Radio România Internațional

Tag: EU Council summit

May 31, 2022 UPDATE

WAR IN UKRAINE –Russian forces are advancing in
eastern Ukraine, with heavy clashes with the Ukrainian army taking place in the
center of Severodonetsk. Together with Lysychansk, from which it is only
separated by a river, Severodonetsk is one of the last Ukrainian strongholds in
the Donbas mining region, which Russia claims is at the moment the only target
of its so-called special military operation. Ukraine’s president
Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the Ukrainian army is in difficulty in this region.
The Ukrainian forces say, however, that they have regained ground in the south,
especially in the Kherson area, near Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian troops have withdrawn
from the village of Mykolaivka, in the Kherson region. The city of Kherson was
occupied by the Russian troops as early as the beginning of March, soon after
the launch of the Russian invasion on February 24, and commentators say
retaking the city would have a symbolic, as well as a strategic, importance.

SANCTIONS – Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, said on the
sidelines of the EU Council Summit in Brussels that risks in the Black Sea
region are escalating, and concerted efforts are needed to provide assistance
and an adequate response to the consequences of the war in Ukraine. The
president expressed concern with developments on the ground, both in terms of
security as well as humanitarian assistance in eastern and southern Ukraine,
highlighting the humanitarian support and facilitating grains exports via the
port of Constanța and other ports on the Danube. President Iohannis pointed out the
importance of supporting the EU accession of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia by
sending out a strong message of political
solidarity. EU leaders agreed in Brussels to block a large part of Russian oil
imports. The last-minute compromise deal will, for the time being, only affect
deliveries by sea but not those by pipeline, which Hungary opposed. European
Council president Charles Michel said, however, that the agreement cuts off a
big source of financing for the Russian war machine. The measure is part of a
sixth package of sanctions against Russia since the start of the latter’s
invasion of Ukraine.

PNRR – The Romanian Ministry for Investment and European Projects has
submitted to the European Commission the first funding request worth 3 billion
EUR under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). 2 billion EUR is
non-refundable financial aid, while approximately 1 billion will consist of
loans. The document includes the 21 milestones for the 4th quarter
of last year. The next funding request
will be submitted in the third quarter of 2022 and will comprise the milestones
and targets related to the first two quarters of this year.

CENSUS – Romania’s
population and housing census entered its final phase on Tuesday, with census
workers expected to conduct field interviews until July 17. The census will
cover everyone, irrespective of citizenship, who was registered as having their
residence in Romania on December 1, 2021, meaning they had been living here for
at least one year. Census refusal may lead to fines between 200 and 600 EUR,
with persons preventing access to residential compounds facing fines between
300 and 1,000 EUR. According to the National Institute for Statistics, during
the self-enumeration phase that ended on May 27, 11 million forms were
recorded, 8.9 million of which were valid, which accounts for 46.8% of the
population eligible for survey on December 1, 2021.

RESIGNATION – Dacian Cioloș, former president of USR in
opposition, has resigned from the party along with four other MEPs. In a post
on Facebok, Cioloș announced it was a difficult decision he took in order to
start a new project. Dacian Cioloș wants to found a new party called REPER that
will be part of Renew Europe in the European Parliament. We recall Dacian
Cioloș stepped down as USR president in January, a few months after winning the
internal election. At the time, Cioloș claimed certain party leaders were
trying to block his projects. (CM & VP)

31 May 2022
May 30, 2022

SUMMIT -
President Klaus Iohannis is attending the European Council summit on May 30-31,
which will focus on the war in Ukraine. According to the Presidency, European
leaders will discuss ways to continue providing political, economic and
financial support to Ukraine, including the EU’s involvement in post-war reconstruction
efforts. The EU Council summit will also address the need to help build up Moldova’s
resilience. EU heads of state and government will also examine approaches to
ensure continuous food exports from Ukraine in order to maintain food safety at
global level. The summit’s agenda also includes steps to diversify and secure
energy sources and supply routes.

EMBARGO -
The EU failed to reach an agreement on Sunday regarding an embargo on Russian
oil and negotiations are expected to continue today. EU diplomats are trying to
reach consensus over exempting oil deliveries to certain states in Central
Europe. The embargo is part of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia.
The package stipulates the deswifting of Russia’s number one bank, Sberbank, a
ban on Russian TV stations across the EU and adding new names on the list of
Russian figures whose assets have been frozen or who are barred from entering
the EU. Hungary has opposed the package, claiming a Russian oil embargo would
deal a heavy blow to its economy, as this country cannot import oil from other
sources. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have expressed similar concerns.

IMF – A
delegation of the International Monetary Fund, led by Jan Kees Martijn, will
visit Romania over May 30 – June 10, to conduct an analysis of Romanian
economy, the IMF representative for Central and Eastern Europe, Nadeem Ilahi,
has said. IMF officials will discuss with Romanian authorities economic
policies and evolutions, and are expected to meet with representatives of the
Finance Ministry, the National Bank, other government agencies as well as the
private sector and NGOs. At present, Romania has no ongoing financial agreement
with the IMF, although the Fund assesses the evolution of Romanian economy
every year.

CENSUS – The
second phase of the national census starts on May 31 across the country, when
censors will collect data in the field. According to the National Statistics
Institute, 47% of the target population has completed the online
self-enumeration process over March 14 – May 27. The second phase will take
place over May 31 – July 17. This is the 13th census in Romania’s
history and the 4th after the 1989 Revolution.

FOOTBALL -
Sunday marked the end the 2021-2022 football season. In the second round of the
promotion playoffs, Chindia Târgoviște won 4-1 against second-tier club
Concordia Chiajna at the penalty shootout. The score was 1-0 at the end of regular
time, and Concordia had won 2-1 in the first round. Universitatea Cluj on the
other hand managed to secure promotion to the first division after drawing 1-1
against Dinamo Bucharest. Universitatea had won the first leg 2-0. Concordia
and Universitatea will join Petrolul Ploiești and FC Hermannstadt, two teams
that had secured direct qualification to League One. CFR Cluj have won their
fifth consecutive championship title and the eighth in the club history. Next
season, CFR will play in the Champions League preliminaries. FCSB,
Universitatea Craiova and Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe will perform in Europa Conference
League. The 2022-2023 season will kick off on July 9 with the Romanian
Supercup.

TENNIS -
Romanian tennis player Irina Begu (63 WTA) is today playing Jessica Pegula of
the US (11 WTA) in the round of 16 at Roland Garros. Previously, Begu ousted
Leolia Jeanjean of France, 6-1, 6-4, thus matching her personal best at Roland
Garros, the round of 16 played in 2016. Irina Begu is the only Romanian left in
the women’s singles. The other six players in the main draw, including Simona
Halep, world no. 1 and winner at Roland Garros in 2018, were knocked out in the
first two rounds.

WEATHER – Massive
rainfall and storms swept the country this weekend, disrupting rail and road
traffic, damaging cars, uprooting trees and flooding streets and homes.
Authorities sent out an alert on the emergency app warning people to take
refuge, while emergency response teams intervened in numerous cases providing
support to the local population in a number of counties, including the capital
city. Hydrologists also issued alerts against floods for a number of rivers.
Skies are overcast with reports of isolated rainfall in the mountains. The
highs of the day range between 20 and 29 degrees. The noon reading in Bucharest
was 22 degrees Celsius. (VP)

30 May 2022
May 27, 2022

SUMMIT – President Klaus Iohannis
will attend the European Council summit on May 30-31, which will focus on the
war in Ukraine. European leaders will discuss ways to continue providing
political, economic and financial support to Ukraine, including the EU’s
involvement in post-war reconstruction efforts, the Romanian presidency
announced on Friday. The EU Council summit will also address the need to help
Moldova build up its resilience. EU heads of state and government will also
examine approaches to ensure continuous food exports from Ukraine in order to
maintain food safety at global level. Another topic on the summit’s agenda is
streamlining the EU single electricity market in order to keep volatile prices in
check and to protect vulnerable categories, the President’s Office also
announced.

MEETING -
Romania’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is today meeting his Turkish
counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoglu, hoping to convince him to vote in favor of the
NATO accession of Sweden and Finland. Minister Aurescu is attending the
Romania-Poland-Turkey trilateral meeting in Istanbul, and has previously
discussed with the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Finland about their
countries’ NATO accession process. The trilateral format was launched 10 years
ago in order to consolidate regional and NATO security. According to a Foreign
Ministry release, in today’s meeting Minister Aurescu is expected to highlight
Romania’s firm support for NATO’s open doors policy and for a swift accession
of Sweden and Finland. Turkey has accused the two countries, Sweden in
particular, of harboring a large number of Kurdish militants of the breakaway
PKK party, which it officially considers a terrorist organization. Hailed by
the overwhelming majority of NATO states and backed by the population of the
two countries, the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden was determined by
security concerns sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

PNRR – Next
week, Romania is expected to submit to the European Commission the first
funding request under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) worth 3
million EUR, after the government adopted the last piece of legislation
required, namely a mechanism that will help prevent the mismanagement of PNRR
funds. This was the third prerequisite Romania had to fulfill before submitting
its funding request. The first referred to verification procedures for completing
PNRR milestones, while the second prerequisite was to upload evidence of having
fulfilled the 21 milestones by the end of 2021.

CENSUS – Friday
is the last day when the self-enumeration online platform is available. Public
sector employees who’ve completed the online process will receive a day off.
Starting Monday, the census will move to the second stage, spanning over May 31
– July 17, when censors will collect data in the field. Two weeks ago, the
authorities decided to extend the deadline for self-enumeration by an
additional two weeks, against a large number of online registrations. According
to the National Statistics Institute, some 10.2 million online forms were
submitted by May 24, the largest numbers being reported in Bucharest (1
million), followed by the counties of Cluj (440 thousand), Prahova (400
thousand), Brașov and Timiș (380 thousand each). Census participation is
mandatory under the law, while anyone refusing to take part will receive fines
of up to 600 EUR.

EPPO – Three Romanian
citizens are being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office
(EPPO) for community funds fraud, which caused an estimated prejudice of some 3
million EUR. Prosecutors ordered searches in 15 locations in the Danube Delta
area, Bucharest, as well as Gorj and Giurgiu counties. The individuals are
suspected of having used seven companies, one registered in neighboring
Bulgaria, to access funds addressing the Danube Delta, which they subsequently
put to use outside the scope of the funding. The three had arranged overvalued
auctions to embezzle large amounts of EU funds. Bail is set at 1.7 million EUR.

OVERVIEW – The
Liberal and Social-Democratic Parties on Thursday presented an overview of the
first six months in office. In separate events, the leaders of PNL and PSD
spoke about economic growth, measures to curb the compounded effects of a
several crises facing Romania right now and the package of social measures
addressing vulnerable categories. USR and AUR in opposition said Romania is on
the verge of bankruptcy, with soaring inflation, few investments and no
recovery programs.

REFUGEES – The number of
Ukrainian refugees who entered Romania yesterday dropped by 0.9% compared to
the previous day, the Border Police announced on Friday. Within the space of 24
hours, some 93 thousand people entered Romania, of whom some 9,000 were
Ukrainian nationals. Of these, over 4,000 crossed from Ukraine while 937 from
the Republic of Moldova. After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, a little
over 1 million Ukrainians entered Romania.

ROLAND
GARROS – Irina Begu is today playing Leolia Jeanjean of France in the
third round at Roland Garros. Yesterday, Begu ousted Ekaterina Alexandrova of
Russia, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Begu is the last Romanian in the main draw, after Simona
Halep was knocked out by Qinwen Zheng of China in the second round. Halep won
the tournament in 2018 and played the final in 2014 and 2017. On Wednesday,
Sorana Cîrstea lost to Sloane Stephens of the United States. Another four
Romanian tennis players, Gabriela Ruse, Ana Bogdan, Irina Bara and Mihaela
Buzărnescu, were knocked out in the opening round. Irina Begu, Gabriela Ruse
and Monica Niculescu have advanced to the second round in the women’s doubles.
(VP)

27 May 2022
February 3, 2017 UPDATE

EMERGENCY ORDINANCE— Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis will address Parliament on the 7th of February on the subject of the government’s changes to criminal laws and the events sparked as a result. The president challenged the government’s move at the Constitutional Court invoking a legal conflict of a constitutional nature between the Government, on the one hand, and the judiciary and Parliament, on the other. After the Superior Council of Magistracy and the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ombudsman is now also contesting the government ordinance. In turn, Romania’s Prosecutor General will challenge the ordinance in court. On Tuesday night, the government passed a bill on prison pardon and issued an emergency ordinance to amend the criminal codes. Tens of thousands of people again took to the streets on Friday for the fourth day in a row to protest against the government’s decree that would partly decriminalise some forms of corruption. Despite unanimous condemnation by the country’s judicial institutions, the Social Democratic government has decided to go ahead with the changes. The Social Democratic Party on Thursday reaffirmed its support for Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu. The leader of the party Liviu Dragnea says a disinformation campaign is being waged on the subject and believes that any attempt to undermine the activity of the government is in fact an attempt to destabilise the rule of law.

BUDGET — Parliament’s specialist committees on Friday debated the 2017 budget bill, greenlighting most of the budget allocations to state institutions and ministries. Finance Minister Viorel Stefan said the budget observes the main guidelines, such as cutting the VAT from 20% to 19% or eliminating the income tax for pensions lower or equal to 2,000 lei. This year’s budget is based on a 5.2% economic growth rate and a deficit of maximum 3% and will allow Romania to comply with its commitments to allocate 2% of its GDP to the defence ministry. The government expects an inflation rate under 1.4% and an unemployment rate of 4.3%. On the other hand, the opposition claims the revenue forecast underling the bill is hyped.

SUMMIT — Heads of state and Government adopted new measures to stop the flow of migrants into the EU at Friday’s informal meeting of the EU Council where Romania was represented by its president Klaus Iohannis. The 28 EU leaders discussed in particular the migration from Libya and the central Mediterranean routes. Attending the summit, Klaus Iohannis stressed the importance to tackle the root causes of migration and to support the countries receiving the highest number of arrivals. Another topic was EU-US relations. European Council President Donald Tusk said relations remain an absolute priority for the EU, as one of the major pillars of the free world. In turn, Klaus Iohannis said Romania favors a strong EU-US relationship, pointing out that the Strategic Partnership with the US is vital for Romania.

REACTION — The United States has expressed its deep concern with the Romanian Government’s recent measures undermining the rule of law and curbing accountability for financial and corruption offences, Spokesperson of the US State Department Mark Toner told Radio Romania. The US official said that by withdrawing the ordinance, the Government can support Romania’s credibility at international level, keeping it on track towards investment and economic growth. The US official said the United States is committed to supporting Romania in its efforts to consolidate the rule of law and to combat corruption.

ARREST — The Romanian Intelligence Service has confirmed the arrest of a Romanian national in Germany, suspected of planning a terrorist attack in this country. The Romanian Intelligence Service said it contributed important information to the investigation carried out by their German partners, which led to the arrest of the Romanian citizen. According to the Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, the 21-year-old Romanian was detained on Frankfurt Airport. He is suspected of being tied to an Islamist organization and of having been exchanging online message with various people with a view to staging a terrorist attack in Germany. The man was getting ready to travel to Romania and was arrested on Thursday. The Baden-Wurttemberg Police has searched the man’s home in the Heidelberg region and seized digital data and documents.

TENNIS — Romania and Belarus are tied 1-all after day 1 of the Davis Cup match counting towards Group 1 of the Europe-Africa zone. Adrian Ungur, 313 ATP, defeated Ilya Ivashka, 175 ATP, while Marius Copil, 129 ATP, lost to Egor Gerasimov, 341 ATP. In the doubles, Horia Tecau and Nicolae Frunza on Saturday face Max Mirnyi and Egor Gerasimov. In the final single matches on Sunday, Romania’s Marius Copil faces Ilya Ivashka, while Adrian Ungur plays against Egor Gerasimov. In other news from tennis, Romania’s highest ranked player in the women’s ranking, world no. 4 Simona Halep, who was due to play Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the quarterfinals, has withdrawn from the Saint Petersburg tournament worth more than 700,000 dollars in prize money due to a knee injury. (Translated by V. Palcu)

3 February 2017