Radio România Internațional

Tag: members

  • Central and Eastern European support for Ukraine

    Central and Eastern European support for Ukraine

    Russia’s announced
    annexation of 4 regions in the east of neighbouring Ukraine-Donetsk, Luhansk,
    Kherson and Zaporizhzhia-following sham referendums has been firmly criticised
    and condemned by Western countries.


    After Russia’s president
    Vladimir Putin organised a ceremony in Moscow, proclaiming the 4
    partly-occupied regions Russian territory, the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
    responded with an application for fast-track NATO membership.


    Alongside the presidents of
    other Central and Eastern European NATO member states, including the Czech
    Republic, North Macedonia, Poland, Montenegro, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and
    Lithuania, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis signed a joint
    declaration reiterating support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial
    integrity.


    We, Presidents of states
    in Central and Eastern Europe, countries whose leaders have visited Kyiv during
    the war and witnessed with their own eyes the effects of Russian aggression,
    cannot stay silent in the face of the blatant violation of international law by
    the Russian Federation, and therefore are issuing the following statement: We
    reiterate our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
    We do not recognize and will never recognize Russian attempts to annex any
    Ukrainian territory,ˮ reads the joint statement.


    The signatories say they
    firmly support the decision made at the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest regarding
    Ukraine’s future accession to the organisation. They also call on Moscow to
    immediately pull out of all the occupied territories.


    We support Ukraine in
    its defence against Russia’s invasion, demand Russia to immediately withdraw
    from all the occupied territories and encourage all Allies to substantially
    increase their military aid to Ukraine. All those who commit crimes of
    aggression must be held accountable and brought to justice, the document also
    reads.


    Ukraine’s presidential
    adviser Mykhailo Podolyak thanked the countries that back Ukraine’s NATO
    accession. We are grateful for the leadership and responsibility. History is
    being made today,ˮ he posted on Twitter.


    In turn, the NATO
    secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said a decision on Kyiv’s accession
    application must be taken by all the 30 member countries, and reiterated the
    alliance’s open-door policy. Any nation, including, of course, Ukraine, has the
    right to choose its own path, including the security arrangements it wants to
    join, Jens Stoltenberg also pointed out. He added that at present the main
    priority for the Allies and their partners is to support Ukraine.


    The US and Canada have
    also backed Ukraine’s NATO accession, but without making any reference to the
    fast-track procedure requested by Kyiv. (A.M.P.)

  • October 18, 2021 UPDATE

    October 18, 2021 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT The Standing Bureaus of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies decided that
    the proposed members of PM designate Dacian Cioloş’ cabinet will be interviewed
    on Tuesday by the relevant parliamentary committees. The vote on the
    governmental team as a whole was scheduled for Wednesday. The Romanian prime minister
    designate and leader of Save Romania Union (USR), Dacian Cioloş, Monday
    submitted to Parliament the governing programme and the proposed membership of
    his one-party cabinet, as validated on Sunday by USR. The new Cabinet includes
    USR ministers from the former cabinet, as well as new names. Dacian Cioloş
    chose the option of a minority, one-party government, after negotiations with
    the former partners, the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Union
    of Ethnic Hungarians (UDMR), failed to lead to the restoration of the
    right-wing coalition. The programme includes decisions related to rebalancing
    energy prices, handling the COVID pandemic and other specific issues, such as
    the dismantling of the Special Section for the Investigation of Crimes in the
    Judiciary and scrapping special pensions. The Cioloş Government needs 234 votes
    in Parliament, and the USR has 80 MPs. The former Liberal government led by
    Florin Cîţu was dismissed by a motion of no confidence filed by the
    Social-Democratic opposition and supported by USR and the nationalist party AUR.








    COVID-19 The Romanian interim Interior Minister, Lucian Bode, has announced that
    26 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been transferred to Hungary. One of
    them unfortunately died in the meantime. The Romanian official added that the
    situation these days is rather critical. Meanwhile, 32 medical staff from the
    neighbouring Republic of Moldova came to Romania on Monday and will treat
    COVID-19 patients for 12 days, in a mobile hospital in the village of Leţcani,
    Iaşi County. Authorities in Bucharest announced on Monday more than 10,000 new
    SARS-CoV-2 infections and 261 deaths. More than 1,700 patients are currently in
    intensive care. Regarding vaccination, in Romania, the number of people that
    went through a full vaccination plan stands at roughly 5.7 million.






    VACCINE It could take Romania more than 7 months to get 40% of its
    population vaccinated against COVID, and 31 months to reach a 70% rate, at the
    current vaccination pace, the World Health Organisation estimates. WHO
    representatives talked with Romanian authorities on Monday to identify the
    cause of the failure of the country’s vaccination programme. Romanian officials
    informed the WHO experts of the steep rise in the number of severe cases and
    COVID-19 related deaths, and added that 92% of the fatalities were reported
    among the unvaccinated. Meanwhile, the WHO said the proportion of fully
    vaccinated people is significant in Romania, indicating that once they start
    the immunisation, Romanians go through with the required number of doses. The
    WHO announced it would work with Bucharest to identify training and know-how
    exchange opportunities with respect to vaccine safety and the development of a
    communication strategy.

    EU MEETINGS The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, participated on Monday in a
    videoconference with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and
    other European leaders, in preparation for the European Council meeting due on
    October 21 – 22, the Presidential Administration has announced. The Romanian head of state emphasised the need to quickly identify
    efficient short-term solutions, as the ongoing energy crisis will have
    substantial effects on all EU member countries, with a deep social and economic
    impact. Klaus Iohannisalso
    stressed the importance of diversifying energy supply sources and of reducing
    reliance on third countries for energy supplies. The main topics on the agenda
    of this week’s European Council meeting are the epidemiological and vaccine
    situation, the EU digital agenda, the increase in energy prices, migration, the
    European trade policy and the Union’s foreign relations.

    PANDEMIC Over one billion anti-COVID vaccines produced in
    the EU have been exported to over 150 countries since December 2020, the
    president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced on Monday. EU exports mainly went to
    major economies like Japan, Turkey and the UK. Some of the vaccines were
    exported or donated to poorer countries, and according to Ursula von der Leyen
    the EU plans to increase donations in the coming months and to send at least
    500 million doses to vulnerable countries. Meanwhile, the European Centre for
    Disease Prevention warns of the high risk of death among the unvaccinated
    population as we move forward in the autumn and winter, urging countries to
    speed up efforts to convince those who have not been immunised.
    Although at EU level the full vaccination rate is 74% of the adult population,
    the gaps between states are still large, ranging between 22% and 91%, with the
    lowest rates of vaccinated population reported for Bulgaria and Romania, and
    the highest in Portugal and Ireland. Worldwide, so far, at least 241 million
    cases of new coronavirus infection have been reported and more than 4.9 million
    people have died, according to wordlmeters.info. (tr. A.M. Popescu)