Radio România Internațional

Tag: Mediterranean

  • September 25, 2021 UPDATE

    September 25, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The number of COVID
    cases continues to rise in Romania, with more than 7,000 daily new cases
    reported for several days in a row. Nearly 10,000 SARS-CoV-2 patients are in
    hospitals, 264 of them children, while 1,195 patients are in intensive care. Nationwide,
    hundreds towns and villages are on the red list of places with infection rates
    of over 3 per thousand. The capital Bucharest is also on the list, and as of
    today additional restrictions are in place in the city. The digital COVID
    certificate is required for participation in certain events, and even so indoor
    weddings and similar events are to be attended by 200 people at most, while
    restaurants, performance halls, pools and the like operate at half their
    capacity and only accept COVID certificate holders. As the number of infections
    grows, Romanians get more open to immunisation, with over 14,000 people having
    received a shot in the last 24 hours.


    LIBERALS
    The Liberals’s president for the next 4 years is PM Florin Cîţu, who won the
    race against the former party chief Ludovic Orban. The winner got some 60% of
    the votes of the around 5,000 delegates
    from all party branches in the country attending the Congress held Saturday in
    Bucharest. The National Liberal Party is a united party as of today, Florin
    Cîţu said after the results were made official. I promise I will be the
    president of all Liberals, regardless of your vote today, he added. Ludovic
    Orban congratulated Florin Cîţu for his victory, and said on Monday he would
    step down as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. President Klaus Iohannis was also present at the
    congress. The two ran harsh campaigns, with unprecedented
    attacks against each other. At stake is more than the party presidency, and Saturday’s
    battle will also decide the governing formula and the parliamentary majority.


    FRIGATE The Romanian frigate
    Queen Marie has concluded its participation in the NATO Operation Sea
    Guardian, in the Mediterranean. During the 3 weeks of commanding the NATO
    vessel unit, Queen Marie inspected over 800 ships in the
    Mediterranean. The IAR Puma Naval helicopter on board of the frigate
    contributed to the early identification of suspicious vessels. Also taking part
    in Operation Sea Guardian were vessels, aircraft and submarines from
    Romania, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain and Germany, and the missions contributed
    to strengthening security in Europe’s southern flank.


    SALARY Romanians last year
    earned gross salaries of roughly 1,030 euros, the National Statistics Institute
    announced, up 7.4% since the previous year. Net salaries, averaging at 650
    euros per month, also increased by 7.7%. The best paying sectors are IT&C, finances
    and insurance, public administration and the energy sector. At the opposite
    pole are the hospitality industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and the
    real estate market.


    AIRCRAFT The Canadian military aircraft sent to Romania in
    early September have carried out their first intercept in an air policing mission,
    NATO announced. The pilots of the 188 Hornets, jointly with Romanian Air Forces
    units, intercepted on September 23 two Russian Sukhoi 24 Fencers over the Black
    Sea near Romanian air space. The Russian aircraft were monitored by the Allied
    pilots once the visual identification was confirmed, the Allied Air Command
    also announced.



    DIASPORA A Romanian Foreign
    Ministry official discussed with members of the Romanian community in Italy
    about improving consular services, as many diaspora members are unhappy with
    the difficult and often unfriendly procedures required by the Romanian
    authorities. The head of the ministry’s Consular Department Valentin Muntean
    presented the reforms planned by the authorities, in a hybrid meeting attended
    by all the general consuls in Italy and around 40 representatives of Romanian
    associations in that country. The participants tackled means to modernise and
    broaden the consular network, to simplify procedures, to upgrade and optimise
    the digital platforms and systems used by the Romanian authorities, and to
    reduce red-tape. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • September 25, 2021

    September 25, 2021

    COVID-19 The number of COVID
    cases continues to rise in Romania, with more than 7,000 daily new cases
    reported for several days in a row. Nearly 10,000 SARS-CoV-2 patients are in
    hospitals, 264 of them children, while 1,195 patients are in intensive care. Nationwide,
    hundreds towns and villages are on the red list of places with infection rates
    of over 3 per thousand. The capital Bucharest is also on the list, and as of
    today additional restrictions are in place in the city. The digital COVID
    certificate is required for participation in certain events, and even so indoor
    weddings and similar events are to be attended by 200 people at most, while
    restaurants, performance halls, pools and the like operate at half their
    capacity and only accept COVID certificate holders. As the number of infections
    grows, Romanians get more open to immunisation, with over 17,000 people having
    received a shot in the last 24 hours.


    LIBERALS
    The Liberals are today
    electing their president for the next 4 years, in a Congress attended among
    others by President Klaus Iohannis. Thousands of delegates from all party
    branches in the country are choosing between the incumbent party chief Ludovic
    Orban and PM Florin Cîţu. Ludovic Orban argues he is a sure bet for the party,
    and that his goal is to rebuild the image of the party and citizens’ confidence
    in it. He says the National Liberal Party should support Romanian businesses
    and reaffirm and promote individual rights and liberties. His challenger says
    he has entered the competition in order to build and unify the Liberal Party.
    I strongly believe only a Liberal Romania can ensure the wellbeing of its
    citizens, Florin Cîţu argues, and says his priorities are to revise the
    Constitution, to ensure the country joins the Schengen visa-free area, to boost
    investments and motivate entrepreneurs. The two ran harsh campaigns, with
    unprecedented attacks against each other. At stake is more than the party
    presidency, and today’s battle is to also decide the governing formula, the
    parliamentary majority and the holders of the prime minister and Chamber of
    Deputies speaker posts.


    FRIGATE The Romanian frigate
    Queen Marie has concluded its participation in the NATO Operation Sea
    Guardian, in the Mediterranean, and is docking today in the Black Sea
    port of Constanţa. During the 3 weeks of commanding the NATO vessel unit, Queen
    Marie inspected over 800 ships in the Mediterranean. The IAR Puma Naval
    helicopter on board of the frigate contributed to the early identification of
    suspicious vessels. Also taking part in Operation Sea Guardian were
    vessels, aircraft and submarines from Romania, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkey,
    Spain and Germany, and the missions contributed to strengthening security in
    Europe’s southern flank.


    SALARY Romanians last year
    earned gross salaries of roughly 1,030 euros, the National Statistics Institute
    announced, up 7.4% since the previous year. Net salaries, averaging at 650
    euros per month, also increased by 7.7%. The best paying sectors are IT&C, finances
    and insurance, public administration and the energy sector. At the opposite
    pole are the hospitality industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and the
    real estate market.


    ELECTION In Germany, the last
    electoral rallies were held ahead of Sunday’s election, in which over 60 million
    citizens are to elect the 20th Bundestag (the single-chamber federal
    parliament). According to Radio Romania’s correspondent, this historic election
    may see the end of the 16-year leadership of Angela Merkel’s Conservatives. The
    incumbent chancellor, who stepped down as party president, urged her supporters
    to vote for Armin Laschet, the Christian Democratic Union candidate, to ensure
    the stability of the country. However, all recent polls indicate that the
    incumbent finance minister Olaf Scholz, the candidate backed by the Social
    Democratic Party (SPD) is ahead of Laschet. The election marks the end of the Merkel
    era, and press agencies note that given the tight race, the next government may
    require an alliance of 3 parties.


    DIASPORA A Romanian Foreign
    Ministry official discussed with members of the Romanian community in Italy
    about improving consular services, as many diaspora members are unhappy with
    the difficult and often unfriendly procedures required by the Romanian
    authorities. The head of the ministry’s Consular Department Valentin Muntean
    presented the reforms planned by the authorities, in a hybrid meeting attended
    by all the general consuls in Italy and around 40 representatives of Romanian
    associations in that country. The participants tackled means to modernise and
    broaden the consular network, to simplify procedures, to upgrade and optimise
    the digital platforms and systems used by the Romanian authorities, and to
    reduce red-tape. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • October 30, 2019 UPDATE

    October 30, 2019 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT In Bucharest, the hearings of the candidates for minister posts in the Liberal PM designate Ludovic Orbans new cabinet have concluded. On Wednesday, the specialised parliamentary committees interviewed the candidates for minister of labour, justice, youth and sports, education and research, economy, energy and the business environment, development, administration, and public works, and foreign affairs. All candidates, except for the ones nominated for labour minister and minister for public works, development and administration, were greenlighted by MPs. On Tuesday, all candidates except for the one nominated for finance minister were also approved by the relevant parliamentary committees. However, the parliamentary committees only have consultative powers, and the decisive vote is scheduled for Monday, November 4. In order to replace the Social Democrat Viorica Dancilas Cabinet, dismissed on October 10 following a no-confidence vote in Parliament, Ludovic Orbans team needs at least 233 votes. To this end, the PM designate and president of the National Liberal Party, Ludovic Orban, has signed political agreements with Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the Peoples Movement Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and MPs representing ethnic minorities. PRO Romania, a splinter from the Social Democratic Party, said they would decide on whether to vote on the new cabinet after the hearings, whereas the Social Democratic Party announced they would not take part in the vote.



    MISSION ‘Regele Ferdinand’ Frigate of the Romanian Navy, together with a Puma Naval helicopter and a Navy Special Operations unit are taking part until November 7th in a new NATO mission in the Mediterranean. The goal of Operation ‘Sea Guardian 19’ is to discourage illegal activities in the southern flank of NATO and the EU, by means of sea and air traffic monitoring. During the mission, the Romanian frigate will have stopovers in Haifa, Israel, and Limassol, Cyprus. The first stop was in the port of Aksaz, in the south of Turkey, followed by another one in Alexandria, Egypt, where a first meeting was held aboard, with members of the Romanian community in Egypt.



    MILITARY A military delegation from Bulgaria, headed by Gen. Major Mihail Dimitrov Popov, chief of staff of the Bulgarian Land Forces, is on an official visit to Romania between October 29 and 31. The host of the event is the chief of the Romanian Land Forces, gen. major Dorin Blaiu. The visit is intended on the one hand to assess the cooperation between the Romanian and Bulgarian land forces, and on the other hand to identify new fields and opportunities for future training. The agenda of the Bulgarian delegation also includes visits to the Romanian military units in Bucharest, Cincu and Sibiu (centre).



    ANTI-CORRUPTION The interim chief of the National Anti-Corruption Agency, Călin Nistor, has reported that over the past 4 years anti-corruption prosecutors sent to court over 900 individuals suspected of crimes against the financial interests of the European Union, in cases having caused combined losses of over 100 million euros. The chief prosecutor also said the acquittal rate in cases involving EU fund frauds is rather low, and added that Romanian courts have already sentenced more than 450 defendants and forced them to pay compensations of around 30 million euros.



    TENNIS In the Purple Group of the WTA Finals in Shenzhen (China), the Romanian Simona Halep (5 WTA) Wednesday lost 7-5, 6-3, to the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who moved up into the semi-finals. Simona Halep played the final of the tournament at her first participation in 2014, when she lost to the American Serena Williams (9 WTA). Also on Wednesday, the Romanian-born Canadian Bianca Andreescu (4 WTA) forfeited the match against Karolina Pliskova (2 WTA), after the Czech player had won the first set, 6-3. Andreescu stands no chances to qualify into the semis, even if she was fit to play the last group match on Friday, against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • European Decisions on Mediterranean Refugee Crisis

    European Decisions on Mediterranean Refugee Crisis

    An Amnesty International report shows that out of 23 refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean into the EU, one dies because of the poor state of the boats used by smugglers



    As the migration issue grows into an acute EU problem, European leaders held an emergency meeting in Brussels to find solutions. The special summit was convened after the week before a boat carrying hundreds of people, mostly illegal migrants from Libya and Syria, sank off the Libyan coast. Over 800 deaths thus added to the 900 ones reported since the beginning of the year during attempts to reach the EU by sea. This is not a new problem, but data indicate that the wave of illegal migrants has considerably increased since last year. Refugee centres in Italy and Greece are overcrowded, and Germany received 173 thousand asylum applications last year.



    Facing a growing number of immigrants, Italy, which has received 25 thousand refugees this year alone, has lately called for a military intervention against Libyan people smugglers. PM Matteo Renzi has requested the agreement of the EU for destroying the boats used by traffickers before these cross the Mediterranean. The suggestion was backed by France, whose Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stressed that those boats did not appear just out of nowhere.



    There are criminals and even terrorists who make profits from the desperation of people. The head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, emphasised that this was a European problem, and not only a problem of the countries in the south of the continent. We have a shared responsibility, he added, and called on all member countries to join efforts to reduce the refugee death toll.



    In his address, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis focused on the need for solidarity with the countries that bear the brunt of receiving these migrants. In the medium and long run, we need to address the roots of this phenomenon, Iohannis said, namely the poverty in the North African areas that these refugees are trying to leave. The President also said Romania is willing to send experts to the area.



    The participants in the summit agreed to triple the funding for Mediterranean search and rescue, with operation Triton set to benefit from 120 million euro per year, as against 36 million at present. The EU will also look at ways to capture and destroy the boats used by smugglers, will step up efforts to prevent prospective sub-Saharan African migrants from reaching Libya and will simplify visa and asylum procedures. Moreover, EU and African countries will hold a special summit this year, focusing on the challenges presented by the illegal migration from Africa to Europe.