Radio România Internațional

Tag: suspended

  • National airline TAROM repatriates Blue Air customers

    National airline TAROM repatriates Blue Air customers

    It is hard to think of a less popular
    brand in Romania these days than the private air operator Blue Air. Facing
    funding shortages, the airline left thousands of passengers in airports across
    Europe.


    The government earmarked around EUR 1 mln
    from its reserve fund to cover repatriation costs for the Romanian nationals
    stranded abroad. The money will be recovered in full from the private operator,
    PM Nicolae Ciucă promised. In turn, the transport minister Sorin Grindeanu
    urged the travellers to claim compensations from the airline and to look for
    other options to return to the country, given that the national operator TAROM
    cannot possibly operate all the flights cancelled by Blue Air.


    The leader of USR party in opposition, Cătălin
    Drulă, himself a former transport minister, accuses Grindeanu of being
    aware of the situation with Blue Air, but failing to warn Romanians not to buy
    tickets. This is how thousands of people paid for nothing, Drulă said, and
    added that lies are being circulated that people will get their money back,
    but there is nothing left to take from Blue Air. Blue Air is bankrupt, nobody
    will see a refund from them.


    So far thousands of
    people have asked for help to get back to Romania, and TAROM has organised a number of special
    flights, most of them to Greece. Blue Air first decided to suspend all flights
    until 12September, because they saw their accounts frozen by the
    Environment Fund Agency, to which the company owes over EUR 5 mln. According to
    Blue Air itself, this meant cancelling 400 flights, for which over 54,000
    passengers had bought tickets. Now, the airline announces it plans to resume
    flights only on 10 October, although the authorities have unfrozen its accounts.


    The head of the National Consumer
    Protection Authority, Horia Constantinescu, said the institution is considering
    criminal proceedings against Blue Air, and explained that the company had
    already proved it did not care about passengers’ rights.


    Two months ago, the Authority fined the
    company for having cancelled a large number of flights this year, which
    affected tens of thousands of passengers.


    Blue Air is the largest Romanian airline in terms of
    the number of passengers, with an ultra-low cost business model. During 17 years
    of operation, Blue Air serviced over 32 million customers and flew over 340 million
    km, reads a news release issued by the air operator. In normal times, this
    sentence would sound like a progress report. Today, it feels more like an obituary. (AMP)

  • September 11, 2022 UPDATE

    September 11, 2022 UPDATE


    CELEBRATION The celebration of 150 years since the death of Avram Iancu, the leader of the 1848 Revolution in Transylvania, included events devoted to this national hero. Military ceremonies and religious services were held, followed by a traditional music show in Ţebea (Hunedoara County). In a message on this occasion, president Klaus Iohannis mentioned that Avram Iancu believed in the power of action and will be remembered as a fighter for social and national freedom. The head of state also mentioned Russias aggression against Ukraine and the revival of an “imperialist mindset.” The joint efforts of the international community, political dialogue rather than confrontation, and our goals, converging and complementary to those of NATO and the EU, will ensure the consolidation of European security and stability, especially in southeastern Europe and at the Black Sea, president Klaus Iohannis also said.



    9/11 In Bucharest, PM Nicolae Ciucă Sunday addressed a message of solidarity with the people of the USA, 21 years since the terrorist attacks of 2001. “The tragedy of the American nation, shared by the entire planet, struck at the heart of freedom and democracy: the trust in and respect for the other. We honour the memory of those who passed away and we stand by the survivors and rescuers in the terrorist attacks of 9/11,” the Romanian Prime Minister said. Mr. Ciucă also mentioned Romanias continued solidarity with the US, as reflected in the military cooperation between the 2 countries. “Our troops, in increasingly complex missions, have proved professionalism and dedication, contributing to the safeguarding of peace and democratic values. In the most important missions, in Iraq and Afghanistan, Romanian troops showed solidarity with their American partners, fighting together the worlds democracies against terrorism and defending fundamental rights and liberties,” reads the message. Nearly 3,000 people were killed 21 years ago by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacking 4 aircraft.



    QUEEN The state funerals for Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on Thursday, aged 96, will take place on the 19 September. Meanwhile, Britons will have several days to pay their respects to their former sovereign, first in Edinburgh and then in London, where the Queens coffin is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. On Saturday, King Charles III was proclaimed monarch, and today he was officially proclaimed head of state of Australia and New Zealand. The British monarch is the sovereign of 14 other countries apart from the UK, although with a largely ceremonial role. The King is also the head of the Commonwealth, an association of 56 countries, most of them former British colonies. For over 4 decades, King Charles has been involved in charities lobbying for environment and heritage conservation, but as head of state he will take on exclusively constitutional responsibilities. As a Prince of Wales, the new King has visited Romania almost every year for 2 decades, supporting a number of organisations and projects, especially in Transylvania, where he owns several estates. The UK Embassy in Bucharest opened an online condolence book for members of the public, but hundreds of Romanians went to the embassy offices to bring flowers and light candles for the Queen. The flag at the embassy office was flown at half-mast.



    FLIGHTS The national airline TAROM continues to repatriate the Romanians stranded in international airports after the private operator Blue Air suspended flights. On Sunday around 200 people were brought from Greeces Zakynthos and Rhodes islands, with another 200 to be repatriated on Monday, after 350 Romanian nationals were repatriated from Greece on Saturday. Four other special flights had previously been organised to Israel, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Several thousand Romanians have been stranded in international airports since Tuesday night, when Blue Air announced it was suspending flights. Although the authorities have unfrozen the accounts of the airline, which had excessive debts to the Romanian state, Blue Air said it would only resume flights on 10 October. Blue Airs current estimated debts amount to EUR 230 mln.



    UKRAINE Since early September the Ukrainian army has freed some 2,000 sq.km of the countrys territory, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced. Ukrainian forces are currently engaged in 2 counter-offensive campaigns, one in the south, targeting Herson, and the second one in the Kharkiv area in the north-east, where they entered the key cities of Kupyansk and Izyum. According to international media, these are the most important gains for Ukraine since early April, when the Russians were pushed out of Kyiv area. Reuters quotes a former chief of pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine, Igor Girkin, as talking about a “major defeat” for Russia.



    NUCLEAR Operations at the Zaporozhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, controlled by Russian forces, have been fully stopped as a safety measure, Ukraines nuclear operator Energoatom announced on Sunday. Another emergency shut-down had been ordered in August. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling the nuclear plant, while president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the region around it to be demilitarised. (AMP)


  • March 12, 2021

    March 12, 2021

    PENSIONS Public and private sector employees may continue working until the age of 70 if they choose to, the Romanian labour minister Raluca Turcan announced. She explained that unlike private sector staff, in the public sector the employees reaching retirement age who continue working cannot receive both public pensions and salaries. Another bill drafted by the labour ministry concerns an increase of the bonuses paid to new parents who stay on parental leave for less than 6 months, from 130 euros to around 300 euros.



    VACCINE Romania temporarily suspends the use of an AstraZeneca vaccine batch, until the European Medicines Agency completes its assessment. The National Vaccine Coordination Committee decided however to continue using the doses from batches where problems have not been reported. The decision comes after other European countries reported severe side effects and even deaths among people having received AstraZeneca doses from a particular batch. Romania received 81,600 doses from the AstraZeneca batch no. ABV 2856, and has used over 77,000 of them. The remaining shots are temporarily suspended, until the European Medicines Agency completes its assessment. Today, over 100,000 doses of Moderna vaccine reach Romania. Also, in order to step up the vaccine rollout and contain the pandemic, on Thursday the last stage of the vaccination programme was launched in places with more than 4.5 infections per 1,000 people. On Monday the 3rd vaccination phase, targeting the general public, begins across the country. On Friday Romania reported over 5,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours. 108 COVID-related deaths were also reported, and 1,166 patients are in intensive care.



    PANDEMIC The European Medicines Agency has approved the use of a 4th COVID-19 vaccine in the EU—the single-shot Johnson & Johnson. Meanwhile, as a precaution, 9 countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines over blood clot fears. These countries are Austria, Italy, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. The first to do so was Austria, following the death of a person from multiple thrombosis. Other countries using this vaccine, including Spain, Sweden and the UK, say they had no problems of this kind. 17 EU member states have received doses from the batch in question. The European Commission urges member states to follow the advice of the European Medicines Agency, which says that at this point nothing points to higher blood clot risks in people having received the Covid-19 vaccine. Astrazeneca insists that its vaccine has been tested extensively and is well tolerated. On Thursday night, in the US, the worst-hit country in the world, president Joe Biden gave his first prime-time address, marking 1 year since the pandemic was declared officially. Biden announced that his goal of having 100 million Americans immunised in the first 100 days of his term in office will be reached sooner than planned. According to worldometers updates, over 119 million people have caught the coronavirus so far. Of them, around 94.7 million have recovered and at least 2.6 million people died.



    ENVIRONMENT The environment ministry has today launched a campaign called Green Friday, calling on Romanians to switch from automobiles to walking, cycling or using public transport every Friday. The point is primarily to reduce pollution in big cities. Minister Barna Tanczos explained that 60% of urban pollution is caused by automobiles.




    ECONOMY In Romania, the trade balance deficit in January was nearly 1.2 billion euros, down since last January, with imports dropping 5.8% and exports 4.9%. According to data made public on Friday by the National Statistics Institute, exports amounted to 5.4 billion euro, and imports to 6.6 billion euro. In related news, the INS announced on Friday that in January the average net salary in Romania was nearly 700 euro, down 6.2% since the previous month. The highest salaries in Romania are paid in IT&C, and the smallest in the hospitality industry. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • September 10, 2019 UPDATE

    September 10, 2019 UPDATE

    SENATE The former foreign minister Teodor Meleşcanu, vice-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, until recently a junior member of the ruling coalition in Romania, is the new Speaker of the Senate. Backed by the Social Democratic Party, in power, he was elected with 73 votes, whereas his challenger, the Liberal Alina Gorghiu, only got 59 votes. Teodor Meleşcanu replaces Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, who last week resigned as head of this Parliament chamber as his party left the ruling coalition. After the vote, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu announced that he would challenge the procedure at the Constitutional Court, because 2 candidates from the same parliamentary group took part in the race: Teodor Meleșcanu, a member of ALDE but supported by the Social Democrats, and another candidate nominated and backed by the Liberal Democrats.




    EUROPEAN COMMISSION The President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Tuesday presented the distribution of portfolios to Commissioners-designate, with the Romanian Social Democrat Rovana Plumb nominated for the transport portfolio. A minister in several cabinets in Bucharest, Plumb was nominated for the Commissioner post by PM Viorica Dăncilă. The National Liberal Party in opposition has called on the PM to withdraw the candidacy and make a different nomination. The USR-PLUS Alliance also opposes the nomination and voices concerns regarding the candidates integrity and competence, while the Peoples Movement Party also sees Plumb as not suitable to head a EU portfolio. The European Parliament is next to approve the College of Commissioners as a whole, including the President-elect and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European Commission vice-president.




    BREXIT The British Parliament dismissed Boris Johnson’s second attempt to hold an October 15 general election, with the Opposition saying they will only accept early elections after PM Boris Johnson has requested a postponement of Brexit. Parliament is shut down until October 14, just 2 weeks before the deadline for the UK exiting the European bloc. Last week Parliament passed a bill blocking a no-deal Brexit. The British PM claims he can secure a new deal with Brussels at the October summit, and that he will deliver Brexit on October 31, as promised. The Opposition on the other hand insists that the exit deadline be delayed, so as to avoid a withdrawal without an agreement.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • December 20, 2018

    December 20, 2018

    PARLIAMENT The Parliament of Romania is today debating and voting on the second no-confidence motion against the Government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, and headed by Viorica Dăncila. According to the Opposition, the current Cabinet is a threat to Romanias national interests, to its economic and political stability. The authors of the motion criticise the laws on the judiciary and claim the Prime Minister failed to comply with the governing programme undertaken at the start of her term. In reply, the PM claimed that the alternative the Opposition offers to citizens is to suspend income increases and even to slash salaries and pensions. Viorica Dancila also defended the justice laws, emphasising that they were endorsed by Parliament, rather than by an emergency decree as it was the case with the Ciolos Cabinet. Initiated by the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union, the Peoples Movement Party and unaffiliated MPs, the document was signed by 163 MPs, but needs 233 votes in order to pass. Yesterday the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania announced that its MPs would attend the meeting, but would abstain from voting.



    STOCK EXCHANGE The Association of Capital Market Professionals says the prospective endorsement of a recent government decree on fiscal and budgetary measures is the most brutal and irrational attack against the Romanian capital market since its re-establishment in 1995. The Bucharest Stock Exchange opened on a slight increase today, but plunged back down, after experiencing its worst day so far on Wednesday. Substantial losses were reported by banks and energy and utilities companies, after on Tuesday the Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici announced that by the end of the year a government decree would be passed introducing certain fiscal and budgetary measures. These include a so-called “tax on greed charged on banking revenues, and a package concerning energy companies, such as a 3% of turnover contribution, a cap on natural gas prices and electricity price control. The business community in Romania warned against the negative effects of the new taxes announced by the Government for 2019. President Klaus Iohannis urged the Cabinet to reconsider the decree, to negotiate it with employers and trade unions and to endorse a more sustainable version after thorough analysis and review.



    EU The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, receives in Bucharest on Friday the Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council. Romania will symbolically take over the presidency of the EU Council, which it will hold as of January 1. The 2 officials will discuss the priorities on the European agenda, such as the future of the Union, the EU budget after 2020, Brexit, and the elections for the European Parliament. On Wednesday in a meeting with the EU ambassadors to Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis said Romanias goal during its presidency of the EU Council is to begin as soon as possible the negotiations on the future relations between the Union and Britain, if the withdrawal agreement is ratified by London and approved by the European Parliament. Iohannis also said that Romania supports a stronger European Union, which is closer to its citizens and able to guarantee their security and prosperity. He also emphasised the importance of the informal meeting of European leaders in Sibiu on May 9, 2019, when the EU strategic agenda for 2019-2024 will be discussed.



    JUDICIARY Romanias supreme court suspended the serving of prison sentences received by several high-level officials under corruption charges. Among them are the former chief of the anti-terrorism and anti-mafia directorate Alina Bica, who requested asylum in Costa Rica, the former head of the tax authority, Serban Pop, and former Social Democratic ministers and MPs Dan Şova and Constantin Niţă. They have been released, until final rulings are passed on their appeals. The argument put forth for the suspension of their sentences was that the membership of the 5-judge panels passing the rulings had not been correct. The supreme court held drawing of lots sessions for the 5-judge panels 3 times this year, when the Law on the organisation of courts was modified, further to a Constitutional Court decision, at the request of the Government and following an objection by the Social Democratic Party president Liviu Dragnea, who is tried for corruption at the Bucharest Court of Appeals.



    COMMEMORATION Sirens sounded for 3 minutes in Timisoara today, in memory of the day of December 20, 1989, when Timisoara was proclaimed the first city free from communism in Romania. The largest plants went on strike back then, and workers gathered in the city centre, alongside tens of thousands of other locals. The Army withdrew from streets, the protesters who had been arrested were released, and the peoples demands were read out from the famous Opera House balcony. Also on December 20, the first revolutionary committee, called The Romanian Democratic Front, was set up. Members of the families of the Timisoara victims are traveling to Bucharest today to commemorate one of the most important events in modern Romanian history. They will arrive at the place where the bodies of 44 Timisoara heroes, shot dead on December 17, were cremated. The uprising that started in Timisoara spread on December 21 to Bucharest and other Romanian cities. Over 1,000 people died and some 3,000 others were wounded in the shootings in Romania, the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist regime was toppled violently and where the communist leaders were executed.



    FOOTBALL Romanias national football team will end the year on the 24th position in the ranking that FIFA made public on Thursday. Romania started the year on the 40th place. This years 24th place is the best ranking Romanias football team has held since 2016. The teams future opponents in the EURO 2020 qualifiers are Spain, in 9th place, Sweden – 14, Norway – 46, Faeroe – 98, and Malta – 182.



    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)