Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanian citizens

Assistance for the families evacuated from Gaza

About 250 people, Romanian citizens and their families, have been evacuated from Gaza, since the start of the conflict in the region. On Thursday, the Romanian government decided to grant to all of them financial aid from the reserve fund for current expenses. As of December 1, for four months, the repatriated persons will benefit from a support package for reintegration or social integration, i.e. money for food, accommodation and other needs. For food, each person, alone or from a family, will receive 600 lei, the equivalent of 120 euros. For accommodation, families with up to five members will receive 2,000 lei, about 400 euros, and the families with more than five members will receive 3,000 lei (600 euros) for accommodation. Romania repatriated most of the people with Romanian citizenship and their families, who had requested repatriation, although the process was and remains complicated, being hampered by technical problems.

The evacuation was carried out following the complex efforts of the Interinstitutional Crisis Cell, through the Romanian Embassy in Cairo and the Romanian Representative Office in Ramallah. Those who want to leave Gaza, need an approval. Once obtained, they leave Gaza crossing to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing point. According to the Romanian diplomacy, the Romanian citizens and their families are taken from the border between Gaza and Egypt by a team from the Rapid Reaction Unit of the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) Crisis Cell and representatives of the Romanian Embassy in Egypt and are accompanied to Cairo by another mobile team of the MAE Crisis Cell. Afterwards, they are repatriated by plane.

The Romanian authorities have given assurances that none of those who want to leave Gaza will be left there. According to the spokesman for the Romanian Foreign Ministry, quoted by Euronews, the Romanians in Gaza who have not asked, so far, to be evacuated, but could do so if the conflict were to move to the south of the Gaza Strip, will be supported by the authorities from Bucharest.

On the other hand, Romania also gets involved in helping the civilian population in the region. A cargo aircraft made available by the European Commission transported aid offered by the Romanian state to the population of the Gaza Strip. The aid consists of barrack equipment items taken from the state reserves, such as tents, beds, mattresses, pillows and bedding. On October 19, the National Committee for Emergency Situations approved a decision that provided for the granting of free international assistance to the affected civilian population in the Gaza Strip, consisting of food products and barrack equipment. (LS)

24 November 2023
Romanians repatriated from Gaza

Israel cannot leave a void in Gaza and will have to maintain a strong armed force in the near future to prevent the resurgence of Hamas, Israels president Isaac Herzog has recently told Financial Times. The Israeli official is confident no one wants Gaza to relapse into a stronghold for terrorist organizations. He Israeli government is considering a number of options regarding Gaza once the war with Hamas is over, and believes the United States and Israels neighbors will get involved in ensuring post-conflict security in the region, president Herzog went on to say. In his talks with Israels Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, US president Joe Biden strongly argued in favor of a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding that the occupation of Gaza would be a big mistake. Meanwhile, the Israeli army announced it is very close to destroying the military systems of Hamas in northern Gaza. Israel launched a full-scale attack on Gaza following the unprecedented violent terrorist attacks in southern Israel.

The humanitarian and security situation in Gaza hangs by a thread, and all countries whose citizens are still on the ground are making efforts to evacuate them. Romania too has successfully done that, although the repatriation process is difficult and complex. The evacuation was carried out following the actions of the Task Force created at the level of several Romanian ministries and institutions, also involving the efforts of the Romanian Embassy in Cairo and the Representative Office in Ramallah. Over 200 Romanian citizens and members of their families were evacuated from Gaza into Egypt through the Rafah checkpoint and were subsequently flown to Bucharest. A permission to leave Gaza was required for each of them, and the authorities had to cope with technical obstacles. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the Romanian citizens and their families were picked up from the Rafah border by a team of the Rapid Response Unit of the Romanian Foreign Ministry and representatives of the Romanian Embassy in Egypt. From there they were taken to Cairo by another mobile team of the Task Force. Once in Cairo, they were boarded onto flights taking them to Bucharest. The authorities gave assurances they wont abandon those who wish to leave Gaza. A carrier supplied by the European Commission this week took off from Henri Coandă Airport in Bucharest, transporting supplies provided by the Romanian state to the civilians in Gaza. The assistance consists of bedding equipment such as mobile tents, beds, mattresses, pillows and bedding sheets. On October 19, the National Committee for Emergency Situations passed a resolution providing international assistance to the civilian population of Gaza, consisting in food and bedding equipment. (VP)

17 November 2023
November 11, 2023 UPDATE

VETERANS DAY – Romania celebrated the Day of Veterans of Military
Operations on November 11. On This occasion, garrisons in Bucharest and across
the country where military carried out missions in theatres of operations
abroad played host to military and religious ceremonies. President Klaus
Iohannis said this day symbolizes the triumph of peace over war, adding that
veterans are genuine role models for the younger generations. In a message
marking the occasion, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu in turn referred to the
sacrifice of Romanian servicemen, underscoring the importance of peace. November
11 is a day chosen for its significance, the day the armistice was signed
between the Allies of World War I and Germany to end World War 1 and created
the premises of the Great Union in Romania, on December 1, 1918. It was also on
this day in 2003 that the first Romanian servicemen was killed in action in
Afghanistan. 30 Romanian servicemen were killed and over 200 were wounded in
theatres of operations over 1996-2022. We recall War Veterans Day is celebrated
on April 29.

RESOLUTION – Social-Democrat leaders from across
Europe on Friday adopted a resolution expressing support for the immediate
Schengen accession of Bulgaria and Romania, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has
said. The Romanian official attended the European Socialists Congress hosted by
Málaga, Spain. More Europe also entails protecting and strengthening one of the
European Union’s greatest achievements: the Schengen Agreement, the resolution
reads, also underlining that Romania and Bulgaria have fulfilled Schengen
accession criteria. In a post on social media, Marcel Ciolacu gave assurances
he will do everything in his power to persuade Austria and the Netherlands that
Romania belongs in Schengen. On the sidelines of the event, Marcel Ciolacu met
with counterparts from Spain, Malta and Denmark as well as with Germany’s
Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

WAR IN GAZA – The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that dialogue
with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities continues with a view to evacuating
the remaining Romanians and family members from Gaza. At present, three mobile
consular teams are deployed with a view to assisting in specific
border-crossing procedures. According to the Ministry, the Rafah border
crossing point used to evacuate civilians from Gaza into Egypt remained close
on Friday. We recall that on Thursday, 41 Romanian citizens and family members
were evacuated from Gaza through the Rafah checkpoint, adding to the 93
citizens who were safely brought home onboard a special flight operated by the
national airline TAROM. Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting, world
countries calling on Israel to accept an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and take
measures to limit the loss of human lives. Too many Palestinians have been
killed, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said in what has been his
firmest response to Israel’s actions since hostilities broke out in the region.
In turn, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, said Israel should stop
bombing Gaza and killing civilians. Both officials have however expressed
support for Israel’s actions targeted against the Islamist terrorist
organization Hamas. In another development, on the sidelines of a joint summit
of the Arab League and the Islamic Cooperation Organization devoted to the
developments in Gaza, hosted by Riyadh on Saturday, the president of the
Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, called on the USA to pressure Israel to
stop its offensive in Gaza. Palestinians need international protection from
Israeli attacks, president Abbas went on to say. In turn, the Crown Prince of
Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman, has called an end to what he was termed the
siege on Gaza, while Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, called for an
immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza without restrictions or conditions.
On the ground, the Israeli army on Saturday announced it has captured 11 Hamas
outposts in Gaza, adding that Israeli forces destroyed a vehicle carrying
explosives as well as a tunnel used by Hamas militants.

TENNIS – Romania’s tennis team defeated Serbia 4-0 in the Billie
Jean King Cup World Group playoffs. On Saturday, Jaqueline Cristian won 7-5,
4-6, 7-5 against Lola Radivojevic. In the doubles match Anca Todoni and Monica
Niculescu won 6-1, 7-6 against Katarina Kozarov and Aleksandra Krunic.
On Friday, Jaqueline Cristian won 7-5, 6-4 against Aleksandra Krunic while
Gabriela Ruse defeated Mia Rustic 7-6, 6-3. Romania will advance to the Billie
Jean King Cup preliminaries, while Serbia will play in Group 1. In April,
Romania lost 3-2 to Slovenia, failing to qualify to the final tournament. (VP)

11 November 2023
November 7, 2023

ROMANIANS IN GAZA – 103 Romanians and members of their families in Gaza were last night given permission to cross the Rafah border into Egypt, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced. The Romanians were notified about border-crossing procedures, and their evacuation to Egypt will be carried out today, in compliance with specific regulations. Subsequently, they will be flown home from Cairo onboard a special flight. Romanian authorities remain in contact with Egyptian and Israeli authorities with a view to bringing home the remaining Romanian citizens in Gaza whove asked for assistance.

CEASEFIRE – Leaders of UN agencies have called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, one month since hostilities broke out in the area. “An entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable,” UN leaders said in a joint statement. The 18 signatories include Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and UN aid chief Martin Griffiths. In turn, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the situation in Gaza is a crisis of humanity, and that Palestinian territories bombed by the Israeli armed forces are rapidly turning into a “graveyard for children”. The so-called Hamas authorities announced the death toll has exceeded 10,000 in Gaza, of whom 4,000 children.

CASH PAYMENTS – Cash payments made by natural persons or self-employed people will be restricted to a maximum of 1,000 EUR per day starting January 1, 2024, and further down to 500 EUR starting January 1, 2025. The limitation was included in the package of fiscal and budget measures over which Marcel Cioalcus Cabinet assumed responsibility in Parliament and which was ruled constitutional by the Constitutional Court. Marcel Ciolacu says the measure is designed to combat tax evasion. The Prime Minister also mentioned the government doesnt want to eliminate cash payments altogether, arguing however that Romania has the highest tax evasion rate at EU level, totaling 160 bln lei, accounting for 10% of the GDP. Representatives of SMEs and experts alike have criticized the measure.

REVIEW – The Romanian Labor Ministry announced it will review the allowances and benefits awarded to people with disabilities in Ilfov County, after discovering irregularities in 1,400 of the 1,700 files they have examined so far. Minister Simona Bucura-Oprescu said the Ministry has notified the authorities and the members of the Ilfov County Committee for the Evaluation of People with Disabilities have been dismissed. The topic was discussed at coalition level, and its leaders decided to conduct checks regarding the way disability certificates are issued nationwide. Some 800,000 people own disability certificates and receive financial aid, which puts Romania at the top of the list in Europe, Prime Minister Ciolacu says. In turn, Liberal leader Nicolae Ciucă says it is hard to believe Romania has such a high number of people with disabilities.

MOLDOVA – The Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), the ruling pro-European party in the Republic of Moldova, has won most of the district councils in Sundays local election. PAS failed to win in large cities. Former Socialist Ion Ceban won the race for the Chișinău City Hall from the first round. Authorities say the election campaign was marked by unprecedented interference from the Russian Federation in election processes, including the illegal funding of parties and swaying voters and candidates. The Russian Federation has denied the accusations. The local election is seen as a test ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections, which will be held in 2024 and 2025, respectively, in the Republic of Moldova. (VP)

7 November 2023
January 29, 2019 UPDATE

DIPLOMACY – President Klaus Iohannis has said, at a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions in Bucharest, that he will do everything in his power to ensure that the values of the rule of law, of liberal democracy and of an independent and efficient judiciary are not affected. The president vowed that, regardless of the very dynamic domestic political situation, all decision makers will join efforts to ensure the proper fulfilment of Romania’s role as holder of the presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. He reiterated that Schengen accession remains a priority for Romania. Also, according to the head of state, Bucharest’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council is quite strong. As for strengthening the strategic partnership with the US, Klaus Iohannis said this remains a foreign policy priority for Romania.

EUROPEAN AFFAIRS — The Romanian Foreign Minister, Teodor Meleşcanu, said in an interview with the France Press News Agency made public on Tuesday that there shouldn’t be any relation between European funds and the rule of law. Whereas Brussels and Washington have criticized the legislative overhaul in the Romanian justice system over the past two years, which- in their opinion — poses a threat on democratic institutions, Teodor Meleşcanu has referred to a reform carried out transparently. The Romanian Foreign Minister also gave assurances that Romania is a stable and solid democracy. On January 16, the European Parliament debated and voted on rules to reduce pre-financing or suspend EU budget payments to member states which interfere with courts or which do not tackle fraud and corruption. This proposal, launched by the European Commission will be a point on the agenda of negotiations with the Council of the European Union. Romania is currently holding the rotating presidency of this Council.

BREXIT — Romanian PM Viorica Dăncilă and the British ambassador to Bucharest, Andrew Noble, held talks in Bucharest on Tuesday on Great Britain’s leaving the EU, against the backdrop of Romania’s holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Viorica Dăncilă and Andrew Noble underlined the very good stage of bilateral relations, the common role in securing and defending Europe, as well as the tighter economic and social ties between the two countries. The Romanian Prime Minister reiterated that Romania pays special heed to the need to protect the rights of the Romanian citizens living in the UK, and, in her turn, she gave assurances that Bucharest will make everything necessary at domestic level for the protection of the rights of British citizens in Romania.

CORRUPTION -Transparency International Tuesday presented its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks 180 countries by their public sector corruption levels as decided by consulting experts and business communities. According to the 2018 report, Romania ranks 61st in the world, with 47 points, down 2 places since 2017. Transparency International’s index uses a 0 to 100 scale, with 0 standing for extremely high corruption and 100 for no corruption at all. Out of the 28 EU member states, Romania is 24th. The top positions in the global ranking are held by Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

FINANCIAL — The Governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu, on Tuesday declined the invitation for hearings in the Economic Committee of the Romanian Senate on the way in which the “Romanian Interbank Offer Rate” ROBOR is set and on the severe depreciation of the Romanian national currency, the leu, in recent times. The invitation to answer some questions in Parliament has been extended to Mugur Isărescu against the backdrop of accusations levelled very more and more often by the ruling parties as well as by some experts and journalists, according to whom the ROBOR index is allegedly set following an illegal understanding between the commercial banks, which the National Bank knows of, without intervening on the market. The central bank is also accused of doing nothing to defend the national currency. The Spokesperson for the National Bank of Romania, Dan Suciu, has said it is important that talks in the Economic Committee of the Senate do not to start from ungrounded, fake news.

EURO 2020 — The City Hall of Bucharest on Tuesday marked the countdown to EURO 2020 which kicks off in 500 days time, by mounting an exhibition with the T-shirts worn by prominent Romanian footballers such as Gheorghe Popescu, Gheorghe Hagi, Ioan Andone, Dudu Georgescu, Helmuth Dukadam, Miodrag Belodedici and Bogdan Stelea. Romania has been chosen to organise four matches on the National Arena in Bucharest. The capital city will host three Group C matches and a match in the eighth finals. Consequently, the National Arena will venue these matches on June 14, 18, 22 and 29, 2020. (Translated by AM Popescu and D. Vijeu)

29 January 2019
Reactions on child benefits decision

The European Commission
has reacted following Austria’s decision to slash the benefits for children
currently not residing in Austria and whose parents are working in this
country, depending on the average living costs in their country of origin. The
Commission claims the measure is in breach of community legislation and said it
would closely analyze the law passed by the Austrian Parliament. The European
Commission says that, in principle, adjusting child benefits is not allowed and
could be seen as discriminatory for people who actually contribute to national
security schemes and expect to receive the same benefits, irrespective of
nationality or where their children are at present. Statistics show some 14
thousand Romanian children will be affected by the new law which will slash
their benefits to half. Bucharest authorities have also argued against the
measure which they deem discriminatory. Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said
the Government is considering the possibility of referring the matter to the
European Court of Justice, claiming the law violates the EU Treaty. In turn,
Labor Minister Marius Budai told Radio Romania that foreign workers should
receive equal treatment in any member state where they are conducting their
activity, their right to free movement being one of the fundamental principles
underlying the Union and the single market. Marius Budai:

We believe that equal
contributions should bring equal benefits. Romanians working in Austria pay the
same contributions as Austrians. We will discuss the matter at the level of the
European Commission and consider the measures and actions that need taking.
Since the law was passed on October 25, 2018 we have addressed a letter to the
Austrian Parliament expressing our disapproval and held talks with Commissioner
Marianne Thyssen to see the measures we will be taking over the coming period.
It’s clear to me we need to defend the rights of Romanians living in Austria
whose children are currently in Romania.

The Ministry for
Romanians Worldwide has in turn announced it has given special priority to this
issue, highlighting the fact that the law does not affect Romanian citizens
alone, but the EU as a whole. To this end, as part of the meetings the Ministry
will be organizing as part of Romania’s Presidency of the Council of the
European Union, the agenda for talks will also include the Austrian
Parliament’s decision to slash child benefits.

8 January 2019