NATO – Romania’s
president, Klaus Iohannis, said Romania has fulfilled its objectives at the
NATO summit in Vilnius. The Romanian president argued that the Alliance’s new
defense plans, preparing for any security threat that could affect Romania,
provide adequate answers. Our decisions have unequivocally proved the strength
of trans-Atlantic ties and allied unity. We have adopted new defense plans,
offering the maximum level of security on the eastern flank of NATO, in the
Black Sea region, including for Romania, the president said at the end of the
summit. As a result, Spanish authorities plan on deploying an additional 950
military to NATO’s eastern flank, 250 of whom will be deployed to Romania,
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a press conference in Vilnius. On the other
hand, NATO members decided to simplify procedures for Ukraine’s NATO accession
and increase overall support that the allies will provide to Kyiv’s efforts to
liberate Russian-held territories.
TRAINING -
A coalition made up of 11 states will begin to train Ukrainian pilots to fly
F-16 fighter jets in August in Denmark, while a training center will also be
set up in Romania. We hope that we will be able to see results at the
beginning of next year, Denmark’s interim defense minister Troels Lund Poulsen
told reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital,
Vilnius. NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands led an international
coalition effort to train pilots and support staff, maintain aircraft, and
eventually supply Ukraine with F-16s. Belgium and Luxembourg will also
participate in this program, supported by the US, while France and Great
Britain are providing assistance. The air forces of the latter and Luxembourg
do not own F-16 aircraft. Currently, Romania has 17 F-16 aircraft and will
acquire another 32 from Norway.
SCHENGEN – Romania and
Bulgaria deserve to join the Schengen area by the end of the year, a resolution
adopted on Wednesday by the European Parliament reads. Adopted with a large
majority, the document states that both countries have fulfilled criteria to
join the visa free travel area and exercising the veto right against their
accession fuels anti-European sentiment and damages the economy. The citizens
of Bulgaria and Romania are discriminated against, because they face delays,
bureaucratic difficulties and additional costs when traveling for personal
reasons or business abroad, MEPs argue. The resolution calls on the European
Commission to estimate financial losses, lost profits and the damages to the environment
resulted from Romania and Bulgaria being denied Schengen accession starting
June 2011, as well as to analyze possible mechanisms to offset financial
losses. Romania’s latest attempt at joining Schengen was blocked by Austria, a
country that invoked issues related to illegal migration, dismissed by the
Romanian authorities, European institutions and most member states.
STATISTICS -
The average net salary in Romania fell to 4,543 lei (approx. 915 Euros) in May
this year, 0.5% less than in April 2023, the National Institute of Statistics
(INS) announced on Wednesday. The average gross salary was 7,229 lei (approx.
1,460 Euros), 1.1% lower than in April 2023. The highest values of the
average net salary were recorded in the IT service-provision field, and the
smallest values in the hospitality industry. Compared to May 2022, the average
net salary increased by 15.7%. In May, in most activities in the economic
sector, the level of the average net salary decreased as a result of the
granting, in the previous months, of occasional awards, rights in kind and
money aid, sums from the net profit and from other funds. Also, the decreases
in the average net salary were caused by production failures or lower receipts
(depending on contracts/projects), as well as by the employment of personnel
with lower than average salary earnings, from some economic activities, the
aforementioned source states. (LS & VP)