Radio România Internațional

Tag: membership

  • Political agreement on the new European Commission

    Political agreement on the new European Commission

     

     

    The leaders of the three major political groups in the European Parliament have given the green light to the members of the next European Commission. They finally said yes to all the 7 European Commissioner nominations that were still under evaluation, thus ending the weeks-long deadlock between the EU’s political factions over the composition of the future Commission.

     

    Between November 4 and 12 Parliament heard the prospective European commissioners in Ursula von der Leyen’s new team. After the interviews, however, for more than a week, the fate of the 6 vice-presidents and of the Hungarian nominee for public health and animal welfare commissioner Olivér Várhelyi was in limbo over political disagreements between the European People’s Party, Renew, and the Socialists and Democrats.

     

    One of those left waiting was Roxana Mânzatu, Romania’s proposal, who would hold the post of Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness. During the interview, she was asked questions not only about employee rights and the Erasmus programme, but also about the illegal extension of her house in Brașov, a topic also covered by Romanian media.

     

    In a social network post, the Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu welcomed Roxana Mînzatu’s validation as vice-president of the EC and as commissioner for a “relevant” sector. She is an excellent professional and will do Romania credit, said the Romanian PM.

     

    It is the first time since 1999 that no EU commissioner candidate has been rejected, which is a step back for the power of the EP, Politico notes. Along with the agreement on the membership of the future European Commission, the leaders of the main parties represented in Brussels also signed a document in which, as a parliamentary majority, they undertake to work together during their term in office to support Ukraine and to enhance the bloc’s security and competitiveness. The signatories also agreed to adopt a new industrial agreement and to boost circular economy, friendly to the environment. Last but not least, an efficient migration policy is being considered.

     

    The European Parliament’s final vote on the new Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen will be given in next week’s session in Strasbourg. Two-thirds of the MEP votes are needed for the Commission to be endorsed. According to the procedural calendar, if the vote is favorable, the new commissioners will take office on December 1.

     

    The formula proposed by Ursula von der Leyen is slightly changed, with a vice-president position for European diplomacy chief (Kaja Kallas), 5 executive vice-presidents who will also coordinate certain policies, as well as 20 commissioner posts. (AMP)

  • Romania’s foreign policy in 2020

    Romania’s foreign policy in 2020

    Romania aims to remain a stability factor and a firm promoter of democracy in the international community, President Klaus Iohannis said in Bucharest, at the annual meeting with the chiefs of diplomatic missions in Bucharest. The head of state presented the 3 main directions of the countrys foreign policy this year:



    Klaus Iohannis: “Our EU and NATO membership, together with our strategic partnership with the USA, remain the core pillars of our foreign policy or, as I described them last year, the strategic conceptual triad of Romanias foreign policy. These pillars complement each other. At the same time, we will continue to work for Romanias Schengen accession, which will contribute significantly to strengthening security in the EUs visa-free area, and for joining the Euro zone, when all conditions have been met. In a short while Britain will exit the EU. It is something we havent wished for, but we will work to make sure that the friendship and alliance that have brought us together so far remain strong between Britain and the EU. We will also do our best to modernize the strategic partnership between Romania and Britain, something we are currently working on.



    Romanias foreign policy will be defined, as it has been so far, by continuity and predictability, but naturally some nuances and emphases will shift, so as to provide more coherence and consistence, the head of state also said.



    What are these nuances and emphases, and how can more coherence and consistence be ensured? Analyst Cristian Diaconescu, a former foreign minister, attempted a few answers for Radio Romania:



    Cristian Diaconescu: “A country project overlapping a project for the entire region, and obviously in line with Romanias security and stability interests in one of the most complicated parts of the world, and on the other hand in line with the partnership relations, the standards and values that we all share as members of the EU and the North-Atlantic Alliance. This means more creativity in the area bordering the Black Sea and the Western Balkans, with a very complicated eastern neighbourhood and, more importantly, at the crossroads of the energy corridors—and implicitly the security corridors coming from Eastern Europe or from the Middle East.



    In the current international context, facing risks, challenges and threats old and new, the need for a strong, united and efficient North-Atlantic Alliance is greater than ever, President Iohannis said:



    Klaus Iohannis: “NATO is a successful military alliance and we will continue to work very closely with the other Allies to make it even stronger. This is the main message of the London anniversary summit of December 2019, and Romania will focus on this direction with renewed efforts, as an important ally on the eastern flank in NATO. We are determined to continue to fulfil our commitments to earmark 2% of the GDP to Defence, and we will continue to work to consolidate the Alliances determent and defence posture, particularly in the eastern flank. At the same time, in addition to the Allied effort at the Black Sea, Romania will support NATOs enhanced involvement in the Middle East and in fighting terrorism.



    The President also mentioned the UN and the OSCE as platforms for consolidated dialogue and compliance with international law, and as commentators have noted, he used the word “multilateralism quite frequently.



    Cristian Diaconescu: “First of all, because multilateralism is a key element in promoting and protecting Romanias interests. Secondly, because indeed, if we talk about the UN and OSCE, we can notice some political relaxation, a decrease in the role and the activity of these multilateral bodies, although they still remain relevant in many respects, which are important to Romania. And thirdly, because there is this tendency, especially among the great powers, to have separate dialogues and to make decisions irrespective of these international institutions, which raises concerns among countries, such as Romania, which are located in complicated regions and which end up receiving ready-made decisions in whose negotiation they have not taken part.



    As regards the recent developments in the Middle East, the President of Romania said that the negative effects of this crisis impact the European and global security. Klaus Iohannis also said that Bucharest will resume full cooperation with the neighbouring Republic of Moldova when the Moldovan Government has proved its commitment to the countrys European accession, to reforms in the judiciary and public administration, and to fighting corruption.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Romania – 15 years within NATO

    Romania – 15 years within NATO

    Under Soviet influence for almost half a century, Romanians could validate their western aspirations only in the early 2000s, at the end of the country’s post-Communist transition. Romania joined the EU in 2007, 3 years after it had joined NATO in March 2004 — the date of the largest eastward NATO enlargement wave. The number of NATO member states then increased from 19 to 26.



    Previously, at the November 2002 NATO summit hosted by Prague, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia had received the official invitation to join the most successful political and military alliance in history. That was the end of a path that Bucharest had embarked on as early as October 1990, when Romania established diplomatic relations with NATO and continued with applying for NATO membership, which happened 3 years later. At that time, the Romanian political class and the public opinion, although torn apart by often ferocious internal disputes, managed to reach consensus. From the right and the left of the political spectrum, all important parties, in power or in opposition, unwaveringly supported the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration, which was the only guarantee for Romania’s prosperity and security. The president of Romania at the time of NATO accession was the former Communist minister Ion Iliescu, who had studied in Moscow and had been frequently blamed for his pro-Russian views.



    In 1994 Romania became the first country that decided to participate in the Partnership for Peace program, which had an important role in the process of preparation for NATO accession. Then there followed the wakeup call given by the 1999 Madrid summit, when only the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary from the ex-Communist East were invited to join. However, political and military analysts said that Romania was within an inch of joining and that it would be top of the list at the next enlargement wave. Its geostrategic importance, its significant military potential and a profoundly pro-western public opinion were the most convincing arguments in favor of Romania’s accession.



    Romania’s NATO membership is doubled by a privileged strategic partnership with the US. Romania hosts American military bases and elements of the anti-missile defense shield and its soldiers are participating in international drills and missions alongside the American soldiers. The Romanian defense minister Gabriel Les has underlined that Romania is better prepared from a military point of view than 15 years ago. As many as 1,000 soldiers are on foreign missions, and their number was even higher, namely more than 2,500, in previous years. Minister Les recalled that 29 Romanian military lost their lives and 180 were wounded in theaters of operations abroad. He added that in a real war situation the army has enough weapon and ammunition stocks to resist until the intervention of NATO partners.

  • January 26, 2018

    January 26, 2018

    N. DJUVARA — Romania cultural, academic and political personalities are mourning the death of historian, diplomat and novelist Neagu Djuvara, who died on Thursday in Bucharest, aged 101. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has said in a release that Neagu Djuvara will continue to be a symbol of the Romanian elite and an example for future generations. In 2016, the year he turned 100, Neagu Djuvara received “Romania’s Star” National Order in rank of Knight, the highest distinction offered by the Romanian state. Neagu Djuvara was born in 1916 in Bucharest in an aristocratic family. After studying at the Sorbonne, where he got a degree in History and another one in Law, he fought in the military campaigns in Bessarabia and Transdniester. He lived for 45 years in exile before coming back to Romania, where he became a well-known figure due to his erudition, wit and style. “I came back to the country to offer, not to receive. Destiny wanted me to do at 70 what I wanted to achieve at 30: to be an academic, to publish books in Romania,” Djuvara said in an interview.




    EC — The European Commission monitors closely the situation in Romania, where citizens are protesting against the recent reform of the judiciary and against corruption, European Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova said on Friday in Sofia, ahead of an informal meeting of the EU justice ministers. Jurova said the EC wants reforms that should render the justice system more independent, highly functional and trustworthier. The evolutions in Romania are raising doubts over things going in the right direction, Vera Jurova said.




    AGRICULTURE — Romania does not support the idea of a ceiling being set for payments under the future Common Agricultural Policy, as this measure is likely to endanger the source of food safety and the large farms, which are essential to Romanian agriculture, Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea said at a meeting with the French Ambassador to Bucharest, Michele Ramis. In his turn, the French official said that Paris is close to the objectives presented by Romania in the agricultural sector, and pointed out that the next Common Agricultural Policy would have to deal with challenges such as food safety and climate change.




    GOVERNMENT— The representatives of the ruling coalition in Romania made up of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats are today announcing the final government membership. The structure of the government remains unchanged, with 28 members of whom 3 deputy prime ministers, one of them without portfolio. Some of the Social Democrat ministers will carry on their terms in office during the future government. On Monday senators and deputies are going to give their confidence vote for the final membership of the Dăncilă cabinet and for the governing program. The Liberal opposition is holding talks with the other political parties to block the investiture of the new cabinet, the third one of the ruling coalition.




    ECHU – At the annual press conference of the European Court of Human Rights on January 25, 2018 in Strasbourg, President Guido Raimondi took stock of the year 2017. Lat year saw unusual fluctuation in the case-load as a result of a high volume of incoming cases in the first part of the year and a large number of cases disposed of over the last six months. Romania is the country with the biggest number of applications, having exceeded Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Most of the 9,900 cases, are against the conditions of detention in Romania. In 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the Romanian state in 20 such cases. Also last year Romania was warned that it risks being fined unless it improves conditions in penitentiaries.




    TENNIS – World’s no. 1 tennis player Simona Halep who on Thursday qualified for the finals of the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, after defeating the German Angelique Kerber in a dramatic match that lasted 140 minutes, will be up against the world’s number two Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, in the competition’s final. The Romanian staved off three-consecutive match points from 0-40 down deep in the third set of her record-setting third-round epic against Lauren Davis, before fighting off two more match points in Thursdays engrossing semi-final win over Angelique Kerber. Halep has so far won 16 trophies and has been world No.1 for 16 weeks and will now try to win a grand slam crown. (Translated by Elena Enache)