Radio România Internațional

Tag: Rutte

  • January 24, 2024

    January 24, 2024

    CELEBRATION Military and religious ceremonies, performances and exhibitions took place on Friday in all the major cities in Romania, marking the Union of the Principalities. In Orthodox churches, special services were performed and bells were rung for a minute. 166 years ago, on January 24, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler of Wallachia, after having been elected ruler of Moldavia on January 5. The political decision by the principalities to unite was the first stage in the creation of the modern Romanian state. Leading politicians sent messages on the Day of the Union of the Romanian Principalities. “January 24 is a moment of assessment and reflection on the legacy of our ancestors and on the responsibility we have to preserve and promote it,” president Klaus Iohannis emphasised. PM Marcel Ciolacu pointed out that the Union is an example of how an important political project undertaken in accordance with the will of the people can become reality. Romanians enjoy an extended weekend on this occasion, as Union Day has been declared a public holiday. Many have chosen to spend it in mountain resorts.

     

    PROTEST Railway workers, reserve officers, police staff, miners, foresters, steelworkers, Bucharest Metro employees and pensioners Friday took part in a protest rally in front of the Government headquarters. People are unhappy with the government order that froze salary increases for many public sector personnel at the beginning of this year, and because public pensions are no longer adjusted to the inflation rate. According to Radio Romania, a trade union delegation had talks with government officials, but without results. A reorganisation of central public institutions and state-owned companies was also announced these days. According to PM Marcel Ciolacu, restructuring the public sector is a priority for the current governing coalition comprising the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

     

    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu will have a meeting with NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, January 28, reads a statement from the North Atlantic Alliance. On January 14, Emil Hurezeanu received the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O’Brien. According to a foreign ministry news release, on that occasion the Romanian official appreciated the US contribution to the security and defense of NATO’s Eastern Flank, as well as to the development of the strategic approach to the Black Sea region. The two officials also appreciated the bilateral relationship, highlighting ‘significant’ achievements such as Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver program, the development of economic and energy sector cooperation, and coordinated Romania – US – EU action.

     

    ELECTIONS The Liberals will convene on Sunday in a special National Council meeting to validate the former party president Crin Antonescu as the joint candidate of the ruling coalition in Romania in the presidential elections in May. The Social Democrats scheduled a special congress on February 2 for the same purpose, and UDMR will make its decision at the beginning of next week. The first and second rounds of the presidential elections are scheduled for May 4 and 18. So far, the mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, the independent candidate Călin Georgescu and the president of Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, have announced plans to run for president. The latter two were top placed in the presidential elections canceled last year. After the first election round on November 24 was validated, the Constitutional Court of Romania canceled the election as a whole on December 6, although voting in the second round had already begun abroad. The Court made its decision after the Supreme Defence Council published a report indicating foreign interference in the electoral process, but investigations have so far failed to confirm it. Tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to demand that the second round be resumed.

     

    CORRUPTION The mayor of the popular Romanian mountain resort of Sinaia, the Liberal Vlad Oprea, was placed under court supervision on Thursday, with bail set at over EUR 100,000, as part of a corruption-related investigation. Charges of abuse of office also entailed a ban on him holding the mayor position. According to prosecutors with the National Anticorruption Directorate, among other things, Vlad Oprea allegedly demanded and received almost EUR 240,000 in bribe from a businessman, in exchange for expediting the paperwork for the building of a hotel in the resort.

     

    EXPULSION The Romanian Embassy in Belgrade has asked for clarifications from the Serbian authorities as to why a Romanian national was expelled from the country. Other EU and third country citizens taking part in an NGO training workshop were also involved in the incident. The Romanian, a member of an organisation involved in social projects, was taken to a police station in Belgrade, along with other participants in the workshop. Without explanation, but citing national security reasons, they were ordered to leave Serbia within 24 hours, and banned from entering this country for one year. The Romanian national left the country safely. The expulsion of EU citizens from Serbia is unprecedented. (AMP)

  • January 24, 2025 UPDATE 2

    January 24, 2025 UPDATE 2

     

    CELEBRATION Military and religious ceremonies, performances and exhibitions took place on Friday in all the major cities in Romania, marking the Union of the Principalities. In Orthodox churches, special services were performed and bells were rung for a minute. 166 years ago, on January 24, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler of Wallachia, after having been elected ruler of Moldavia on January 5. The political decision of the principalities to unite was the first stage in the creation of the modern Romanian state. Leading politicians sent messages on the Day of the Union of the Romanian Principalities. “January 24 is a moment of assessment and reflection on the legacy of our ancestors and on the responsibility we have to preserve and promote it,” president Klaus Iohannis emphasised. PM Marcel Ciolacu pointed out that the Union is an example of how an important political project undertaken in accordance with the will of the people can become reality. Romanians enjoy an extended weekend on this occasion, as Union Day has been declared a public holiday. Many have chosen to spend it in mountain resorts.

     

    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu will have a meeting with NATO’s secretary general Mark Rutte at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, January 28, reads a statement from the North Atlantic Alliance. On January 14, Emil Hurezeanu received the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O’Brien. According to a foreign ministry news release, on that occasion the Romanian official appreciated the US contribution to the security and defense of NATO’s Eastern Flank, as well as to the development of the strategic approach to the Black Sea region. The two officials also appreciated the bilateral relationship, highlighting ‘significant’ achievements such as Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver program, the development of economic and energy sector cooperation, and coordinated Romania – US – EU action.

  • November 23, 2024

    November 23, 2024

    A roundup of local and international news.

     

    ELECTIONS – The election campaign for the first round of the presidential elections held on Sunday in Romania ended on Saturday morning. The presidential elections are scheduled for November 24, the first round, and December 8 the second round. Over 18 million voters are expected to cast their ballot on Sunday, in the nearly 19,000 polling stations opened in the country. Abroad, Romanians can vote for three days in the 950 polling stations opened by the authorities (on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). By Saturday at noon, about 60 thousand Romanians had voted in the Diaspora, of whom over 4,000 opted for postal voting. Most Romanians abroad voted in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Moldova, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria. There are 13 candidates in the presidential race, 9 representing political parties and 4 independents. Most ideological currents have representatives in the competition, from social democrats to liberals and from pro-Europeans to populists and ultranationalists. On December 1, when the National Day is celebrated, legislative elections will be held. We recall that on June 9, local and European parliamentary elections were also held in Romania.

     

    REFERENDUM – On Sunday, the Bucharest residents entitled to vote are expected at the polls in a referendum initiated by the General Mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan. Voters must answer two questions proposed by him, which concern the way that funds are divided between the General City Hall and the city halls of the 6 Bucharest districts, and also have their say on the issuing of construction permits in the capital Bucharest. At the same time, at the initiative of the Social Democratic Party, a third question was added, through an amendment, which refers to combating drug use in schools. In order to validate this consultation, a 30% voter turnout rate is required.

     

    SCHENGEN – The interior ministers of Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Hungary, alongside the European Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, agreed on Friday in Budapest that Romania and Bulgaria will join Schengen with the land borders as of January 1, 2025. The final decision will be taken at the meeting of EU interior ministers on 12 December in Brussels. Austria has been opposing Schengen enlargement since 2022. Eventually, Vienna later accepted partial Schengen membership for Sofia and Bucharest in March, with air and sea borders, and set a roadmap for a possible extension to land borders. The agreement made public on Friday provides for border checks for an initial period of six months to minimize the potential change in migration routes that could occur.

     

    NATO – NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with the US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Friday, the North Atlantic Alliance spokeswoman said Saturday, according to Reuters and France press. The two discussed global security issues facing the alliance. Rutte’s meeting with Trump comes ahead of a NATO-Ukraine Council scheduled for next week, after Russia launched a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile on military infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday. Moscow described the action as a response to the first Ukrainian attacks with US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles on military targets on Russian territory.

     

    RUGBY – The Romanian national rugby squad will face Uruguay in a test match this evening in Bucharest. The Romanian team has met Uruguay 13 times so far. Romania has won ten matches, one of which ended in a draw, while two were won by the South Americans. Romania defeated Tonga (25-15) and Canada (35-27) in test matches this month.

     

     

  • NATO, new leadership

    NATO, new leadership

     

    As of Tuesday, October 1, the NATO secretary general is the Dutch ex PM Mark Rutte. He takes over the highest political position in the strongest political and military alliance in history from the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg.

     

    AFP notes that while Stoltenberg refrained from giving any piece of advice to Rutte, he emphasised that the main task for a NATO chief is to keep the Allies together. In such a difficult geopolitical situation, maintaining continuity and a common direction in foreign and security policy is critical, a NATO diplomat was quoted by the French agency as saying.

     

    With a 10-year long tenure as NATO chief, Jens Stoltenberg had perhaps the most complicated term in office, which started in 2014, with Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and ended with a full-fledged war against Ukraine.

     

    Stoltenberg steered the Alliance towards stronger support for the former Soviet state, a victim of Russia’s illegal aggression. He suggested and obtained a commitment of at least EUR 40 bln per year for Ukraine from NATO member states and NATO’s involvement in the provision of Western military aid.

     

    NATO members should not be deterred from giving more military aid to Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s “reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric”, Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview to Reuters at the end of his term. “Every time we have stepped up our support with new types of weapons – battle tanks, long-range fires or F-16s – the Russians have tried to prevent us, but they have not succeeded,” the outgoing NATO leader also said.

     

    He added that the biggest risk to NATO would be if Putin wins in Ukraine. “I don’t think we can change President Putin’s mind, but I think we can change his calculus by demonstrating that the cost of continuing the war is so high that it’s better for him to sit down and accept Ukraine as a sovereign independent nation,” Stoltenberg believes.

     

    During his term in office, forced to respond to major geopolitical changes, the Alliance strengthened its eastern flank. In Romania, for instance, the number of Allied troops was increased, and NATO created a battle group here for the first time.

     

    Also under Stoltenberg’s leadership, NATO acceped new members, reaching a total of 32 Allied nations. The last countries to join were Finland and Sweden, pushed out of their decade-long neutrality by Moscow’s militarist and neo-imperialist drive. Russia wanted less of NATO and now it has more, Stoltenberg pointed out.

     

    As for the new secretary general, Mark Rutte, analysts expect him to focus on the coordination between NATO and the European Union, at a time when the latter is getting more involved in security matters. Not least, the Allies count on his negotiation skills in case Donald Trump returns to the White House. (AMP)

  • A new chief for NATO

    A new chief for NATO

     

     

    The Dutch PM Mark Rutte will be the 14th secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, replacing the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, a former PM of Norway, who has led the Alliance since 2014.

     

    The decision made by NATO’s leading decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, which comprises officials for the 32 member states, was a mere formality, after Rutte’s last challenger, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, announced he was pulling out of the race for lack of support.

     

    NATO’s new leader will take office on October 1, but until then his appointment will be made official at the summit due in Washington this July. Rutte’s name had been mentioned ever since 2023, and quite rapidly he secured the support of several NATO members, including the US, the UK, France and Germany.

     

    For a while, the Estonian PM Kaja Kallas was also in the race, with support from the Allies on the eastern flank, who argued that those countries needed better representation in the Alliance, in the context of the war initiated by Russia in Ukraine.

     

    The candidacy of Klaus Iohannis, on the other hand, is still a mystery. The reasons why the Romanian president announced his bid for the post are yet unknown, given that at that time Rutte was already backed by important NATO members.

     

    Mark Rutte is known for his critical position regarding Russia, and for the political and military support for Ukraine. The Netherlands is one of the Allies that reached the target of 2% of GDP earmarked for defence, in line with NATO requirements, and has provided Ukraine with F-16 aircraft.

     

    The incumbent NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed the nomination of Mark Rutte as his successor. He said the latter was “a true trans-Atlanticist, a strong leader, and a consensus-builder.” “I know I am leaving NATO in good hands,” Stoltenberg added.

     

    Apart from the war in Ukraine, Rutte might have to handle a prospective US administration headed by Donald Trump, the promoter of “America First” policies, should the latter return to the White House after the presidential election.

     

    In Kremlin, the announcement regarding the new NATO chief was received with scepticism. Rutte’s appointment will not entail changes in NATO’s approach, which is “hostile” and aimed at “supressing” Russia, as the Russian presidency’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

     

    He once again accused NATO members of getting involved directly in the war in Ukraine, by supplying heavy weaponry to Kyiv, and warned that Russia would retaliate after the Ukrainian army received the green light to use such weapons against targets on Russian territory. Peskov also emphasised that at present Moscow is treating NATO as a hostile alliance. (AMP)