Radio România Internațional

Tag: hostage

  • December 14, 2023

    December 14, 2023

    BUDGET Romania’s draft 2024 budget is to be endorsed by the
    Cabinet in a meeting today. The document will subsequently be submitted for
    review in Parliament. The budget is based on a 3.4% economic growth rate, a
    budget deficit target of 5% of GDP and an estimated annual inflation rate of 6% of GDP. The
    draft law also includes the already announced salary and pension increases, as
    well as most of the measures in the Government’s new legislative package. The
    ministries that will receive more money than in 2023 are the education,
    development, environment and family ministries, while lower appropriations
    would be received by the energy ministry and the ministry for investments and
    EU projects.


    SUMMIT The president of
    Romania, Klaus Iohannis, takes part on Thursday and Friday in the European
    Council meeting in Brussels, where important and complex topics will be
    approached, according to the Romanian Presidency. These include the EU
    enlargement, a revision of the 2021-2027 Multi-Annual Financial Framework,
    support for Russia-invaded Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, security and
    defence, migration and the Union’s future Strategic Agenda. As far as the
    Multi-Annual Financial Framework for 2021-2027 is concerned, president Iohannis will plead
    for an approach that promotes financial balance between the already existing
    commitments and the new priorities on the EU agenda, and does not involve a cut
    in the funding of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy, the
    Presidency says. As for the situation in the Middle East, Mr. Iohannis will
    insist on the need for increased involvement of the EU in the region, in view of protecting
    civilians, de-escalating the conflict and resuming the two-state peace process.


    UKRAINE The reconstruction of Ukraine and Romania’s strategic role
    in this process is the topic of an international conference held in the
    Romanian mountain resort of Sinaia. Taking part are Romanian and foreign
    officials, independent experts, business people, academia and diplomats. The
    head of the Romanian government, Marcel Ciolacu, and the Ukrainian prime
    minister Denys Shmyhal, sent a video message to the participants, highlighting
    the Romanian-Ukrainian partnership and Romania’s support for Ukraine.


    FUNDING On Friday, December 15, Romania will submit its 3rd
    payment request under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the PM Marcel
    Ciolacu said at a meeting of the inter-ministry coordination committee for this
    programme. The funding under the Plan amounts to EUR 2.7 bln and covers 74
    targets and benchmarks for the second half of the year 2022.


    ISRAEL The
    Romanian foreign ministry this morning announced the death of another person
    with Romanian and Israeli citizenship taken hostage in Gaza by the Islamist
    group Hamas. Tal Haimi was kidnapped on October 7, and his death had
    already been announced by the Israeli Embassy in Romania. According to a
    Facebook post by the Israeli diplomatic office, Tal Haimi’s wife had come to
    Bucharest in late October to request Romania’s assistance in the efforts to get
    the Hamas hostages freed. On December 2, the foreign ministry said the Israeli
    authorities announced the death of a person with dual, Romanian and Israeli
    citizenship, captive in Gaza. Two other people with Romanian and Israeli
    citizenship are currently held hostage by Hamas, and Romania’s foreign ministry
    reiterates the need for all hostages to be released. The Romanian Embassy in
    Tel Aviv stays in touch with the Israeli authorities, the foreign ministry also
    said.


    ALERT Alert
    messages were sent to the citizens in the counties of Galaţi and Tulcea, near Romania’s Ukrainian border, on Wednesday night. People
    were warned against objects falling from the airspace, were urged not to panic
    and take shelter if necessary. These were the first RO-ALERT messages sent to
    the population in nearly 3 months, in the context of the war in Ukraine. This
    year the defence ministry identified parts of 3 drones used by Russia in
    strikes on Ukrainian Danube ports, which had fallen in Tulcea County. (AMP)

  • July 17, 2018 UPDATE

    July 17, 2018 UPDATE

    Meeting — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will meet with the Social Democratic PM Viorica Dancila on Wednesday, upon the request of the president, shows the presidential administration. The meeting takes place in a sensitive context, as the press has written about the likelihood of the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats issuing an emergency decree on amnesty and pardon, a controversial issue that prompted thousands of people to protest in the street one year and a half ago. The previous meeting of the two officials, two months ago, also took place upon the request of the president, after the controversy related to the potential relocation of the Romanian embassy in Israel. At the end of April, President Iohannis asked for the resignation of Mrs. Dancila as he considered she could not comply with the responsibilities required by the prime ministerial position.



    CCR — The Romanian Constitutional Court postponed for Wednesday discussing the notification made by President Klaus Iohannis in relation to modifying and amending the law on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy. In the notification, President Iohannis shows that Parliament rejected without any motivation his request for re-examination of the provisions related to the functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy, in which the president claimed that the role of the president as a guarantor of the independence of the judiciary and the functioning of the Judicial Inspection was affected. By invoking a decision of the Constitutional Court, the President says that Parliament should re-examine all the aspects he referred to. On Tuesday the Court rejected as inadmissible the notification submitted by the rightwing opposition on the same topic. The notification was signed by 90 deputies from the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Party and also by non-affiliated deputies, who claim that the modification of the law on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy was again adopted by violating certain constitutional provisions.



    Free trade — The EU and Japan signed Tuesday in Tokyo a free trade agreement that will eliminate nearly all tariffs on bilateral trade exchanges between the two sides. Attending the signing of the document, the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said that the agreement was a reference point for world trade. Annually, the European companies export to Japan goods and services amounting to more than 100 billion dollars. According to international news agencies, this is a powerful message against the protectionism promoted by the American president Donald Trump.



    Talks — The Romanian minister delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu on Tuesday talked in Bucharest with Michael Roth, minister of state for Europe with Germany’s Foreign Ministry, about the importance of the bilateral partnership. Another major issue on the agenda of talks was Romania’s future mandate as president of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. The two officials also discussed the future of the EU, the Brexit issue and the new community budget.



    Hostages — The crisis cell set up by the Romanian Foreign Ministry in the case of the Romanian engineer abducted in Libya on Tuesday met again. The Romanian embassy in Libya relocated in Tunis urgently contacted the Libyan central and local authorities to deal with the case. The Romanian officials also asked for the support of Romania’s international partners. The Romanian Foreign Ministry set up a maximum alert level for Libya as early as 2015. (translated and updated by Lacramioara Simion)