VISIT The PM of Bulgaria Kiril
Petkov is on a working visit to Romania today. He will be received by president Klaus Iohannis and will also have talks
with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciucă. The agenda of the visit also includes a meeting with the European
Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, and
the signing of an agreement between the Romanian and Bulgarian governments
concerning the opening of the Giurgiu – Ruse ferryboat checkpoint. During the visit of the Bulgarian delegation,
the Romanian defence minister Vasile Dîncu will have talks with his Bulgarian
counterpart Dragomir Zakov.
PARLIAMENT The Speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, Marcel
Ciolacu, announced meetings in the forthcoming period between the leaders of
the parliaments of Romania and the neighbouring Republic of Moldova. A meeting
may take place in Iaşi (eastern Romania), near the Moldovan border, he added.
ECONOMY The National Strategy and Forecast Commission revised its economic
growth estimate for this year from 4.3% predicted in winter down to 2.9% in its
latest report. According to the Commission, the reassessment was triggered by
the effects of the conflict in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, while
the new pandemic wave in China is also expected to deepen trade logjams,
especially in the automotive industry. The
Romanian central bank’s deputy governor Leonardo Badea also said, in a
specialised conference, that the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have
generated significant economic and fiscal problems.The IMF expects
Romania’s GDP to go up 2.2% this year, while the World Bank’s estimate is 2.9%.
CYBER ATTACKS Today’s cyber-attack on websites of Romanian public and
private institutions was claimed by a cyber-crime group called Killnet, the
National Cyber Security Directorate announced. A number of Distributed Denial
of Service (DDoS) attacks targeted websites belonging to the government,
defence ministry, border police, the passenger railway corporation CFR and OTP
Bank, and was claimed to be in response to Romania’s support of Ukraine in the
military conflict with Russia. Prague
also accused a pro-Russian hacker group of committing cyber-attacks against websites
run by the Czech public administration, hospitals and private entities on April 21.
VETERANS Several military ceremonies are held today
to mark the War Veterans Day in Romania. The defence minister Vasile Dîncu and
the chief of staff gen. Daniel Petrescu will attend the events at the Monument
of Heroes in Bucharest, while similar events will take place across the country
and abroad. Also today, defence ministry officials will have an informal
meeting in Bucharest with war veterans, children, students, and troops from
theatres of operations.
UKRAINE NATO warns that the West must be prepared
for a long-term conflict. Its deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană said that the
coming days and weeks may prove decisive, but that the war in Ukraine is likely
to last longer-perhaps months or even years, depending on many factors. Russia
carries on its offensive to get full control over the regions of Donetsk and
Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and to create a land corridor to Crimea, the
Ukrainian Army announced. Moscow also increased the number of drones flying
over Odessa region on aerial reconnaissance missions, while local officials say Russia disseminates fake news and
disinformation in an attempt to induce panic among the civilians in the region.
FESTIVAL The French Institute in Bucharest, jointly with Europavox,
organises a series of round tables, panel discussions and workshops entitled What’s
Next for European Music on May 4 and 5. The participants will look at the
music sector after the pandemic, opportunities in a new European framework,
current financing opportunities in the EU, the European culture in solidarity
with Ukraine, and digital communication in the context of the Covid-19
pandemic. The debates will be held in English. During the same period, artists
from 6 European countries will perform in Bucharest as part of the first
Europavox Festival edition held in Romania.
MAY
DAY The summer
season officially begins this weekend in Romania. Hotel owners expect nearly
30,000 tourists to spend May Day on the Black Sea coast. Data centralised by a
tour operator indicate that over 100 hospitality units are ready to receive
their guests, with the resorts of Mamaia and Costineşti in the highest demand. (AMP)