Radio România Internațional

Tag: NATO

  • March 31, 2024 UPDATE

    March 31, 2024 UPDATE

     

    SCHENGEN Romanian seaports and international airports officially joined the Schengen Area on Sunday, March 31. At sea, controls are not eliminated, but they are simplified. Passengers flying to or from Schengen member states will go directly to their respective boarding gate after security checks, without having their travel documents checked by the border police. Currently, 27 European states are full members of the Schengen Agreement, and Romania and Bulgaria become members with partial rights on March 31. Border checks remain in place at land checkpoints, after Austria vetoed Romania’s and Bulgaria’s full Schengen membership. The EC president, Ursula von der Leyen, welcomed and congratulated the 2 countries on their accomplishment, and promised talks would be carried on this year to complete the process.

     

    EASTER Roman-Catholic and Protestant Christians, including around 1.3 million believers in mostly Orthodox Romania, celebrated Easter Sunday. At midnight, at the Vatican, Pope Francis presided over the Easter Vigil service at St. Peter’s Basilica. Enmity and wars, self-absorption and indifference, the fears that hold us back from accomplishing the good we mean to do, are our own stone blocks, the tombstones in our hearts, that rob us of enthusiasm and of the strength to persevere, the Pope said in his Homily. In a pastoral letter, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bucharest, Aurel Percă, said that unfortunately, the song of joy proclaimed by the church on Easter comes in contrast with the cries coming from so many painful situations, such as wars, injustice, inequality and poverty. In turn, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said in a message that “Easter gives us an opportunity to be together with our loved ones and reminds us that we are always accompanied by the divine love and strength.” This year, Easter for Roman Catholics and Protestants is 5 weeks before the corresponding Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Neo-Protestant celebration on May 5.

     

    NATO The Parliament of Romania convenes on Tuesday in a joint meeting to mark 20 years since the country joined the North Atlantic Alliance and 75 years since the establishment of NATO. On April 2, exactly 2 decades ago, Romania’s colours were first flown at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, after the ratification documents had been received by the US Department of State on March 29.

     

    DST Saturday night Romania switched to daylight saving time, with clocks going forward one hour. Sunday was the shortest day this year. With the transition to summer time, the difference between the official time in Romania and UTC is three hours. Daylight saving time is observed until October 27. EU member states were supposed to decide by 2021 whether they wanted to permanently adopt summer time or winter time. However, the discussion is still open.

     

    AGRICULTURE Last year Romania came 2nd in the EU, after France, in terms of the sunflower seed yield, thus losing the top EU position held in 2022, the National Statistics Institute announced. In 2023 the yield was 3.7% below the figures reported the previous year, although the surface area under sunflower crops was the same. Romania remains the 6th in Europe in terms of the area under potato crops, and the 9th-largest producer in Europe in 2023, after countries like Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Poland.

     

    OIL SECTOR In 2023, Romania remained the main supplier of oil products for the Republic of Moldova, the National Energy Regulatory Agency in Chişinău announced. Last year, Moldova imported around 1 mln tonnes of diesel, petrol and LPG, accounting for a 6.6% rise since 2022 and for a complete recovery of the oil market after the successive crises entailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Radio Chişinău said, quoting energy sector experts. Russia, which used to be one of the largest oil product suppliers for Moldova, only exported insignificant amounts to Moldova last year.

     

    HANDBALL The western Romanian handball team CS Minaur Baia Mare qualified for the semi-finals of the EHF European Cup, although they were defeated by the Austrian side Bregenz Handball 30-28 on Saturday night, in an away game in the second leg of the quarter-finals. The Romanian vice-champions had won the first leg at home, 37-31. In the semis, Minaur takes on Valur Reykjavik (Iceland), which outplayed CSA Steaua Bucharest in the previous round. On April 2, Romanian champions CS Dinamo Bucharest play away from home against the Danish side Bjerringbro Silkeborg, in the second leg of the EHF European League play-offs. Dinamo won the home game 37-34. The quarter-final winners are to play in the Final Four round. (AMP)

  • March 29, 2024 UPDATE

    March 29, 2024 UPDATE

    GRAIN Romania’s grain output went up by 9 percent last year, up to 21 million tons mainly due to the more productive types sowed, the National Institute for Statistics said. The growth has been influenced by the 11% increase in the wheat production, which accounts for 47% of the total grain production. Data shows that Romania ranks fourth in Europe in terms of wheat production after France, Germany and Poland.

     

    DST Romania will this weekend implement the Daylight Saving Time DST and will set clocks forward by one hour. So, three AM becomes four AM and Sunday becomes the shortest day of the year. The change takes place a couple of days after the Spring equinox on March 20th, when days are equal with nights. Thanks to the DST, Romania will have a three hours advance against the GMT as compared to only two in winter. DST is expected to last a little under seven months, nearly 65% of the year covering the seasons of spring, summer and half of autumn. The EU members were supposed to announce their decision to permanently adopt the summer or winter time until 2021. However, discussions on the issue still continue.

     

    ­­SCHENGEN As of March 31st, air and maritime checks on Schengen borders will be lifted for Romania and Bulgaria. This means that documents will no longer be checked. In Romania, border policemen can still make unannounced checks, based on a risk analysis. The preparations taking place on 17 airports and four maritime ports in Romania have come to an end. Also, to prepare for 31st March, some big airports in Romania, such as the ones in Iasi and Timisoara, have opened new terminals. Initiated in 1985 as an intergovernmental project between five states – France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – and after seven waves of expansion, the Schengen area is currently the largest free movement area in the world. With the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, it expands to 4.5 million square km and a population of 450 million.

     

    NATO From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, across the Atlantic and the Adriatic, NATO is more united and more capable than ever, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Friday in a message on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the largest wave of expansion in the Alliance’s history. On behalf of the United States, Blinken congratulated Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their accession to NATO. The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has also said that Romania will remain deeply involved in the process of permanent adaptation of NATO, so that the Alliance becomes stronger, more resilient and better prepared for the future. In the 20 years of NATO membership, Romania has become an important pillar and has consolidated its position within the alliance, respecting its security commitments in the Black Sea area, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said. NATO was established in 1949 as a security alliance between the United States, Canada and 10 West European countries. Sweden is the youngest member, as it has joined NATO this year. There are currently 32 states making up the Alliance.

    (bill)

     

  • 20 Years in NATO

    20 Years in NATO

    At the Prague Summit in November 2002, NATO launched membership invitations to seven states: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. And on March 29, 2004, Romania officially joined the North Atlantic Alliance, submitting the instruments of ratification to the US State Department. Attending the event alongside the American president George Walker Bush were the prime ministers of the seven nations, including the Romanian PM Adrian Năstase. “When the North Atlantic Alliance was established, the peoples of these seven countries were captives of an empire. They endured a terrible tyranny, fought for their independence and won their freedom through courage and perseverance,” said George Bush, in one of the most consequential days in Romania’s history.

    The then president of the United States categorically reaffirmed NATO’s central mission, that of defending its members against any aggression. Recently, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Goană, has reminded the Romanian community in Washington D.C. Bucharest’s steps towards accession, stressing that, after the refusal of the Alliance in 1997 to accept Romania in its ranks, he initiated, as a young ambassador to the United States, the idea of ​​a strategic partnership with the United States. A partnership that constantly built the bilateral relationship with the strongest ally in NATO, and, after 7 years of efforts, of perseverance and courage, Romania officially joined NATO.

    Along with the Strategic Partnership with the United States, concluded during the time of President Emil Constantinescu (1996-2000), Romania’s cooperation with NATO during the war in Yugoslavia is considered another important stage in the political process of joining the North Atlantic Alliance – the main guarantor of security. The NATO values, transposed in the provision of peace, freedom and commitment to democracy, are the most important achievements of this political-military alliance.

    The status of NATO member on the eastern border of the military bloc has turned Romania into an important ally for the other 31 members. Moreover, NATO chose Romania to host four of its important structures, three of which are command structures. In addition, in Deveselu (south), the United States placed, in 2016, a part of the American anti-missile shield which, later, was integrated into that of NATO. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, in February 2022, led the Alliance to immediately create a battle group in Romania as well.

    At the same time, NATO decided to expand the Mihail Kogălniceanu military air base (south-east), used intensively by the American army during the missions in Afghanistan. This will become the largest base of the Alliance in Europe and will be able to permanently house up to 10 thousand soldiers and their families. In the new geopolitical context, the development of the base thus strengthens NATO’s eastern flank. Currently, there are about 5,000 allied soldiers in Romania. (MI)

  • March 20, 2024 UPDATE

    March 20, 2024 UPDATE

     

    ELECTIONS The ruling coalition’s joint candidate for the Bucharest Mayor General post, the surgeon and manager of the city’s University Hospital Cătălin Cîrstoiu, was officially introduced on Wednesday in a press conference by the leaders of the Social Democratic Party and National Liberal Party. Cătălin Cîrstoiu will not join any of these parties, but will run in the June 9 election as a nono-affiliated candidate. In the next few days, the Social Democrats and the Liberals will also announce their joint candidates for the 6 districts of the capital city. This year Romania organises local and European Parliament elections in June, presidential elections in September and general elections in December. The Constitutional Court Wednesday dismissed a notification submitted by the opposition and gave the green light for a bill bringing forward the presidential election to September. In their notification, the Save Romania Union and the Force of the Right argued that the bill came against democratic principles and that changing election rules just months before the vote date was unconstitutional.

     

    NATO Mihail Kogălniceanu, in the south-east of Romania, will host the largest NATO operational base in Europe. Upgrade works on the air base in Romania started in 2010, in the context of the war in Afghanistan, but the military complex has now reached a new expansion stage. Substantial funding is earmarked for the building of a military compound which would include a hospital and a school. The Romanian government’s investment is put at EUR 2.5 bln. The Mihail Kogălniceanu air base may eventually take over the logistics and human resources of the US base in Ramstein, Germany.

     

    FRANCOPHONIE Cultural institutions in Bucharest organised special events on International Francophonie Day, celebrated every year on March 20. The National Museum of Romanian Literature organised a presentation of Romanian writers with strong connections with the French culture, by translating or writing their works in French. On Thursday, students with L’Ecole Française Internationale de Bucarest take part in a guided tour presented by Stéphan Artaud, a curator currently on an internship at the National Museum of Romanian Literature. The “Dinu Lipatti” Arts Centre organises the 8th “I Love Lipatti” Festival, until March 23, with a special guest from France, the pianist Dimitri Malignan, giving a special recital on this occasion. Bucharest’s “Nottara” theatre holds a special edition of the “Dialogues without masks” programme, with Vasile Șirli as a guest. Vasile Șirli is a Romanian composer who headed the Paris Disneyland’s music department for 30 years.

     

    FUGITIVES Romania’s Constitutional Court postponed to April 10 a hearing on the notification lodged by the country’s supreme court with respect to the Fugitives Act, under which offenders who fail to appear for incarceration within 7 days of receiving final prison sentences will be considered fugitives and will be sentenced to an additional six months to three years. According to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, this law infringes upon citizens’ right to a fair trial and to individual freedom. A list of famous Romanian fugitives includes the former mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, the former head of Romania’s Directorate Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism Offences, Alina Bica, the son of the president of the Professional Football League, Mario Iorgulescu, and Paul Philippe of Romania, a grandson of King Carol ll. The former mayor of Baia Mare, Catalin Chereches, who had fled to Germany after having been sentenced to five years in prison for bribery, was brought to Romania on Tuesday and sent to a maximum security prison in Arad, western Romania. He was subsequently transferred to Bucharest.

     

    ART Romania will take part in this year’s Venice Art Biennale, in Italy. The project representing Romania in the 60th edition of this famed international exhibition was made public on Wednesday in Bucharest. The artist Şerban Savu’s exhibition, “What Work Is,” looks at the iconography of work, drawing on the historical realism and the propaganda art in the Eastern Bloc countries. The Venice Biennale, held between April 20 and November 24, will bring together participants from 87 countries. (AMP)

  • March 16, 2024 UPDATE

    March 16, 2024 UPDATE

    NATO – The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, has welcomed the recent entry of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, into the competition for the NATO leadership and considered as gratifying the fact that Central Europe finally has a candidate for the position of Secretary General of the Alliance. The Hungarian official declared, on Friday, that the government in Budapest will not support the Dutch Mark Rutte for this post, stating that in a union such as NATO, mutual trust is essential, and supporting a candidate who declared that Hungary must kneel is not possible. We remind you that President Klaus Iohannis announced, this week, his candidacy for the NATO leadership, in the context in which Romania and other Eastern partners requested greater representation in the allied structures at a time when regional security is threatened by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

     

    Romarm – Romania will receive 47 million Euros for a project carried out by the Romarm Company together with Germany. The budget allocated by the European Commission to the Romanian project is the largest of the 31 winning projects. The Commission released, on Friday, more than 500 million Euros for companies from member states, in order to increase the ammunition production capacity. It is a first installment from a total of about 2 billion Euros. According to the European Commission, at the end of 2024, European arms production will reach an annual capacity of 1,000,000 bombshells (155-caliber) and at the end of 2025 the amount will double. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels, in parallel, the Commission recommends the member states to make joint purchases of larger sizes, in order to give a signal of predictability in the medium and long term to the arms industry.

     

    Russia – In Russia, Sunday is the third and last day of the presidential election, in which 112 million Russians have the right to vote. The Central Electoral Commission in Moscow announced, on Saturday afternoon, that more than 50% of the Russian voters have already cast their votes. President Vladimir Putin voted from his office, in an attempt to promote electronic voting, considered fraudulent by the opposition. Several people were arrested for spraying ink, paint and antiseptic on the ballot boxes or throwing Molotov cocktails in the direction of the polling stations. Furthermore, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt his re-election through attacks and incursions on the border. At least 2 Russian civilians were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the city of Belgorod, while Russia, in turn, attacked a residential area of ​​the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday, killing at least 20 people. According to official polls, Vladimir Putin enjoys a voting intention of over 80%, so he could achieve his biggest electoral victory since he came to power in 2000. The opposition has asked the West not to recognize the election results.

     

    Railway – The European Commission has approved 204 million Euros worth of non-reimbursable funds from the Modernization Fund, for the replacement of old locomotives with new rolling stock on the Romanian railways. The Railway Reform Authority specifies that it will use this money to buy nine long-distance interregional trains and 23 electric locomotives by 2027. The financing adds to the 470 million Euros attracted from European funds by the Transport Ministry, from which the purchase of 62 electric trains was financed.

     

    Book Fair – Romania will be present, next week, at the Leipzig Book Fair, in Germany, the most important event in Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to authors, translators and literary debates. Nine invited authors, 12 events, over 150 exhibited titles and a mini-bookstore are waiting for the public, between March 21 and 24, at the Romanian stand organized by the Ministry of Culture in Bucharest. Two of the authors who will be present at the Romanian stand have books translated, for the first time, into German, which confirms a growing interest of the German-speaking literary space in cutting-edge Romanian literature.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ready to play again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne reduced her 4-year suspension to 9 months, was called up to the Romanian team for the match against Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. The match will take place on April 12 and 13, in Florida (USA). Romania and Ukraine have met four times so far, with the Romanians leading with the score 3-1. In November, Romania defeated Serbia 4-0 in the play-off to stay in the World Group of the competition, while Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3-1. On the other hand, also in tennis, the Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu/Irina Hromaceva was defeated by the pair Sara Errani (Italy)/Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia), 6-4, 6-3, on Friday, in the doubles semifinals at the American WTA 125 tournament in Charleston. (LS)

  • March 16, 2024

    March 16, 2024

    NATO – The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, has welcomed the recent entry of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, into the competition for the NATO leadership and considered as gratifying the fact that Central Europe finally has a candidate for the position of Secretary General of the Alliance. The Hungarian official declared, on Friday, that the government in Budapest will not support the Dutch Mark Rutte for this post, stating that in a union such as NATO, mutual trust is essential, and supporting a candidate who declared that Hungary must kneel is not possible. We remind you that President Klaus Iohannis announced, this week, his candidacy for the NATO leadership, in the context in which Romania and other Eastern partners requested greater representation in the allied structures at a time when regional security is threatened by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

     

    Romarm – Romania will receive 47 million Euros for a project carried out by the Romarm Company together with Germany. The budget allocated by the European Commission to the Romanian project is the largest of the 31 winning projects. The Commission released, on Friday, more than 500 million Euros for companies from member states, in order to increase the ammunition production capacity. It is a first installment from a total of about 2 billion Euros. According to the European Commission, at the end of 2024, European arms production will reach an annual capacity of 1,000,000 bombshells (155-caliber) and at the end of 2025 the amount will double. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels, in parallel, the Commission recommends the member states to make joint purchases of larger sizes, in order to give a signal of predictability in the medium and long term to the arms industry.

     

    Russia – Saturday is the second day of the presidential election in Russia, in which almost a third of the approximately 112 million Russians with the right to vote have already participated. President Vladimir Putin voted from his office, in an attempt to promote electronic voting, considered fraudulent by the opposition. Several people were arrested for spraying ink, paint and antiseptic on the ballot boxes or throwing Molotov cocktails in the direction of the polling stations. Furthermore, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt his re-election through attacks and incursions on the border. At least 2 Russian civilians were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the city of Belgorod, while Russia, in turn, attacked a residential area of ​​the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday, killing at least 20 people. According to official polls, Vladimir Putin enjoys a voting intention of over 80%, so he could achieve his biggest electoral victory since he came to power in 2000. The opposition has asked the West not to recognize the election results.

     

    Book Fair – Romania will be present, next week, at the Leipzig Book Fair, in Germany, the most important event in Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to authors, translators and literary debates. Nine invited authors, 12 events, over 150 exhibited titles and a mini-bookstore are waiting for the public, between March 21 and 24, at the Romanian stand organized by the Ministry of Culture in Bucharest. Two of the authors who will be present at the Romanian stand have books translated, for the first time, into German, which confirms a growing interest of the German-speaking literary space in cutting-edge Romanian literature.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ready to play again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne reduced her 4-year suspension to 9 months, was called up to the Romanian team for the match against Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. The match will take place on April 12 and 13, in Florida (USA). Romania and Ukraine have met four times so far, with the Romanians leading with the score 3-1. In November, Romania defeated Serbia 4-0 in the play-off to stay in the World Group of the competition, while Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3-1. On the other hand, also in tennis, the Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu/Irina Hromaceva was defeated by the pair Sara Errani (Italy)/Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia), 6-4, 6-3, on Friday, in the doubles semifinals at the American WTA 125 tournament in Charleston. (LS)

  • Romanian candidate for NATO secretary general

    Romanian candidate for NATO secretary general

     

    A former ambassador to Washington and a former foreign minister in the early 2000s, when Romania was admitted into NATO, Mircea Geană has been the deputy secretary general of the Alliance since October 2019. This is the highest international position held by a Romanian official. And as of recently, as the media in Bucharest noticed, Geoană has been more often in Romania than in Brussels, which suggests his intention to run for president of Romania once again, after losing the election in 2009.

     

    In Bucharest, a resolute Atlanticist and pro-EU Klaus Iohannis concludes this year his second term in office as president of the country. As many observers had expected, on Tuesday he announced his candidacy for the top NATO post. The position will be vacated this year by the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, after a decade in office.

     

    According to Iohannis, his strengths at the helm of the strongest political and military alliance in history would be a deep understanding of the challenges facing NATO, as well as the performances of his country, a NATO member state neighbouring the Russia-invaded Ukraine.

     

    “In a complicated security context, our country has proved to be a pillar of stability in the region,” the Romanian official said, and added that it was time for Romania to take even more responsibility within the Euro-Atlantic leadership structures.

     

    Analysts say the candidacy comes against the background of East European states requesting not to be overlooked in the distribution of top posts in NATO and the European Union. Romania and other eastern partners explicitly called for better representation in NATO structures, especially at a time when the regional security is threatened by the war in Ukraine.

     

    But critics in the country claim NATO deserves better than Iohannis. According to them, during his decade-long presidency Iohannis achieved nothing of note; instead, he has been criticised for his arrogance, apathy, penchant for opulence and lack of communication skills.

     

    What we know so far is that the Romanian president’s challenger for the NATO position is the Dutch PM Mark Rutte, who also takes a step back from national politics. Rutte is backed by major NATO Allies such as the US, Britain, France and Germany.

     

    But the appointment is made following diplomatic consultations between all member states, and a decision is announced only when a consensus has been reached on one candidate. And Rutte, seen with unfriendly eyes in Turkey, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, is now far from unanimity. (AMP)

  • March 13, 2024

    March 13, 2024

    VISIT Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, is today having talks with Romanian president Klaus Iohannis. Currently on a visit to Romania, the OECD official is also going to meet the Senate president, Nicolae Ciuca, as well as members of the joint Special Committee with the Chamber of Deputies and Senate with a view to supporting the process of Romania’s access to the organization. “Romania’s reforms have a good pace. You are a beautiful country on the right way to comply with the living standards of the OECD countries”, the official said on Tuesday at the launch of the organisation’s 2024 Economic Survey for Romania.

     

    NATO Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, has formally announced his intention to run for the position of NATO Secretary General. His intention is based upon a profound understanding of the challenges the Alliance is currently facing as well as Romania’s performances within NATO. The Romanian president’s candidature comes in the last year of his second term in office and because the incumbent NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is going to step down from this position he has occupied since 2014.

     

    RATE According to data released today by the National Institute for Statistics, INS, the annual inflation rate in Romania went down to 7.23% in February from 7.41% in the previous month against the latest price hikes in food, non-food stuff and services, which went up by 4.48%, 7.82% and 11% respectively. Romania’s Central Bank has revised down to 4.7% its inflation forecast for the end of this year, from 4.8% in November. According to data made public in February, inflation is expected to reach 3.5% in late 2025. The forecast has seen a downward trend this year against the indicator’s more favourable developments of late, especially in the food production segment.

     

    PROTEST Taxi drivers have today taken to the streets of Bucharest with over 4 thousand vehicles to call for rights similar to the alternative-transport companies operating in Romania. They have repeatedly sounded the alarm regarding the unfair competition in this field in dire need of regulations because of the faulty legislation and the emergence of a parallel alternative transport structure. The Transport Ministry has published a bill of amendments regulating the alternative-transport services, amendments asked by the protesters’ representatives. However, according to the taxi drivers, the bill lacks the limitation of compliant copies for cars owned by operators on loan or rental contracts on similar criteria with those applied for taxi services, with a view to protecting the quality of life and air to avoid traffic jams and pollution in the big cities.

     

    WEATHER And now a couple of things about the weather in Romania, where the sky is overcast and rain showers have been reported in most of the territory. Mixed precipitations have been reported in the mountains and the highs of the day are ranging between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 10 degrees.

    (bill)

  • March 12, 2024 UPDATE

    March 12, 2024 UPDATE

    CANDIDACY The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis Tuesday announced he would run for the NATO secretary general post. He says Eastern Europe has a valuable contribution to the Alliance, and believes NATO needs to renew its outlook on its mission, with strong representation in this region. Iohannis concludes his second presidential term in December. This February, Romania notified NATO of its intention to nominate Klaus Iohannis for the position for whichthe US, Britain and France announced they would back the Dutch PM Mark Rutte. As a rule, Romania’s nominations for top international posts are decided by the presidency, government and the foreign ministry. The term of NATO’s current secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has been extended by one year, until October. He has been leading the Alliance since 2014. NATO’s deputy secretary general, the Romanian Mircea Geoană, appointed in 2019, also completes his term in October. Romania joined NATO in 2004.

     

    OECD The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Tuesday released its 2024 Economic Survey of Romania in Bucharest, in the presence of PM Marcel Ciolacu and of the OECD secretary general, Mathias Cormann. PM Ciolacu said the OECD membership remains Romania’s most important strategic goal after the NATO and EU accession, and the government is fully committed to further the required reforms. The survey examines Romania’s recent economic performance and assesses policy options to strengthen recovery and sustain the green transition. The OECD Council decided to launch accession negotiations with Romania on 25 January 2022.

     

    LANGUAGE The Constitutional Court in Chișinău ruled that the phrase “Romanian language” is maintained in all the legislation of the Republic of Moldova, including in the Constitution. The Court thus rejected a move submitted last year by a group of socialist and communist MPs following Parliament’s implementation of a 2013 court ruling on the name of the country’s official language.

     

    COUNCIL The Romanian Finance Minister Marcel Bolos Tuesday took part in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels. The agenda included the recovery and resilience mechanism, and the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Presidency and the Commission informed the participants of the main results of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors held on 26-29 February 2024. The ministers of economic and financial affairs also discussed investments and social reforms for resilient economies with the ministers of employment and of social affairs.

     

    PROTESTS Hundreds of local police are picketing the headquarters of the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration for the second day in a row on Wednesday, the National Trade Union Bloc announced. The main demands are full compliance with the law regulating weekly rest days and public holidays and the provision of mandatory food allowances. The unionists also want Parliament to review the draft POCA (Administrative Capacity Operational Program) drawn up by the Ministry of Development, as well as the status of the local police. According to the National Trade Union Bloc, in December 2023, the National Federation of United Local Police Unions started a public campaign to raise awareness on the importance of local police officers in society.

     

    TRIAL The Bucharest Court of Appeals Tuesday postponed the extradition of Andrew and Tristan Tate to the UK, until the case in Romania has been tried. The British-American citizens were detained on Monday night, under European arrest warrants issued by the British authorities for sexual exploitation offences in UK. Last June, the two brothers and two Romanian nationals were charged with forming an organised crime group and continuous human trafficking and rape offences, in a case that made the headlines in Romania. In early 2021, the defendants formed an organised crime group trafficking people in Romania, the US and UK. (AMP)

  • Romania supports NATO’s Open Door Policy

    Romania supports NATO’s Open Door Policy

    In a ceremony held in cold and rainy weather, the flag of Sweden, which became the 32nd member of NATO, was raised, Monday at noon, at the Brussels headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance. It is the epilogue of an almost two-year course of this Scandinavian country, which, after almost 200 years of neutrality and military non-alignment, in May 2022, together with Finland, expressed its intention to join the Euro-Atlantic organization after the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Finland achieved its goal first, after Turkey and later Hungary opposed Sweden’s accession. To give its consent, Ankara requested and received firm commitments from Stockholm regarding the fight against terrorism, and eventually, Budapest, which had never expressed a specific objection to Sweden’s accession, ratified the accession protocol of the Scandinavian country.

     

    Sweden’s accession to NATO is a “historic” event and proves that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has “failed” in his attempt to weaken the Alliance, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “When President Putin launched his full-scale invasion two years ago, he wanted less NATO and more control over his neighbors.  He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state. But he failed. NATO is bigger and stronger, and Sweden’s membership enhances this even further” Stoltenberg said in a joint press conference with the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels. “It’s a victory for freedom”, the Swedish Prime Minister emphasized in Washington, after handing the official accession documents to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States being the depository of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in the US capital in 1949.

     

    In Bucharest, the Romanian Foreign Minister welcomed Sweden’s accession to NATO by submitting, on March 7, the instrument of ratification to the US State Department. By joining NATO, Sweden is stronger and safer, and the Alliance more consolidated, Bucharest officials believe while reiterating that Romania firmly supports the Alliance’s Open Door Policy. On Monday, at the Romanian Defense Ministry headquarters, the ceremony of raising the flags of Sweden, Romania and NATO took place, in the presence of Minister Angel Tîlvăr and the ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden in Romania, Therese Hyden.

     

    “Together we are stronger. As a member, Sweden will equally contribute to the development of the Alliance policies and decisions, as well as to the strengthening of allied forces. The new ally brings into NATO a strong and well-trained army, as well as a robust defense industry”, Angel Tîlvăr also said. According to the Romanian official, “in order to strengthen the security situation, deterrence measures against Russia are also needed, and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance, together with Finland, will make substantial contributions to the integrated defense and deterrence posture on the eastern flank, ensuring coherence and unity from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.” (LS)

  • February 26, 2024 UPDATE

    February 26, 2024 UPDATE

    NATO The Hungarian Parliament on Monday ratified Sweden’s NATO accession. Hungary was the last of the 31 allied states, which granted support to Sweden’s integration. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sweden decided to give up its historical neutrality and join the Alliance. Most of the member states hailed Sweden’s accession, but Turkey and Hungary have delayed ratification. According to the BBC, Turkey said that Sweden tolerated anti-Islamic protests and Sweden is one of the EU countries, which have accused Hungary of backsliding on the EU’s democratic principles. ”We stand ready to shoulder our share of the responsibility for NATO’s security”, the Swedish Premier said shortly after the vote. ”Sweden’s contribution to Euro-Atlantic Security is essential. With Sweden in NATO we are going to consolidate the posture of defence and deterrence on the Eastern Flank and carry on the staunch support for Ukraine. Together we are stronger”, president Iohannis has written on the X platform.

     

    DNA Marius Voineag, the chief of Romania’s Anti-corruption Directorate, a.k.a, DNA, says that during his mandate, the prosecutors have rediscovered the courage to investigate big corruption cases. On the occasion of the presentation of the institution’s activity report in 2023, Voineag says that unfortunately, corruption costs remain unacceptably higher for Romanian society. “In terms of this year’s activity, I must specify that we are perfectly aware that we are having an election context and there is the risk that anything we do may be interpreted and spark off controversies and debates, but I assure you the National Anti-corruption Directorate will carry on its determination to fighting the phenomenon of corruption” the DNA chief went on to say. He gave assurances his institution would continue to target big-corruption cases and the priority domains with direct impact on the citizens’ lives.

     

    PROTESTS Trade unions of the Romanian postal service are staging this week protest actions in front of the Ministry of Research building. Workers are disgruntled with the lack of a transparent, motivating and non-discriminatory salary scheme, or the fact that 80% of Romanian Post staff currently earns minimum wages, regardless of the position, degrees, attributes or seniority. Trade unionists also criticize the lack of coherent development and sustainability policies and the company’s opaque and unpredictable management. Taxi drivers from Bucharest and other counties are also staging a three-day protest in the capital-city as of Monday. They are disgruntled with competition from alternative means of transportation and call on such transporters to observe the same rules taxi drivers are subject to. Some 800 drivers attended the protest on Monday with their vehicles, while over 1,800 drivers and their vehicles are expected to join the protest on Tuesday and Wednesday.

     

     

    UKRAINE Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, and allied leaders on Monday attended a working meeting devoted to Ukraine, hosted by the French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Talks focused on the current phase of the war in Ukraine and its consequences on European and Euro-Atlantic security, as well as options to step up assistance for Ukraine. President Iohannis hails the initiative of his French counterpart, pointing out that unity and solidarity at international level with regard to support for Ukraine are key and must be maintained, the Presidency reports. On the sidelines of the meeting, president Iohannis reasserted Romania’s firm support for Ukraine, for as long as it’s necessary.

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  • February 15, 2024

    February 15, 2024

    CONFERENCE The Romanian Minister of Culture, Raluca Turcanu, who is these days participating in the World Conference on Cultural and Artistic Education in Abu Dhabi, has underlined the commitment of the institution that is heading to supporting cultural and education programmes contributing to the construction of a sustainable, equitable and resilient future. The Minister has mentioned the steps taken by Romania in this respect such as the process of reinvigorating libraries, museums, theatres or other cultural institutions, increasing the equitable access to education and culture, the institutionalization and valorization of the ecosystems of cultural and artistic education including by means of digital technologies, the importance of funding education and culture, the foundation for cultural and educational policies with a view to training the new generation, the Ministry of Culture says in a communiqué. The Conference, which ends today in the United Arab Emirates, has been the first UNESCO event dedicated to this subject. The event has brought together roughly 90 ministers and deputy-ministers of culture and education from around the world, who endorsed a joint statement presenting international desiderata in terms of education through culture and art.

    MEETING The Italian capital Rome is today seeing the third meeting of the governments of Romania and Italy, under the leadership of the two Prime Ministers, Marcel Ciolacu and Giorgia Meloni. The event has taken place 13 years since the previous inter-government meeting. Earlier this morning, the Romanian Prime Minister was received by Pope Francis at the Vatican, upon which he talked with the state secretary of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Romanian delegation’s visit to Italy will end with a Romania-Italy economic forum. On Wednesday, in the first day of the visit in Italy, the head of the Executive in Bucharest, held talks with the mayor of Rome and representatives of the community of Romanians in Italy. Italy is Romania’s second major trade partner, the second market for the Romanian exports, and the second major source for Romania’s imports. The two countries last year reached a record high of their bilateral trade, which stood at over 20 billion Euros. Italy comes sixth in the ranking of foreign investment in Romania.

    NATO In 2024, 18 NATO member countries are to hit the target of earmarking at least 2% of their GDP for defence, the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg announced on Wednesday ahead of the meeting of NATO defence ministers. According to the high NATO official, the European NATO members will be investing a total of 380 billion dollars in defence this year. At the same time, Stoltenberg said that last year saw an unprecedented 11% rise in defence expenses in countries like Canada and the European members. NATO members agreed in 2006 to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence, but only some of them, Romania included have reached this objective. However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the NATO members, especially Germany, have reiterated the pledge.

    CALL Romania’s transporters have called on the Romanian government to intervene and put an end to the checking procedures initiated by the Bulgarian customs officers, which they consider abusive and which have been causing huge delays at the border between the two countries. The National Union of the Road Transporters has called on the Romanian Prime Minister, the Ministers of Transport and the Foreign Minister asking for support in this issue. Even in the absence of measures for solving the situation, the transporters have called for a decoupling of the two countries in the process of their Schengen accession. They argue that if they still have to wait for days at the Bulgarian border, at least the Schengen accession without Bulgaria would reduce the delays at the border with Hungary. Romania and Bulgaria are to be joining Schengen in March this year but only with their air and maritime borders.