu (33 WTA), Monica Niculescu (47 WTA) and Sorana Cîrstea (61 WTA). The British team has 2 players in the world top 100: Johanna Konta (10 WTA) and Heather Watson (72 WTA). Romania and Britain have so far played against each other in Fed Cup five times, with Romania winning four of them. Meanwhile, Romanias FED Cup captain, the former world no 1 player Ilie Nastase, has caused a scandal ahead of the play-off tie, through reportedly racist comments about Serena Williams and inappropriate conduct in relation to the British team captain Anne Keothavong. The ITF has begun an investigation.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • President Iohannis Addresses Parliament

    President Iohannis Addresses Parliament

    Romania is faced with a crisis, President Klaus Iohannis said before Parliament, and the author of this crisis is the government made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania. They, said the President, unexpectedly passed an emergency decree to amend the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, disregarding the recommendations of the countrys main judicial institutions. This measure triggered mass street protests, which eventually forced the Executive to repeal the decree. But according to President Klaus Iohannis, this is not enough to ease out tensions, and those who created the crisis must now solve it:



    Klaus Iohannis: “Repealing Decree no. 13 and, possibly, the eventual resignation of a minister is certainly too little. Early elections would be, at this point, too much. Who must come up with a solution? Naturally, those who created the problem, the Social Democratic Party. You have won the elections, it is now time for you to govern and to make laws, but not in any way you like.



    The Government, the President went on to say, must work in a transparent, predictable, and responsible manner, and Parliament must legislate to the benefit of the country, and not of a group of politicians facing criminal trials. In a surprisingly effective rhetorical twist, the President actually showed the path to be followed by the Romanian society:



    Klaus Iohannis: “What kind of nation do we want to be? Do we want to be a strong, prosperous nation, one that builds and respects the rule of law, or do we choose to be a weak, despised nation, which gambles everything in order to save a few people from a difficult situation?



    This is the fundamental question that all Romanians will have to answer in a referendum on the fight against corruption and on the integrity of public office holders.



    The Presidents harsh criticism of the Government was hard to swallow by the MPs in the parliamentary majority, who left the assembly hall. It was equally unpleasant for the leaders of the two Parliament Chambers, the Social Democrat chief Liviu Dragnea and the head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who were however forced by parliamentary etiquette to listen to the entire address. Liviu Dragnea is the one who, political opponents and unbiased commentators agree, stands to gain the most out of the prospective decriminalisation regulated by the infamous emergency decree. Dragnea criticised the head of state for stepping out of his role as a mediator:



    Liviu Dragnea: “I agree with the President that snap elections are not the solution, I understand his call for the Government to be a strong and high-performing institution, and in my turn I call on the President to leave the Government alone to do its job.



    Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu voiced his disappointment with the Presidents speech:



    Calin Popescu Tariceanu: “I was expecting the President, at such a time of tensions and crisis, to show the wisdom required of all political leaders and find a way to promote dialogue and appease tensions, because this is something above party politics.



    The National Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union in opposition hailed the Presidents speech, which they see as meeting the expectations of millions of Romanians. In turn, the Peoples Movement Party, founded by former president Traian Basescu, pleaded for dialogue between all political parties.



    Meanwhile, protests carried on in the streets of Romanian cities, both those against the Government, stronger and longer-lasting, and those against the President. And these, the Presidents address emphasised, are the proof of active citizenship and democracy.

  • August 1 – 7

    August 1 – 7

    Queen Anne of Romania dies at 92


    On August the 1st Anne, wife to King Michael I of Romania, died in a hospital in Switzerland, at the age of 92. Had the Romanian society not experienced the tragedy of Sovietisation in 1948, her wedding with the Romanian sovereign would have taken place in Bucharest and would have been joyfully celebrated by the entire Romanian nation. Because of the Kings forced abdication and subsequent exile however, the wedding was held in Greece. Of their nearly 70-year long life together, King Michael and Queen Anne spent more than 40 away from Romania, where they only returned—not without difficulty—after the 1989 anti-communist Revolution. Historian Adrian Niculescu gave us more details:



    Adrian Niculescu: “The role of Queen Anne was that of the wife of a king in exile, of sharing his destiny, and first and foremost of giving him a family. While playing an institutional role, she was primarily a person of vital importance in supporting King Michael I.



    On Tuesday, August 9, Queen Annes body will be repatriated from Switzerland. The Queen will be buried in Curtea de Arges, the final resting place of Romanian royalty, on August 13, which is a day of national mourning. Romanians regret the death of Queen Anne, the longest-living Queen in the history of Romania. She was one of the most important symbols of wisdom, dignity, and a moral role model, said President Klaus Iohannis. In turn, PM Dacian Ciolos said the Queen remains a symbol of graciousness, discretion and dignity. Condolence messages also came from Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church, political leaders and other public figures.



    New social measures target public sector staff


    The salaries of more than 650,000 Romanian public sector employees were raised on August 1 by 10%, under a Government emergency ordinance aimed at eliminating inequities in the system. Healthcare, teaching, public administration and defence personnel will be getting higher pay, depending on seniority and speciality, and other bonuses will add to their basic wages. Also on August 1, new regulations took effect, concerning the level of child-rearing benefits. The minimum threshold for these benefits is nearly 250 euros, and the ceiling has been eliminated. Taking advantage of these benefits will be those parents who have made taxable revenues for at least 12 months during the past two years. The benefits account for 85% of the average net revenues of those 12 months.



    Romanian carriers threaten to protest


    Romanian carriers threaten to stage nation-wide protests in mid-September, unless the issue of tariffs for the compulsory car insurance policy is solved. This week they have requested that the Government should freeze policy prices at last years levels. Here is Constantin Isac, vice-president of the National Union of Road Carriers:



    Constantin Isac: “Promises have been made, months have passed, and what do we see? The average price increase compared to June last year was 80%, with peaks reaching as much as 300 or even 500%. As everybody knows, for lorries, 12-15 months ago the compulsory car insurance policy was roughly 1,000 euros. The offers we are receiving from insurers these days amount to 5,000 euros. And this difference should be covered by an increase in our fees. However, for the time being the market cannot support this fee rise, so basically Romanian carriers are pushed out of the market.



    A new round of negotiations with the Government is scheduled in two weeks time.




    Ambulance, fire, SMURD call centres to be merged


    The head of the Romanian Emergency Department, dr. Raed Arafat, announced on Thursday that authorities were working to set up a common dispatch centre for ambulance, fire and emergency resuscitation and extrication services, as well as to create a registry of the NGOs able to provide assistance in case of incidents with multiple victims. Raed Arafat also mentioned that the owners of buildings that do not have fire safety permits have to get them by the end of the year at the latest. Until they obtain the required documents, the investment beneficiaries are fully and exclusively liable for all risks. As of January 1, 2017, sanctions for the buildings used without a fire safety permit will range from 4,500 to 11,000 euros. These measures were taken after last autumns fire at the Colectiv nightclub, which killed tens of people.



    Healthcare Ministry checks blood transfusion centres


    The Romanian Healthcare Ministry has identified 142 unauthorised blood transfusion centres in the country, most of them operating in public hospitals. According to a news release issued by the Ministry, the causes will be analysed in the forthcoming period, and conformity programmes will be put together. Unless the problems are solved by November 1, the respective centres will no longer receive blood from the National Haematology Institute. A woman died and another one was in a critical condition recently because of faulty transfusion procedures in such units.



    31st Olympics start in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


    More than 100 athletes represent Romania, between August 5 and 21, in the 31st edition of the Summer Olympic Games, held in Rio de Janeiro, the first South-American city to host such an event. A total of 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will compete for Olympic medals. For the first time in history, Kosovo and South Sudan are taking part in the competition. Another novelty is that a refugee team is competing under the Olympic colours. The Games are not free from problems and controversies in Brazil as well as internationally. On the one hand, the South-American host state is struggling with substantial political, financial and economic problems. On the other hand, the Games start after the largest doping scandal in history. And Zika, the virus spread mostly by the bite of infected mosquitoes, is another problem looming over the current edition of the Olympic Games.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)