Radio România Internațional

Tag: security

December 7, 2022

BUDGET
The finance ministry has made public the draft state budget of Romania for next
year. The document is based on an estimated GDP growth of 2.8%, an 8% inflation
rate, a growing number of employees and a declining 2.7% unemployment rate. The
ministries set to receive less money include the energy, justice and public
healthcare, whereas the defence, development, transport and education
ministries will receive substantially higher budget appropriations. The ruling
coalition made up of the Social Democrats, and Liberals and the Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania intends to endorse the draft budget tomorrow
and send it to Parliament the next day, for discussion next week.

SECURITY Romania has constantly worked to
identify solutions to enhance security at the Black Sea, the Romanian foreign
minister Bogdan Aurescu said in Ankara on Tuesday, when he had
a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Mervlut Cavusoglu. The two officials
discussed the best avenues for cooperation, both at bilateral level and within
the NATO framework. They finalised and agreed on the text of the political
declaration setting up the Romania – Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation
Council, organised as a regular meeting of the two countries’ governments and
focusing on strategic areas of mutual interest, which will be launched in 2023.
Another topic approached in the meeting was cooperation in the energy sector,
recognised by both officials as a priority, particularly in light of the recent
challenges. An agreement was reached to strengthen joint efforts to ensure the
security of Romania’s energy supplies by transiting Turkish territory. Also,
the multidimensional effects of the war in Ukraine have been analysed, with
special attention paid to the refugee crisis and food security.

JUSTICE The Romanian justice minister Cătălin Predoiu will
take part in the meetings of the Justice and Home Affair Council and General
Affairs Council of the European Union, between December 7th and 14th.
According to a JHA Council news release, on the sidelines of the two meetings the
justice minister will also have meetings in Brussels and Luxembourg with
counterparts from other member countries and EU officials. At the JHA Council
Mr. Predoiu will present Romania’s position with respect to the EU judicial
instruments and policies in the judiciary currently on the Council’s agenda. The
home affairs section of the Council is scheduled to make a decision regarding
the accession of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia to the Schengen area.

ECONOMY The GDP of the European Union saw a 0.4% growth and
that of the Euro-zone a 0.3% increase in the 3rd quarter of this
year compared to the previous quarter, with the most substantial growth rates
reported for Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and Romania, according to data released on
Wednesday by Eurostat. The economic growth rate in Ireland was 2.3%, and in
Cyprus, Malta and Romania 1.3%. The most substantial decline is reported for Estonia
(negative 1.8%), Latvia (negative 1.7%) and Slovenia (negative 1.4%). Among EU
member countries, the most significant annual growth rate is reported for
Ireland (10.6%), Croatia (5.5%), Cyprus (5.4%), Malta (5.2%), Portugal (4.9%) and
Romania (4.7%), the only negative rates being reported for Estonia (negative 2.3%)
and Latvia (negative 0.4%).

OIL Global oil
prices dropped to the lowest level this year, in spite of the estimates of some
international experts that expected the EU and G7 ban on Russian crude and the
cap on crude prices to trigger market turbulence. In Romania, the lowest petrol
price is EUR 1.3, and diesel is sold for EUR 1.54. On the other hand,
neighbouring Hungary is facing a fuel crisis caused, according to AFP, by the
price cap introduced by Viktor Orbán’s government a year ago. The fuel shortage
comes in the context of a 30% decrease in imports as foreign companies cut down
their sales to Hungary as a result of the price cap, the country’s association
of independent petrol stations said.

GAUDEAMUS The 29th
edition of the ‘Gaudeamus’ Book Fair, organised by Radio Romania, kicked off in
Bucharest today. Until Sunday, 200 participants will be exhibiting releases in
various formats, addressing all age brackets and fields of interests, as well as music and educational games. 600 events have been announced in addition to
various related projects. As a novelty, 2 areas have been arranged within the
Fair, for interactive activities targeting the youngest visitors. Pavilions are
also available online on gaudeamus.ro. The honorary president of this year’s
edition is the writer Ana Blandiana.

FOOTBALL In the FIFA
World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday, in the round of 16, Portugal smashed Switzerland
6-1, while Morocco scored a surprising win against Spain 3-0 on penalties. In the
quarter-finals on Friday, the Netherlands will be up against Argentina, and
Croatia takes on Brazil, while on Saturday England will be facing defending
champions France and Morocco will take on Portugal. The semis are scheduled for
December 13 and 14, and the final on December 18. (AMP)

7 December 2022
Romania’s independence from Russian oil

Romania no longer relies on Russia’s oil, and the ban
on imports from that country, which took effect on Monday, will not affect us
because oil companies have identified alternative resources and are no longer
buying crude from Moscow. The announcement was made by the energy minister
Virgil Popescu at a press conference, in which he reiterated that Bucharest has
enough oil and natural gas reserves to see this winter through. Moreover, the
minister said, ever since last week oil companies and refineries in Romania
have only processed non-Russian oil.

Virgil Popescu: Romania has no natural gas supply problems,
and you may have noticed that it is gradually becoming a regional natural gas
hub. Gas is being taken via Romania to Moldova, to Ukraine and to Hungary. In
other words, Romania is on its own path, on the European path, it is a natural
gas producer and a future natural gas exporter and will ensure both Romania’s
and the entire region’s energy security. We have no gas supply problems this
winter as well. And Romanians must know that we have no problems in terms of
the oil reserves, of fuels, of natural gas and of electricity.

In turn, the general manager of the Transgaz
Natural Gas Transport Corporation, Ioan Sterian, vowed that there is
substantial domestic gas output and that Romanians have no reasons to fear they
will be left without resources this winter.

On the other hand, the shortage of firewood for
household heating was discussed on Monday in the Chamber of Deputies. The
environment minister, Tánczos Barna, was invited to Question Time by the AUR
party in opposition, to speak about the problems caused by the cap on firewood
prices, and to explain why the legal framework is unchanged although the ruling
coalition promised they would amend a previous government order. Tánczos Barna said
the government’s priority was to protect citizens, but admitted that the
effects of the emergency order were not as desired. According to Tánczos Barna,
the Romsilva National Forestry Corporation and private owners made available
this year over one million cubic metres of firewood more than in 2021. He also
added that the price of firewood varies from one region to another, which is
why it was capped at EUR 80 per cubic metre, and Romsilva also took measures
to ensure firewood for next year as well.

Tánczos Barna: We have put together an investment plan under
which we will create 178 new firewood storage facilities and will upgrade the 240
existing centres, operated by Romsilva. In the next 2-3 years we will have an
investment budget of over EUR 60 million.

The
AUR leader George Simion said the
minister failed to meet the requests for the emergency order to be amended so
that all citizens may benefit from firewood irrespective of where they live.

And USR party, also in opposition, accused the
environment minister of lacking the courage to take the right measures for
citizens, although the country has all the necessary experts and resources. (AMP)

6 December 2022
November 27, 2022 UPDATE

NATO The president of
Romania Klaus Iohannis will receive the
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, in Bucharest on Monday. Stoltenberg
will chair the meeting of NATO foreign ministers hosted by the Romanian capital city as of Tuesday. Also on this
occasion, the US state secretary Antony Blinken will travel to Bucharest, and
will have meetings with president Iohannis, PM Nicolae Ciucă and the foreign
minister Bogdan Aurescu. The NATO meeting, the
first of this kind organised in Romania, focuses on
supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion, energy security and
implementing the Alliance’s new strategic concept.

MLM A Munich Leaders
Meeting (MLM) takes place in Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday. The Romanian
foreign ministry is co-hosting this prestigious event, which is part of the Munich
Security Conference (MSC). Attending will be over 75 senior officials from over
25 countries, including current and former officials, experts, analysts and
opinion leaders. The agenda includes relevant topics for international
security, with an emphasis on developments in the Black Sea and Western Balkans
regions. Other topics will be the European security architecture, implementing
the new NATO Strategic Concept, hybrid threats, food security, and the energy
crisis. The conclusions of the meeting in Bucharest will contribute to shaping
the agenda of next year’s Munich Security Conference.

NATIONAL DAY Events
devoted to Romania’s National Day on December 1 begin in Alba Iulia on November
30, with military and wreath laying ceremonies. On December 1, more than 850 troops
will parade in Alba Iulia, including a French unit part of the NATO battlegroup
deployed in Cincu, Braşov County. In Bucharest, over 1,500 troops and staff of the defence
ministry, interior ministry, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Special
Telecommunications Service and the Penitentiary Agency as well as vehicles and
40 aircraft will take part in a military parade on December 1. According to a
defence ministry news release, around 150 troops from Belgium, France, North
Macedonia, R. Of Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal and the US, will also take
part. Romanian military personnel on missions abroad will also organise special
ceremonies.

ENVIRONMENT The
Romanian environment ministry launched a national forestation programme
financed from EU funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The
decision was made because forests cover less than 30% of the country’s surface,
as against the European average of 40%. In some counties in the south and
south-east of the country, the ratio is even have less than 5%. Farmers who no
longer want to keep their farmland under crops may turn it into forests or
shelterbelts. The government provides up to EUR 20,000 for a hectare of oak
forest in plains areas and up to EUR 17,000 per hectare of shelterbelts, with
an additional EUR 456 per year for each hectare of forest for 20 years.

UKRAINE Heavy rainfall is expected in
Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv as of Sunday, with sub-zero temperatures both
during the day and at night. Millions of people in the city and the region
around it are still without electricity and heat, after Russian shelling
damaged the country’s energy infrastructure. The region of Dnipropetrovsk, in
central Ukraine, was once again hit by 5 Russian missile strikes and heavy
artillery attacks, the regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. Homes and
other buildings were destroyed, but no victims were reported. However, in the
southern region of Kherson, where the Russian troops pulled out 2 weeks ago, at
least 32 people were killed in the bombings, the Ukrainian police reported.

ENESCU The George
Enescu International Music Festival was shortlisted for the prestigious International
Opera Awards, the ‘Oscars’ of the opera world, the festival organisers have
announced. The awards ceremony takes place on Monday at Teatro Real (Madrid,
Spain). The 2021 edition was shortlisted in the Festivals section, alongside
other top-level events in the world of international classical music, such as
the Donizetti Festival and Garsington Opera.

HANDBALL The men’s
handball teams of Romania, Egypt, Algeria and Slovakia take part in this year’s
Carpaţi Trophy, on December 28th and 29th in Oradea,
north-western Romania, the Romanian Handball Federation announced. Egypt and
Algeria are qualified to the forthcoming World Championships scheduled for January
2023. Romania’s manager Xavi Pascual invited 24 players to convene for the
competition on December 26th. (AMP)

27 November 2022
November 27, 2022

NATO Bucharest will host on Tuesday and Wednesday a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. Attending will also be the foreign ministers of Georgia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and, for the first time, the Republic of Moldova. The war in Ukraine will be one of the main topics of the meeting. The conference will be co-chaired by the Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, and NATOs secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. This is the first event of this kind organised in Romania since the country joined the Alliance in 2004 and the second NATO formal meeting in Romania since the 2008 summit. NATOs deputy secretary general, Mircea Geoană, says the event is a bridge between this summers summit in Madrid and the forthcoming summit in Vilnius, and a contribution made by Romania to the Alliances strategic thinking and response to the complex situation on the continent.

MLM A Munich Leaders Meeting (MLM) takes place in Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday. The Romanian foreign ministry is co-hosting this prestigious event, which is part of the Munich Security Conference (MSC). Attending will be over 75 senior officials from over 25 countries, including current and former officials, experts, analysts and opinion leaders. The agenda includes relevant topics for international security, with an emphasis on developments in the Black Sea and Western Balkans regions. Other topics will be the European security architecture, implementing the new NATO Strategic Concept, hybrid threats, food security, and the energy crisis. The conclusions of the meeting in Bucharest will contribute to shaping the agenda of next years Munich Security Conference.

NATIONAL DAY Events devoted to Romanias National Day on December 1 begin in Alba Iulia on November 30, with military and wreath laying ceremonies. On December 1, more than 850 troops will parade in Alba Iulia, including a French unit part of the NATO battlegroup deployed in Cincu, Braşov County. In Bucharest, over 1,500 troops and staff of the defence ministry, interior ministry, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunications Service and the Penitentiary Agency as well as vehicles and 40 aircraft will take part in a military parade on December 1. According to a defence ministry news release, around 150 troops from Belgium, France, North Macedonia, R. of Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal and the US, will also take part. Romanian military personnel on missions abroad will also organise special ceremonies.

ENVIRONMENT The Romanian environment ministry launched a national forestation programme financed from EU funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The decision was made because forests cover less than 30% of the countrys surface, as against the European average of 40%. In some counties in the south and south-east of the country, the ratio is even have less than 5%. Farmers who no longer want to keep their farmland under crops may turn it into forests or shelterbelts. The government provides up to EUR 20,000 for a hectare of oak forest in plains areas and up to EUR 17,000 per hectare of shelterbelts, with an additional EUR 456 per year for each hectare of forest for 20 years.

ENESCU The George Enescu International Music Festival was shortlisted for the prestigious International Opera Awards, the Oscars of the opera world, the festival organisers have announced. The awards ceremony takes place on Monday at Teatro Real (Madrid, Spain). The 2021 edition was shortlisted in the Festivals section, alongside other top-level events in the world of international classical music, such as the Donizetti Festival and Garsington Opera. (AMP)

27 November 2022
Romanians’ Trust in Public Institutions

A national-scale representative poll conducted over the telephone between September 29 and October 10, 2022, and involving some 1,000 citizens aged between 18 and 65, Romanias Security Barometer reflects the current trust that people have in the national and international institutional environment.

The hierarchy has not changed much, but even the national institutions that regularly enjoyed high levels of public confidence, such as the Church and the Army, are now seeing their image tainted by recent difficulties.

According to the Lab for Information War Analysis and Strategic Communication (LARICS), in a partnership with the Romanian Academys Institute for Political Sciences and International Relations, the year 2022 has been marked by the war in the region and the quite significant energy price surges. This set of crises has eroded even the publics confidence in NATO and the EU.

Even so, Romania remains a mostly pro-Western and pro-European nation: 68% of Romanians are optimistic with respect to the EUs short-term future, 78% of them are optimistic as regards the US support for Eastern Europe, and only 10% of them believe the EU ought to disappear in the future.

In spite of serious criticism against the Union, 74% of Romanians argue that it is better to be an EU member state than to be outside it. Romanians criticism with respect to the EU has to do with the current economic and energy-related situation: some member states are perceived to take economic advantage of Romania, the EU policies are not always seen as matching Romanias interests, and the bloc is sometimes believed to impose too many rules.

But an equally disapproving attitude is reported as far as national and local authorities are concerned. Some 48% of the public blames the skyrocketing energy prices on Romanias leaders, 28% on EU policies and only 24% on the war in Ukraine.

Should Romania come under attack, 36% of citizens say they would take part in the defence efforts, 33% are undecided and 29% would try to leave the country together with their families.

Most Romanians believe Russia is to blame for the war in Ukraine and that the main obstacle to peace is Russia. Although Moscows responsibility is clear for most Romanians, 70% of them want the war stopped, and only 28% believe it should continue until Russia has been defeated. The reasons include fears that the conflict may spill over and that the economic crisis may deepen.

According to Romanias Security Barometer, although a strategic shift in Romanians orientation is out of the question, a growing number of citizens argue that the country should be more pragmatic and focus on its own interests. Still, this should be done within the Euro-Atlantic framework, rather than outside it. (AMP)

8 November 2022
Romanian PM Ciucǎ in Brussels

Romania’s accession to the passport-free travel area
was the central topic of the talks that Romania’s PM Nicolae Ciucă had in
Brussels on Wednesday with high-ranking EU and Belgian officials.

In fact, the theme was approached in all the
discussions with the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, the
European Commission chief Ursula von de Leyen, and with Belgium’s PM Alexander
De Croo.

In his meeting with the president of the European
Commission, PM Ciucă highlighted the very good conclusions of the recent EU
assessment mission, which in his opinion confirms that Romania is prepared to
join Schengen.

Alexander De Croo praised the efforts of the Romanian
authorities and said one last step needed to be taken, an important one for all
citizens. As for Nicolae Ciucă, he pointed out that Romania took all the
necessary measures to reach its goal. He emphasised that Romania made efforts
to meet all technical requirements and standards and that naturally, if
necessary, the Romanian authorities were open to clarifying any points based on
the Commission’s existing approaches and bilaterally, with any EU member
country interested in finding out more than the Commission’s report mentions.

At the NATO headquarters, PM Ciucă had talks with the
Alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. The latter reiterated that
Romania was a valuable Ally, which made important contributions to NATO’s
security, and that NATO is ready to protect both Romania, and all its other
members, in the context of the recent developments in Ukraine, whereby Russia
has turned the Black Sea region into a war zone. Jens
Stoltenberg also praised Romania’s efforts to support the French-led NATO
battle group in Romania, which comprises troops from the Netherlands and
Belgium as well.

Romania will continue to make active and responsible
contributions to promoting Euro-Atlantic security and stability, and the
consolidation of NATO’s deterrence and defence posture is essential, PM Nicolae
Ciucă said in his turn. Given the dynamic nature of these developments and
Russia’s unpredictability, he went on to say, NATO needs to closely monitor the
situation at the Black Sea. This war has unfortunately highlighted what Romania
has been arguing for a long time, namely the strategic relevance of the Black
Sea to NATO, to the Alliance’s major security interests.

Apart from Schengen-related matters and the EU’s
response to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, PM Nicolae Ciucă’s talks
with Brussels officials also tackled the strengthening of the Union’s
neighbourhood policies and the energy security. (AMP)

27 October 2022
July 1, 2022 UPDATE

SECURITY
NATO’s deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană said on Friday in Constanţa,
south-eastern Romania, that the Alliance would continue to support Ukraine and
that the Black Sea region remains a strategic one in the current military
context. He took part in the ‘Black Sea Security Summit’, co-chaired by the
Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu and the US Senator Roger Wicker.
Geoana also mentioned that Russia is the greatest threat at present, and that
China’s expansion is a challenge for NATO’s interests, values and security.
In turn, Bogdan Aurescu highlighted that trans-Atlantic coordination in the
face of the Russian aggression was flawless, and that it must remain so. If
president Putin sought to divide us, he failed, the Romanian diplomat pointed
out. Secretary of state Simona Cojocaru said Romania hailed Russian forces’
pull-out from the Serpent Island. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Oleksandr
Polishchuk said Russia is willing to make compromises when it sees the free
world not only having the means to defeat an aggressor, but also ready to take
action and fight. The event in Constanta was held in Romania for the first
time, and is the first multi-lateral dialogue in this format between regional
allies and partners on the topic of security at the Black Sea.

BACCALAUREATE 75.2% of the
students sitting the Baccalaureate have passed the exam, the education minister
Sorin Cîmpeanu announced in Bucharest, after the appeals stage. This year over
49,000 appeals were submitted, fewer than last year, the education ministry
said. Prior to this stage, the pass rate in this summer’s exam was 73.3%, the
highest in the last 10 years, as minister
Cîmpeanu explained. Eighth-graders have already found out their results
in the national evaluation. The grades in this exam are the main criterion for
high school admission. Over 80% of the participants have passed, again a record for the past 10 years.

FUEL The authorities
in Bucharest Friday hailed the decision of the main oil companies operating in
Romania to lower the price for fuel in their stations by approximately EUR
0.10, in line with the Government’s emergency order. Energy minister Virgil
Popescu thanked the companies that volunteered to lower fuel prices. PM Nicolae
Ciucă also welcomed the decision, calling on fiscal and consumer protection
agencies to monitor fuel prices. Haulers will benefit from a partial subsidy for
fuel. The PM says the measure was designed to avoid the shortage and rationing
of fuel, as reported in other countries. Romania now has one of the lowest fuel
prices in Europe, with stations across the country selling standard diesel for
approximately EUR 1.7 and petrol for approximately EUR 1.6.

EMPLOYMENT Hiring new personnel
in public institutions and authorities in Romania is suspended until the end
of the year, under an emergency order issued recently by the government. However,
employment procedures started before 1 July will be completed. Other exceptions are
also possible, in cases that are thoroughly justified and in compliance with
personnel budgets. The government suspended hiring in the public sector in
order to reduce expenditure and meet the budget deficit target.

TENNIS Romania is left with only one player in the 3rd round of
the Wimbledon tournament: Simona Halep
(30 WTA). Halep will play on Saturday against Magdalena Frech (92 WTA) of
Poland. On Friday, Irina Begu left the competition after being defeated by
Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, in 3 sets. (AMP)

1 July 2022
May 28, 2022 UPDATE

TALKS The prime minister of Romania Nicolae Ciucă Saturday received a delegation of the US Senate headed by Senator Robert Portman. PM Ciucă presented the situation of Ukrainian exports and of Romanias efforts to support the food security of the affected countries, particularly those in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and the viability of Ukraines economy. He mentioned support options including the ports of Constanţa and Galaţi, navigation on the Danube to central Europe, railway and road transport. A large part of the talks was devoted to Russias invasion in Ukraine and the need for concrete support for this country. Senator Robert Portman thanked Romania for its efforts and highlighted his interest in the country, considering that the state he is representing, Ohio, is home to a large community of Romanians and an important Ukrainian community.

DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu was received on Friday by the president of Tukey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of a trilateral security meeting that brought together the foreign ministers of Romania, Poland and Turkey in Istanbul. Erdogan commended Romanias and Polands management of the humanitarian crisis entailed by Russias aggression in Ukraine, while Bogdan Aurescu highlighted Turkeys role at the Black Sea. The Romanian foreign minister also voiced support for NATOs open door policy and for the accession of Sweden and Finland. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bogdan Aurescu also emphasised the relevance of the bilateral strategic partnership signed in 2011, in the current geopolitical circumstances.

CYBER ATTACK The English version of the website of the Romanian defence ministry has been attacked by hackers. The DDOS cyber-attack took place on Friday night, and experts with the ministrys cyber defence unit managed to restore the website in around 30 minutes. The ministry says the website does not contain sensible or classified databases and the attack did not affect other services or networks of the institution. Investigations are under way to identify the source of the attack. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.

RADIO CHIŞINAU The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation issued a news release stating it was confident the decision to ban the use of the name “Chişinău” in the name of the radio station Radio Chişinău was a misunderstanding and it has reasons to believe the situation will be resolved. Radio Romania mentions that at Fridays meeting of the Chişinău City Council, a draft decision on the use of the name Chişinău was dismissed by a majority of Council members. The name of the city Chişinău was used by Radio Chişinău, a Radio Romania station, between 2011 and 2021, based on a similar validation procedure. Radio Romania emphasized that, should the situation continue, it will have to take all the necessary administrative and judicial steps to address it, to the benefit of its listeners in the Republic of Moldova. Previously, the Romanian foreign ministry said the decision of the Chişinǎu Council was unjustified, ungrounded and driven by political considerations.

FESTIVAL “Mogoşoaia Classic Fest” takes place this weekend at the Brâncovenesc Palace (near Bucharest), under the title “Cultures of the world.” The festival includes exhibitions, film screenings and performances, concerts. The music, fine arts, dance, images and traditions of 8 countries are showcased in the festival: Armenia, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Peru, Mexico, China and Romania.

TENNIS The Romanian Irina Begu Saturday qualified into the 8th-finals of the Roland Garros tournament, after defeating Leolia Jeanjean of France 6-1, 6-4, in the 3rd round. The round of 16 is the best performance for the Romanian player in Grand Slams. Begu is the only Romanian player left in the singles competition of this years tournament in Paris. (AMP)

28 May 2022
May 28, 2022

FILM The Romanian
filmmaker Alexandru Belc Friday night won the award for best director in the Un
Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival, for his film ‘Metronome’. This is the first fiction feature of the
Romanian director, previously known for his documentaries ‘Cinema, mon amour’
(2015) and ‘8 March’ (2012). The Un Certain Regard section is
devoted to films with unusual styles by emerging directors seeking
international recognition. The awards in the official competition of the 75th
Cannes Film Festival will be presented tonight. Eighteen films compete for the Palme
d’Or trophy, including R.M.N by the Romanian director Cristian
Mungiu.

DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu was received
on Friday by the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the sidelines of
a trilateral security meeting that brought together the foreign ministers of
Romania, Poland and Turkey in Istanbul. Erdogan commended Romania’s and
Poland’s management of the humanitarian crisis entailed by Russia’s aggression
in Ukraine, while Bogdan Aurescu highlighted Turkey’s role at the Black Sea. The
Romanian foreign minister also voiced support for NATO’s open door policy and
for the accession of Sweden and Finland. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bogdan Aurescu also emphasised the relevance
of the bilateral strategic partnership signed in 2011,
in the current geopolitical circumstances.

REFUGEES On Friday 8,730 Ukrainian nationals entered Romania, down 2.6%
since the previous day. A total of nearly 1,050,000 refugees have crossed the
border from Ukraine since the start of the conflict on February 24th.
According to the Romanian border police, measures have been taken to strengthen
border surveillance and to improve information and data exchanges with other
relevant institutions, in order to handle possible problems.

CHURCH The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, previously subordinated to the
Russian Patriarchy, announced it would separate from the latter as a result of
the invasion in Ukraine, and declared its independence and autonomy. This
historic move comes after Russia’s Patriarch Kirill voiced full support for
president Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Part of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church had already splintered from Moscow in 2019. Hundreds of priests have
recently signed an open letter calling for Kirill to be tried before a
religious tribunal over his stand regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

CONCERT London hosted on Friday night the first concert of the
Swedish group ABBA after 40 years. The show, the first in a series of 7, was
non-conventional in that it featured digital versions of the 4 artists. The
group has been preparing the performances since 2016, using state-of-the-art
technology. The musicians attended the show in London as members of the
audience. The band separated in 1982, but their music continues to sell, and recently they put out a new album,
called Voyage.

TENNIS The Romanian Irina Begu is playing today against Leolia
Jeanjean of France, in the 3rd round of the Roland Garros. On
Thursday Begu defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, to be
the only Romanian player left in the singles competition of the tournament in
Paris. (AMP)

28 May 2022
Romanian – US talks

The international community has firmly condemned the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, which triggered the most severe refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

It is precisely the fallout of this military aggression and the Allied efforts to manage it and to come up with an appropriate response that was in the focus of Mondays telephone talks between the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu and the US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

The two officials discussed concrete ways to provide support to Ukraine, and a number of bilateral cooperation elements as part of the Romania – US Strategic Partnership. Bogdan Aurescu presented Bucharests assessments of the security developments on NATOs eastern flank and in the Black Sea region. He also detailed the complex measures taken by Romanian authorities to support neighbouring Ukraine at a political, logistic, and humanitarian level.

The Romanian diplomacy chief emphasised the importance of quickly implementing the decisions made at NATOs summit on March 24, particularly establishing as soon as possible the Romania battle group, as a first step in balancing and consolidating NATOs presence on the eastern flank in the long run.

On the other hand, he presented the needs of Romanias eastern neighbour, the Republic of Moldova, in handling the crisis entailed by Russias military aggression in Ukraine and strengthening this countrys resilience.

In turn, state secretary Antony Blinken thanked Romania on behalf of the US for the regional role that Bucharest has embraced and for the support given to Kyiv and other vulnerable partners in the region, including Chișinău. Moreover, Antony Blinken appreciated Romanias steadfast commitment, as a strategic partner of the USA and a reliable and trustworthy NATO Ally, to stability and security in the Black Sea region and at European and Euro-Atlantic level.

The US official also reaffirmed Washingtons full commitment to protecting the territories of Romania and of all Allied states, especially those in the frontline.

Also on Monday, the Romanian defence minister Vasile Dîncu talked over the phone with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, about security developments in the Black Sea region, in the context of the war in Ukraine, as well as about the stage of setting up the Allied battle group in Romania.

Vasile Dîncu thanked the US for the commitment and substantial contribution to ensuring security on NATOs eastern flank. Relocating the Stryker combat team, deploying F-16 and F-18 aircraft to reinforce air policing missions in Romania are just two concrete examples of a solid trans-Atlantic relationship. (AMP)

19 April 2022
Supreme Defence Council discusses Ukraine crisis

Romania’s
Supreme Defence Council (CSAT) once again convened on Tuesday in the context of
the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Measures have been decided in several
respects. First among these were steps to substantially consolidate the
deterrence and defence posture in the eastern flank in the forthcoming period,
through the deployment of Allied forces and the accelerated set-up of the
battlegroup in Romania.

In
the near future, Romania will host 2,300 US
troops, 500 French, 300 Belgian and 170 Portuguese troops, as well as an
enhanced police unit. Moreover, the number of NATO aircraft in the country is
set to increase.

The CSAT also decided to provide support to
neighbouring Moldova, and to set up a logistics centre to
collect and ship international donations to Ukraine.

Klaus
Iohannis: In the general context created by the regional security situation,
support for the Republic of Moldova is necessary in several respects, because
the country is facing significant refugee inflows and possibly other
difficulties as well. In this respect, the CSAT decided Romania will take a
number of support measures. As for Romania’s contribution to the international
efforts to support Ukraine, we decided to set up a logistics facility, a hub for
centralising and transporting international donations and humanitarian aid to
Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people. We also decided to step up measures to
help the refugees from Ukraine and to manage the massive inflow of people to
Romania.

The
number of Ukrainian nationals coming into Romania is growing by the day. The authorities
say they have ready accommodation, food and clothing for half a million people.
Furthermore, based on an agreement among EU member states, Romania has shipped
fuel, bulletproof vests, helmets, ammunition and military equipment, water,
food and medicines to Ukraine.

In
the same CSAT meeting, the Romanian president said that in the current security
context Romania must take new consolidated measures in at least 2 respects:

Klaus
Iohannis: We need to enhance the defence capacity of the Romanian state. To this
end, we must increase the share of defence expenditure in the GDP from 2% at
present to 2.5%. Secondly, Romania must secure its energy independence, mainly
by developing renewable energy sources and civilian nuclear facilities.

The
president emphasised that for these strategic goals to be achieved, political
decisions must be agreed on and concrete action plans must be implemented by
relevant institutions. (A.M.P.)

2 March 2022
Romania’s foreign minister invited to Parliament

Romanias embassy in Kyiv is fully operational, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu announced.

Invited by the foreign policy committees in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies to present the security developments in the Black Sea region, the minister said a procedure was put into place to bring back into the country the families of the diplomatic staff at the Romanian embassy in the capital Kyiv and the consulate general in the Black Sea port city of Odessa, in the south of Ukraine.

The other 2 consular offices, located in Solotvino, in Transcarpathia, and in Cernăuţi, in northern Bukovina, both of them in the west of Ukraine, are not covered by this procedure, thanks to the higher security level in those regions, the minister explained.

Aurescu added that all the embassies of EU member states in Kyiv apply the same logic, and it was important for Ukraines western partners to convey a coherent message.

Last week, the Romanian foreign ministry announced raising the alert level for Ukraine. With the steady Russian military buildup at Ukraines border, the Romanian authorities firmly recommend that Romanian nationals avoid travelling to that country and pay close attention to regional developments. They also urge Romanian citizens in Ukraine to reconsider remaining there.

Avoiding travels to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where pro-Russian secessionists play a major role, and to Ukraines borders with Russia and Belarus, is also highly recommended.

The authorities also urge Romanian nationals, including journalists, to avoid large crowds, to stay up to date with information from reliable sources and to promptly adjust their plans to the security situation.

Bucharest used all the official channels, from the presidency to the government and foreign ministry, to affirm its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. As a NATO and EU member state, Romania has joined in the sanctions against the Russian Federation.

According to Romanian mass media, in the case of a Russian invasion in Ukraine, Bucharest is also taking into account the management of an inflow of refugees from that state.

The Romanian community is Ukraine, totaling over 400,000 people, is mostly located in northern Bukovina, northern and southern Bassarabia and Hertsa County, all of them former Romanian territories annexed by the former USSR in 1940 and incorporated into Ukraine in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. (A.M.P.)

17 February 2022
Diplomatic coordination for Europe’s security

Moscow plans to fabricate a pretext to attack Ukraine, the Pentagon’s spokesman John Kirby said in a press conference on Thursday. Russia dismissed the claim saying it only wants to protect its security. In order to prevent a possible military conflict, diplomatic actions are carried out in Europe. In Bucharest, the worrying security situation regarding Ukraine, which neighbors Romania, and the Black Sea area was discussed by the foreign ministers of the Bucharest Nine (B9) group of Eastern Flank NATO Allies, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Joining as special guest the talks held in a hybrid format was the French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who paid a two-day visit to Bucharest, and the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

On that occasion, the head of Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu, said: “NATO promotes with clarity this dual approach of deterrence and dialogue, to which I would add the conclusion that we, Romanians, have reached following our historical experience, that when substantial dialogue is needed to yield results in this part of the world, strong deterrence is the key. If we compare the allied presence on the eastern flank of the Alliance and also in the south, where Romania is located, with the current Russian presence in Ukraine s vicinity and at the Black Sea, it is clear that the first is much smaller, so we cannot speak of a deployment of allied forces that pose a threat to Russia and no such thing as an attempt of NATO to escalate the situation. Quite the opposite.

According to Minister Aurescu, it is not just the security of Ukraine, of the region or of Europe at stake, but the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic area and the Black Sea is part of it, for which reason allied states should further have a common stand as to the concrete measures to be taken, so as to deescalate the situation and continue dialogue.

In his turn, the French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, highlighted the unity of the allies and the fact that all dialogue channels with Russia are open. In Paris, the diplomatic activity on the topic of the crisis between Moscow and Kiev has been consistent. On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron discussed over the phone with his Russian, Ukrainian and Polish counterparts, a day after holding talks with US President Joe Biden. In his turn, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, wants to be on the same page with the presidents of France and Poland as regards the conflict in Ukraine, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia. (EE)

4 February 2022
Supreme Defence Council discusses security situation

As a member of the
strongest political and military alliance in history, Romania benefits from all
the security guarantees, president Klaus Iohannis pointed out at the end of the
meeting of the Supreme Defence Council, which looked at the security situation
at the Black Sea and on NATO’s eastern flank and at measures to develop the
country’s response capacity to new security challenges.

The current crisis
created by Russia is not only about Ukraine, not only about regional security
at the Black Sea and not even about European security alone, but rather about
the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic area, Klaus Iohannis said. He emphasised
that the escalation of tensions and Russia’s massive military build-up around
Ukraine and in the Black Sea region affect security and stability at
international level, making unity and solidarity within NATO and the EU all the
more important.

We have run a comprehensive
analysis of the situation, including the military, economic and energy
implications, as well as implications in terms of uncontrolled migration, the
president explained. He mentioned that Romania’s border with Ukraine is over
600 km long and the country must make sure it is prepared for any scenario-including
the situation where Moscow refuses further diplomatic dialogue, which plays a
critical role in defusing the crisis, Klaus Iohannis also said.

He reiterated that NATO’s
steps to strengthen its military presence on the eastern flank are a strictly defensive
response to the growing security risks, threats and challenges in the region:

Klaus Iohannis: Consolidating the Allied presence on NATO’s
eastern flank, including in Romania, is very important to regional stability
and to the security of the Alliance as a whole and of the citizens of the
Allied states. Regardless of the current developments in the region, NATO must
keep its defence and deterrence capacity at a high level, enabling it to
efficiently meet the strictly defensive-and I repeat, strictly defensive-goals for
which the Alliance was created in the first place.

The Supreme Defence
Council agreed on a number of important measures for the current security
crisis, such as carrying on the efforts to enhance the NATO and US presence in
Romania and the management of prospective refugee inflows. (A.M.P.)

27 January 2022
December 24, 2021 UPDATE

CHRISTMAS For Orthodox, Greek and Roman Catholic Christians around the world,
Saturday is Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, one of the
biggest holiday for the Christian world. On Christmas Eve, a common tradition in Romania
is caroling, a ritual that includes ceremonial texts, dancing and singing.
Carolers, especially children and youth, convey good wishes and are rewarded by
hosts with fruit, pretzels, sweets or money. Priests go from house to
house anouncing the birth of Christ. Christmas calls on all of us to be generous, like the shepherds who
adored Christ, to give humble love to all around us, to give presents to children
as well as to the elderly, to the poor, to the lonely, to the mourning and to
the suffering, said Daniel, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Christmas
is marked by special services in churches and monasteries, and family
gatherings and traditions.Old Style Orthodox believers in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia,
and Georgia celebrate Christmas on 7th January.

COVID-19 The fifth wave of the pandemic, which is more
severe than the previous one, is expected to hit in Romania in less than three
weeks, the country’s Interior Minister Lucian Bode has announced. The spread of
the Omicron variant will be accelerated by the presence of Romanian workers
from abroad, who are arriving in large numbers for the winter holidays. The
number of new infections is still low in Romania, with 717 new cases
announced on Friday. 44 related fatalities were also announced. Since the
beginning of the pandemic, 1.8 million Covid infections have been reported in
Romania and 58,000 related fatalities. Shortly after the authorisation of the
anti-Covid drug, Paxlovid, in the USA, Romania’s health minister, Alexandru
Rafila is making moves to import the new drug as soon as possible. Rafila has
already had a series of meetings with representatives of Pfizer, the company
that produces the vaccine. According to the latest surveys, the drug reduces the
risk of hospitalization and death by almost 90%. The US has also authorised an
anti-viral pill produced by Merck.

LIST The National Committee for Emergency Situations
has updated the list of the countries with a high infection risk. Malta entered
the red tier due to its high infection rate, whereas Romania’s neighbour, the
ex-soviet Republic of Moldova is now a green-list country. The committee has
also approved the categories of employees who are exempted from quarantine
rules, including the crews of ships sailing under Romanian flag, as well as
drivers of freighters up to 2.4 tons and of passenger buses over 9 seats coming
from the EU or the EU economic area.

POLICE Over 8,000 policemen are on duty during the
Christmas period in Romania, to discourage and prevent crime. Policemen will be
patrolling together with gendarme troops and in some cases they will be
accompanied by representatives of the Food Safety Authority to various shopping
areas to check the observance of the Covid-19 safety rules. Road police will be
assisted by helicopters to monitor the traffic and prevent any wrongdoing on
Romania’s motorways. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

24 December 2021