Radio România Internațional

Tag: fence

  • 8 December, 2015

    8 December, 2015

    Romania had the highest economic growth in the EU in the third quarter of this year, as compared to the previous. This data was published by Eurostat. Romania, with a growth of 1.4%, is followed by Croatia, with 1.3%, Malta, 1.1%, and Latvia, with 1%. Recently, the European Commision upgraded its economic growth forecast for Romania in 2015 up to 3.5%. The EC estimated that Romanias GDP would grow by 4.1% in 2016 and 3.6% in 2017 as consumption grows and taxation is lowered.



    Austria has started building a metal fence two meters high and 3.7 km long on the border with Slovenia, to thwart the inflow of migrants in the country, though it has been dwindling of late, according to AFP. This is the first time this occurs within the Schengen space, according to the agency. In September, Hungary also erected barbed wire metal fences at its borders with Serbia and Croatia. Subsequently, Slovenia erected another such fence on its border with Croatia. According to the World Migration Organization, Austria and Germany had this year around one million applications for asylum. 878,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, four times more than last year. Over 3,500 people have drowned in the sea, and almost 600 trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.



    Romanias womens national handball team will today be taking on the similar team of Spain, with the game counting as the third fixture Romanian is playing the at the World Championships final tournament, underway in Denmark. In its first two games, Romania trounced Puerto Rico, 47-14 and secured a stout 36-20 win over Kazakhstan. Also joining Romania in group D are Norway and Russia. The first four teams in each group will go through to the eighth finals. Romania is the only country that as early as 1957 took part in all World Championships final tournaments, where they won three medals, gold in 1962 and silver in 1963 and 2005, respectively.



    24 people injured in the fatal fire in the Bucharest club Colectiv are still under care in hospitals in the capital, 3 of them still in critical state, according to the Health Ministry. 28 others are under care abroad. Their state will be evaluated by a special committee in order to facilitate their full access to medical services. The committee will also see if the patients abroad still need monitoring, and will assess the needs of the patients within the country. The Health Ministry also evaluates next week a report on infections developed during in-patient care, subsequent to information that three of the victims of the Colectiv fire died from such infections. As of now, the Colectiv incident left 60 dead.



    The Romanian government called for a public debate on the 2016 budget, attended by the ministers of finance, transportation, European funds and agriculture. The selection of the ministers was made in relation to messages received by ministries. This is the first time that the executive holds such a dialog with citizens. More funding is as of now provided for the ministries of defense, interior, education and health, with budgets slashed for the ministries of labor and transportation. Stay tuned for more after the news.



    Romanian Finance Minister Anca Dragu joins today in Brussels her EU counterparts in the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs. The main topics are fighting financing of terrorism and the deposit and insurance scheme in case of bankruptcy. Yesterday, Eurozone finance ministers have decided the base principles of community taxation of financial transactions, which could be applied starting next year. The so-called Obin tax would apply to banks, investment firms, insurance agencies, pension funds and brokers. This tax is supposed to generate annual revenues worth 57 billion Euro.



    US Vice-President Joe Biden, on an official visit to Ukraine, addresses today the Ukrainian Parliament. Yesterday, after meeting President Petro Poroshenko, Biden said that Ukraine has to rid itself of corruption by speeding up reform, increasing transparency at all levels of governance, and strengthening the rule of law. Upon arrival in Ukraine, Biden said that the US would boost its assistance to that country by 200 million dollars, to be used to fight corruption and further reform.


  • 8 December, 2015

    8 December, 2015

    Romania had the highest economic growth in the EU in the third quarter of this year, as compared to the previous. This data was published by Eurostat. Romania, with a growth of 1.4%, is followed by Croatia, with 1.3%, Malta, 1.1%, and Latvia, with 1%. Recently, the European Commision upgraded its economic growth forecast for Romania in 2015 up to 3.5%. The EC estimated that Romanias GDP would grow by 4.1% in 2016 and 3.6% in 2017 as consumption grows and taxation is lowered.



    Austria has started building a metal fence two meters high and 3.7 km long on the border with Slovenia, to thwart the inflow of migrants in the country, though it has been dwindling of late, according to AFP. This is the first time this occurs within the Schengen space, according to the agency. In September, Hungary also erected barbed wire metal fences at its borders with Serbia and Croatia. Subsequently, Slovenia erected another such fence on its border with Croatia. According to the World Migration Organization, Austria and Germany had this year around one million applications for asylum. 878,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, four times more than last year. Over 3,500 people have drowned in the sea, and almost 600 trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.



    Romanias womens national handball team will today be taking on the similar team of Spain, with the game counting as the third fixture Romanian is playing the at the World Championships final tournament, underway in Denmark. In its first two games, Romania trounced Puerto Rico, 47-14 and secured a stout 36-20 win over Kazakhstan. Also joining Romania in group D are Norway and Russia. The first four teams in each group will go through to the eighth finals. Romania is the only country that as early as 1957 took part in all World Championships final tournaments, where they won three medals, gold in 1962 and silver in 1963 and 2005, respectively.



    24 people injured in the fatal fire in the Bucharest club Colectiv are still under care in hospitals in the capital, 3 of them still in critical state, according to the Health Ministry. 28 others are under care abroad. Their state will be evaluated by a special committee in order to facilitate their full access to medical services. The committee will also see if the patients abroad still need monitoring, and will assess the needs of the patients within the country. The Health Ministry also evaluates next week a report on infections developed during in-patient care, subsequent to information that three of the victims of the Colectiv fire died from such infections. As of now, the Colectiv incident left 60 dead.



    The Romanian government called for a public debate on the 2016 budget, attended by the ministers of finance, transportation, European funds and agriculture. The selection of the ministers was made in relation to messages received by ministries. This is the first time that the executive holds such a dialog with citizens. More funding is as of now provided for the ministries of defense, interior, education and health, with budgets slashed for the ministries of labor and transportation. Stay tuned for more after the news.



    Romanian Finance Minister Anca Dragu joins today in Brussels her EU counterparts in the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs. The main topics are fighting financing of terrorism and the deposit and insurance scheme in case of bankruptcy. Yesterday, Eurozone finance ministers have decided the base principles of community taxation of financial transactions, which could be applied starting next year. The so-called Obin tax would apply to banks, investment firms, insurance agencies, pension funds and brokers. This tax is supposed to generate annual revenues worth 57 billion Euro.



    US Vice-President Joe Biden, on an official visit to Ukraine, addresses today the Ukrainian Parliament. Yesterday, after meeting President Petro Poroshenko, Biden said that Ukraine has to rid itself of corruption by speeding up reform, increasing transparency at all levels of governance, and strengthening the rule of law. Upon arrival in Ukraine, Biden said that the US would boost its assistance to that country by 200 million dollars, to be used to fight corruption and further reform.


  • Measures and Opinions on Migration

    Measures and Opinions on Migration

    The Hungarian authorities steps to stop the inflow of migrants on its Serbian border do not seem to work. On the contrary, they generate growing tensions, as international criticism mounts. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon views the conduct of Hungarian forces as unacceptable, and calls on the authorities to show compassion for the refugees. This statement comes after hundreds of immigrants protested on Wednesday against the closing of the Hungarian-Serbian border, and Budapest responded with tear gas and water cannons. Serbias PM Aleksandar Vucic accused neighbouring Hungary of being “brutal and non-European and urged the EU to step in.



    In Romania, politicians have also condemned Budapests approach to the refugee crisis, as well as its plans to build a fence on the common border, similar to the one on the Serbian border. Over the past few days the Romanian PM Victor Ponta has criticized harshly the Hungarian response to the migration issue, which has angered the officials in Brussels. Ponta argued that what Hungary does comes against the European principles and fail to solve the problem.



    Victor Ponta: “Unfortunately, the conduct of the Hungarian officials has nothing to do with the concept of Europe. Fences, dogs, guns, it looks like 1930s Europe. This is something that most European leaders believe as well, and if it upsets the Hungarian officials is of little consequence to me.



    According to the Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, building a fence on the Hungarian-Romanian border is an unacceptable approach of the relations between two EU countries.



    Bogdan Aurescu: “It is an attempt by the Hungarian party to drag us into an artificial dispute, probably in order to reduce Hungarys perceived self-isolation within the EU, generated by its own actions.



    The co-president of the National Liberal Party, in opposition, Alina Gorghiu, says a razor-wire fence is no way to strengthen border security, and criticized the measure taken by Budapest. The head of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Kelemen Hunor, argues however that the fence will not affect the free movement of European citizens.



    Kelemen Hunor: “This solution is not meant to divide Romania and Hungary, it is not taken against Romanians or against European citizens. This fence is designed to stop the immigrants who enter a European state illegally.



    Meanwhile, Hungary announced plans to build fences along the border with Croatia as well, after a growing number of migrants switched to this route in order to get to Germany.

  • Europe’s new walls

    Europe’s new walls

    Faced with a
    massive influx of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, Hungary plans
    to extend its fence along the Serbian border eastwards towards neighbouring
    Romania. This is how the Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto explained
    his country’s decision:




    We have made the decision to start
    preparatory works for the construction of a fence starting from the
    Hungarian-Serbian-Romanian border at a reasonable length should migration
    pressure shift in the direction of Romania. Given our good relations and in
    keeping with diplomatic norms, we have informed the Romanian side, more
    precisely the state secretary for European integration, of our intentions.




    The foreign ministry in Bucharest, however,
    has described as politically incorrect Hungary’s plans to build a fence on the
    common border between two European Union member states and strategic partners.
    The ministry says these plans run counter to the European spirit, while prime
    minister Victor Ponta says Budapest’s decision to build a fence along its
    borders will not solve the problem and takes Hungary out of Europe. He also
    said Hungary treats the refugees using clubs and serial numbers.




    The Hungarian foreign minister harshly
    criticised Ponta’s comments, describing them as extremist and false. For his
    part, Ponta said he would not respond to the provocations made by some of the
    representatives of the Hungarian government, but said, however, that the
    behaviour of some of them is not in line with European Union values and is no
    better than that of decision makers in Syria, Libya and other countries that
    refugees are fleeing. The Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto
    accused Victor Ponta of losing control
    and offending Hungary with his irrational statements.




    In the meantime, the refugee crisis deepens.
    EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday failed to reach an agreement
    over the fair distribution of the 120,000 refugees and will meet again next
    Tuesday in a new attempt to find consensus. Romania said it was ready to
    receive more than the 1,705 people it initially agreed to take in, plus another
    80 people from outside the European Union. Alongside nine other EU states,
    Romania is opposed to the introduction of obligatory refugee quotas.

  • September 15, 2015 UPDATE

    September 15, 2015 UPDATE

    The Romanian Foreign Ministry Tuesday said the Hungarian governments plans to build a fence along the common border, between two EU member countries and strategic partners, was politically incorrect and came against the spirit of the EU. Romanias response comes after Hungary decided to extend its wire fence on its southern border with Serbia, alongside the Romanian border as well, in order to stop the Middle East and northern African immigrant inflow. The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, said the measure was prompted by the fact that the people traffickers operating on the Serbian border are changing their routes towards Hungarys border with Romania. Bucharest will be a part of the relocation mechanism by accepting more than 1,700 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece and another 80 people from outside the EU. However, Romania joins 9 other EU states in refusing the compulsory refugee quotas suggested by Brussels.



    The Prefect of Bucharest, Paul Nicolae Petrovan, Tuesday signed an order suspending the Mayor General Sorin Oprescu, after the Court of Appeals ruled that the latter should be taken in detention pending trial for bribe taking. A former member of the Social Democratic Party and later an independent politician, Oprescu was elected Mayor of Bucharest in 2008 and again in 2012. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, he received 25,000 euros in bribes. Between 2013 and 2015, Oprescu was part of an organised group that introduced a system through which those who wanted public contracts had to transfer a quota of the profits to local decision makers. Marin Stefanel Dan, a member of the National Union for the Progress of Romania, was appointed as interim mayor. Also on Tuesday the Social Democratic PM Victor Ponta appeared once again before the anti-corruption prosecutors who have charged him with corruption offences. On June 5, the Anti-Corruption Directorate ordered the prosecution of Victor Ponta, for forgery, accessory to tax evasion and money laundering, allegedly committed when he worked as a lawyer, as well as for conflict of interests with respect to his position as Prime Minister. In July, an asset freeze measure against Ponta was also announced. Romanias first PM to be prosecuted while in office, Ponta denies the accusations and dismisses the calls for his resignation, coming from both the Liberals in Opposition and from President Klaus Iohannis.



    The Social Democratic Party, in the ruling coalition in Romania, Tuesday decided to hold a special congress on October 11, to elect its new leaders. Having stepped down as party president after he was prosecuted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the PM Victor Ponta announced he would not run for any position at this congress.



    The Romanian Education Minister, Sorin Cîmpeanu, Tuesday said in parliament that reforms in the public education sector were absolutely necessary. He added a comprehensive approach must be taken, allowing for the implementation of coherent and consistent measures for periods of time that exceed one ministerial term in office. Cimpeanu addressed the Chamber of Deputies at the request of the National Liberal Party in opposition. On Monday, he had stated that the new school year started on the right foot, although many problems were yet to be solved, particularly in terms of infrastructure, textbooks and curricula.



    Romanias rugby team is leaving for England on Wednesday, to take part in the World Cup due to kick off on September 18. Romania is playing in Group D, alongside France, Ireland, Canada and Italy. The national rugby team has never missed a World Cup final tournament, although they never went past the group stage.