Radio România Internațional

Tag: pilots

  • September 13, 2024 UPDATE

    September 13, 2024 UPDATE

    A roundup of local and international news.

     


    Energy.     The Romanian government will ask for compensations from the European Union for the significant differences in energy prices between the west and the east of Europe, said energy minister Sebastian Burduja. He gave assurances that the domestic energy production is sufficient in the event of a mild or moderately cold winter, and in the event of a harsh winter, Romania has an interconnection capacity that allows it to supply the needed demand. According to official data, natural gas storages are filled up to 96.53%, which is 177.7 million cubic metres more than last year. Romania is still the European Union’s second largest gas producer.

     

    Pilots. The first four Ukrainian pilots have arrived in Romania to start training for the F-16 jets, the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, Constantin Spînu, said on Friday. He also said that for the time being, the pilots attend theoretical courses, the practical phase being scheduled to start at the end of the year. Ukraine received F-16 jets from the West and wants to be able to use them as soon as possible to counter Russian attacks. On Thursday, Minister Angel Tîlvăr reconfirmed, in a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, Romania’s firm commitment to further supporting Ukraine.

     

    Visa Waiver. Romania is very close to fulfilling all technical criteria to enter the Visa Waiver Program, said the country’s ambassador to Washington, Andrei Muraru. He had talks with the US secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas about the joint actions to be carried out by the two countries in the coming period for Romania to join the Visa Waiver Program. Muraru said Romania is weeks away from meeting the last technical requirement, the rejection rate. Under US law, an obligatory condition for a country to be considered eligible for the Visa Waiver Program is for the rejection rate of visitor visas to be under 3% in the year before joining the program.

     

    EU Budget. Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureşan, one of the two chief negotiators of the European Parliament for the future budget of the Union, says that the new financial exercise must focus on the aid granted through the Common Agricultural Policy and through the Cohesion Policy. According to him, adjustments must be made to face competitiveness and adapt to the needs of farmers. In addition, Siegfried Mureşan believes that the Cohesion Policy must also include the new realities in the field of defense and security, against the background of uncertainties caused by the war in Ukraine.

     

     Russia strike. The Romanian foreign ministry firmly condemns the Russian strike against a grain vessel in the Black Sea waters. “This is an unprecedented escalation of the actions of the Russian Federation in its illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine. The deliberate attack against a commercial vessel is a grave violation of humanitarian international law regarding warfare at sea”, said the foreign ministry in a statement. The ministry calls on the Russian Federation to put an end to all attacks against commercial vessels and to comply with the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. NATO strongly condemned as well the Russian attack on a civilian grain ship in the Black Sea. A Russian missile hit a commercial vessel in the Black Sea that was carrying grains from Ukraine to Egypt, with no casualties reported, said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

     

     

     

  • August 8, 2023

    August 8, 2023

    PENSIONS The
    Romanian MPs are expected to interrupt their summer holidays and resume
    activity in order to amend the special pensions law, after some provisions have
    been deemed as unconstitutional, the country’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu,
    has said. Ciolacu told a private TV channel the requests made by the
    constitutional judges would be subjected to talks in Brussels between the
    Romanian authorities and the European Commission representatives. Ciolacu has pledged
    to fly to Brussels this month to renegotiate several provisions in the
    country’s National Plan of Recovery and Resilience as well as the budget target
    of 4.4%. The government in Bucharest would rather the European Executive accepted
    a target of 5% of the GDP. The Prime Minister has explained that in the absence
    of a plan on curbing budget expenses and raising incomes, the budget would
    exceed 6.2%, which might prompt the EU to cut its funds for Romania.






    PILOTS 100 Romanian pilots, who in the past four months defended the NATO air
    space over Lithuania, are coming back home. There were many situations in which
    Russian Sukhoi warplanes were flying dangerously close to the NATO airspace and
    the Romanian pilots were sent to intercept those planes. The Romanians worked
    together with their colleagues from Portugal and NATO is permanently deploying air-force
    personnel and aircraft to that country as Lithuania doesn’t have its own
    fighter jets. Moreover, the area is notorious for the bold attempts of the
    Russian pilots to violate the NATO airspace. 16 years ago Romanian pilots were
    also involved in air policing missions in Lithuania on their upgraded MIG-21
    Lancers.








    SUPPORT
    Romania is ready to offer specialized assistance and support to the National
    Armed Forces of the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking
    country, Romania’s National Defence Minister, Angel Tilvar, said in Chisinau
    during the talks he held on Monday with his Moldovan counterpart, Anatolie
    Nosatîi.
    The Moldovan servicemen have recently received from Romania Kevlar helmets,
    bullet-proof vests and all-terrain vehicles. The donation is part of Romania’s
    ongoing efforts to support the upgrading and streamlining of the defence
    structures in the neighbouring state. According to a press release by the
    Defence Ministry in Bucharest, the two officials have also tackled aspects concerning
    the latest developments in the regional security caused by the aggression war
    Russia is presently waging on Ukraine, with emphasis on the situations caused
    by the latest bombing of Ukraine’s ports on the Danube close to the borders
    with Romania and the Republic of Moldova.






    TENNIS Romanian
    tennis player, Sorana Cirstea, started off on the right foot at the WTA 1000
    tournament in Montreal, Canada with 2.800.000 dollars in prize money. The
    Romanian secured a two-set win 6-4, 7-6, against Varvara Gracheva of France in
    a match, which took place on Monday. In the second round Cirstea will be
    playing the winner of the match pitching Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic
    against Anastasia Potapova. If she won, the Romanian might play in the round of
    16 against top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland, who plays Karolina Pliskova of the
    Czech Republic in the second round.






    FESTIVAL The
    24th edition of the international festival Enescu and the World’s
    Music kicks off today in the resort of Sinaia, southern Romania. Concerts are
    being held at the local casino, the city museum, the George Enescu Memorial,
    the Dimitrie Ghica park and the Catholic church. According to the organizers,
    this festival has been devoted to the young people and young orchestras and
    mainly to the winners of national and international contests. The event is also
    devoted to the famous Romanian artists who are involved in the process of
    training the young generation of musicians, as part of this Romanian project.
    The festival is due to end on August 31.


















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