Radio România Internațional

Tag: F-35

December 13, 2024 UPDATE

PLANES Three F-16 Fighting Falcons, Romania bought from Norway, touched down at Air Base 71 in Campia Turzii, north-western Romania on Friday. According to sources with the Romanian Defence Ministry, the three multi-role warplanes are going to join the 48^th Fighting Squadron, which boasts a total of 15 similar aircraft. Romania will buy from Norway 32 F-16 jet fighters, which are expected to improve the country’s security capabilities and contribute to the defence of its airspace and even NATO’s airspace, the communiqué also says. Romania has recently signed the contract for buying the first 32 fifth-generation fighters F-35. The first F-35 fighters are to arrive in Romania in 2030.

FOOTBALL Lots drawn in Zurich on Friday for the preliminaries of World Cup 2026 have placed Romania’s national football side in Group H, which also includes Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus and San Marino. Romania’s champions, FCSB, drew 0-0 against Hoffenheim of Germany on Thursday in the 6th round of Europa League. The team from Bucharest ranks 10th in the group standings and holds good chances of advancing to the next phase. Two more rounds follow in Germany, with the final match scheduled at home against Manchester United of England.

UKRAINE The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom met in Berlin on Thursday to reiterate support for Ukraine and its irreversible NATO track. The Ministers also promised Kyiv additional military support in the war against Russia as well as post-conflict security guarantees. At the end of the meeting, the Foreign Ministers joined the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, in signing the Berlin Declaration, given that the scenario of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia has become a possibility with Donald Trump’s return at the White House. Several member states, including the USA and Germany, have expressed reluctance towards the prospect of a swift accession to NATO for Ukraine. In the case of an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Kyiv’s allies could deploy a peace-keeping corps to Ukraine, as a security guarantee.

GOVERNMENT President Klaus Iohannis is expected to convene the new Parliament on December 20. Having won nearly two thirds of seats after the December 1 parliamentary election, pro-European parties and the group of national minorities have engaged in talks with a view to forming a coalition cabinet. Leaders of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians (UDMR) have agreed that each party would control a number of ministries equal to their share in Parliament. The new cabinet will comprise 16 ministries. Three self-proclaimed sovereignist parties – the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), SOS Romania and the Young People’s Party (POT) – will also be represented in the new Parliament. The new government will very likely be sworn in ahead of the Christmas holidays. For the time being, the pro-European coalition has agreed to designate a common candidate for the 2025 presidential election.

(bill)

13 December 2024
November 22, 2024

WEATHER Nearly 3-quarters of Romania’s territory is under various severe weather alerts, valid at least until tonight. A code red warning for snowstorms at altitudes of over 1,700 m is in place in several counties in the centre and south of the country. Parts of Romania’s mid-west are subject to code orange alerts for strong wind, ranging from 80 to 120 km/h, and heavy snowfalls are expected in the mountains. Mixed precipitation and wind are also forecast for the west, north-west and centre of the country, according to a code yellow alert.

ELECTION Voting has begun abroad, in the first round of Romania’s presidential election. Voting is already underway in New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Those who have already cast their ballots today join the over 4,200 who voted by mail. Voting abroad takes place over three days, from November 22 to 24. In the country, Romanians will be able to vote for their next president on Sunday, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with extensions granted only if there are still voters in polling stations or queuing outside. Almost 19,000 polling stations are set up in the country and 950 abroad for this election. The most polling stations abroad are in Italy – 158, Spain – 147 and the United Kingdom – 107. 13 candidates take part in the race for the president post. Also on Sunday, a local referendum is held in Bucharest, with three questions related to administrative issues, including the distribution of tax revenues and the issuance of construction permits, as well as the fight against drug use. A 30% turnout is needed for the referendum to be valid.

SCHENGEN The interior ministers of Romania and Bulgaria, Cătălin Predoiu and Atanas Ilkov respectively, are meeting today in Budapest with their Austrian counterpart, Gerhard Karner, to discuss the 2 countries’ full Schengen accession, vetoed by Austria so far. The Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu, as well as his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, will also attend the meeting, held under the auspices of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU. During the talks, the officials will consider an agreement on the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen. A decision on lifting external border controls could be taken on December 12 in Brussels, in the Justice and Home Affairs Council, but this needs the support of all EU member states. Romania and Bulgaria partially joined Schengen at the end of March, by suspending controls at air and sea borders. Land border controls remained in place, however, because of Austria’s veto, which Vienna says is related to concerns about illegal migration.

DEFENCE Signing the agreement with the US for the procurement of F-35 aircraft is another decisive step forward for Romania towards a modern and efficient national defence, well connected to our international partners, PM Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday. He attended the signing of the Protocol launching the Romanian Air Force’s transition to 5th generation F-35 aircraft. The document was signed by the defence minister Angel Tîlvăr and the US Ambassador to Bucharest, Kathleen Kavalec.

UKRAINE Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said Russia had hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new type of medium-range missile designed to carry nuclear warheads, in response to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles. Addressing the nation, Putin said the war in Ukraine had acquired elements of a global conflict after the United States, France and Britain agreed with the use of their missiles against Russia, and he warned that his country had the right to use its weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russian territory. In case of escalation, Putin added, Russia would respond decisively and symmetrically. The United States, which according to Reuters was informed shortly before the Russian missile launch, said Moscow was the one escalating the conflict in Ukraine. Washington, however, said it had no reason to change its nuclear doctrine based solely on Putin’s irresponsible rhetoric.

NETANYAHU Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he would continue to defend the country in any way he could, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Netanyahu described the court’s decision as an anti-Semitic act, while Israel’s president and the parliament speaker called it an attack on justice and truth. The US President Joe Biden called the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, “outrageous”, and promised the US would stand by Israel in the face of a threat to its security. According to Biden, the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction in this case. As for President-elect Donald Trump, he did not react to the decision to issue the arrest warrants issued against Netanyahu and Gallant, but his future national security adviser, Mike Waltz, promised a “strong response” to the ICC’s anti-Semitic leaning. (AMP)

22 November 2024
May 22, 2024

BSDA Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on Wednesday said there are prospects for the Romanian defence industry to conclude impressive contracts of billions of Euros. Attending the international exhibition Black Sea Defense and Aerospace in Bucharest, the Prime Minister said this is the biggest event devoted to the defence industry in the Black Sea region. The presence of 400 companies from 31 countries here proves the importance of this event, Ciolacu went on to say. All the five operational fields are being represented, the land, air, naval, cyber and space and the event’s main attraction is the multi-role F-35 jet fighter, the US Navy has for the first time brought to an exhibition in Europe. The event is proposing to identify opportunities and find cooperation solutions both in terms of production and the business field contributing to the international promotion of Romania’s Defence industry.

WAGES The government in Bucharest intends to raise the salaries of some categories of state employees by 10 percent this year in two equal installments. A draft ordinance on the issue has been put up for debates by the Labour Ministry. Some of the state employees who are to benefit the measure have recently staged protest rallies, but Prime Minister Ciolacu yesterday explained the budget did not allow for more pay raises. Those to benefit the aforementioned measure are employees from various cultural institutions, of the trade registry, the diplomatic field, the defence industry, of mayor offices and other institutions funded from the government’s and Parliament’s own sources.

FESTIVAL The International Theatre Festival ‘Shakespeare’ continues in Craiova, south-western Romania with a new series of theatre shows, multi-media installations, outdoor film screenings, book launches and round table talks. ‘Macbeth’, brought by the Theatre without Name based in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova, and the ‘Twelfth Night’ directed by Andrei Serban at the state theatre in Constanta are the festival’s main events today. Shakespeare village, a British village from 16 hundred build from scratch on the local hippodrome is the venue for scores of concerts and shows, while the Craiova Promenade is hosting the Shakespeare Dimension cube, providing a virtual immersion into the Shakespearian world. At its thirtieth edition this year, the aforementioned international event consists of 300 shows and events bringing together some of the world’s most famous directors and actors such as Robert Wilson, Declan Donnellan, Peter Brook or Robert Lepage.

VISIT Romanians will be able to travel to Turkey without passports only with their ID cards, Turkish president Tayyip Recep Erdogan decided during the formal visit Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu paid to Ankara. The Romanian Prime Minister participated together with president Erdogan in the first joint session of the two governments, when they decided that Romanian farmers may resume the export and transit of meat through Turkey. Also high on the talks agenda were the extended cooperation in the fields of defence and energy.

(bill)

22 May 2024
Goodbye, MiG-21!

Authorities in Bucharest have decided to decomission the second-generation MiG-21 LanceR aircraft, which had their first flight in 1957. The Romanian Air Force started acquiring the Soviet-made aircraft 61 years ago, in 1962, and in the following four decades, Romania increased the number to 322 planes. The decision to withdraw them was taken, last year, by the National Supreme Defense Council, in order to accelerate the transition to the operation of F-16 combat aircraft.

Another reason for decommissioning such aircraft is the high number of accidents. In the last three decades, Romania has lost 20 such devices in various accidents. In the last five years alone, four planes have crashed, one of which resulted in the death of the pilot. As early as January, the MiG-21 planes began to be taken out, gradually, from active service and, once they exhausted their flight resource, they were taken to the 95th Air Base in Bacău (east). The last flights of the MiG-21 LanceR aircraft were scheduled for Monday, with the Ministry of Defense in Bucharest organizing, on this occasion, military and religious ceremonies, as well as exhibitions.

The Ministry of Defense has announced that the Romanian Air Force will continue to perform Air Policing missions with the F-16 aircraft it owns, supported by the allied aircraft deployed in Romania, part of the Enhanced Air Policing mission under NATO command. Also, the ministry has stated, the ground-based air defense systems will continue to perform Air Policing missions under national command, as well as within the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defense System.

The Romanian Air Force currently has 17 American-made F-16 fighters. The authorities have announced that they are going to buy 32 more aircraft of this type. Last month, the National Supreme Defense Council decided that Romania would also buy the latest generation of F-35 planes, continuing the modernization process of the Air Force. The authorities specified, then, that the new aircraft would be purchased starting 2030, and information about the price would be discussed when a response was received from the United States.

The Parliament in Bucharest will have to vote to approve the purchase, and then the contract will be concluded. The F-35 jets are considered the most powerful fighter aircraft in the world. Equipped with advanced sensor systems, they are capable of ground attack and reconnaissance missions. (MI)

15 May 2023
La semaine du 10 au 16 avril 2023

Le CSAT se réunit à Bucarest

La
Roumanie achètera des avions de combat de dernière génération, F-35. C’est ce
que le Conseil suprême de défense du pays a décidé après avoir examiné les
risques de la situation de sécurité dans la région de la Mer Noire. Ces avions
sont équipés d’une large gamme de capteurs avancés, ayant la capacité
d’échanger des informations cryptées en temps réel aussi bien avec les
plates-formes aériennes qu’avec les systèmes de défense au sol. Annoncée l’année
dernière par le chef de l’Etat roumain, l’intention de doter l’armée roumaine d’avions
de combat F-35 fait partie du plan de modernisation de l’aviation roumaine. La
réunion du CSAT a également porté sur la situation de sécurité dans la région
de la Mer Noire, dans le contexte de l’agression russe en Ukraine. Les membres
du Conseil sont tombés d’accord que le principal repère d’action reste celui de
la sécurité nationale. La Roumanie doit continuer à fournir de l’aide aux
partenaires vulnérables de la région. Il s’agit, tout d’abord, de la République
de Moldova. Après l’Ukraine, c’est le pays le plus exposé aux agressions et
russes et en proie à des tentatives déstabilisatrices d’une intensité sans
précédent.

La sécurité dans la région de la Mer Noire

Bucarest redevient la capitale
internationale de la diplomatie, a déclaré le ministre roumain des Affaires
Etrangères, Bogdan Aurescu, en rappelant que la ville roumaine accueillera la
première Conférence internationale sur la sécurité dans la région de la mer
Noire, patronnée par la Plateforme internationale de Crimée et une nouvelle
trilatérale Roumanie – République de Moldova – Ukraine. Par ailleurs, M.
Aurescu a condamné encore une fois la guerre menée par la Russie contre l’Ukraine.
Organisée par les Ministères roumain et ukrainien des Affaires Etrangères et de
la Défense, en partenariat avec le Centre ukrainienpour les stratégies de défense, la conférence
est le premier événement d’une telle ampleur consacré à la région de la mer
Noire. Quant à la Trilatérale Roumanie-Ukraine-Moldavie, les débats ont visé la
sécurité dans la région, les pressions exercées par Moscou à Chisinau, l’appui
de l’OTAN et de l’UE à la République de Moldova.

La sécurité dans la région
de la mer Noire a dominé aussi la visite en Roumanie du président du Comité
militaire de l’OTAN, l’amiral Rob Bauer. Les pourparlers que celui-ci a eus avec
le chef de la diplomatie roumaine ont porté sur les préparatifs en vue du
sommet de l’Alliance, de Vilnius, en juillet et sur la mise en place des
décisions adoptées lors de la réunion des alliés de Madrid. En visite à
Bucarest, Rob Bauer a rencontré aussi le ministre roumain de la Défense, Angel
Tâlvar et le chef de l’Etat-major, le général Daniel Petrescu. L’amiral
américain a rendu visite aux commandements alliés déployés à Bucarest et à
Sibiu, au groupement de combat de Cincu et aux soldats se trouvant sur la base
aérienne de Mihail Kogalniceanu.

Le commissaire européen chargé du Marché Intérieur,
Thierry Breton, en visite en Roumanie

Le
commissaire européen chargé du Marché intérieur, Thierry Breton, a visité cette
semaine la Roumanie. Lors des pourparlers avec le chef du gouvernement de
Bucarest, Nicolae Ciuca, le responsable de Bruxelles a examiné les efforts de
Bucarest de contribuer au renforcement des capacités européennes de défense et
le soutien accordé à Kiev et à Chisinau. Thierry Breton a salué la décision de
Bucarest de majorer de 2 à 2,5% du PIB le budget alloué à la défense. Accompagné
par le ministre roumain de l’Economie, Florin Spataru, le responsable européen
a visité deux usines d’armes et d’armements. « La Roumanie, a-t-il dit,
compte parmi les onze pays où existent des usines identifiées par la Commission européenne comme
étant capables de majorer leurs capacités de production d’armement » Pour
sa part, le responsable roumain de l’Economie, a rappelé le soutien européen
que l’industrie roumaine nécessite pour pouvoir contribuer aux efforts de
reconstruction de l’Ukraine.

Le FMI a révisé à la baisse
ses prévisions de croissance de l’économie roumaine

Le FMI a réduit ses
prévisions de croissance de l’économie roumaine de plus de 3% à 2,4%. Selon les
nouvelles estimations rendues publiques mardi, en 2024, la Roumanie devrait
enregistrer une croissance économique de 3,7%. Quant à l’inflation, le FMI
s’attend à ce que le taux d’inflation baisse cette année de 13,8% à 10,5%. Le
rythme de la croissance des prix ne ralentira qu’en 2024 quand elle se situera
en dessous de 6%.

Les Pâques orthodoxes

Les chrétiens orthodoxes et
les Grecs catholiques du monde, y compris de Roumanie, pays majoritairement
orthodoxe, ont marqué cette semaine la Semaine Sainte, dernière semaine avant
Pâques. Des offices religieux ont eu lieu chaque soir dans les églises pour
rappeler aux fidèles les derniers moments de la vie de Jésus Christ. Des pèlerinages
ont eu lieu à Jérusalem, Nazareth et Bethleem, a fait savoir le correspondant
Radio Roumanie en Israël. Une enquête sur la manière dont les Roumains fêtent
Pâques menée par Reveal Marketing Research a montré que la plupart des
Roumains, soit 71%, célébreront Pâques en famille. Seuls les jeunes âgés
de 18 à 24 ans préféreront fêter Pâques avec des amis. Quant à l’intérêt porté
aux traditions, 78% des Roumains affirment se rendre à minuit, à la messe
de Pâques et 45% observent une période de carême.

64% des sondés envisagent d’offrir
des petits cadeaux le jour de Pâques, un pourcentage en baisse par rapport à
2019 quand 8 Roumains sur 10 ont acheté des cadeaux à leurs proches.

16 April 2023
April 11, 2023 UPDATE

NATO
Romania’s National Defence
Minister Angel Tîlvăr and
Chief of Staff, General Daniel Petrescu will be meeting in Bucharest on
Wednesday Admiral Robert Bauer, chair of the NATO Military Committee, who is
paying a visit to Romania over April 11th and 14th . According to a communiqué
by the Ministry of Defence, talks will be focusing on the security situation in
the Black Sea area as well as on NATO’s missions and operations. On Tuesday,
the Defence Ministry and the Chief of Staff talked to the commands of the
structures deployed to various operation theaters in Kosovo and
Bosnia-Herzegovina and with the Romanian troops currently doing missions in
Bulgaria, Lithuania and Poland. The Romanian troops presented the assessment of
the security situation in their areas and the stage of their missions. Your
efforts are contributing to our peace, to everybody’s peace actually,
particularly at this time when our region has been deeply troubled by the
Russian invasion in the neighboring Ukraine, the Defence Minister says.

VISIT The European Commissioner for internal market Thierry Breton will
be paying a visit to Bucharest on Wednesday, the European Commission
Representation to Bucharest has announced. The European Commissioner will be
having talks with Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciuca and the president of the
Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu. The EU official will be also visiting the
future headquarters of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre jointly
with the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, Sebastian Burduja.
Also on Wednesday, Breton will be visiting two major plants specialized in
equipment and gears for the defence industry in southern Romania.

DEFENCE
Romania continues to act firmly, united and efficiently alongside its allies
and partners to promote security and stability in the Black Sea region, an area
of strategic importance for Euro-Atlantic security. The announcement was made
by president Klaus Iohannis in a statement released after a meeting of the
Country’s Supreme Defence Council which he chaired today in Bucharest. The
fundamental aspect remains national security and supporting Ukraine and the
Republic of Moldova contributes directly to the consolidation of Romania’s
security, the statement also writes. Maintaining a consistent and
multidimensional support for the neighbouring Ukraine, as part of NATO and the
European Union, is of critical importance for ensuring the success of efforts
to defend this state. The meeting also analysed the development of Romania’s air
force. According to the statement, the modernisation of the air force will
continue with the purchase of latest generation F-35 aircraft. The achievement
of robust, credible, interoperable, flexible and efficient air defence
operational capabilities aimed both at fulfilling the commitments deriving from
the NATO and EU membership and at discouraging possible aggression, is an
essential condition for fulfilling Romania’s defence policy objectives, the
statement also reads.

IMF The IMF has revised the forecast for
Romania’s economic growth this year from an initial estimate of 3% down to
2.4%. According to the new IMF calculations published on Tuesday, Romania is
expected to register a 3.7% growth next year. The IMF believes that inflation
in Romania will this year stay around 10.5% after a 13.8% last year and price
hikes will significantly slow down only in 2024, when the inflation rate is
expected to be under 6%.

(bill)

11 April 2023
January 31, 2020 UPDATE

FLU Eleven people died in Romania from seasonal flu so far, according to the National Centre for Infectious Disease Monitoring and Control. Experts announced that the week of January 20th was the seasons first week of epidemic. Several schools in Bucharest and elsewhere in the country were also closed because of flu cases. The Education Ministry announced that full or partial suspension of classes because of the flu affects over 5,500 students, but that this is not the number of cases among children. Neighbouring Bulgaria is also affected, with 19 regions officially declaring a flu epidemic and classes suspended in nearly 1,900 schools and kindergartens.

BREXIT As of February 1, Britain is the first state to leave the EU since its establishment. The British economy accounted for 15% of the EU economy, and London is the worlds financial capital. The UK was also the EU member state with the largest defence budget. The kingdom joined the European community in 1973, 16 years since the Rome Treaty had been signed and 22 since the European Coal and Steel Community had been set up by France, West Germany, Italy and Benelux. In 2016, the UK decided through a referendum to leave the bloc, which kicked off a controversial and complicated negotiation process. The transition period which begins on Saturday ends late this year. One of the most critical aspects that need working out is a trade agreement to avoid customs duties between the 2 parties. Romania regrets Britains decision and hopes it will remain a close and trustworthy partner, sharing the same system of values, President Klaus Iohannis said in a statement. He emphasised that Bucharests main goal has been to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the Romanian citizens who live, work and study in the UK, a goal which is properly reflected in the Withdrawal Agreement. Romania wishes to deepen its strategic partnership with Britain, so as to strengthen the post-Brexit relation between the 2 countries, president Iohannis also said.

AVIATION Poland signed on Friday a 4.6 billion US dollar deal on the procurement of 32 last-generation stealth F-35 aircraft from the US, to consolidate its air forces and also its relations with Washington, AFP reports. This is an important day for the Polish military aviation, for the countrys security and for the security of this part of Europe, Polands president Andrzej Duda said. The first fighters could be supplied in 2024, making Poland the first Central and Eastern European country to use this kind of aircraft.

VIRUS No coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Romania so far, the ministerial committee for the management and monitoring of the potential infections with the new virus has announced. Prevention measures have been put in place in airports and medical units designated for the treatment of possible infection cases. The National Authority for Consumer Protection in Romania has given assurances that there is no contamination risk from goods imported from China since the virus has a lifespan of 24 hours outside the human body, and it takes around 35 days to transport goods from China into Romania. The World Health Organisation has declared the new coronavirus a global emergency as the death toll in China stands at 213, out of nearly 10,000 cases.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

31 January 2020