Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romania

  • The danger of wildfires

    The danger of wildfires

    The severe wildfires in recent days, affecting a large area of ​​Romania, have led to the death and injury of several people. Dozens of violent fires have broken out since the beginning of the month, and the fire has also come close to people’s homes in several areas. The authorities have deployed impressive forces to fight the flames. The firefighters were helped by employees of other structures to extinguish the fires, some of them in hard-to-reach areas. They were involved in large-scale interventions in dozens of localities in seven counties. Intervening along the firefighters were also mountain rescuers, as well as pilots from the Ministry of Interior and Defense. The two Black Hawk helicopters of the General Aviation Inspectorate carried out dozens of launches part of which they dropped over 77 tons of water to put out the fires, and another helicopter carried out a reconnaissance mission.

     

    At the same time, a Spartan aircraft of the Ministry of National Defense acted in support of the intervention forces, to extinguish the fires. The authorities are calling for responsibility and are telling people to stop burning plants on agricultural lands. At the same time, the authorities have drawn attention to the serious situation: 650 hectares burned in January, another 4,400 hectares in February, and this month, in the first eight days alone, 4,600 hectares have burned. In just three days, there were over 300 fires. According to the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, it is only the people who are to be blamed for these destructions. He explained that the wildfires did not break out due to meteorological phenomena.

     

    Raed Arafat: “It is clear, at this point we cannot blame these forest fires to increased temperatures, to lightning. We can only attribute them to intentional actions by some people, who have either become accustomed to doing this for a long time, or some are doing it intentionally just to try to clear some fields or to set fire to an area where there is dry vegetation, which is why we consider most of them to be the result of intentional actions.”

     

    On the other hand, Raed Arafat called on the local authorities to explain to people about the danger of vegetation fires, also asking for the help of priests. Preventing fires not only protects nature, but also contributes to the safety of the community, the authorities say. Military firefighters remind citizens that burning dry vegetation is prohibited by law. Failure to comply with the legal provisions is an offence and is punishable by fines of up to 15,000 lei (approx. 3,000 euros) for individuals and up to 100,000 lei (approx. 20,000 euros) for legal entities. In addition, farmers who do not comply with the burning ban may lose the direct or annual payments to which they are entitled. In some cases, they may be excluded from financial support for one or more consecutive years. (LS)

  • Romania – Moldova summit meeting

    Romania – Moldova summit meeting

     

    Romania and the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet republic, mostly Romanian-speaking) insist that no decision regarding peace in Ukraine and the future of the Ukrainian people can be made without Ukraine and without adequate security guarantees, the interim president of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, said on Saturday, in a joint conference with his Moldovan counterpart, Maia Sandu.

     

    At the end of a meeting in Chișinău, he pointed out that ‘the way to achieving peace for Ukraine will decisively influence’ the common security of Romania and the neighbouring Republic of Moldova.

     

    Ilie Bolojan believes that extensive dialogue between Europe and the United States of America is ‘a very good condition’ for reaching a consensus on the war in Ukraine.

     

    As regards the talks between the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the US president Donald Trump, Ilie Bolojan voiced moderate optimism with respect to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but said he hoped that ‘wisdom will prevail’. He explained that neighbouring Ukraine needs a lasting peace and warned about the danger posed by Russia’s aggression:

     

    Ilie Bolojan: “If Russia’s expansionist views remain a constant in the years to come, it means that we can imagine a new conflict starting over, and Ukraine may be only the first victim”.

     

    On the other hand, Ilie Bolojan promised that Romania will ask for more financial support, know-how and projects for Moldova at European level. Also, Bucharest will continue to cap prices for a large part of the electricity the neighbouring country buys from Romanian producers. According to him, the Romanian authorities ‘continue to work on strengthening the interconnection with the Republic of Moldova in the electricity sector’.

     

    In turn, president Maia Sandu said Romania is the “best friend” and “most important partner” of the Republic of Moldova, on which Chişinău has relied in all circumstances. Over the years, Bucharest has stood by Chişinău, “with concrete support, with projects that improve people’s lives, with a clear and firm voice in supporting our European path,” Maia Sandu added.

     

    “Romania is a reliable partner in our efforts to become a modern, European state. Beyond common projects, we are linked by a vision for the future, we are linked by the desire to live in peace, freedom, and democracy,” Maia Sandu also said. She also explained that the people of the Republic of Moldova will not forget the times when Moscow tried to erase their identity and kill their language and culture.

     

    Maia Sandu: “We will continue to protect free elections, fight electoral corruption in any form it may take, and defend the right of our citizens; people, the nation should decide what kind of life they want, not Moscow.”

     

    As for the war on the border, Chișinău supports Kyiv in its efforts to achieve a lasting and just peace. (AMP)

  • February 21, 2025

    February 21, 2025

    VISIT Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is meeting the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels today. Talks over the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, a.k.a PNRR, as well as the global and regional security are high on the talks agenda. Bucharest’s objective is to renegotiate with the EU officials some targets in the country’s National Plan of Recovery and Resilience so that Romania may entirely absorb the funds allotted through the European mechanism. In Ciolacu’s opinion, there are a series of issues within the PNRR, which need adjustment to present-day realities. The head of the Executive believes that 2025 and 2026 are decisive years when Romania can entirely benefit from funding in the aforementioned plan.

     

    FOOTBALL Romania’s football champions, FCSB, on Thursday night qualified for the Europa League’s round of 16 after a 4-1 win on aggregate against, PAOK Thessaloniki, a Greek eleven coached by Romanian Razvan Luceascu. FCSB won the first game in Greece 2-1 and also clinched a 2-0 win in Bucharest last night in front of over 50 thousand football fans. FCSB will be playing their first match at home on March 6 and return one a week later either against Olympique Lyon or Eintracht Frankfurt. Lots are being drawn today in Nyon, Switzerland.

     

    THEFT The Dutch police have announced they apprehended a 26 year-old man, who has become the fourth suspect in the theft of the Romanian ancient artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. According to police sources, the artefacts haven’t been recovered yet. We recall that on January 25, four extremely valuable golden artefacts part of Romania’s treasure, on display at the Drents Museum, were stolen. The museum was hosting the exhibition entitled “Dacia, the Kingdom of gold and silver”, which was supposed to close a day before the robbery.

     

    JOBS Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, on Thursday announced that 18 hundred jobs of public and contract servants from the institutions subordinated and coordinated by the government would be axed. The premier referred to a massive drop in the number of the aforementioned jobs of 13.5%, which translates into the biggest cost-cutting initiative in the history of the Romanian government.

     

    BUDGET The Romanian government has approved a budget of roughly 240 million Euros for the preparation and staging of the presidential election on May 4 and 18. The money comes from the Budget Reserve Funds made available to the government and stipulated in the state budget 2025 – says a communiqué of the Executive. We recall the presidential election will take place in May after a first round held in December was annulled through a Constitutional Court ruling, which invoked interferences in the election process.

     

    RABLA Representatives of the Carmakers Association in Romania have proposed to the authorities a new form of the RABLA programme, which no longer includes the Classical and Plus variants. According to the aforementioned association, ecobonuses of higher value might encourage the population to purchase more electric cars and if ecobonuses are funded from green certificates, their value may become more important than the state budget funds. A lower ecobonus value for electric vehicles, which last year was halved at 5 thousand Euros, has caused a major market slump of roughly 32%.

    (bill)

  • February 15, 2025 UPDATE

    February 15, 2025 UPDATE

    MOTION The opposition SOS Romania has announced it will table a censure motion against the government led by Social-Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, a document also assumed by the opposition AUR MPs and signed by 125 MPs. The opposition USR MPs say they will announce whether they support or not the move. In turn, the ruling coalition has given assurances the motion stands no chances to get endorsed. No PSD MP will say yes to the censure motion against the Ciolacu government says the vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, Social Democrat Daniel Suciu. He says the move initiated by the opposition would jeopardize the country’s stability. The PNL interim president, Catalin Predoiu, says that the Liberals will defend the government through their vote. Also on Monday, Education Minister, Daniel David, is expected to attend the ‘Government Hour’ hosted by the Chamber of Deputies, upon an AUR request. The AUR MPs are criticizing the measures proposed by the minister on the elimination of the compulsory studying of geography and history by high-school students. AUR has called for keeping the aforementioned subjects in the school programme so that they may contribute to the education of the new generations.

     

    DNA Romanian prosecutors have placed the head of the Joint Logistic Command of the Romanian Army, General Catalin Stefanita Zisu, under legal control on bail for abuse of office with aggravating consequences – according to sources withy the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, known in Romania as DNA. The bail in Zisu’s case stands at 200 thousand Euros, which he must make available in seven days. Retired colonel Lucian Amoraritei has also been charged on several counts, such as forgery, use of forgery and abuse of office. Businessman Ionel Olteanu is also involved with the case. According to prosecutors, between 2022-2023, the two army officers approved the settlements of the invoices issued, although they knew that part of the works at the Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest had not been done. The prejudice they caused was estimated at roughly 12 million lei.

     

    TALKS The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed at the Security Conference in Munich on Saturday that talks are underway with the USA over raw materials exchanges for Washington’s support in countering the Russian invasion. The US president Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US wants access to Ukraine’s vast resources of rare earths and other critical minerals, underlining that the USA should get something in exchange for its military support. At the Security Conference in Munich, Romania is being represented by its Foreign Minister, Emil Hurezeanu. According to a communiqué issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Bucharest, Minister Hurezeanu will be presenting Romania’s assessments of the present regional challenges, such as the deterioration of the security situation in the Black Sea area and the implications of the aggression war Russia is presently waging on Ukraine for the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. The Romanian official is also going to underline the danger of the hybrid actions taken by the Russian Federation and the importance of countering suchlike activities. The head of the Bucharest diplomacy will be pleading for the continued solid support aimed at increasing the resilience of the ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. During the same conference on Friday, the new vice-president of the United States, Republican JD Vance lashed out at the European leaders, whom he compared with the autocrats who headed the repressive regimes in Europe during the Cold War. He voiced concern over Europe, which he said is retreating from its fundamental values and gave several examples of repressive measures, including the cancellation of the presidential election in Romania late last year.

     

    RUGBY Romania’s national rugby side on Saturday conceded defeat to Portugal, 34-6, in their last match in Group B of Rugby Europe Championships 2025. Both sides have already qualified for World Cup 2027 in Australia after their wins this month in Rugby Europe Championships. The Romanians secured a 48-10 home win against Germany and an away win against Belgium, 31-14. Romania failed to qualify only in one |World Cup edition, namely in 2019, when it was disqualified due to an error of the Romanian rugby Federation, which included in its lineup an ineligible player.

    (bill)

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • February 15, 2025

    February 15, 2025

    DNA Romanian prosecutors have placed the head of the Joint Logistic Command of the Romanian Army, General Catalin Stefanita Zisu, under legal control on bail for abuse of office with aggravating consequences – according to sources withy the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, known in Romania as DNA. The bail in Zisu’s case stands at 200 thousand Euros, which he must make available in seven days. Retired colonel Lucian Amoraritei has also been charged on several counts, such as forgery, use of forgery and abuse of office. Businessman Ionel Olteanu is also involved with the case. According to prosecutors, between 2022-2023, the two army officers approved the settlements of the invoices issued, although they knew that part of the works at the Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest had not been done. The prejudice they caused was estimated at roughly 12 million lei.

     

    MSC The need for a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in Ukraine invaded by the Russian troops is the message conveyed by the Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the 61st edition of the famous international security conference Munich Security Conference 2025 underway in Germany over February 14 and the 16. According to a communiqué issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Bucharest, Minister Hurezeanu will be presenting Romania’s assessments of the present regional challenges, such as the deterioration of the security situation in the Black Sea area and the implications of the aggression war Russia is presently waging on Ukraine for the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. The Romanian official is also going to underline the danger of the hybrid actions taken by the Russian Federation and the importance of countering suchlike activities. The head of the Bucharest diplomacy will be pleading for the continued solid support aimed at increasing the resilience of the ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. During the same conference on Friday, the new vice-president of the United States, Republican JD Vance lashed out at the European leaders, whom he compared with the autocrats who headed the repressive regimes in Europe during the Cold War. He voiced concern over Europe, which he said is retreating from its fundamental values and gave several examples of repressive measures, including the cancellation of the presidential election in Romania late last year.

     

    RUGBY On its own turf today, Romania’s national rugby side is taking on Portugal in its last match in Group B of Rugby Europe Championship 2025. Both sides are already qualified for the World Cup 2027 in Australia after their wins this month in Rugby Europe Championship. The Romanians secured a 48-10 home win against Germany and an away victory, 31-14, against Belgium. Romania failed to qualify only in one World Cup edition, namely in 2019, when it was disqualified due to an error of the rugby federation in Bucharest, which included in its lineup an ineligible player.

     

    WEATHER And now a couple of things about the weather, which remains cold with a code yellow of snowstorms in the country’s east and south-east. Meteorologists say that it is going to snow even in the country’s capital Bucharest. Temperatures are ranging between minus 3 and 9 degrees Celsius. Snowfalls are expected in most of the Romanian territory, where the weather is getting colder.

    (bill)

     

  • Steadfast Dart 2025

    Steadfast Dart 2025

     

     

  • Interview with the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye in Romania

    Interview with the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye in Romania

    The Ambassador of Türkiye in Romania, H.E. Özgür Kıvanç Altan, has given an exclusive interview to Radio Romania International. The ambassador has discussed with RRI’s Eugen Cojocariu about the political, economic and cultural relations between the two countries, the role of the Turkish community in Romania and of the Romanian community in Türkiye, what the Turks and Romanians have in common, but also about the war in Ukraine, the Turkish-Romanian cooperation within NATO and the plans of the Turkish Embassy in Bucharest for 2025.

  • Corruption Perceptions Index 2024

    Corruption Perceptions Index 2024

    Romania continues to be among the EU countries with the worst results in combating corruption, according to Transparency International.

     

    Worrying for 2024 is the fact that the level of corruption globally is still very high, while efforts to combat this plague are decreasing, the non-governmental organization Transparency International reports. The lack of strong measures against corruption has serious repercussions globally in key areas, such as defending democracy, protecting the environment and combating climate change, and promoting and protecting human rights. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2024, anti-corruption efforts in EU countries are stagnating or even declining, which contributes decisively to compromising the rule of law, circumventing access to justice and reducing public integrity. All of these aspects have a negative impact on citizens’ daily lives, whether we are referring to the poor quality of public services, exposure to corruption or the damage to the environment through illegal practices, Transparency International says.

     

    The EU has among the highest scores in the CPI ranking, which is based on data from 13 independent sources, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. In 2024, the average is 62 points, down 2 points from previous years. At the top of the ranking are Denmark (90 points), Finland (88 points) and Luxembourg (81 points). At EU level, the biggest decline in the last year was experienced by countries such as Germany (75 points, minus 3 points compared to 2023), Austria and France (67 points, minus 4 points compared to 2023), Slovakia (49 points, minus 5 points compared to 2023) and Malta (46 points, minus 5 points compared to 2023).

     

    Although it is among the few countries that have remained with a stable score in the CPI ranking, Romania is well below the EU average. For the third year in a row, it is among the countries with the ‘worst’ results in combating corruption, with 46 points out of 100, the same as Malta.

     

    Transparency International Romania emphasizes the importance of cooperation between all societal actors, from academia, public institutions and the political class, to the private sector and civil society. At the same time, their constant involvement in the formation of an upstanding society is essential, each having its role and responsibility in combating corruption. At the national level, Transparency International Romania recommends measures such as improving awareness among citizens regarding the importance of applying the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers in the Public Interest, updating the legislation in the field of public integrity, the government’s commitment to an anti-corruption program that would lift Romania in the CPI ranking to a score of at least 50 points by 2027, and the development of non-formal and informal education programs dedicated to pupils and students.

     

  • Romanian-Japanese Diplomatic Relations

    Romanian-Japanese Diplomatic Relations

    Regardless of physical distances, people, communities and societies come closer because they feel and desire closeness. Until the 20th century, when globalization reduced everything, people had a natural attraction to their more distant peers. They wanted to learn their customs, learn their language, and get to know their mentalities. Romanians and Japanese have known each other formally for approximately 125 years, the writings of the Romanian traveler Nicolae Milescu Spătarul about the Japanese from the second half of the 17th century being from a time when the movement of people was reduced.

    At the beginning of the 20th century, more precisely in 1902, the Japanese ambassador to Vienna initiated contacts with the Romanian side and expressed his desire for bilateral relations to be established between the two countries. A trade treaty was signed that year that would constitute the legal basis for the development of the relationship. At the outbreak of the First World War, Romania and Japan were on the same side of the trenches, in the Entente alliance. In August 1917, Romania opened its diplomatic representation in Tokyo, with Japan doing the same five years later, in 1922. Between 1922 and 1927, the Romanian legation in Tokyo was closed due to budget cuts, but after 1927, when the Romanian legation reopened, relations would operate uninterruptedly until September 1944. During World War II, Romania and Japan were allies again, this time within the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.

    After the war, relations resumed in 1959, and Ion Datcu was appointed Romania’s ambassador to Japan in 1966. In 1994, interviewed by the Oral History Center of the Romanian Broadcasting Company, Datcu recalled that when he arrived at the post, he did not find many Japanese officials who knew much about the country he came from.

    “Regarding Romania, I was amazed by the little knowledge that existed in parliamentary circles, even among members of the government. They knew very little, and I remember, at that time, when we were discussing certain issues, even European ones, they could not understand the fact that we had different positions from the Soviet Union. They saw this part of Europe as a block of a monolith. In fact, this was not only a Japanese thing, I found the same thing in the USA. But I want to say that businessmen, on the other hand, knew things, had interests. I visited many enterprises, we were already buying ships, building ships, I also christened some ore carriers, fishing vessels were bought. Even the big electronic equipment companies were prospecting the market. I noticed this interesting difference between politicians and businessmen. There was a big discrepancy.”

    But Ion Datcu was going to get a big surprise at the meeting with the Japanese sovereign.

    “Emperor Hirohito was an extraordinarily likable man, beyond his aura of mysticism, he was an extremely warm, approachable man. And I had the incredible surprise that the emperor knew more about Romania than the members of the government at that time. He started talking to me about the Danube Delta and was a great specialist in fauna, especially in fish. And he even showed me this, he had some books, and then I promised him ‘Your Majesty, I’ll do my best’, and when I went on vacation and I brought him some books that I found, with maps of the Danube Delta, and I offered them to him. And he kept asking me, ‘How long will this paradise in Europe last?’ And I came up with the idea, I said ‘Maybe you come once and see the Danube, the Danube Delta and the Black Sea’, this area that he considered to be of great interest for his studies. He had probably studied biology and studied various animals from these waters.”

    Romanian-Japanese relations were dominated by economic issues. Ion Datcu even said that the Japanese had invented a new type of diplomacy, the economic one.

    “My mandate in Bucharest was, indeed, almost entirely economic. At that time, we had the idea of modernizing a series of industrial capacities, including the aluminum factory. I remember doing it with a company, Marubeni, we built a fleet, and we were trying to export as well and we even managed to export billets to a country that produced steel of certain types and sizes, they produced ball bearings and many other products, I even remember an egg paste. It was not a very big political interest from the Romanian government’s point of view. At that time, Japan was an economic interest, and from the Japanese point of view it was the flowering period of the so-called economic diplomacy. They inaugurated economic diplomacy. For me, who had studied these aspects a lot, I had the impression that economic diplomacy could not be done apart from politics, apart from military factors and so on, as is normal. The truth is that the Japanese, indeed, developed and refined economic diplomacy. What did this mean? Their foreign policy and diplomatic priorities were established, apart from the United States of America, in the neighboring area and elsewhere, according to economic interests.”

    Romania and Japan, two countries located at a great distance from each other, already have a century-old tradition of bilateral contacts. It is a tradition that keeps them close through the past, but also through the values of the present.

  • MApN dismantles Russia’s misinformation campaign

    MApN dismantles Russia’s misinformation campaign

    Romania’s Ministry of National Defence has denounced a new misinformation campaign concerning Romania. Russian journalists have this time tackled the drone attack on the night between January 16th and 17th the Russian forces launched against the civil infrastructure of Ukraine’s ports, close to its border with Romania.

    According to them, the attack was launched a day later, in the night between January 17th and 18th, allegedly against a convoy of Romanian troops or mercenaries trying to cross the Danube from Romania to Ukraine in their dinghies.

    According to the aforementioned Russian sources, ground military installations belonging to Romania’s armed forces would have opened fire against the flying drones. The same propaganda material says that the drone attack, which has been ordered by high-ranking Russian army officers, would have caused significant casualties among the Romanian troops.

    The Kremlin scenario also includes helicopter gunships belonging to the Romanian Air Force, involved in medevac operations and also supporting with fire the operation of the Ukrainian forces on the other bank of the river.

    The aforementioned propaganda material has triggered a prompt response from Bucharest.

    The Defence Ministry in Bucharest, also known as MApN, has described those presented by the Russian press as ‘absurdities without any real support’. The Ministry says that in the night between January 16th and 17th, the Romanian army’s monitoring and surveillance installations signaled a series of violations of Romania’s airspace, which imposed alerts issued for the residents of the Tulcea county and the activation of two F-16 jet fighters of the country’s air force.

    Later, experts with the MApN, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Interior Ministry, have identified two areas in which parts of the Russian drones fell to the ground.

    The Romanian Defence Ministry says that although absurd and false, the information invented by Kremlin’s propaganda laboratories is in line with the pattern of the Russian operations aimed at influencing and manipulating the Romanian and allied public space.

    According to MApN, their objective is to create a false perception that NATO would try to join the war against Russia and that Romania is being pushed into this conflict.  The Romanian side says that this propaganda narrative is also targeting the Russians who are being manipulated into believing the myth of the besieged city, that Russia is in danger of being attacked by NATO, and that in Ukraine, the Russian invading troops are actually fighting NATO in the so-called ‘special military operation’

    According to Bucharest, the reality, which the Kremlin propaganda is trying to cover up, is that Russia, which completely disdains international norms, has militarized the Black Sea, invaded Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2024, and since 2022 has been engaged in an illegal aggression war against a neighbouring sovereign country. Last, but not least, the Ministry says that it expects the false information presented in the aforementioned material to be taken over by the vectors of the Russian propaganda operating inside the Romanian public space and get hyped up mainly on digital platforms.

    (bill)

     

  • January 18, 2025 UPDATE

    January 18, 2025 UPDATE

    Protest – Thousands of members and supporters of the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the main opposition party in Romania’s Parliament, protested on Saturday in Bucharest and across Romania, demanding, among other things, the resumption of the second round of the presidential election. They criticized the court’s decision by which the action opened by the independent candidate Călin Georgescu in the case of the cancellation of the presidential election was definitively rejected and said that it defies millions of Romanians who demand the resumption of the second round of voting and that it ignores the lack of clear evidence. Organized on time, on November 24, 2024, the first round was invalidated by the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), which, based on documents provided by the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT), invoked the interference of a so-called state actor. The second round, scheduled for December 8, was to be contested by Georgescu, accused of connections with Russia, and the opposition Save Romania Union (USR) leader Elena Lasconi. In the diaspora, where the polling stations for the decisive round opened on December 6, tens of thousands of Romanians had already voted when the CCR decided to invalidate the first round. The costs of the invalidated election allegedly stand at almost 1.4 billion lei (the equivalent of about 280 billion Euros). On December 21, the acting president’s second and last five-year presidential mandate was to expire, according to the Constitution, but his mandate was extended until the election of a new president to be validated by the CCR.

     

    NATO – Hundreds of British military vehicles are on their way to Romania, loaded on ferries, to take part in a major NATO exercise, the British government announced. 2,400 British soldiers, with 730 military vehicles, will form the main battle group, supported by representatives of five other NATO countries, and the United Kingdom will ensure the command of the land component. The new allied reaction force replaced the NATO response force last year and aims to quickly and effectively respond to any threat in peacetime, crisis or conflict.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian-Ukrainian pair Gabriela Ruse/Marta Kostiuk qualified for the round of 16 of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, after defeating the pair Elise Mertens (Belgium)/Ellen Perez (Australia) 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in Melbourne. In another second round match, the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian and her Italian partner Camilla Rosatello were defeated by the pair Leylah Fernandez (Canada)-Nadia Kicenok (Ukraine), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Jaqueline Cristian was also defeated in the singles by the German Eva Lys 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the third round.

     

    Intelligence Service – The Romanian Intelligence Service presented new details about the strategic objectives in Romania that a Colombian citizen intended to blow up, at the instigation of a person from Russia. The target was a recyclable waste deposit, two oil extraction wells and a Natural Gas Regulating Metering Station. Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa was sent to court last November for crimes against national security. According to the investigators, the Colombian was affiliated with an extensive network of saboteurs, controlled through intermediaries by the Russian secret services, which targeted several European states. A former military, trained in intelligence gathering activities, Diosa arrived on Romanian territory in July 2024.

     

    Fair – Romania will participate in the largest organic products fair in the world, BioFach 2025, which will take place in Nuremberg (Germany) between February 11-14, announced the Bio-Romania Association, supported by the Romanian Government through the Romanian Agency for Investments and Foreign Trade. According to the Association, Romania has been present for 20 years at this event dedicated to agriculture and ecological products. Since 1990, BioFach has become the essential meeting point for organic food producers worldwide, offering networking opportunities and a place where ideas can be exchanged between all actors in the value chain of the organic sector.

     

    US – The inauguration ceremony of the US President-Elect, Donald Trump, will be moved indoors, as the weather forecast for Monday in Washington indicates very low temperatures, the American press announces. Therefore, the swearing-in ceremony, which was supposed to take place on the steps of the Capitol, will take place inside the Capitol Rotunda, just as it was done at the ceremony for the second term of the former president Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump has told his supporters that they will be able to see the inauguration ceremony on screens located inside the Capital One Arena, a sports arena in Washington with a capacity of 20,000 people. The transition team announced that, on Monday, Donald Trump would again use his own Bible, and also the “Lincoln Bible”, a copy known by this name because it was the holy book used by the 16th president of the USA , Abraham Lincoln. The Republican leader also used these two copies when taking the oath for his first mandate, in 2017, the EFE agency reports. (LS)

  • January 17, 2025 UPDATE

    January 17, 2025 UPDATE

    FAIR Romania will be participating in the world’s biggest fair of bioproducts, BioFach 2025, due in Nurnberg, Germany, over February 11 and 14, the Bio-Romania Association announced on Friday. Bio-Romania is supported by the government through the Romanian Agency of Investment and Foreign Trade. According to the aforementioned association, Romania has been participating in BioFach for the past 20 years. As early as 1990, BioFach became the main meeting point of producers from the world over, offering the participants numerous network opportunities and also being an idea hub for all the main players in the field organic production.

     

    PROTESTS Thousands of police officers and employees from defence, public order and national security institutions, as well as reserve officers from all over Romania took to the streets of Bucharest on Friday. They called on the government to review an order that significantly reduced their incomes. The act scraps overtime pay and payments for days worked on weekends or public holidays. The protesters argue that the income of operational police officers will be severely affected, with decreases ranging between 200 and 400 Euros. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu pledged on Friday that the issue of overtime pay in the field of public order would be regulated by Parliament in early February.

     

    RUSSIA The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs firmly condemns the Russian forces’ irresponsible attacks that violate all the norms of international law, and emphasizes that Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine generates risks for the entire region. The statement was made as the monitoring and surveillance systems of Romania’s Defence Ministry Friday morning noted violations of Romanian airspace, in Tulcea county, after Russian forces resumed their drone attacks on civilian targets and port infrastructure in Ukraine. ‘Respect for sovereignty, security and peace are obligations that the Russian Federation violates systematically and without provocation. The persistent aggressive actions, the illegal occupation of some of the neighboring territories and the illegal full-scale war that Russia has been waging for almost 3 years against a sovereign neighbor are a persistent and serious threat not only to Ukraine but to the entire Black Sea region and NATO’s eastern flank,’ the foreign ministry says. The Foreign Ministry and the Defence Ministry also mention that they have been informing NATO in real time about the situations caused by these attacks, and remain in permanent contact with it.

     

    FLU Flu vaccination remains the easiest, safest and most effective protection method against seasonal diseases, Romanian doctors reiterate amid increases in the number of respiratory infections. Specialists emphasize that as the percentage of the vaccinated population increased, flu viruses spread in communities decreases. A National Institute for Public Health report shows that the number of people diagnosed with respiratory infections has doubled, with almost 91,000 cases reported in the last week. There are almost 600 patients diagnosed with clinical flu and over 200 for whom lab tests have confirmed infection with the flu virus, most of them in Bucharest, Cluj, Braşov, Constanţa, Alba and Galaţi. Five more people have died from the flu, bringing the death toll since the beginning of the season up to 9.

     

    TENNIS The Romanian tennis players Gabriela Ruse and Jaqueline Cristian, in separate pairs, qualified for the second round of the women’s doubles event at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, after winning their respective matches on Friday in Melbourne. Ruse and Ukraine’s Marta Kostiuk won against the Australians Destanee Aiuava and Maddison Inglis 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), and in the second round they will face strong opponents in Elise Mertens (Belgium) and Ellen Perez (Australia), seeded 6th. Jaqueline Cristian and her Italian partner Camilla Rosatello defeated Cristina Bucşa (Spain)/Iana Sizikova (Russia) 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4. Cristian and Rosatello will next face Leylah Fernandez (Canada) and Nadia Kicenok (Ukraine), seeded 16th. In another first-round match in the women’s doubles, Monica Niculescu and Sofia Kenin (US) were defeated by Miyu Kato (Japan)/Renata Zarazua (Mexico), 6-4, 6-4. In the men’s doubles, the Romanian-Argentine pair Victor Cornea/Mariano Navone was defeated in the second round by Germany’s Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz, 4-6, 6-1.

    (bill)

  • January 10, 2025

    January 10, 2025

    BUDGET The Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, has today said the government must endorse the 2025 budget by January 27 at the latest and has called on ministers to make all the calculations needed, which must also include job-slashing, in both the central administration and subordinated state-owned institutions. Finance Minister, Tanczos Barna, had earlier given assurances the budget draft this year would observe a deficit limit of 7% of the GDP, under the agreement with the European Commission. For 2025 Barna forecast an economic growth of 2.5% and an inflation rate of 5%.

     

    PROTEST About 2000 people protested on Friday in front of the Parliament building in Bucharest a December 6th ruling by the Constitutional Court (CCR) on canceling the presidential elections in Romania. The protesters say the ruling infringes upon the will of the electorate and have called for the resumption of the election process. People took to the streets at the proposal of the former independent candidate, Calin Georgescu, a pro-Russia extremist, who had won the first round of the presidential election in Romania. Authorities say the protest is illegal. We recall the CCR cancelled the election after the country’s Higher Security Council had revealed foreign hybrid interferences in the election process and evidence on the undeclared funding of Georgescu’s campaign. Calin Georgescu has challenged the CCR ruling in court and at ECHR. The new ruling coalition PSD-PNL-UDMR has decided the presidential election take place on May 4 and 18.

     

    VISAS The elimination of the US visas for the Romanian citizens will be officially recorded today at the US Department for Homeland Security in Washington. Technical details as well as the date of the effective activation of the Visa Waiver programme will be made public during the event today. According to Romania’s ambassador in Washington, Andrei Muraru, the Romanians travelling to the USA as tourists and for business will no longer have to give interviews at the US Consulate in Bucharest and pay for getting a visa. The only thing they are going to need is an electronic permit. People can also apply for US visas as these are valid for 10 years allowing them to stay for a maximum period of 6 months. The Romanians who want to study and work in the USA must apply for visas though.

     

    STRIKE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has cautioned the Romanian citizens traveling to Italy that the country’s transport network has been affected by nation-wide strikes. Railway transportation has been disrupted until midnight and only a couple of routes are still operational, such as those linking airports to the big cities and those crossing the peninsula. Workers in three airports in northern Italy have gone on strike and local transportation in all Italian cities has been interrupted four hours today. Teachers in Italy’s pre-university education are on strike, also calling for better working conditions and a revised payment politics. In another development, Belgium will also see this weekend a series of demonstrations involving the workers in public transportation and education; all these actions are expected to affect public transportation in Brussels and around the country.

    (bill)

  • 2024 Travel Retrospective

    2024 Travel Retrospective

    We traveled together to various destinations as we wanted to cover as wide a range of tastes as possible. We went to the highest mountains in Romania, we talked about craftsmen and artisans, ancient villages, and we also visited famous castles. We presented options for spa treatment in traditional centers in Romania as well as the resorts on the Romanian Black Sea Coast.

     

    We opened the travel series from 2024 just 161 kilometers from Bucharest, in Brașov, the city at the foot of the Tâmpa mountains. Known for the Black Church, the largest Gothic-style religious edifice in South-Eastern Europe, for its streets with a medieval atmosphere and for its many restaurants and clubs, the city can be the ideal city-break destination. We then headed to Iași, a former capital of the province of Moldavia for almost 300 years. Also in eastern Romania, we discovered the beauties of the Trotuș Valley, among which the Ghika Palace from Comănești, built in 1890 after blueprints by the architect Albert Galleron, who built the Romanian Athenaeum and the building of the National Bank of Romania. We also visited the Peleș and Pelișor castles in a special feature dedicated to the city of Sinaia, the summer residence of the Romanian royal family from 1887 until 1947. We then stopped at the ski and snowboard slopes of the Bușteni mountain resort. We talked about the offers for winter sports lovers, and also about the biggest and most valuable monument of the resort, unique in the country: the Cross of the Heroes of the Nation, built between 1926-1927, under the care of Her Majesty, Queen Marie. We ended the winter season with the cultural-tourist route of open-air museums in Romania, developed at the national level and recognized by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, a route launched in Romania given the large number of tourists who showed interest in these objectives.

     

    In the first week of spring, we discovered that Buzău county earned the name “little Romania”, due to the diversity of forms of relief found there. We got to know this picturesque area better which is full of legends. Then, we traveled with the ‘mocănița’, a narrow-gauge steam train, maintained by volunteers, which connects the tourist hub of Sibiu with the rural communities of the Hârtibaciu Valley. From the center of Romania, we headed to one of the oldest spa resorts in Europe, attested around the year 150. Located in southwestern Romania, the Băile Herculane resort offers a varied range of treatment procedures. In addition to the special therapeutic quality of the mineral waters, the strongly ionized air balances the nervous system and ensures a restful sleep. From here, we took you to the fortress of Alba Carolina. In Alba-Iulia, tourists are fascinated by the history of the largest Vauban fortification in Romania. Its aspect of a seven-pointed star also means seven huge bastions, which can still be seen today. We didn’t forget about Harghita, the family-friendly county, where there is an animal petting park. Contact with animals can be therapeutic, and, in this park, you can find deer, Icelandic horses and rabbits. From the center of Romania, we set off on the “Gates of Transylvania” cultural-tourist route. It has a length of 1,141 km, and the more than 100 tourist sites with cultural value, included in this program, can be visited by car within 16 days. Last but not least, the invitation to celebrate Easter was in the north of Romania, in Bukovina and Maramureș. The Corvini Castle, the best-preserved monument of Gothic, civil and military architecture in central and southeastern Europe, was our proposal at the beginning of May. Located in western Romania, the imposing construction is one of the main tourist attractions in the area. Then we returned to Bucharest where we learned about three unique tours: Communism versus monarchy, the Old Town and Dracula, the Old Town and communism.

     

    At the beginning of the summer, we learned that the Romanian Black Sea Coast changes for the better from year to year. We have presented you with some of the newest hotels and investments, which are supposed to ensure a pleasant vacation. We also dedicated a feature to the only seaside resort in Romania with mineral, sulphurous and mesothermal springs: Mangalia. From here, we headed to the Danube Delta, where we presented you with a form of tourism that is friendly to the environment: sustainable or ecological tourism. On the other hand, the Danube Delta is also part of the “Golden Apples” cultural-tourist route, as we learned from another feature. This includes destinations such as Bukovina, Mărginimea Sibiului, Târgu Jiu and Oradea. The destinations are awarded the “Golden Apple” trophy by the International Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers. The Story of Wine and speleological tourism in the Anina Mountains were the next proposals, after which we stopped on the road located at the highest altitude in Romania: Transalpina. Towards the end of the year, we talked about active tourism. This form of tourism attracts more and more visitors to Romania due to the spectacular landscapes and the diversity of outdoor activities. The Carpathian Mountains are a favorite destination for hiking, climbing and bouldering, with routes of all levels of difficulty. Last but not least, we spent the winter holidays, one by one, in the Banat mountains and in Maramureș.

     

    The year 2025 promises to be at least as interesting and full of travels. We are waiting for you to join us again in the new year to get to know holiday destinations, interesting projects, unique places and welcoming people. A Happy New Year! (LS)

  • The Year 2024 in Review

    The Year 2024 in Review

    Electoral marathon abandoned before the end

     

    2024 was announced as a complicated political year from the very beginning, with elections of all types, local, European Parliament, presidential and legislative, but no one anticipated what was going to happen at the end of the year and of the electoral marathon. In June, local elections were held together with the European Parliament elections. The common list for the European Parliament proposed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), the parties in the governing coalition, prevailed over the other competitors. At the local elections, the social democrats and the liberals won, in that order, the most town halls and county councils. The increasingly heated pre-election speech caused a cooling of relations between the Prime Minister and PSD leader, Marcel Ciolacu, and the PNL leader Nicolae Ciucă, both running for president. And then came the shock of the first round of the presidential election, from November 24, when the political system received a severe blow: Ciucă obtained a single-digit score, Ciolacu came only third, an unwanted scenario and a first for the PSD, the head of the Save Romania Union (USR), Elena Lasconi, was ranked second and the winner was an independent who was not very well known, Călin Georgescu. The general astonishment was followed by concern because the latter’s statements betrayed a pro-Russian and anti-Western extremist, an admirer of the fascist, anti-Semitic leaders of interwar Romania and a promoter of a self-sufficient economic system after the model promoted by Ceausescu. Then, the intelligence services, that had kept silent until then, offered what they consider to be the explanation of Georgescu’s unbelievable score: he would have been aggressively promoted on TikTok, in defiance of electoral laws, and the activity of the TikTok accounts that gave him a strong exposure was financed with a lot of money. Everything would have allegedly happened with the involvement of a state actor. Romania, the Foreign Intelligence Service said, was a target of the aggressive Russian hybrid actions. The Constitutional Court canceled the election, which was an unprecedented decision, on the grounds that the entire electoral process was flawed. In Washington, the bipartisan US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations issued a statement condemning Russia’s involvement in the presidential election in Romania. Vladimir Putin’s attack on the Romanian elections is yet another example of the hybrid war he is waging on our European allies and partners, US senators said. In Brussels, the European Commission announced that it would launch official proceedings against TikTok, after interference in the presidential election in Romania, to find out if the platform violated its legal obligation to assess and mitigate risks to the integrity of the elections. 35 years after the collapse of the communist regime, the still young democratic state called Romania is discovering its major vulnerabilities, which requires, according to analysts, adjustments or even deep institutional and constitutional reforms.

     

    A new fragmented Parliament, a coalition government

     

    Bolstered by Georgescu’s success, three self-styled sovereigntist parties, a sweetened formula that covers ultranationalists, populists, isolationist anti-globalists, detractors of the EU and NATO, extremists or conspirators, entered the Romanian Parliament following the December 1 elections and hold a third of the seats. The representative party of this group is the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). Alerted by the prospect of an anti-Westerner, supported by sovereigntists, winning the presidency, the pro-European parties PSD, PNL, USR and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) made a pact against extremism after the first round. And after the cancellation of the presidential election, they decided to form a governing coalition. Following tough negotiations and the elimination of USR from the government formula, PSD, PNL and UDMR agreed on a government, led by the same Marcel Ciolacu, and on a common candidate for the upcoming presidential election in the person of the former liberal leader Crin Antonescu. The current president, Klaus Iohannis, is challenged, with arguments, by politicians, and also by experts, who considered the Constitutional Court of Romania – CCR’s decision to cancel the presidential election questionable, on the grounds that it was not based on proven facts. Organizing new elections is a priority. However, the urgency of the moment is the budgetary-fiscal recovery of the country. At the end of the year, Fitch Ratings confirmed Romania’s long-term currency rating at ‘BBB minus’, but worsened the assigned outlook from stable to negative, which means that another downgrade is possible. The revision of the outlook reflects the political uncertainties, which affect the fiscal outlook, the increase in public debt and the high budget deficit.

     

    Criticized measures to reduce budget expenses

     

    In the last meeting of 2024, the Romanian government adopted an emergency ordinance that provides for measures to ensure economic stability, to responsibly manage the budget resources and to maintain control over public spending in 2025. The document provides for the suspension of state employment, as well as the freezing of pensions and of state employees’ salaries at the level of 2024. Overtime will no longer be paid, and extra pay or bonuses will no longer be granted. The government claims that, through these measures, it wants to reduce budget expenditures by 1% of the GDP, but not to give up improving people’s lives and investments. The government approved the increase from 8% to 10% in the tax on dividends and the reduction of the taxation ceiling for micro-enterprises from 500,000 Euros to 250,000 Euros. Transportation facilities for students were also restricted and fiscal facilities for some categories of employees were eliminated. The major trade union federations, employers’ organizations and student associations harshly criticized the measures taken by the Government.

     

    Very good news regarding the freedom of movement

     

    From January 1, Romania entered the European free travel area with land borders too, after, in March, it had entered Schengen with air and sea borders. The full accession of Romania and Bulgaria was possible because Austria and the Netherlands gave up their opposition. However, for 6 months, alternative or random controls will be maintained. The Romanian authorities say that the country’s Schengen accession means faster movement for citizens, lower logistics costs for companies, increased competitiveness of Romanian products and services on the European market, business opportunities and jobs. The good news from Brussels was doubled by the one from Washington: the Department of State announced that Romania fell below the threshold of 3% rejected visa applications, a threshold imposed by American legislation to access the Visa-Waiver program that allows visa-free travel to the US.

     

    A successful sporting year

     

    2024 was a good year for Romanian athletes, who returned from the Paris Olympics with 9 medals, three gold, four silver and two bronze. World swimming star, David Popovici lived up to his status, winning the Olympic title in the 200 meters freestyle and the bronze in the 100 meters event. In football, things went well too: the national team passed the groups at Euro 2024 in Germany and qualified for the eighth finals. The national team footballers also had a great game in the League of Nations, which gave them chances in the drawing of lots for the World Cup in North America. (LS)