Radio România Internațional

Tag: Euro Summit

  • October 25, 2023 UPDATE

    October 25, 2023 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT The government of
    Romania is ready to pass an emergency order on new minimum wages in
    constructions, agriculture and the food industry, PM Marcel Ciolacu announced.
    He made the statement after a meeting with trade unions and employer
    associations. Both in terms of the new minimum salary in constructions (around
    EUR 920) and of the ones in agriculture and the food industry (roughly EUR
    690), not a penny of the net wages is being cut, Marcel Ciolacu explained. On the other hand, the government drafted an order on
    reducing public sector expenditure at the end of this year.


    EU The president of
    Romania, Klaus Iohannis, takes part on Thursday and Friday in the meeting of
    the European Council and the inclusive Euro Summit meeting in Brussels, the
    Romanian presidency announced. The agenda of the European Council meeting
    includes topics like the situation in Ukraine, updating the Multi-Annual
    Financial Framework, economic issues, migration management and the EU foreign
    relations, with a focus on the situation in the Middle East, Kosovo and Serbia,
    and the developments in the Sahel region. As far as Ukraine is concerned, the
    EU leaders will also discuss the Union’s multidimensional support. President Iohannis
    will emphasise that Romania will remain a firm supporter of Ukraine and will
    plead for further support from the European bloc to that country for as long as
    necessary. Mr. Iohannis will also support opening accession negotiations with Ukraine
    and the R. of Moldova by the end of this year. At the Euro Summit, the
    participants will discuss the economic situation in the EU.


    REVOLUTION The case
    file concerning the December 1989 anti-communist uprising will be tried on its
    substance, the Bucharest Court of Appeals ruled after the magistrates dismissed
    all the objections made by the defendants. The decision is not final and may be
    challenged. The defendants in the so-called Revolution case include the
    former president Ion Iliescu, former deputy PM Gelu Voican Voiculescu and the
    retired general Iosif Rus, indicted by military prosecutors for crimes against
    humanity committed between December 22 and 30, 1989, when over 1,000 people died and some 3,000
    were wounded. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist
    regime ended in violence and the communist leaders Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu
    were executed.


    ARMY DAY In all military units in
    Romania and theatres of operations where Romanian troops are deployed, ceremonies
    were held on Wednesday to mark the Romanian Army Day. In Bucharest, president
    Klaus Iohannis said this is a very complicated period, with global peace and
    security threatened by regional conflicts. Europe is facing the worst crisis
    since WWII because of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, while the
    October 7 terrorist attack on Israel might destabilise the Middle East in the
    long run, Iohannis added. In turn, PM Marcel Ciolacu said Romania’s NATO
    membership is a guarantee that the security of Romanian citizens will never
    come under threat. The defence minister Angel Tîlvăr pointed out that the
    Romanian Army has risen to NATO standards in many respects, and added that
    earmarking 2% of GDP since 2017 and 2.5% of GDP this year to the defence sector
    enabled the implementation of ambitious procurement programmes. Meanwhile, the
    Romanian troops’ participation in UN, EU and NATO missions over the past
    decades has strengthened Romania’s security profile, Angel Tîlvăr added.


    ISRAEL Israel has demanded the resignation of the UN Secretary General, Antonio
    Guterres, over accusations of justifying terrorism and the crimes committed by
    Hamas. Guterres said in a Security Council meeting that the attacks of Hamas on
    Israel did not happen without reason. He made it clear, however, that the
    suffering of the Palestinians in what he called 56 years of suffocating
    occupation cannot justify the horrific attacks by Hamas, just as these
    attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. On
    Wednesday, Israel accepted a request from the US to delay its invasion of Gaza
    for the time being, so that the US may bring missile defence in the region, US
    and Israeli officials announced, quoted by the Wall Street Journal. The United
    States says it will work with China to de-escalate the situation in the Middle
    East. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he would work with
    the Chinese foreign minister, who is travelling to Washington at the end of this
    week, to prevent the conflict from expanding. The president of France, Emmanuel
    Macron, Wednesday concluded his two-day tour to the Middle East, which included
    Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. His message was unambiguous, calling
    for preventing a spill-over of the conflict, for freeing the hostages taken by
    the terrorist group Hamas and for aid for the Palestinians in Gaza. (AMP)

  • December 13, 2018 UPDATE

    December 13, 2018 UPDATE

    BRUSSELS – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is attending in Brussels
    the European Council meeting and the Euro Summit. The Council’s agenda includes
    negotiations on the future EU budget after 2020, the Union’s Single Market,
    migration, climate change and the fight against racism and xenophobia. As
    regards the future budget of the EU, Romania’s president pleads for its rapid
    adoption, specifying that Romania, while holding the presidency of the Council
    of the EU, will act towards ensuring significant progress in the negotiations. Also,
    he supports the efforts made by the members states with regard to the external dimension
    of migration and an active involvement in the dialogue with the external
    partners, the countries of origin and transit. On the sidelines of the summit,
    president Iohannis has had a meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
    They have discussed the informal summit on the future of Europe to be hosted by
    the Romanian city of Sibiu on May 9th, 2019, which will play a major
    role in outlining the strategic agenda of the EU for 2020-2024.




    COOPERATION – Romania benefits from
    the US’s unequivocal support for a quick accession to the Organization for
    Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the conclusions drawn
    at the meeting in Washington between the Romanian Minister for the Business Environment,
    Stefan-Radu Oprea, and the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The two
    officials discussed Romania’s priorities during its term at the helm of the Council
    of the EU and boosting investment under the strategic partnership between the
    two countries. According to statistics, bilateral trade exchanges stood at a
    total 2 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year, 6.8% more than in the same period last year.
    Romanian exports to the US grew by 29%, up to 1.15 billion dollars, and imports
    from that country dropped by 15%, to 800 million dollars.






    NO-CONFIDENCE -
    A no-confidence motion against the Government formed by the Social Democratic
    Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and headed by the Social
    Democrat Viorica Dancila will be filed in the Romanian Parliament on Friday.
    The document has been signed by 163 Senators and Deputies members of the opposition National Liberal Party,
    Save Romania Union and People’s Movement Party, as well as by non-affiliated
    MPs. The initiators of the motion say that this is not a just request from the
    opposition, it’s a national emergency, and those who will try and reject it
    will carry a historic responsibility on their shoulders. The motion will be
    debated and voted on next week.






    MOLDOVA – The local and parliamentary elections that are
    due in the Republic of Moldova next year pose risks to the economic development
    of the former Soviet state, with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population,
    according to analysts with the Expert-Grup Center in Chisinau, quoted by Radio
    Romania correspondents. In their opinion, a drop in foreign assistance and
    budget revenues could increase the internal debt and also fees and taxes. For
    2019, experts forecast an economic growth within the 3.5 – 5.2% range. However,
    they also warn that decreasing taxes only a few months before the elections
    will diminish budget revenues and therefore, after the election, the future
    Government might increase other taxes and resort to loans from the internal
    market, especially given that foreign financing has been dropping. Business
    people are reluctant to investing, waiting for the result of the elections.
    Parliamentary elections are scheduled for February, and the local ones are due
    in June. Opinion polls indicate the pro-Russia Socialists as the favourites,
    followed by the pro-European opposition and the ruling Democratic Party.






    HANDBALL – On Friday night in Paris, Romania’s national women’s handball
    team will face the Russian team, in the semi-finals of the European
    Championship hosted by France. In the same stage of the competition, the host
    country plays against the Netherlands. The Romanian handballers have also
    secured their participation in the World Championship in Japan, next year. The
    star and leader of the Romanian team, Cristina Neagu, dubbed the best scorer in
    the history of European competitions, has unfortunately sustained an injury and
    she will not be able to play.