Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanian-speaking

  • November 2, 2024

    November 2, 2024

    AUDITION The European Parliament’s specialized committees on Monday are expected to commence the audition of the designated European Commissioners. On this occasion the MEPs are going to assess the commissioner’s competences, independence and their attachment to European values, essential elements to serve as members of the new European Commission headed by Ursula von der Leyen. According to the schedule announced by the European Parliament, the auditions are to end on 12 November, a day when the six executive vice-presidents of the future Commission, including Romanian Roxana Mînzatu who holds the portfolio, ‘People, competences, training’, will have to answer a series of questions. The entire European Commission will have to get greenlight from the European Parliament, the vote being scheduled for the plenary session of 25-28 November in Strasbourg. After getting Parliament confirmation, the European Commission will have to be officially appointed by the European Council through voting. The commission must have the yes-votes of 55% of the member states.

     

    FLOOD Rescue teams in Spain are making it to the areas blocked by catastrophic flooding where the death toll has reached 205, including four Romanians. One of the victims has been confirmed by the Romanian authorities while a family with a child has been mentioned by the Spanish press. 16 Romanians are reported missing in Spain and the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest is verifying the information about them. The Romanian Embassy in Madrid and the consulate in Castellon de la Plana are in permanent contact with the Spanish authorities. The region of Valencia, in south-eastern Spain, has been affected by devastating floods, experts have deemed as unprecedented. Spain has declared three days of national mourning.

     

    ELECTION The ex-soviet Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova on Sunday will be seeing the second round of the presidential election. The incumbent pro-European president, Maia Sandu, will be running against the pro-Russian Alexandr Stoianoglo. The first round on October 20 was held concurrently with a referendum on the country’s EU accession and was marked by attempted frauds sponsored by Russia and the runaway oligarch Ilan Şor, who had left the country in an attempt to avoid a prison sentence. The socialist candidate Alexandr Stoianoglo says he wants to put an end to divisions and create an authentic European model, where the state is working for the citizens, and he urged citizens to get united for justice and progress. In another development Maia Sandu accuses Stoianoglo of being Moscow’s puppet and also under the control of oligarch Ilan Şor. The elections in the Republic of Moldova are taking place against the background of a tense election campaign.

     

    WEATHER And now a couple of things about the weather, which is warm for this time of the year in almost the entire territory with isolated showers reported in some regions. The highs of the day are ranging between 12 and 22 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 18 degrees.

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  • October 18, 2024 UPDATE

    October 18, 2024 UPDATE

    DEFENCE Romanian Defence Minister, Angel Tîlvăr, signed in Brussels on Friday a document on Romania’s accession to the letter of intent concerning the European Military Mobility Corridor 8 together with Albania, Bulgaria, Italy and North Macedonia. The document is aimed at simplifying and stepping up the movement of military equipment and forces both in time of peace and in situations of crisis or conflict. According to a communiqué by the Romanian Defence Ministry, Romania’s joining this corridor, besides the other two projects developed within NATO together with Bulgaria and Greece and with Turkey and Bulgaria, respectively, will contribute to the stepped up efforts aimed at ensuring the mobility of troops and military equipment as well as to the consolidation of the response capability in the Black Sea region. On Friday in the second day of the defence ministers meeting in Brussels, the Romanian minister participated in the North-Atlantic Council proceedings dedicated to the assessment and adjustment of NATO’s defence and deterrence posture. According to the same sources, the Romanian Defence Minister highlighted the importance of carrying on efforts aimed at stepping up the Alliance’s deterrence and defence posture. The meeting has underlined the firm commitment of the NATO members to ensuring the region’s stability and security.

     

    PLAN The European Commission had published Romania’s National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for the period 2025-2040, the Energy Ministry announced on Friday. The document comprises 89 policies and additional measures aimed at increasing renewable energy sources, curbing greenhouse gas emissions and implementing some innovative solutions in all economic sectors. ‘This plan reflects our commitment to becoming climate neutral before 2045 and contributing to a safer, more competitive and greener future for Romania and Europe,’ Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja says in a communiqué.

     

    VOTE 3.3 million voters are expected to hit the polls on October 20 in the ex-Soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova for a historic ballot: a presidential election and a referendum on Moldova’s EU accession. According to the Central Election Commission, some 2,219 polls have been set up, and for the first time the ballots are printed in Romanian and 5 minority languages: Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Găgăuz, Russian and Romani. 231 stations are open in 37 countries, 60 in Italy, 26 in Germany, 20 in France and 17 in Great Britain. Moldovans can also vote in one of the 16 stations open in Romania, the same as in the United States. For security reasons, only two stations will be available in Russia, both in Moscow. 2 stations will be made available in Ukraine, in Kyiv and Odessa.

     

    EU On the sidelines of the European Council meeting in Brussels, Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, has called on the EU to convey a strong message of support for Moldova’s EU integration process, particularly ahead of this Sunday’s presidential election in Moldova, condemning Moscow’s interference and destabilization attempts. The list of topics on the two-day summit’s agenda includes the war in Ukraine, developments in the Middle East, EU competitiveness, migration, as well as prospects on Georgia, supporting the multilateral system and international rules-based order and energy tariffs. President Iohannis underlined the importance of ensuring affordable energy prices, the need to boost connectivity and do away with structural gridlocks at the level of energy transport networks.

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  • September 25, 2024

    September 25, 2024

    UNO The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis is in New York to attend the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. The meeting’s central theme is ‘Unity in diversity for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone everywhere.’ In his address before the General Assembly, the head of the Romanian state is expected to plead for maintaining dialogue at a multilateral level, mainly within the UN format as an essential element of regional and global security. For this reason, Klaus Iohannis will be highlighting Romania’s multilateral contribution to solving all the present global issues, from security crises, such as the war in Ukraine or the Middle East, to major challenges for mankind such as climate change, the erosion of human rights and cyber threats.

     

    BUDGET During its session today, the government in Bucharest is expected to increase the budgets of the Environment Ministry and the Finance Ministry. Hundreds of families and people in emergency situations as a result of severe fires and weather phenomena or in special situations that might increase the risk of their social exclusion will be benefitting from emergency funds from the government amounting to roughly 300 thousand Euros. The budget of the Finance Ministry is expected to increase by over 50 thousand Euros. Also high on the agenda are budget raises for the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

     

    ELECTION The Central Election Committee in Chisinau has approved the participation of 11 candidates in the election for the presidential seat of the ex-Soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. According to experts, the incumbent president, Maia Sandu, who is running for another term in office, is the odds-on favourite. Her main opponents are the former prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo, backed by the socialists and the former mayor of the district of Balti, Renato Usatîi, leader of a political group entitled Our Party. The presidential elections are due on 20th October and a referendum on amending the Constitution so that the country may join the EU, is due concurrently. Most of the 14 parties running in the election are backing the idea of European integration. The socialists, however, are boycotting the referendum while the communists and one party belonging to the political bloc of oligarch Ilan Shor have declared themselves against the country’s EU accession.

     

    MEASURES The rising level of the Danube waters shouldn’t cause any problems whatsoever, the Romanian hydrologists believe. According to their estimates, the river’s maximum level would be lower than initially believed. The river’s waters are expected to reach their peak of eight thousand cubic meters per second on September 30th, but this level shouldn’t create any problems for the authorities who can handle it easily, is the conclusion of the representatives of all the central and local institutions in charge of the emergency situations. Thousands of sandbags have been made ready and part of them have already been deployed.

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  • CSAT and Regional Security

    CSAT and Regional Security

    Romania is directly interested in having on its own territory industrial capabilities that can ensure the output of modern military equipment to fit its armed forces in times of peace as well as in developing new equipment to contribute to the multiplication of its military capabilities in situations of crises and war – this is one of the conclusion of the country’s Higher Defence Council, also known as CSAT. Summoned on Thursday by the country’s president, Klaus Iohannis, the CSAT members held talks over the plan of fitting the Romanian armed forces with the right type of equipment and technologies for the following 10 years – 2025-2034 after the major changes in the regional security situation prompted by the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

    According to the CSAT members, raising budget funds for defence is also going to have an effect over Romania’s field industry, which has the opportunity of initiating a process of transformation, streamlining and adjustment by attracting new, state-of-the-art technologies as well as cooperation with field companies of international repute.

    Against the latest developments in Ukraine, the Council also tackled additional measures of deterring and combating security threats to be implemented at national level with support from NATO allies.

    Consolidating the strategic partnership with the Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova was also high on the agenda. Romania again reiterated its support for the European headway made by the small ex-Soviet republic by assisting it in implementing reforms and the required public policies, without neglecting the challenges Chisinau is presently facing against the background of the hybrid threats mounted by the Russian Federation and the war against Ukraine.

    These threats and risks are also having, in most of the cases, implications for Romania. And for this reason, the main objective of Bucharest’s foreign policy, concerning the Republic of Moldova, is supporting and ensuring the irreversibility of its European roadmap on the basis of the bilateral Consolidated Partnership, the Presidential Administration has announced. .

    Last, but not least, the CSAT members analyzed and approved the National Plan of Implementing the Civil Pact in the field of Common Security Policy and Defence as a new one had been endorsed at EU level.

    The pact is aimed at increasing the flexibility and robustness of the civil missions at community level, as well as their reaction speed in the process of handling crises in spite of limited resources.

    According to the Presidential Administration, the document will ease the effectiveness of Romania’s involvement in civil missions in the field of Common Security and Defence Policy, and better capitalize on the Romanian expertise in the field.

    (bill)