Radio România Internațional

Tag: farmers

September 17, 2023

FARMERS An alliance of Romanian farmers, unhappy
with the European Commission’s decision not to extend the ban on grain imports
from Ukraine, asks the Romanian government to suspend imports of several
Ukrainian agrifood products. The government, which has already promised
subsidies for the Diesel fuel used in farming works, announced that before
taking further measures it was waiting for Kyiv to make public on Monday a plan
regarding efficient export control to prevent the disruption of the Romanian
grain market. Depending on that plan, Bucharest will take adequate steps to
support Romanian farmers. The EC decided
not to extend its ban on Ukrainian grain imports, in exchange for certain
commitments from Kyiv. Poland, Slovakia and
Hungary have introduced unilateral restrictions, while Bulgaria announced it
did not want the embargo on Ukrainian grain imports extended.

PENSIONS A new
version of the special pension law, comprising the amendments requested by the
Constitutional Court, will be endorsed by the end of September, said the
interim Chamber of Deputies speaker, Alfred Simonis. He added the law covers
all categories of special pensions, but because the special benefits paid to
magistrates and other categories cannot be scrapped, as it happened in the case
of MPs, taxation will be introduced, which the Court has accepted. Also,
Simonis said, ceilings must be introduced for each particular profession, so as
to eliminate special pensions of EUR 8,000 or even EUR 14,000 a month. The
Constitutional Court last month sent back to Parliament the new draft pension
law, on grounds that pension benefits currently being paid cannot be readjusted
to different principles than the ones in the law under which they have been
granted.

SCHENGEN Austria’s opposition to Romania’s Schengen
accession is not targeted against Bucharest, but against this freedom of
movement system, said the Austrian minister for the EU, Karoline Edtstadler. The
statement comes after Bucharest warned it would sue Vienna over its veto to
Romania’s accession. Karoline Edtstadler told the media she understood the
position of Romanian authorities, but added Austria cannot close its eyes to an
already flawed system. She explained the EU should ensure efficient protection of its external
borders before envisioning a Europe without internal
borders. In
an interview to Austrian mass media, Romania’s PM
Marcel Ciolacu said that in case of further opposition from Austria, Romania
will have to take the matter to court and demand compensation for the losses
incurred because of its failure to join the Schengen area.

NATO NATO’s secretary general
Jens Stoltenberg has warned that we must not expect a swift end to the war in
Ukraine, in an interview published on Sunday, as Kyiv carries on its
counteroffensive against Russian forces, AFP reports. The war began in February 2022, when
Russian troops invaded Ukraine. As for Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO, Jens Stoltenberg promised
that sooner or later, Ukraine will be a NATO member. In July’s NATO summit in
Vilnius, Alliance leaders agreed that Kyiv may join NATO once
certain conditions are fulfilled, with the US and Germany emphasising that
these conditions include reforms to protect democracy and the rule of law. In
mid-June the Ukrainian army launched a counteroffensive to push out the Russian
troops from the south and east of the country, but so far only a limited number
of localities have been freed.

RUGBY Romania’s national rugby team play their second
World Cup match in Bordeaux (France) today, against defending champions, South
Africa. A week ago Romania lost to Ireland 82-8 (33-8). Romania’s
rugby team is next to play against Scotland on September 30 and against Tonga on
October 8, in Lille. The 2023 Rugby World Cup
ends on October 28. The competition has been held every 4 years since 1987, when
the first edition of the World Cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. (AMP)

17 September 2023
The Week in Review 26.06 – 02.07.2023

Laws on sensitive topics adopted by Parliament

The Romanian Parliament dedicated this past week of the ordinary session to some bills related, in one form or another, to pensions. On Monday, senators and deputies eliminated the special pensions granted to MPs, thus renouncing a privilege considered immoral by the press and public opinion. Two other sensitive laws were passed on Wednesday. One puts a ban on cumulating pensions with salaries in the public system but exempts from this ban exactly the local elected officials and parliamentarians, which makes the bill controversial. Other professional categories exempted from the rule are the teaching staff and the specialized medical staff, foster carers, as well as employees of the Romanian Academy, the National Bank of Romania and some national agencies. The law that aims to reform the special pensions, which are only partially based on the contribution from the active period and which benefit magistrates, the military, diplomats, parliamentary staff, the Court of Accounts staff or the aeronautics staff, also received a favorable final vote. However, the bill underwent major changes. Actually, the application of the reform was postponed by five years, so that, until 2028, prosecutors, judges and the military can retire under the same conditions as before. The retirement age will increase in stages, and magistrates will be required, in order to retire, to have at least 25 years of experience in the specialty. Pensions that exceed the average net income will be taxed by 15%. The opposition Save Romania Union – USR, which favors the total elimination of special pensions, voted against the bill, claiming that, after its adoption, there will be 210,000 special pensioners in Romania as before. The High Court of Cassation and Justice contested the constitutionality of the law on special pensions and the one on cumulating pensions and salaries in the public system. The reform of the special pensions is a milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan – PNRR, positive assessment

With 49 milestones and targets met, out of a total of 51, Romania successfully passed the European Commission’s test regarding the second payment request submitted under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, worth 3.22 billion Euros. The two milestones that were not met are related to energy investments, and because of failing to meet these two targets, Bucharest will lose approximately 53 million Euros. However, nothing is irreparable, because Romania still has 6 months to prove that the two pending milestones have been met. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu says that the Commission’s positive assessment encourages the government to work to meet the targets, and he promises that the two delayed milestones in the energy field will be quickly recovered. Romania benefits from an allocation of over 29 billion Euros for the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and has already collected two pre-financing installments with a cumulative value of approximately 3.8 billion Euros.

New European aid for farmers

Romania will receive 30 million Euros from the European Commission as support for farmers affected by massive imports of cheap grains from Ukraine. It is the second aid package, and the money comes from the Union Reserve Fund. Of the five EU member states that have a border with Ukraine or are in its vicinity, Poland and Romania benefited from the largest aid packages: Poland, almost 40 million Euros and Romania 30 million Euros. Cumulatively, packages one and two bring Romanian farmers a support of 40 million Euros, and the Romanian Government has the Commission’s agreement to double it.

Preparations ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius

Leaders of NATO member states and the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg convened in the Hague for a meeting focusing on the preparation of the upcoming allied Summit, to be held in Vilnius in mid-July. Romanias president Klaus Iohannis also participated in the event. In the Netherlands, Iohannis reiterated that Russia is and will still be the immediate and the most direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security. Consequently, he insisted that the allies will have to be capable and ready to strengthen their position even further and continue to give the required support to Ukraine and to the most vulnerable partners, the Republic of Moldova, in particular. Given its strategic position, Romania is especially interested in further strengthening the Alliances Eastern Flank, through a coherent and unitary approach, Klaus Iohannis also stated. This means, according to him, providing the required forces, structures, capabilities and equipment, as well as the appropriate command and control arrangements. As regards Ukraine, if, in Bucharest, in 2008, the Allies decided that it should become a NATO member state, in Vilnius that commitment will have to be carried further, Klaus Iohannis said.

Culture and sport

The headline-grabbing event of the week is the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, which has now reached its 30th edition. Throughout the festival, the central Transylvanian town, still bearing the hallmark if its Saxon heritage, is literally sizzling. Thanks to the Radu Stanca theatre halls, the unconventional spaces, the churches, squares and medieval streets, Sibiu has yet again been the generous host of performing arts. Thousands of artists and hundreds of events literally galvanized the festival, held under the sign of the ‘Miracle, the theme picked for the recently-held edition.

In sport, the headline-grabbing event this week has been the hearing of the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep by the court judging the doping charges pressed against Halep in October 2022. The past months have been long and costly for the career of the athlete who will be 32 in September. Halep no longer has a place among the worlds top 50 tennis players since she could no longer take part in tournaments. Halep, the former WTA number 1 and two-time winner of a Grand Slam tournament, will receive a final court ruling in July. (LS, EN)

1 July 2023
June 27, 2023 – UPDATE

RECOVERY The European Commission Tuesday endorsed a positive preliminary
assessment of the second payment request submitted by Romania under the
National Recovery and Resilience Facility, and found 49 out of the 51 targets
and milestones to be completed. Two
milestones, concerning investments in the energy sector, are deemed as not satisfactorily
fulfilled, and therefore the Commission activated a ‘payment suspension’
procedure. The EC acknowledged the first steps already taken by Romania to
fulfil these outstanding milestones, but emphasised that important work remains
to be done. Romania is to submit its observations within one month, and has an
additional 6 months to fulfil the outstanding milestones. If and when they have
been completed, the Commission will lift the payment suspension. In this
context, the EC chief Ursula von der Leyen stated that Romania has progressed
well in the implementation of its recovery and resilience plan, for instance
carrying out reforms on road safety, renewable energy and public sector cloud
services. PM Marcel Ciolacu says the
two delayed milestones will be recovered quickly, so that the country may
receive all the funds earmarked for them. The total amount in the second
payment request is EUR 2.8 billion, but Romania will receive EUR 53 million
less. The USR leader in opposition, Cătălin Drulă, says the money will only
arrive in September and the 3rd and 4th payments, also
scheduled for this year, stand no chances of being received

PROTEST About 700 employees with the police and penitentiary systems,
as well as court clerks protested in front of the Parliament building on
Tuesday, against the revision of the military and service pension system.
Protesters also asked for the elimination of all wage inequities, ceilings and
postponements imposed by the Government since 2010. According to protesters,
the increase in the retirement age from 60 to 65 is unjustified and will turn
Romania into the country with the most unfavourable retirement terms in the
NATO bloc. On Monday, the Romanian MPs passed a bill on the reform of all
special pensions received by some professional categories in Romania. The
changes concern, among other things, the increase in the retirement age for
some beneficiaries and the taxation of amounts that exceed the net average
salary. On the same day, Parliament eliminated the special pensions of senators
and deputies.

BACCALAUREATE Romanian high school graduates Tuesday sat the
compulsory test in their respective majors as part of the Baccalaureate exam. The
last test of the exam for most students is scheduled for Wednesday, with only
ethnic minority students left to sit a mother tongue test on Thursday. During
the examinations all classrooms are subject to audio and video surveillance,
and access with electronic devices or any other materials may lead to expulsion.
The grades will be announced on 3 July, and they may be appealed on the same
day, with the final results to be announced on 7 July.

FARMERS Romania will receive EUR 30 million from the European
Commission in aid for farmers affected by the import of cheap grain from
Ukraine. The support package, the second approved by Brussels after the one in
March, is worth a total EUR 100 million and is granted to five border countries
– Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. Poland, with almost EUR 40
million and Romania with EUR 30 million are the biggest beneficiaries of this
aid. The deadline for payments to farmers is 30 September. After the Ukrainian
Black Sea ports were blocked following the Russian invasion, the Romanian port
of Constanţa has become the most important alternative shipping route. (AMP)

27 June 2023
Support for farmers

The inflow of Ukrainian cereals into five neighbouring EU states convinced Brussels to approve temporary commercial restrictions and financial support for the respective countries. Aid worth 56 million euros was approved at the end of March and now the European Commission has approved a further 100 million euros for farmers in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The aid, which is allocated from the Unions reserve fund, comes as imports from Ukraine have filled storage facilities to cause a drop in prices on these markets, destabilising farmers.

The European Commission initially proposed granting a new tranche as early as mid April, but its proposal did not receive the green light from a number of countries who requested clarifications about the calculation criteria and the allocation of funds. The biggest beneficiaries of the aid are Poland, with almost 40 million euros, and Romania, with 30 million, while the deadline for making the payment to farmers is 30th September. Together, the two packages bring Romanian farmers around 40 million euros, to which the government has the Commissions approval to add a similar amount.

Moreover, at the beginning of June, Brussels authorised the five states to extend by 15th September their restriction measures preventing the selling on their territory of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine, on condition they do not block the transiting of these cereals to other countries. The measures were strongly criticised by almost half of EU member states, who, in a joint letter, said they were worried about what they described as preferential treatment on the internal market.

The promise of the EU commissioner for agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to activate the rest of the agricultural crisis reserve for the other 22 member states eventually led the latter to overcome their reservations and agree on the 100-million euro package. The 22 EU member states will thus be able to divide among them 330 million euros to help their own farmers cope with current crises, such as the direct impact of the war in Ukraine leading to an increase in the price of energy and fertilisers, as well as the recent flooding in Italy and the drought affecting the entire continent. The European Commission has also detailed the distribution proposed for this package. Spain is to be the main beneficiary, with around 81 million euros, followed by Italy with 60 million, France with 53 million and Germany with almost 36 million. Each country will be allowed to triple the EU aid through national funding. This package worth 330 million euros needs to be officially approved at the next meeting of the representatives of EU member states, said the European Commission. (CM)

27 June 2023
Romania and the Ukrainian agricultural products

The Russian-Ukrainian war also creates controversy from the point of view of the agricultural products from the neighboring country. Due to the armed conflict that led to the blocking of some trading routes, Ukraine was forced to call for the help of European countries. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, as of February 2022 until now, Kiev has increased its exports through its three ports on the Danube up to 1.5 million tons of grains per month. The farmers from Romania as well as from other countries in Eastern Europe are affected by the cheap imports, stating that they are almost on the verge of bankruptcy, as they cannot face this competition. Romanian farmers, who have recently staged protests, accuse that their losses amount to more than 200 million Euros due to grain imports from Ukraine, which are cheaper by about 100 Euros per ton. In a letter addressed to the European Commission, five countries, namely Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, requested additional support for farmers affected by the cheap Ukrainian agricultural products, as well as the reintroduction of customs duties on agricultural products from Ukraine.

Subsequently, four of them, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia, announced the suspension of imports of cereals and other agricultural products from that country. Romania is the only country neighboring Ukraine that still allows the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. However, the Romanian authorities have started to control the quality of cereals entering the country, to seal and monitor the shipments in transit. The Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said that Bucharest did not decide to block imports of agricultural products from Ukraine because, when adopting measures in the current context, we should take into account the entire set of consequences that these measures produce.

In his turn, the Romanian Agriculture Minister, Petre Daea, met, last week, with his Ukrainian counterpart, Mikola Solski, with whom he agreed to keep in touch, weekly, in relation to the amounts of cereals that are to leave Ukraine, in an attempt to limit imports. Petre Daea insisted that it is important that any decision regarding the restriction of Ukrainian imports be made by common agreement with Brussels and not unilaterally, as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria did. “These decisions had to be lifted so that the Commission could intervene to establish the rules to protect our farmers, and we have also shown solidarity with the farmers from other countries,” minister Daea added. The European Commission has announced that it will provide farmers in Central and Eastern Europe, affected by the inflow of cheap agricultural products from Ukraine, with an additional aid of 100 million Euros. The possibility of banning the import of certain categories of products from Ukraine was also mentioned. (LS)

24 April 2023
April 19, 2023

VISIT The president of Romania
Klaus Iohannis is carrying on his visit to Brazil today. He travels to Rio
de Janeiro, where he has meetings scheduled with the deputy governor and the deputy
mayor of the city, and will pay tribute to the World War II heroes. On Monday, Mr.
Iohannis met with his counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The two officials
signed a joint statement on the development of bilateral relations. Klaus
Iohannis assured his counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of Romania’s
support for advancing the EU – Brazil agenda through projects designed to
benefit citizens. This is the first stage of the Romanian president’s
south-American tour, which also includes Chile and Argentina. The goal is to rekindle
the top-level dialogue with these countries and to present Romania’s position,
as an EU and NATO member, with respect to the war launched by Russia in
neighbouring Ukraine.

AGRICULTURE A
simple motion tabled by the opposition against the agriculture minister Petre
Daea has been dismissed in the Chamber of Deputies today. The motion was
discussed in parliament on Tuesday. The initiators argued that
Daea
was directly responsible for the steep rise in the prices of basic foodstuffs, for
the poor handling of the swine fever and avian influenza crises, and also for
the failure to secure EU funding for the Romanian farmers affected by the grain
imports from Ukraine. The agriculture minister said none of the allegations
were based on actual figures. On the other hand, he is set to discuss with his
Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solskyi today, about the situation created by the duty-free
Ukrainian grain imports to the EU. Last week, Poland and Hungary, followed by
Slovakia, announced a temporary ban on these imports. Poland also suspended
grain transit on its territory, but following talks between the two parties an
agreement was reached on Tuesday to resume transit, provided that the grains
are not sold in that country. Hungary also announced that Ukrainian grain
shipments would be sealed and monitored while on Hungarian territory. In
Bucharest, the Social Democratic Party intends to persuade the ruling coalition
to temporarily suspend these imports, in order to protect Romanian farmers, in
the absence of sufficient compensation from the European Commission. Brussels
on the other hand finds the measure unacceptable and has called for coordinated
decisions, while promising a new aid package for the affected farmers.

ART Since the
start of the Timisoara – 2023 European Capital of Culture programme this
February, over 12,000 Romanian and foreign art lovers have visited the National
Art Museum in Timişoara, western Romania, to see the first retrospective
exhibition devoted to Victor Brauner. Probably no other exhibition in the
history of the museum has attracted so many visitors as ‘Victor Brauner: Inventions
and magic did in only two months, the museum director Filip Petcu said on
Monday. Some 100 works, including paintings, drawings, sketches, etchings and
documents by the Romanian surrealist artist are on display in Timişoara. Of
these, 40 are on loan from the Pompidou Centre in Paris, while others have been
made available by Saint-Etienne Metropole, Musee Cantini Marseilles and other
museums or private collections in Romania and abroad.

FINANCE One of
the indicators taken into account by Fitch Agency when improving Bucharest’s
long-term issuer default rating was the adjustment of expenditure to revenues, the
mayor Nicuşor Dan announced on Wednesday. In a Facebook post, he says that the
municipality’s efforts to achieve financial stability are beginning to yield
fruit, given that Fitch has improved Bucharest’s standalone credit profile from
‘BBB+’ to ‘A’, a class higher than the national rating, which means a good
capacity to meet financial obligations. On April 15, Fitch Ratings reconfirmed
Bucharest’s ‘BBB-‘ ratings for long-term foreign and local currency debt and
upgraded the outlook from negative to stable. Last month Fitch had also
reconfirmed Romania’s BBB-/F3 rating for long and short-term foreign currency
debt and upgraded the outlook from negative to stable. With a population of approx.
2.16 million, Bucharest accounts for over 30% of
Romania’s economy, and its local wealth level is more than four times the
national average.

USA
Fox News, the TV channel of choice of US Conservatives, has agreed to pay USD
787.5 million to the voting technology company Dominion, after a last-minute
settlement to avoid a lawsuit concerning its coverage of the 2020 presidential
elections, France Presse reports. Dominion had originally claimed USD 1.6 bln.
The settlement saves the pearl of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire from what the New
York Times described as the defamation trial of the century. The lawsuit was generally
viewed in the US as a test for the limits of the freedom of expression
guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and of the fight
against misinformation. (AMP)

19 April 2023
April 7, 2023 UPDATE

PROTESTS Farmers from 18 Romanian counties took to the streets on Friday,
dissatisfied with the compensation proposed by the European Commission for the
damage caused by the tax-free import of cheap cereals from Ukraine. Farmers
demand that the European Union abandon the special regime applied to imports
from Ukraine, which – in their opinion – seriously disrupts the Romanian
market. Romania’s agriculture minister Petre Daea has pledged compensations for
the affected farmers as soon as possible. The Romanian official also met some
of the farmers who protested in Bucharest. Poland has temporarily ceased its
imports of Ukrainian grains in order to offset their impact upon the local prices
but the transit will continue. The announcement was made on Friday by the new
Polish Agriculture Minister, Robert Telus, who took over after his predecessor had
stepped down amid the farmers’ protests sparked off by the plummeting prices in
cereals. Farmers have also staged protests in Romania’s neighbour country, Bulgaria.

BUDGET The Romanian government is looking for solutions to cover a hole
in the budget of 20 billion lei, so that the deficit does not exceed the target
of 4.4% of the GDP. The leaders of the ruling coalition claim that there are
unjustified expenses in many ministries and state institutions, and the
Ministry of Finance must reduce the waste of public funds. Liberal Prime Minister
Nicolae Ciucă has stressed that salaries or other types of income will not be
cut, but he asked the Minister of Finance, Adrian Câciu, to propose concrete
measures to reduce expenses in the next nine months. The Social Democrat leader
Marcel Ciolacu also spoke about a reform in spending public money, in parallel
with measures to reduce tax evasion. In his opinion, the system of increments
should be eliminated, and the bonuses already earned introduced into the
salary. Adrian Câciu said that the adjustment of budget expenses will not
affect the social and economic packages developed by the coalition, nor the
investments. National Bank specialists consider, on the other hand, that
against the background of the high values of the current account deficit and
the budget deficit, the money from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan
represents an extraordinary opportunity for the economy.

HEALTH Romania’s Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, says that the
medical system in this country needs sufficient, well-trained staff who can
respond professionally and empathetically to the needs of patients. At the same
time, in his message on the occasion of the World Health Day, on April 7, the
minister said that investments are needed in health – in hospitals, in
specialist clinics or in family doctors’ offices. This year, the motto of the
World Health Day is Health for all! In another move, the Minister
of Health said the number of respiratory illnesses and SARS-COV-2 infections
has started to decrease, and Romania has sufficient stocks of medicines for the
necessary treatments. According to Alexandru Rafila, there were 6,900 cases of
COVID last week, the positivity rate being 10% lower than the previous week.
However, the number of deaths is still quite high, 59.

(bill&MI)

7 April 2023
April 6, 2023

Protests — On Friday, the Romanian farmers are organizing protests in several counties and in Bucharest, dissatisfied with the solution found by the European Commission to the problems and serious imbalances facing the Romanian agri-food sector, against the background of market distortions caused by the armed conflict in Ukraine. According to the farmers, the total elimination, since the middle of last year, of customs duties on all goods from Ukraine has exported the effects of the war, commercially speaking, to the neighboring countries, creating an involuntary dumping effect, as it has stimulated Ukrainian farmers to sell cheaper. The representatives of the Romanian farmers point out that this measure has not helped and will not help the Ukrainians to resume their production cycle. Instead, it has strongly disrupted the market in Romania.

Beijing – The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the French President Emmanuel Macron are discussing today, in Beijing, with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, especially about Chinas role in finding a peace solution in Ukraine. The two are trying to convince the Chinese leader to exert his influence on Russia to end the war. Shortly after arriving in Beijing, Emmanuel Macron expressed concern about growing tensions between China and the West, and Ursula von der Leyen adopted a tougher stance, warning that the future relations between China and the EU will be influenced by how Beijing will approach the war in Ukraine. For the moment, Western allies only see an ever-closer economic rapprochement between China and Russia. The issue was on the agenda of the meeting of the NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday, who expressed concern about the Chinese-Russian partnership, which threatens Ukraine. In response, NATO decided to close ranks with its partners in the South Pacific. The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg announced that the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are also invited to the summer summit of the Alliance in Vilnius, in which the Ukrainian president will also participate.

Gaudeamus – The Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair, organized for the 22nd time in the heart of Transylvania, in the city of Cluj, takes place from Thursday until Sunday. The event is hosted in 14 exhibition pavilions, including over 60 stands that bring together the offer of numerous publishing houses, Romanian and foreign book distributors, producers and distributors of music and games. The virtual stands of the participants can be found on www.gaudeamus.ro, in the online version of the fair, so that the editorial novelties, special offers and surprises prepared by the participants are also accessible to book lovers who cannot visit the fair. More than 30 book launches and presentation sessions are organized, numerous book-prize contests, as well as the “Miss Reading” contest – one of the highlights of the Gaudeamus Fairs for over 15 years.

Codes – The Romanian Chamber of Deputies adopted the draft laws that regulate the criminal and criminal procedure codes in the form drafted by the Ministry of Justice, without any amendment. Thus, they gave up the setting of a value threshold from which criminal sanctions are applied for abuse and negligence in office, as the senators had decided. Also, they kept the possibility of using phone tapping made by specialized services as evidence in the case of several crimes, including tax evasion and corruption. The Chamber of Deputies is a decision-making body in this case.

NATO – On Friday, the NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană will visit the South-East Multinational Brigade from Craiova (southern Romania), whose Command has the mission to ensure the command and control of a NATO operation of the Article 5 type – Collective Defense, contributing, in this way, to the consolidation of the South-Eastern flank of the Alliance, to the security of the territory and the population of the member states. The NATO official made this announcement in an interview given to AGERPRES news agency, in Brussels, after the conclusion of the meeting of foreign ministers from the allied states, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mircea Geoana spoke in the interview about the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance and the relationship with the partner countries, as well as about the agenda of his mandate as NATO Deputy Secretary General, which was extended until October 2024. Mircea Geoana also referred to the war in Ukraine. In his opinion, the Kremlin leadership has been using the nuclear rhetoric in the most unprofessional and irresponsible way, even before the start of the war in Ukraine.

Visit – The former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, is visiting Bucharest today. He will be received by president Klaus Iohannis and will be granted the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE). The event takes place in the context of the manifestations organized by the higher education institution, on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of its establishment on April 6. Jean-Claude Juncker was the President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019.

6 April 2023
January 21, 2023 UPDATE

ASYLUM Romania’s immigration department on Friday registered 40 asylum applications.
Most of these, 24, were filed by citizens from Bangladesh. The General
Inspectorate for Immigration has also issued 394 permits for those who applied
for temporary protection, out of which 388 for Ukrainian nationals. Last year 4,398
Ukrainian citizens applied for asylum in Romania and they benefit from all the
rights stipulated in the national legislation. The total number of Ukrainians
who entered Romania since the beginning of the invasion is around 3.5 million.
Almost 29% of the accommodation facilities for these refugees have been
occupied.

DAY
The Day celebrating the Union of the Romanian Principalities will be marked by
the representations of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau, Rome,
Warsaw, Venice, Istanbul and Vienna. The Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau
stages a scientific event devoted to 164 years since the Union of the Romanian
Principalities – Moldova and Wallachia. The Romanian Institute of Culture and
Humanistic Research in Venice is staging a conference meant to emphasize the
cordial Romanian-Italian relations during the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859-1866)
and the symmetric destiny of the two peoples in the process of completing their
national unity. The Academia di Romania in Rome is also celebrating the Union
day with a film screening about the portrait of Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan
Cuza made by photographer Carol Popp of Szathmari. The Romanian Cultural
Institute in Warsaw will be screening on the Youtube platform a film with
Polish subtitles entitled ‘The 1859 Union of the Romanian Principalities’
directed by Radu Gaina. The Romanian Cultural institutes in Istanbul and Vienna
are also screening films about the aforementioned union and the personality of
ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza.

FAIR Romania boasts a national stand at the
International travel Fair taking place in Madrid until Sunday. The stand has
been developed by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism jointly with
several field associations and is promoting cultural trips, rural tourism and
city-break packages. Among other things, the Romanian programme also includes
meetings with relevant players from the public and private tourist sector with
the view to introducing Romania’s touristic potential to Spain. At the same
time, the fair is a good opportunity of promoting the city of Timisoara as
European Capital of Culture in 2023.

TENNIS Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse and her Ukrainian partner
Marta Kostyuc have qualified for the round of 16 of the women’s doubles in
Australian Open after their 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 win against Nicole Martinez of the
USA and Ellen Perez of Australia in Melbourne on Saturday. Ruse and Kostyuk
will be next taking on the winners of the game pitching the Czechs Miriam
Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova to Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Shuai
Zhang of China. Also in the round of 16, the
Romanian-Swiss pair made up of Monica Niculescu and Viktorija Golubic
will be taking either on the fourth-seeded pair made up of Storm Hunter of Australia
and Elise Mertens of Belgium or Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic
of France.

AID
The European Commission has approved a 44 million euro assistance scheme for
the cattle breeders in Romania. The government in Bucharest has proposed this
support scheme against the backdrop of the war Russia is presently waging on
Ukraine. The aforementioned scheme consists of direct grants aimed at
offsetting the effects of the latest price hikes in energy, fuel and fodder and
helping the farmers to overcome the financial difficulties caused by the
present geo-political crisis. The aid, which doesn’t exceed 250 thousand euro
per farmer, will be granted until December 31st this year.

(bill)

21 January 2023
December 8, 2022 UPDATE

SCHENGEN The EU Justice and Home Affairs Council Thursday
denied Romania’s and Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen free movement area,
with 2 votes against. Accession requires a unanimous vote. Of the 27 member
countries, the Netherlands and Austria voted against, with the former specifying
that it only opposed Bulgaria’s accession. Austria argued that it feared an
increase in illegal migration. Croatia, on the other hand, received the green
light for accession on January 1, 2023. The European Commissioner for home
affairs, Ylva Johansson, congratulated Croatia on its accession and said
Bulgaria and Romania also deserved to be accepted. In Bucharest, the president Klaus
Iohannis said the lack of consensus regarding Romania’s bid was profoundly
unfair. The Liberal PM Nicolae Ciucă said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ and
emphasised that Austria’s vote was ‘unjustified’. The president of the Social
Democratic Party in power, Marcel Ciolacu, said the European unity and
stability had received a harsh blow from Austria, which in difficult times
chose to forsake its European friends and serve Russia’s interests instead. Austria’s
veto to Romania’s Schengen accession is an unfair and immoral attitude, lacking
solid reasons, the deputy PM and leader of the Democratic Union of Ethnic
Hungarians in Romania Kelemen Hunor said in his turn. In the opposition, the
president of USR party, Cătălin Drulă, sees the JHA Council’s decision as ‘profoundly
unfair’, and argues that the Austrian government’s position will go down in
history as an instance of discrimination. In turn, George Simion the head of AUR
party, also in opposition, defines the decision as a ‘failure of Romania’s current
government and of president Klaus Iohannis’.

FARMERS Romanian farmers will benefit from around 16 billion
euros under the strategic plan for 2023-2027 approved on Wednesday by the
European Commission. Some 10 billion euros account for direct payments and
sectoral interventions, while 6 billion will be allocated to rural development.
Romania’s agriculture minister Petre Daea said the plan also includes an
instrument to support farmers who suffered losses as a result of natural
disasters, with 400 million euros being earmarked to this end.

REFUGEES The Border Police said almost 65,500 people crossed
the border into Romania on Wednesday, including more than 7,300 Ukrainian
nationals, down 1.2% compared with the previous day. Since 10th February 2022,
two weeks before the Russian army invaded Ukraine, more than 3 million
Ukrainians have crossed the border into neighbouring Romania. Most of them have
continued their journey to countries in western Europe, but over 80,000 have
chosen to stay, according to official figures.

GAUDEAMUS The 29th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair
organised by Radio Romania is under way in Bucharest until Sunday. The event
brings together 200 participants and a variety of editorial products on
different formats, for all ages and areas of interest, including music and
educational games. The line-up features 600 different events and related
projects. As a first, the fair also has special areas dedicated to interactive
activities for young visitors. All stands are also available online on the
gaudeamus.ro website. The fair’s honorary president this year is poet Ana
Blandiana. (AMP, CM)

8 December 2022
Requests to assist Romanian farmers

Crops across Romania have been affected by this years unprecedented drought, and farmers are beginning to measure their losses, fearing that they will not break even this season.

The biggest problems are reported in the south and east of the country, where water reserves are dwindling. The farmers in some areas have already asked the local authorities to take the necessary measures to declare a state of disaster in agriculture.

In order to support the farmers affected by the drought, Bucharest has asked the European Commission to approve an advance payment accounting for 70 to 85% of the direct payments under the environment and climate measures in the 2014-2022 National Rural Development Programme.

The government intends to give EUR 51.6 million in aid to fruit and wine growers and to pig and poultry breeders. Of this amount, EUR 25.5 million will come from EU funds, and the balance from the national budget, the agriculture ministry explained. Moreover, investments in local irrigation systems are planned, amounting to EUR 100 million, under the 2023-2027 National Strategic Plan.

According to the data centralised by the institution, the drought has so far destroyed the crops on nearly 107,000 ha in 20 Romanian counties. Because of the drought, the Danube river flow Monday morning reached a minimum of 1,950 cubic metres per second, as against the 2,500 cubic metre per second on average at this time of the year. Hydrologists warn that the river flow would continue to drop this entire week, to as little as 1,850 cubic metres per second.

For this reason, Dolj County in southern Romania for instance is facing an unprecedented situation in the last 70 years: crops can no longer be irrigated using the Danubes water, after the river level dropped 7 cm in one day.

The head of the Romanian Farmers Association, Daniel Botănoiu, warns that the extreme drought affects this years crops, but will also have an impact on the next agricultural year, because works cannot be conducted in time and at the required quality standards. He believes that on the one hand the irrigation system must be adapted to the new technologies so as to ensure maximum efficiency, and on the other hand drought-tolerant plant species should be used.

While farmers are struggling with the drought, the news from weather experts is hardly encouraging. This drought is only the beginning, difficult times are ahead, says the president of the Romanian Meteorological Society Ion Sandu, who urges the authorities to take measures for the forthcoming period. (AMP)

26 July 2022
May 26, 2021

CERTIFICATE During the special European Council meeting last
night the leaders of the 27 EU members endorsed the green certificate, which
should allow for the opening of borders and ease travel inside the bloc.
According to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the
infrastructure for the implementation of the green certificate is to be ready
by June 1st and the member states can connect into the system in mid-June. Also
attending the meeting, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis stood for the
rapid and unitary implementation of this certificate, which must not infringe
upon the citizens’ right to free movement.

COVID-19 As of today the anti-Covid vaccination centers in the
medical units of Romania’s Interior Ministry are open for all people above 18
within the limit of the vaccine supplies. Those willing to get the jab can
visit one of these 11 centers in Bucharest and other big cities around Romania without
an appointment. According to data released by the RO Vaccination platform,
since the vaccine rollout kicked off in Romania in late December last year,
roughly 26% of Romania’s eligible population, (more than 4 million people), has
got at least the first dose of the anti-Covid vaccine. According to the same
sources, over 3.3 million people have got the booster. Romania’s Prime Minister
Florin Citu has announced that the government is going to launch a
pro-vaccination media campaign but those who aren’t vaccinated are not going to
be discriminated against. In another development, the number of new infections
has maintained its downward trend with 381 infections reported on Tuesday and
63 fatalities. The death toll has exceeded 30 thousand. 545 patients are being
treated in IC units across the country.

PLAN Prime Minister Florin Citu is today presenting before
Parliament in Bucharest the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR). Parliament
groups are subsequently going to have their say over the document, which is to
be submitted to the EU officials by the end of the month. The briefing has been
requested by the opposition PSD, which conditioned it on their endorsement of a
European treaty calling for higher contributions from the member states to the
EU budget and which needs the approval of two thirds of the Legislature. The
Social Democrats have lashed out at the PNRR, which comprises measures to
freeze pensions, salaries and other benefits as well as higher taxes and duties
to be levied on various enterprises. The PNRR will allegedly allow Romania to
access 30 billion euros worth of EU funds for development.

TENNIS Romania’s tennis player Sorana Cirstea (61st
WTA) is today taking on 41st WTA Shuai Zhang of China in a match
counting towards the round of 16 of the tennis tournament in Strasbourg. The only
match the two played was in 2008 in Cuneo, Italy, which the Romanian won.
Cirstea has qualified for the round of 16 after a victory against US challenger
Venus Williams, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, the first obtained by Cirstea against Venus.

PROTEST The ‘Farmers’ Force’ association is staging a
protest in Bucharest today in an attempt to denounce Romania’s underfunded agriculture.
The farmers are expected to drive their tractors to Parliament, the world’s
second largest administrative building, in a move, which will seriously disrupt
road traffic in Romania’s capital city Bucharest. One of the farmers’ claims is
that Romania’s agriculture must be included among the strategic priorities this
year. The farmers have suggestively entitled their protest ‘Political leaders,
how did the farmers wrong you this time?’ We recall that in February this year,
Romanian farmers picketed the Ministry of Agriculture to protest a government’s
decision not to include drought compensations in the state budget law.

(bill)

26 May 2021
November 18, 2020

COVID-19 Romania confirmed 10,269 new Sars-Cov-2 infections in 24 hours. The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic is now over 383,000. Nearly 70% of the patients have recovered. The authorities also announced 168 deaths in 24 hours, which takes the total death toll up to 9,429. 1,174 patients are currently in intensive care. According to the National Public Health Institute, last week the number of new cases was only 2,000 higher than in the previous week. The report also indicates that since the start of the pandemic, one in 52 cases has involved medical staff. The age groups the least affected by the new virus remain children and youth up to 19 years. The average age of patients is 48, and 95.3% of the deaths have been reported among people suffering from previous conditions.

VACCINE The Sibiu Public Health Directorate is under military management as of today. Sibiu County ranks first by infection rate in Romania, with 9 cases in 1,000 people, while in the city of Sibiu, which has been under lockdown since Monday, the rate is 13 per 1,000. Meanwhile, the authorities are preparing an anti-Covid-19 vaccination strategy, which will be made public next week. President Klaus Iohannis said the guidelines for this have been defined and asked the institutions in charge to communicate in a clear and transparent manner and to fight disinformation.

BUDGET The Government of Romania is giving a first reading today to a bill on a new budget adjustment, the third this year, stipulating the allocation of over 205 million euros for healthcare, as well as additional funding for investments and agriculture. The funds are needed to cover the rise in expenditure with the Covid-19 containment measures, and to provide compensations to the farmers affected by this years drought, PM Ludovic Orban explained. He added that additional money will also be earmarked for local authorities, particularly those affected by the pandemic, and to town halls that have initiated investment projects and can no longer afford the co-financing.

PROTEST Several farmers associations are protesting in Bucharest today against the authorities decision to close indoor food markets. The measure was introduced recently in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The participants also request the Government and local authorities support to keep food markets open and to provide compensation for the farmers affected by the aforesaid measure.

GAUDEAMUS The Gaudeamus Radio România International Book fair, organized this year exclusively online, continues until Sunday, November 22nd. This 27th edition can be accessed on gaudeamus.ro, which provides information on the latest book releases and on the over 100 participating publishers. The honorary president of this years fair is Norman Manea, a Romanian-born writer living in the US since 1986.

FOOTBALL Romanias national football team is playing against Northern Ireland in Belfast tonight, in the UEFA Nations League. The match counts towards the FIFA ranking on which the drawing for the 2022 World Championship qualifying groups will be based. On Tuesday night, Romanias U-21 team qualified into next years European final tournament hosted by Hungary and Slovenia. This is the second consecutive qualification for Romanias youth team in the continental final tournament. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

18 November 2020
August 24, 2016

EARTHQUAKE – An earthquake measuring 6.2 degrees on Richters scale rocked central Italy earlier today, taking over 40 lives and producing extensive material damage. According to Radio Romanias local correspondent, the mayor of Amatrice says the village has been reduced to rubble, with many people still caught under the debris. The village is located close to L’Aquila, where a similar tremor seven years ago left 309 people dead, 1,500 injured and produced material damage worth over 16 billion dollars. Todays tremor was also felt in northern and southern Italy and was followed by many aftershocks, which prompted many Italians, including those in Rome to go out of their homes. The Romanian relevant authorities have announced that no assistance request has been received so far from Romanian nationals.

TURKEY – The Turkish army and the anti-jihadist international coalition forces have today launched an operation to chase away the Islamic State terrorist group from the Syrian town of Jarablos, close to the border with Turkey, sources with the Turkish Prime Ministers office have announced. Turkish military sources have announced the artillery opened fire at the town, whereas US fighters pounded IS positions, as part of the operation. Also, Turkish military vehicles crossed the border into Syria, as part of the offensive. In the case of Turkey, this operation is motivated by the wish to prevent Kurdish militias from taking control of the locality and to open a corridor for Syrian moderate anti-governmental rebels, a Turkish high official has underlined.

AGRICULTURE – Romanian MPs on the agriculture parliamentary committee have held talks with representatives of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) on the subsidy allocation stage for Romanian animal breeders. The director of the aforementioned agency, Nicolae Horumba, has announced that most requests submitted by farmers for payments have already been approved. He has also announced that the other farmers, too, will receive subsidies by the end of the month. The meeting between the MPs and the APIA representatives takes place against the backdrop of several farmers having gone on hunger strike for days, being discontent with not receiving subsidies for 2015 in their entirety. They resorted to this extreme form of protest after the Agriculture Ministry failed to comply with the pledges it made, to pay by mid August, the 360 million Euros worth of subsidies for animals, from European funds.

BLACK RIBBON DAY– Romania signed yesterday in Bratisalva a declaration underlying its determination to protect democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The document was adopted by all delegations which attended the ministerial conference devoted to the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes. Attending the meeting organised by the Slovak presidency of the Council of the EU was also Romanian justice minister, Raluca Pruna. She reiterated that Romania had also signed a joint declaration issued by the line ministries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, which makes clear how the victims of totalitarian regimes should be recompensed and the way in which the justice systems of the aforementioned countries can be used to contain extremism. Attending the conference were also representatives of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania.

CINEMA– The long reel by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is ranked 15th by 177 film critics around the world, asked by the BBC Culture to take part in a poll to determine the 21st Centurys 100 greatest films. “We believe that the new classics on this list are destined to become old classics. Whether or not that happens is ultimately up to you, the moviegoers, the BBC Culture editors say. Mungius film won the Palme d’Or at the 60th edition of the Cannes Festival, back in 2007. Ranking first is “Mulholland Drive, directed by David Lynch, followed by “In the Mood for Love, by Wong Kar-wai and “There Will Be Blood directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

SPORTS – Romanias football vice-champion, Steaua Bucharest, is facing Britains Manchester City, on home turf this evening, in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie. Steaua has practically lost any chance to advance to the group stage, after sustaining a 0-5 defeat in the first leg, but it is automatically qualified into the Europa League group stage. Romanias champion Astra Giurgiu on Thursday will also try to qualify into the Europa League group stage. Astra will play the return match in Great Britain, too, but it will be facing West Ham United, after ending the first match in a draw, 1-1, on home turf.

(Translated by Diana Vijeu)

24 August 2016
Summer marked by protests in Romania

Road freight and passenger carriers and animal breeders in Romania, who are discontented with the high cost of compulsory vehicle insurance and the delayed payment of subsides for the year 2015, respectively, say they have run out of patience. As a token of protest, road freight and passenger carriers have announced they will run at low speed at least one hour per day on the main roads across Romania. They are discontented mainly because car insurance premiums have doubled from 2,000 to more than 4,000 Euros within a year. Consequently, road carriers in Romania report high costs and can no longer be competitive at a European level. The line associations call on the government to freeze car insurance premiums and have warned that if measures are not taken urgently, they might completely halt their activity. The secretary general of the National Union of Road Carriers, Radu Dinescu, has more:

“The low-speed circulation of vehicles will most likely have a significant impact in the areas with already heavy traffic. And Im referring to the roads leading to the seaside, to the mountains and the beltline of Bucharest. Furthermore, a big rally is scheduled for September 15, in Bucharest. Those involved are ready to stop protesting only when the problem is solved.

In another move, animal breeders have taken to the street and continue to protest in front of the Government headquarters. Some of them have been on hunger strike for days now. They say they will give up protests only when they receive the subsides for 2015 in their entirety. The Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture has admitted it has failed to comply with the pledges made to the farmers, that is to pay 95% of the volume of subsidies by mid-August. The director of the aforementioned agency, Nicolae Horumbă says farmers are also to be blamed.

“We have been notified by our representatives at county level that they repeatedly invite farmers at the headquarters of the agency, but farmers either do not come or do not have the necessary documents with them. Therefore, our employees have to wait for 10 days, the time span stipulated in the notification, to make a decision on the respective case. In their turn, farmers ask themselves why things are difficult with the payment schemes. The approval entails a process of administrative verification of payment requests, which are not always completely and correctly formulated.

In turn, farmers contradict the director of the agency, saying they have compiled the requests correctly and submitted them in due time alongside the necessary documents to receive subsidises for 2015, but the government hasnt respected its promise. The Director of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture claims that 1.9 billion of the 2.1 billion Euros for subsidies have already been paid to the farmers, with the agency employees working intensely to be able to pay the difference in the near future.

23 August 2016