Radio România Internațional

Tag: financial aid

  • November 23, 2023 UPDATE

    November 23, 2023 UPDATE

    AFRICAN TOUR – The president of
    Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on Thursday ended his tour of Africa with his visit in
    Senegal. The president previously visited Kenya, Tanzania and Cape Verde. In a
    press briefing held jointly with his counterpart from Senegal, Macky Sall,
    Klaus Iohannis said Romania supports African nations in their efforts to
    develop capabilities to ensure national security. I have highlighted the need
    for stability in Sahel, where Senegal plays a key role, the president said,
    adding that Senegal is a priority for Romania in Africa. The two officials signed three documents
    regarding the management of emergency situations, health and education
    cooperation. The president said he has put Romania back on the African radar.
    I have recuperated everything that has been all but lost, a valuable
    cooperation between Romania and its African partners. Not only will this
    strategy spell positive effects for Romania and the countries I have visited,
    but it will produce clear-cut results in EU relations with African nations,
    relations between the European Union and the African Union, president Iohannis
    said.




    AID – The government
    announced it will provide emergency aid consisting of accommodation and warm
    meals to the families evacuated from Gaza, irrespective of citizenship. 400 EUR
    will be provided to a single person or to a family of five every month, while
    families with more than five members will receive 600 EUR for accommodation
    expenses. An additional food allowance worth 120 EUR will be paid to every
    individual. The aid will be provided over a maximum period of four months
    starting November. A group of 12 Romanian citizens and members of their
    families were evacuated from Gaza into Egypt on Wednesday evening, crossing the
    Rafah checkpoint, the Foreign Ministry Announced. This takes the total number
    of citizens evacuated from Gaza since the outbreak of hostilities in the region
    to 249.




    GOVERNMENT – 60,000 households
    from Romania can apply for European funding capped at 10,000 EUR to buy and
    install photovoltaic panels to improve energy efficiency, Prime Minister Marcel
    Ciolacu has announced. The funds are provided under the REPowerEU programme,
    where Romania has been allotted 1.4 bln EUR. The government will earmark over
    700 mln EUR to ensure the good functioning of the healthcare system until the
    end of the year and some 40 mln EUR to cover hospital expenses, Marcel Ciolacu
    also said, adding that next week the Finance Minister will disburse the 40 mln
    EUR allotted for November. The overall cap on public guarantees as part of the
    SME Invest state-subsidized scheme will be increased by nearly 800 mln EUR, the
    Romanian Prime Minister also said.




    GAUDEAMUS
    – The 30th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair, organized by Radio
    Romania, is running in Bucharest until Sunday. A large variety of titles and up
    to 50% discounts await visitors. The National Cultural Fund Administration on
    Thursday launched the project titled To me. Self-Development Writing
    Workshops, teaching special writing skills to pupils. Two of the participants
    have already published their own volumes. Dozens of other events are also held
    on the sidelines of the fair. (VP)








  • November 6, 2023 UPDATE

    November 6, 2023 UPDATE

    HOSTAGES – The Romanian
    Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminiţa Odobescu, had a telephone conversation
    with her Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukri, about the situation of the
    Romanian citizens in Gaza who requested support for their evacuation. The
    Romanian official appealed to the Egyptian authorities to treat with priority
    the evacuation requests of the Romanian citizens, when the Rafah border point
    becomes functional again. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is prepared to
    provide consular support for the safe evacuation of Romanian citizens and
    family members who requested this, Luminita Odobescu said, and the Egyptian
    official assured that the authorities in Cairo are paying special attention to
    the request. Luminita Odobescu mentioned that more than 260 Romanian citizens
    and members of their families want to be evacuated from Gaza, and negotiations
    are underway. Previously, the Romanian foreign minister had a conversation with
    her Israeli counterpart, also approaching the situation of the six Romanians
    with dual citizenship held hostage in the Gaza Strip. The Embassy of Romania in
    Tel Aviv and the Consulate General of Romania in Haifa maintain contact with
    the Israeli authorities.




    AID – The European
    Commission will disburse an additional 25 mln EUR to Palestinians in Gaza, the
    second such assistance package in the last month, which raises total aid to 100
    mln EUR. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas,
    European Commission assistance stood at 25 mln EUR. The European Union remains
    the largest donor to the Palestinians in terms of humanitarian aid. Commission
    spokesman for humanitarian aid and crisis management, Balazs Ujvari, said the
    assistance will be delivered to NGOs that cooperate with the European Union in
    this process. The assistance will consist in medicine, water and food. Two
    weeks ago, the European Union organized a series of eight flights carrying
    humanitarian aid, six of which have already landed, delivering approximately
    260 tons of aid.




    ELECTION IN MOLDOVA – The acting mayor
    of Chișinău, former Socialist Ion Ceban, one of the rivals of president Maia
    Sandu, has won the first leg of the local election in Chișinău, according to
    results made public by the Central Election Committee. Ceban grabbed 50.6% of
    the vote and was followed by the Action and Solidarity Party candidate, Lilian
    Carp, withg 28% of the vote. At national level, PAS won most of the city halls
    in 19 districts in the center and south of the Republic of Moldova, with a
    total of 25.5% of the votes. Ranking second in the overall standings is the
    Party of the Socialists in the Republic of Moldova of the former president Igor
    Dodon, which won 18.5% of the votes, mostly in the north. The National Alternative Movement, created
    around Ion Ceban, won 7%, which is enough to meet the election threshold. PAS
    spokesman Igor Grosu says Sunday’s election in the Republic of Moldova saw
    unprecedented interference from the Russian Federation. The authorities accuse
    Moscow of illegally funding parties, corrupting voters and candidates. The
    Chance Party, controlled by the wanted oligarch Ilan Shor, was declared
    ineligible on the eve of the election.




    BANKS – Romania’s Prime
    Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on Monday discussed with representatives of the
    Romanian Association of Banks about the new cap on cash payments. The Prime
    Minister previously wrote on Facebook that it is unacceptable that banks should
    increase fees artificially. The Prime Minister wants to keep the measure in
    place and warns Romania ranks first at EU level in terms of tax evasion.
    Limiting cash transactions should be reviewed as soon as possible, Senate
    Speaker Nicolae Ciucă has said, adding that not all people are responsible for
    tax evasion and have a right to use their money as they please. The limit on
    transactions operated with cash might be reviewed at coalition level. The
    measure was supposed to take effect on November 11. In turn, the Competition
    Council president, Bogdan Chirițoiu, said that cash payments present two
    drawbacks: first, tax evasion, as they are more difficult to monitor and
    second, procedures to make cash available are very costly. Bogdan Chirițoiu
    said there are countries in the EU that almost never use cash. (MI & VP)

  • Financial aid to the victims of the Crevedia blasts

    Financial aid to the victims of the Crevedia blasts

    The victims of the Crevedia blasts and their families will receive
    financial aid, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has announced. 5 people are still
    in critical condition in ICU wards, two of them treated in hospitals in Romania
    and another three abroad, while another 22 patients are treated in hospitals in
    Bucharest, their condition being stable. In total, some 500 thousand EUR will
    be paid next week to the victims and their families.


    We have earmarked aid for the families of the victims of the tragedy in
    Crevedia and to all those whose households were affected by the fire. 2
    thousand EUR will be paid every month to caregivers assisting the injured
    abroad and 400 EUR per month to caregivers assisting the injured in Romania. We
    are also providing assistance to people without family, to those whose houses
    were affected by the fire, with amounts ranging from 500 EUR to 2,000 EUR per
    family, depending on the damages sustained.


    The Romanian Prime Minister also said the government is in permanent
    contact with the hospitals in Europe treating patients with serious burns,
    adding that the state will cover all transport and related expenses for the
    families who accompanied the victims. Marcel Ciolacu said a nation-wide
    investigation is underway, targeting filling stations, particularly the 1,300
    LPG stations on Romania’s territory. The Romanian official called on the
    relevant institutions to enforce the law and take firm action wherever they
    report irregularities.


    These so-called business owners, who get hundreds of millions of EUR in
    profits at the cost of large-scale tragedies, must be ousted from the Romanian
    business sector. We have to change the legislation so that any company without
    a fire safety permit or operating license can also face criminal charges. In
    the current legal framework, they will only pay a fine and carry own with their
    business, potentially triggering new tragedies.


    Last night, firefighters managed to empty the three gas tanks in
    Crevedia, fully securing the site. Meanwhile, another person has died to the
    burns sustained in Saturday’s blasts, a man hospitalized at the Floreasca
    Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, who had sustained burns on 90% of his body.
    Another patient treated in Milan, Italy, is in critical condition. So far,
    three people have died following Saturday’s explosions in Crevedia. (VP)





  • October 13, 2015 UPDATE

    October 13, 2015 UPDATE

    The Republic of Moldova may rely on Romania at any moment and to a great extent, said President Klaus Iohannis, who received on Tuesday the head of the Moldovan Cabinet, Valeriu Streleţ. Iohannis added that Romania was the main promoter of the Republic of Moldova in terms of European affairs. The Moldovan PM thanked Bucharest for its constant and reliable support given to Moldova in various fields. Valeriu Streleţ came to Bucharest to attend the ratification by the Chamber of Deputies of a law regarding the 150 million euro assistance package offered to Moldova last week. The first instalment, amounting to 60 million euros, will be transferred next month. The head of the Moldovan Cabinet also had a meeting with his Romanian counterpart, Victor Ponta.



    The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu and the head of the Lebanons National Assembly Nabih Berri, talked in Bucharest on Tuesday about ways to strengthen the bilateral cooperation, particularly the economic one. According to Aurescu, Lebanon is one of the top Arab investors in Romania and the second-largest market for Romanian exports in the Middle East. On the other hand, Aurescu expressed Bucharests firm support for the stability of Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces, particularly given the complex regional context. The two officials also discussed the prospects of the Syrian crisis and aspects related to Lebanons management of the Syrian refugee issue.



    The Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, with 298 people on board, was shot down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile, according to the final report of the Dutch investigators, released on Tuesday. The investigation took 15 months to complete and involved experts from several countries. According to the report, Ukraine should not have allowed civilian flights above the conflict zone in the east of the country, where clashes were taking place between governmental forces and the pro-Russian separatists. Before the release of the report, the authorities in Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists accused each other for the tragedy which killed 298 people, and Moscow announced its own report on the events.

  • Ukraine Needs Help

    Ukraine Needs Help

    At the end of a year in which Ukraine has changed its political regime following a blood-spattered revolt, in which it lost the Crimean peninsula and de facto control over the Russian-speaking regions in the east, the leaders in Kiev have warned that their country is on the brink of bankruptcy. The head of the pro-European government, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has already called for a conference of donors. He says that the country needs 15 billion US dollars to avoid collapse in the coming weeks.



    Analysts say that reimbursing the debts for the Russian gas and the efforts to support the national currency, the grivna, have sent Ukraine’s currency reserves to the lowest level of the past 10 years. The clashes between Kiev’s troops and the separatists in the east has also taken its toll, leaving behind thousands of dead, significant damage, and shutting down the steel works and mines in Luhansk and Donetsk, which provided for one-fifth of Ukraine’s industrial output.




    This new cry for help coming from Kiev follows the decision made in spring by international lenders to grant Ukraine total loans of 27 billion dollars. Since the start of the program Ukraine has received 4.6 billion dollars in two installments. The payment of the balance depends, however, on the adoption of an austerity plan that might cause a wave of social unrest, as commentators warn, and Moscow and its allies will not fail to take advantage of the situation.




    In the Republic of Moldova, Romania’s neighbor, the people’s firm option for the western values is yet to be reflected in the economic development. The pro-western parties in the 3-party governing coalition in Chisinau won the November 30th parliamentary elections, which explicitly validated the efforts made for the conclusion of the association and free trade agreements with the EU. Meanwhile the Moldovan national currency has depreciated against the American dollar by 7.5% in only 3 months. And according to forecasts it might depreciate even more in the coming weeks, unless the Moldovan national bank takes measures rapidly. Analysts say that 2015 might bring significant price hikes for gas, fuels, power and heating.




    Although apparently Moscow has reasons to rejoice at the problems faced by its former colonies that have clearly opted for the western values, its economy is not doing very well either. The sanctions imposed on Russia by the West, following Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, as well as the drop in the oil price, continue to affect the Russian national currency, the ruble, which has once again reached a historic low. As compared to the beginning of the year, the ruble has dropped by more than 70% as compared to the dollar and by over 55% against the euro. The Russian central bank has announced it was ready to spend one-fifth of its current foreign currency reserves for interventions on the currency market in 2015.