Radio România Internațional

Tag: Lithuania

  • October 16, 2024

    October 16, 2024

    PNRR The European Commission has provisionally approved Romania’s third payment request for its National Resilience and Recovery Plan known as PNRR. The Commission is waiting to receive additional information from the government in Bucharest within a month in order to make the whole payment. According to the EC’s assessment, Romania had met 62 out of the 68 requirements related to reforms and investment, which led to the temporary suspension of payment until explanations were provided. If these explanations are considered enough, the Commission is expected to make the entire payment of 2 billion Euros.

     

    UKRAINE Romania can play the role of a logistic hub in Ukraine’s reconstruction – says the president of the Romania-Ukraine  Bilateral Chamber of Commerce, Nasty Vladoiu, who has recently attended the Forum on the Reconstruction of Ukraine in Bucharest. In turn, Ana Tinca, state secretary for strategic affairs with Romania’s Foreign Ministry, has reiterated Romania’s commitment to supporting Ukraine and the significant importance attached to Ukraine’s reconstruction. In this context she underlined the special attention paid to cross-border projects and connectivity in the fields of transport and energy, as well as the trilateral cooperation also involving the Republic of Moldova. The official has also mentioned the EU’s major support in the country’s reconstruction, urging the business community to use the instruments and programmes available at EU level.

     

    SUMMIT Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis is in Brussels to participate in the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit and the European Council proceedings due on Thursday and Friday. Subjects high on the agenda are Ukraine, the war in the Middle East, the EU competitiveness, migration, foreign affairs and the Republic of Moldova. The European leaders are also expected to tackle the latest evolutions of the war in Ukraine, as well as ways of helping the Ukrainian people. They will also discuss the alarming situation in the Middle East and ‘the risks of escalating violence in the region’. Talks will also focus on the Republic of Moldova’s EU accession as well as migration-related policies.

     

    FOOTBALL Romania’s national football side clinched a 2-1 win against Lithuania in an away game counting towards the Nations League’s Group C on Tuesday night. This has been Romania’s fourth win after those against Lithuania at home, Cyprus and Kosovo. Romania tops the group with 12 points followed by Kosovo, which outperformed Cyprus 3-0 and has three points less than our side. Romania will be playing Kosovo on 15 November, and taking on Cyprus three days later. The Nations League will have a direct effect over the European preliminaries for World Cup 2026. In another development, Romania’s Under 21 squad has qualified for the European Championship 2025 after a 3-1 home win against Switzerland also on Tuesday. They have thus managed to secure their fourth consecutive presence in a final Under 21 tournament.

    (bill)

  • September 6, 2024

    September 6, 2024

    EXPO “As strategic partners and as NATO allies we stand together in the face of Russia’s unprovoked and illegal aggression to support Ukraine and strengthen collective deterrence and defence within the Alliance”. The statement belongs to the ambassador of the United States in Bucharest Kathleen Kavalec and was made during the photo exhibition marking 25 years of Strategic Partnership between the two countries inaugurated in Galati, Romania’s biggest port on the Danube. Entitled “We the people” the aforementioned photo exhibit is exploring the security, diplomatic, cultural, economic relations between the two peoples.

     

    RELATIONS Romania’s Chamber of Trade and Industry, also known as CCIRR, has extensively promoted the economic relations with Japan and Romania can represent a business opportunity for Japanese companies given the performances obtained by the Romanian entrepreneurs in the fields of IT&C, green energy and innovative technologies – the CCIRR president Mihai Daraban said. On Thursday he had an official meeting with the Japanese ambassador in Bucharest, Katae Takashi, who underlined the importance and potential of the economic cooperation between the two countries. The diplomat says that Japan sees Romania as a strategic partner in Eastern Europe and encourages the Japanese investors to explore the business and investment opportunities here.

     

    EDUCATION Poverty is severely affecting school performance, training practices are discriminatory, some students end up unmotivated and most of them would like to emigrate – a report drawn up by the Save the Children organization says. According to European data, school dropout is affecting an increasing number of Romanian children. A 16% dropout rate was reported among the students in Romania’s secondary education in the 2022-2023 school year and 25% among high-schoolers. High dropout discrepancies have been reported in various environments, 3% in the big cities, 14% in the country’s smaller cities and 27% in the villages. At national level, two out of five students in the country’s secondary education system have failed to pass their final exams. Their number is 2.5% higher in the rural area.

     

    FOOTBALL Romania’s national football side is today making its debut in the fresh season of the Nations league. The Romanians will be first taking on Kosovo away, while on September 9 they will be playing Lithuania in a home game. Romania’s group C also includes Cyprus. A first place means direct promotion to the B League whereas the runner-up will play a tie match to get promotion. A fourth position means demotion to the D League, whereas a third position will keep our side in the same C League until the next edition. Our side’s qualification for the Nations League’s group will have a direct effect over the European preliminaries for World Cup 2026. The Romanian national side is being coached by a football and coaching legend, Mircea Lucescu, who comes back at its helm after an absence of almost four decades. The former headcoach, Edward Iordanescu, stepped down after Euro 2024, when Romania had made it to the round of 16.

     

    WEATHER The weather remains warm in Romania, but it’s expected to gradually turn unstable. Showers have been reported in the east, south and south-west and are to extend to the other regions in the next couple of hours. The highs of the day are ranging between 24 and 33 degrees Celsius, with 27 degrees in Bucharest at noon. Hydrologists have today issued a code yellow alert for flooding for six counties in the country’s east and south-east.

    (bill)

     

  • November 23, 2022 – UPDATE

    November 23, 2022 – UPDATE

    JUDICIARY The Romanian
    President Klaus Iohannis has hailed the conclusions of a European Commission report saying that the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism in Romania’s judicial
    sector would be lifted. A stage has
    ended, but further efforts must be made as reforms are vital, Iohannis said. In
    turn, PM Nicolae Ciuca said the European Commission’s report encourages the government
    to stay on the path of supporting the independence of the judiciary and the
    fight against corruption to the benefit of the Romanian society.


    VISIT The joint
    effort to support Ukraine and the strength of the Romanian-Latvian cooperation
    were highlighted in Riga by the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, in a joint
    press conference with his Latvian counterpart, Egils Levits. The Romanian
    official’s visit to Riga takes place in the context of the celebration of 100
    years of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries. The two presidents also
    discussed Romania’s Schengen accession. Klaus Iohannis emphasised that Romania
    has never been and will never be a country that allows uncontrolled migration
    through illegal border crossing. The president of Latvia highlighted the common
    approach of the two countries with respect to the future of the EU and welcomed
    Romania’s participation in the NATO air policing mission in the Baltic states
    in 2023. On Thursday, Klaus Iohannis will be on an official visit to Lithuania,
    in Vilnius, while on Friday he will take part, jointly with his counterparts
    from Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, in a summit devoted to strengthening NATO’s
    eastern flank and to supporting Ukraine and the R. of Moldova.


    COOPERATION Romania and Spain are pleading for a more capable and
    responsible European Union, one which is able to provide support and play a
    relevant role in implementing the Strategic Compass, fully complementary to
    NATO and avoiding redundancies, including in the current security context,
    marked by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, reads a joint statement
    signed on Wednesday in Castellón de
    la Plana, Spain, by the heads of the Romanian and Spanish governments. Bucharest and
    Madrid have also reiterated their commitment to a strong NATO, focusing on the
    full implementation of the Strategic Concept adopted in Madrid, with special
    emphasis on consolidating defence and deterrence on the eastern flank. The PM
    of Romania, Nicolae Ciucă, was received with military honours in Castellon de
    la Plana by the head of Spain’s government, Pedro Sanchez. According to Ciucă, bilateral relations are even stronger
    thanks to the nearly one-million strong, highly integrated and active Romanian
    community contributing to the development of Spain’s economy and society.


    NATO – A meeting of NATO
    foreign ministers will be held in Bucharest on November 29-30, 2022. The
    meeting will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
    Attending will also be the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and
    Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden.


    DRILL NATO troops
    Wednesday conducted a military exercise to test the air and missile defence in
    Romania, one week after a stray missile crashed in Poland and revealed
    weaknesses in the Alliance’s air shield, Reuters reports. The French air defence
    system deployed to Romania repelled a simulated attack by Allied fighter jets,
    NATO’s Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany said. Taking part in the
    exercise were Turkish F-16 fighter jets, Spanish Eurofighters, US growler
    aircraft designed for electronic warfare and French Rafale jets.


    FOOTBALL Japan produced the second big surprise of the Qatar football World
    Cup, after defeating 4-times Cup winners Germany 2-1, on Wednesday in Group
    E. Also on Wednesday, world vice-champions Croatia drew against Morocco,
    0-0, in Group F. Another former world champion, Spain, takes on Costa Rica, and
    Belgium plays against Canada. On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia stunned football fans
    with one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Cup, defeating
    2-times champions Argentina 2-1. Also on Tuesday, the defending champions, France,
    defeated Australia 4-1, while Denmark and Poland drew against Tunisia and
    Mexico, respectively, 0 – 0. (AMP)

  • October 12, 2020 UPDATE

    October 12, 2020 UPDATE

    COVID-19 Ro – 2,069 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Romania, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Monday afternoon. The total number of cases across Romania since the start of the pandemic is 157 thousand. 628 patients are in intensive care. Another 56 people have died from Covid-19 which takes the total death toll to 5,467. Health minister Nelu Tataru announced that Covid-19 patients who have no symptoms and do not suffer from other medical conditions will be assessed at home and will get an appointment with the doctor for medical tests. A decision in this regard will be made this week. According to minister Tataru the measure will help reduce the overcrowding of emergency units of hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.



    COVID-19 world — The total number of COVID-19 cases around the world has exceeded 37.8 million with 1 million deaths reported, shows worldometers.info. The US continues to be the most affected country by the pandemic with almost 8 million cases of contamination and almost 220 thousand deaths. The situation is very serious also in Europe. 8 big cities of France, Paris included, are now on maximum alert and obliged to apply further restrictive measures to fight the pandemic. According to a study by the French National Order of Nurses, burnout has reached 57% of the healthcare personnel, 37% intend to leave the public health system soon and 43% say they will not be doing the same job in 5 years’ time. Italian authorities have already imposed the obligation of wearing face masks also in outdoor spaces and have extended the state of emergency until January 31.



    Luxembourg — The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu on Monday addressed the meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states hosted by Luxembourg and talked about the need to draft a strategy regarding the relations between the EU and Russia. According to a Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) communiqué, minister Aurescu highlighted the importance of thorough talks on these relations in the context of the recent developments, including the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with Novichok. He made this statement against the backdrop of the publication of the report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which confirms Navalny’s poisoning with Noviciok. Under the circumstances the Romanian FM said further sanctions should be rapidly adopted against those involved in the attempted murder. In another development, minister Bogdan Aurescu expressed Romania’s concern with the escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. He underlined that the conflict recrudescence points to a potential for instability in the Black Sea region. As regards Belarus, the Romanian diplomat expressed concern with the continuous deterioration of the domestic situation in that country in the context in which the authorities have not shown any interest in starting a dialogue with the population and civil society to overcome the crisis. Romania has decided to recall its ambassador from Minsk, Viorel Mosanu, for consultations.



    Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep maintains 2nd position in the WTA classification made public on Monday. Halep has almost 1,500 points less than the Australian Ashleigh Barty. On 3rd position in the WTA ranking is the Japanese Naomi Osaka. Romania has another 4 players in the top 100: Patricia Ţig climbed two places being ranked 57th, Irina Begu is on 76th position, Sorana Cîrstea, down 4 positions, is ranked 88th and Ana Bogdan on 92nd position. Irina Bara reached the 116th position, the best in her career. In the doubles, Raluca Olaru dropped one place being ranked 41st and Monica Niculescu went up 2 places on 53rd position. Andreea Mitu is ranked 91st.



    Vilnius — The main opposition party in Lithuania, the center-right Homeland Union — Lithuanian Christian Democrats has won the first round of Sunday’s elections, seen as a vote of confidence to the way in which the PM Saulius Skvernelis is managing the COVID-19 pandemic, international news agencies report. The Homeland Union got almost 25% of the votes while the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, an agrarian group that leads the governing coalition, got more than 17% of the votes. At least 4 parties are to enter Parliament. The second round of voting is scheduled for October 25.



    Local elections — Three communes from Romania hosted a second round of voting on Sunday to elect their mayors, as, on September 27, in the first round, the 1st and 2nd ranked candidates got an equal number of votes. The turnout was over 50% in all three communes. In the town of Moldova Noua (southwest), the second round of voting was no longer held as the decision to hold new elections was suspended by the court. The decision had been made by the Central Electoral Bureau that invalidated the candidacy of the one who had got the biggest number of votes. We recall that in late September the Social Democrat Gabriela Firea lost the Bucharest mayoral seat to the independent Nicusor Dan supported by the ruling Liberal Party and the Save Romania Union. (tr. L. Simion)

  • A preview of the football game Romania versus Lithuania

    A preview of the football game Romania versus Lithuania

    This week is going to be a busy one for Romania’s national football squad with two matches on Thursday and Sunday in the fresh continental competition entitled the Nations Cup.



    The squad left for Vilnius on Tuesday where they are to take on Lithuania on Thursday. Of a lineup of 23 players who left for Vilnius, 15 are playing for foreign clubs while 8 others are playing for domestic football sides. Two of these players come from the champions CFR Cluj, two from FCSB, the first side in the Romanian championships, two from Viitorul Constanta and two from Universitatea Craiova. The team that mostly contributes players for the national lineup is the Czech football side Sparta Prague, which gives goalie Florin Nita and halfbacks Alexandru Chipciu and Nicolae Stanciu.



    Romanian head coach Cosmin Contra had initially summoned 24 footballers, but injuries prevented Constantin Budescu from joining the lineup. Budescu, who now needs four weeks in order to recover completely, has not been replaced by another player in the lineup.



    After the match against Lithuania, the Romanian selection is to take on Serbia in a home match on Sunday, October 14th. Manchester United’s midfielder Nemanja Matic is recovering from injuries and will not be part of the Serbian lineup on Sunday. Matic had previously joined the national Serbian side after Manchester’s game against Newcastle during the weekend but injuries forced him to return to the club.



    Romania is presently ranked third in the fourth group of the Nations League C, with 2 points. In September our side drew all their matches, nil-all against Montenegro at home and two-all away against Serbia.

  • September 23, 2018

    September 23, 2018

    POPE – Pope Francis has paid tribute today to Lithuanians who suffered and died during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its Jewish community during the Holocaust. During Mass in Santakos Park, Pope Francis honored both Jewish victims of Nazi-era executions and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation. The Pope will tour Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as they celebrate 100 years since declaring independence following World War I.




    OLYMPIAD – Romanian pupils won nine prizes at the 4th International French Language Olympiad in Ohrid, Macedonia, held between the 15th and the 19th of September. They won four first prizes (two in individual and two in team events), three second prizes and two third prizes. The International French Language Olympiad gathered pupils from 6 countries members of the International Organization of La Francophonie: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. The competition is enlisted in the program of the activities carried out by the Regional Office of La Francophonie for Central and Eastern Europe. Romanian pupils also got very good results at other international competitions, such as the International Physics Olympiad held in July, where they won five medals, at the Central European Olympiad in Informatics, where they won two gold and two silver medals and at the International Earth Science Olympiad in Warsaw, in August.




    BUCHAREST – Events celebrating the City of Bucharest end today with a concert of the British singer Rod Stewart. Romania’s capital city marks 559 years since it was first mentioned in official records, as well as 100 years since the Union of December 1, 1918, when the Romanian provinces were united into a nation state. On Friday, the famous Romanian panpipe player Gheorghe Zamfir gave a memorable show and on Saturday Bucharest hosted one of the biggest 3D video-mapping shows in the world.




    RESEARCH – Ministers from Romania hold the EU record in appearing at EU council meetings, being present in over 90 percent of the meetings, according to research from Danish think tank Europa. The figures – based on minutes from council meetings in the period 2015-2018 – also showed that ministers from Slovakia and Poland appeared the least, leaving their chairs to diplomats in almost every other meeting.




    ELECTION — Almost 30 Romanians are on the candidate lists of political parties in Belgium, in the local elections scheduled for October 14. They are trying to win local councilor seats in several localities, including the capital Brussels. The initiator of the “DreptLaVot” project, Ioana Banach, says in a post on the RomBel website, of the Romanian community in Belgium that more than ever before, Romanian candidates matter at these elections, given the fact that in Brussels, for instance, they account for 9% of the population.




    TABLE TENNIS – Romanian athlete Ovidiu Ionescu qualified to the semifinals of the man’s singles at the European Table Tennis Championship held in Alicante, Spain. On Friday he defeated the European champion Emmanuel Lebesson of France, and on Saturday he beat Jonathan Groth of Denmark. Ovidiu Ionescu is today playing against Kristian Karlsson of Sweden, to get to the final.





  • June 14, 2018 UPDATE

    June 14, 2018 UPDATE

    PRIME MINISTER – The Prime Minister of Romania, Viorica Dăncilă, is on an official 3-day visit to Lithuania and Estonia. On Thursday in Vilnius the Romanian official and her Lithuanian counterpart, Saulius Skvernelis, discussed bilateral trade and means to identify new fields for cooperation, such as IT, energy and agriculture. The parties have also tackled European topics of mutual interest, such as supporting the Eastern Partnership and the future of the Union. Dancilas visit to Estonia will be the first by a Romanian prime minister since diplomatic relations with this Baltic state were reinstated in 1991.




    FORUM – In its capacity as presidency holder, Romania is hosting the ministerial conference of the Salzburg Forum, an informal platform of Central and East-European countries promoting security cooperation. Taking part in the conference are officials from the 9 member countries, of whom 6 interior ministers, including the Romanian Interior Minister Carmen Dan, and the Europol chief Catherine De Bolle. The Salzburg Forum was launched in 2000 and comprises Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Since 2007, the Republic of Moldova and countries from the Group of Friends (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) have also been invited to attend its sessions.




    FINANCIAL – Private-sector credit risks are rising, reads a Report on financial stability made public on Thursday by the National Bank of Romania. The document also mentions other risks, such as the deteriorating investor confidence in emerging economies such as Romania, strains on macroeconomic balances and the rising real estate prices. On the other hand, the report also says that last year total household debt rose, and so did consumer loans granted by banks and non-banking financial institutions. The central bank officials presented the document at a time when the year on year inflation rate reached a 5-year high of 5.4% in May, the exchange rate for the national currency revolves around 4.66 lei for the euro, deficits deepen and the public debt is growing.




    JUDICIARY – The High Court of Cassation and Justice Thursday dismissed the charges against the former Social Democrat deputy Sebastian Ghiţă, in a case in which he was tried jointly with former police and prosecutor office chiefs. The ruling is not final. The Court also cancelled a pre-trial arrest warrant, ordered the lifting of a freeze on Ghitas assets and the return of the roughly 11.5 million euro bail. The other defendants in the same case were also aquitted, on grounds that the alleged acts were not criminal offences or had not taken place. Sebastian Ghiţă is in Serbia. He fled the country in December 2016 and is subject to several criminal proceedings in Romania.




    UKRAINE – The Romanian Education Minister, Valentin Popa, and the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, Thursday had a telephone conversation on the Education Law of neighbouring Ukraine. The two agreed that the law, which bans tuition in ethnic minority languages after primary school, is “unacceptable insofar as it takes away rights previously secured by ethnic minorities. The Education Ministry explained that the Ukrainian authorities had signed no agreement with the Romanian community in that country with respect to this law. The 2 officials have agreed to carry on consultations regarding the measures to be taken in this respect. Nearly half a million ethnic Romanians currently live in Ukraine.




    FOOTBALL – The 21st edition of the World Football Championship kicked off in Russia on Thursday. It is the first edition of the championship hosted by a former communist bloc country. Proving their mettle in the final tournament are 32 national teams, while 11 cities across Russia make the venues for the scheduled fixtures. In the opening game, Russia defeated Saudi Arabia, 5-0. According to the correspondent of Radio Romanias News and Current Affairs Channel in Moscow, Russia has invested tens of billions of dollars in the championships infrastructure, as well as a significant amount of political capital, hoping the event would bolster Russias image around the world. We recall Romanias national team has failed to make it to the current edition of the World Cup. The World Championship held in France in 1998 was the last edition the national squad took part in.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)