Radio România Internațional

Tag: theft

  • February 21, 2025 UPDATE

    February 21, 2025 UPDATE

    UKRAINE The interim president of Romania Ilie Bolojan takes part on Monday in an online summit on ‘Defence and Security Strategy of Unity. Action Plan’, organised in the neighbouring Russia-invaded Ukraine, the Romanian presidency announced. On Wednesday, Bolojan took part in a meeting on Ukraine and the security challenges in Europe in Paris. The interim president stated that participants in the meeting in Paris concluded that the best way to solve the crisis is collaboration between European countries and the United States of America, so that there is a ceasefire and a just peace, which cannot be achieved without the participation of Ukraine and the European Union in the negotiations.

     

    VISIT The Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that the talks held on Friday in Brussels with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, focused on Romania’s key priorities. Marcel Ciolacu mentioned stepping up the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, cutting down the budget deficit without increasing the VAT, and electoral security. “We also discussed a tax reform. The VAT is not being increased, nor will the flat tax rate be touched,” Mr. Ciolacu added. He mentioned that the talks also covered Europe’s role in the peace negotiations, emphasising that “Romania must be at the table. A strong European Union means a stronger Romania! Stronger together, the EU and Romania,” Marcel Ciolacu concluded.

     

    ELECTIONS The Romanian government has approved a budget of roughly EUR 240 million for the organisation of the presidential elections on May 4 and 18. The money comes from the budget reserve funds made available to the government and included in the 2025 state budget, reads a news release issued by the government. The presidential election will take place in May after a first round held in December was cancelled under a Constitutional Court ruling which mentioned interference in the election process.

     

    TALKS The president of France Emmanuel Macron will be in Washington on Monday to discuss with his US counterpart Donald Trump the Ukraine peace negotiations that the Americans have begun with the Russians in the absence of the Europeans and Ukrainians. Since the beginning of the week, the French president has been holding a marathon of consultations with leaders of European Union and NATO member countries. He launched these consultations in an attempt to make Europe’s voice heard, as Europe cannot be left aside after all its political and material involvement in supporting Ukraine over the past three years, since Russia launched a war of aggression against its neighbour.

     

    THEFT The Dutch police have announced they apprehended a 26 year-old man, who has become the fourth suspect in the theft of the Romanian ancient artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. According to police sources, the artefacts have not been recovered yet. On January 25, 4 extremely valuable golden items, part of Romania’s treasure on display at the Drents Museum, were stolen. The museum was hosting an exhibition entitled “Dacia, the Kingdom of gold and silver”, which was supposed to close a day before the robbery. (AMP)

  • The Week in Review (03-07.02.2025)

    The Week in Review (03-07.02.2025)

    The 2025 budget, adopted

    Romania’s state and social security budgets were adopted on February 6 by the Bucharest Parliament, shortly after being greenlit by the expert committees. The budget is built on an economic growth rate of 2.5% and a deficit of 7% of GDP. Last year, the deficit was close to 9%, prompting the new PSD – PNL – UDMR ruling coalition to make efforts for its gradual reduction. The government has promised that investments will not be affected by the budget rebalancing. According to the finance minister, Tánczos Barna, conditions are met to support the country’s development through record investments and to ensure the financial resources for the payment of salaries and pensions and the protection of the vulnerable categories. The opposition USR criticized the new budget provisions, for what they see as overestimation of income, indebtedness of Romanians through the measures adopted and the elimination of some tax facilities.

     

     

    Huge real estate scam with political overtones

    The vote on the state budget was not the only important event that took place on Wednesday, in Parliament. Representatives of both opposition groups in Parliament, the pro-Europeans and the sovereigntists, loudly demanded the resignation of the Social-Democratic prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. The reason is the insufficiently clarified connections which he allegedly has with the former Social Democratic MP Laura Vicol, who headed the Chamber of Deputies’ legal committee for four years, and with her husband, Vladimir Ciorbă. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses the two of having developed a financial scam through which they collected from clients, individuals and legal entities, over 195 million euros, without delivering the apartments and parking lots which their clients had paid for. The Vicol-Ciorbă couple and three other people with positions within the Nordis group of companies have been arrested this week after extensive searches carried out in Romania and abroad. The investigation targets 40 individuals and 32 companies. According to investigators, there were also cases of the same apartment being sold to different clients. The prosecutor’s office seized hundreds of apartments and houses, commercial spaces, land, cars and shares and blocked dozens of bank accounts of the individuals and companies involved. The tax office announced an internal control, after prosecutors claimed that four of its inspectors could be charged with favoring the criminal. The latter allegedly took no measures against the Nordis group, although they had already discovered irregularities three years ago. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who traveled on planes rented by Nordis, claims that he paid for his flights himself. He is not being accused of any crime, but his image is tainted by his presence, alongside other PSD leaders, in the company of such people.

     

    A new attempt to suspend the president

    Prime Minister Ciolacu is not the only one whose resignation is being requested. One of the three sovereigntist parties in the Romanian Parliament on Wednesday submitted a new request, the third, for the suspension of President Klaus Iohannis. The previous request had been rejected by the Permanent Bureaus. The new request is also signed by the Save Romanian Union (USR) whose members said they would vote for it if it reached the plenary session. The opposition claims that the presence of Iohannis at the helm of the state is illegitimate. However, Iohannis repeatedly ruled out the option of his resignation, arguing that the Constitution requires him to remain in office until the future president is sworn in. Iohannis remained in office although his second and last term expired on December 21, after the Constitutional Court annulled last year’s presidential election. A new vote will take place on May 4 and 18. The former liberal leader Crin Antonescu will also enter the race for the supreme office. Last Sunday he received the validation as a joint candidate of the coalition government (PSD-PNL-UDMR) also from the social democrats, after he had previously been confirmed by the liberals and ethnic Hungarians.

     

    Again, about the theft of the Dacian treasure pieces

    The prime minister’s control body has found deficiencies or legislative gaps in terms of protecting the cultural heritage, and failures of compliance with the legal framework that regulates the temporary export of classified movable cultural assets. This is the result of checks undertaken in relation to the conditions in which some of the artefacts from the Dacian treasure were exhibited in the Dutch Drents Museum in Assen. The control body also found that the security and anti-burglary security measures and conditions proposed by the foreign entities to which the assets were lent were not analyzed by specialists. Four of the most important artefacts from Romania’s national heritage have been recently stolen from the Drents Museum in the Dutch city of Assen, namely the gold helmet from Coţofeneşti, dating from the period between the 5th and 4th centuries before Christ, as well as three Dacian gold bracelets from Sarmizegetusa Regia, from the second half of the first century before Christ. The pieces, of inestimable historical value, were part of the Exhibition “Dacia – The Kingdom of Gold and Silver” which opened on July 7, 2024 and was to be closed on January 25.

     

    Retirement of a great champion

    “My body can no longer sustain the effort it takes to get back to where I once was, and I know what that requires.” This is how Simona Halep, the most valuable tennis player in the history of Romania, with the most titles, explained her retirement. The announcement was made on Tuesday, almost a year after returning to professional competitions, which she had been banned from due to doping allegations. Simona Halep was in first place in the WTA ranking for 64 weeks. Her record includes two Grand Slam titles – Roland Garros and Wimbledon – as well as three other finals played, two at Roland Garros and one at the Australian Open. She has won 24 titles and won more than 40 million dollars from tennis, being third on the all-time list of WTA earners, behind Serena and Venus Williams. (EE, LS)

  • UPDATE

    UPDATE

    THEFT The Romanian Prime Minister’s Investigation Team has discovered a series of irregularities in the process of staging the exhibition at the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands, from where several ancient artefacts loaned out by Romania’s History Museum were stolen a couple of weeks ago. A report, submitted to the Prosecutor’s General Office, says that Romania’s National History Museum and the Ministry of Culture accepted less rigorous security measures than in the case of the similar exhibitions in Madrid and Rome, such as the lack of permanent guards. Another major slip was the fact that the exhibition didn’t get the approval of the Museum’s Board of Directors, as the law requires, and the loan contract had not been done in probated form. Furthermore, the insurance value for some artefacts was based on a 14-year old reassessment.

    (bill)

  • February 7, 2025

    February 7, 2025

    GDP Romania has overcome Poland in terms of the GDP per capita against purchasing power says a survey conducted by experts with the Romanian Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. According to the same sources, Romania is also ahead other economies in the region, such as Hungary, Croatia or Greece and the nominal GDP per capita has risen by 11% in the past five years, exceeding 80% of the EU average. We’ll be having more on this after the news

    WAGES According to the latest economic forecasts of the European Commission in Romania wages will moderately increase in 2025 and 2026. The European Commission has based its forecasts on the already significant increases in the minimum wages already made by the government in Bucharest, the lower inflation and the labour market relaxation, which is expected to reduce the unemployment rate. European Commission experts are expecting price hikes in energy and food to significantly decrease. The inflation rate is expected to drop down to the Central Bank’s target of 2.5% towards the end of 2026.

    THEFT The Dutch police have announced they have received hundreds of hints regarding the theft of the precious Romanian artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. Many of these are about the places where the suspects have been seen and their contacts. The police last week apprehended three suspects, two men and a woman who refused to say where the stolen objects are stashed. All the three suspects are still in police custody. Art detective, Arthur Brand says there is 50% risk the suspects have already melted the golden artefacts: an ancient helmet and three bracelets dating back to the old kingdom of Dacia, 25 hundred years ago, which had been loaned out by the National History Museum in Bucharest.

    VISIT The head of the US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, will be travelling to Israel and several Arab countries in mid-February, the US Department of State has announced. This would be Rubio’s first trip as a Secretary of State to the region after the US President, Donald Trump’s statement on resettling the Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip under US monitoring. Trump’s resettlement idea has prompted a series of accusations that he is planning ethnic cleansing and has drawn condemnation from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. Rubio insists that Donald Trump proposed the reconstruction of the aforementioned territory, which at present offers improper dwelling conditions. According to AFP, Rubio will be participating in the Security Conference in Munich and is going on a Middle East tour, which will take him to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia over February 13 and 18.

    IMF Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is meeting an IMF team, whose four days trip to Bucharest ends today. The IMF experts are having talks with Central Bank officials, including governor Isarescu. The IMF delegation hasn’t called for strict financial measures, like tax hikes or other austerity measures, Finance Minister Tanczos Barna says. Barna met the new head of the IMF mission to Romania, Joong Shik Kang on Thursday. At present Romania doesn’t have an IMF funding agreement underway, but the institution is presently monitoring Romania’s economy, under Article Four, which provides for a mandatory monitoring exercise involving all member states. The consultations’ main purpose was financial and economic assessment at national level as well as recommendations concerning monetary, financial and economic policies with a view to achieving economic stability and development.

    (bill)

     

  • January 31, 2025 UPDATE

    January 31, 2025 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT The Romanian government has completed all the preliminary procedures before passing the draft 2025 state budget law on Saturday. According to PM Marcel Ciolacu, the news that the budget bill has been finalised has triggered a decrease in the interest rates at which the country borrows money in foreign markets. He said that, after the budget is endorsed in Parliament, other positive effects will follow. Ciolacu mentioned that exports will increase this year by over 3% as a result of Romania’s full Schengen accession, and emphasised that the warm weather in January allowed construction works to progress significantly, especially as regards the highway infrastructure. As a result, the budget earmarked to transportation has been increased by almost 20% compared to last year. A priority for this year is attracting foreign investments, Ciolacu added. In this respect, he announced that a foreign holding has announced plans to relocate a factory from Bulgaria to Romania. Moreover, the PM said that there are clear signals that the strategic partnership with the US is entering a new economic dimension and that next week he will have talks with the heads of major American investment funds.

     

    MOLDOVA Romania has stood by the R of Moldova and will continue to do so, in order to increase its energy resilience and support it in its EU accession efforts, the Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu promised in Chişinău on Friday, during his first official visit in this capacity. He was received by president Maia Sandu and had meetings with his Moldovan counterpart Mihai Popşoi, and with the speaker of parliament Igor Grosu. Maia Sandu and Emil Hurezeanu discussed ways to strengthen economic ties between the two states and to encourage Romanian companies to invest in Moldova. Emphasis was also placed on improving transport infrastructure, including the construction of new bridges over the Prut and streamlining cross-border traffic. During his meetings in Chişinău, Emil Hurezeanu emphasised that Moldova’s citizens are not alone in facing the energy crisis and can count on the support of Romania and other partners. ‘The destabilising effects of the energy crisis have helped tighten our ties. We are happy that Romania has managed to cover over 60% of the citizens’ current energy demand, and the preparation of high-voltage lines is also underway. We have been and will remain by the side of the Republic of Moldova,’ Emil Hurezeanu concluded.

     

    THEFT The Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu called on his Dutch counterpart David van Weel to carry on efforts in the case of the theft of Romania’s Dacian treasury items and offered the Dutch side all the necessary support. The two ministers had a bilateral meeting during an informal meeting of EU justice ministers hosted by Warsaw. So far, 3 persons have been detained in connection to the theft. A break-in occurred last weekend at Drents Museum during which a golden helmet and three gold Dacian bracelets were stolen, some of Romania’s most important national heritage items.

     

    FLU The number of respiratory infections is on the rise in Romania and the health ministry declared a state of epidemiological alert. Official data show that almost 134,000 patients were diagnosed with respiratory infection symptoms last week, including 11,000 flu cases. Eight people died from flu last week, taking the toll to 22 this season.

     

    JUSTICE The Romanian justice minister Radu Marinescu Friday took part in an informal meeting of EU justice ministers in Warsaw, where current issues were discussed, such as mutual cooperation in the field of ​​justice, the consequences of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine and the future of justice. According to a news release issued by the Romanian justice ministry, Radu Marinescu stressed that Romania has offered war victims both support for access to justice, through professional bodies, and other forms of counseling, through Romanian NGOs and authorities. In a separate work session, Radu Marinescu welcomed the initiative of the Polish presidency to continue discussions dedicated to judicial cooperation, under the umbrella of the rule of law.

     

    SPORTS Romanian football champions FCSB (Bucharest) lost 2-0 on Thursday on home turf to the English team Manchester United, in Europa League’s 8th and final round. According to the draw in Nyon (Switzerland) on Friday, the Bucharest team will take on the Greek side PAOK Thessaloniki, coached by the Romanian Răzvan Lucescu, in Europa League’s play-offs for the round of 16. FCSB will play the first leg away from home on February 13, and the return leg in Bucharest on February 20. The winner will play in the round of 16 against Olympique Lyon. In tennis, Romania plays Bulgaria in Craiova on Friday and Saturday, in the Davis Cup World Group I play-offs. The winner moves up to World Group I, while the defeated team will play in World Group II. Romania and Bulgaria have met only once before in the Davis Cup, in 1988, when Romania won decisively with a score of 5-0. (AMP)

  • January 29, 2025

    January 29, 2025

    Budget – The leaders of the governing coalition in Bucharest are again discussing today the draft budget for 2025. These are the last calculations regarding the distribution of the state money, before the draft budget law reaches the government on Friday for adoption and Parliament next week for the vote. The largest amounts will be allocated for the payment of pensions and for the continuation of investments, while the expenses for goods, salaries and services will be reduced in all ministries and institutions, according to the finance minister. The intention is to allocate budgets to the ministries reduced by 5% compared to last year, except for the Health, Interior, Education, Transport and National Defense ministries. Investments will exceed 7% of the GDP to support economic growth and the country’s development. In the field of agriculture, the priorities remain supporting the development of the animal husbandry sector, the continuation of the INVESTALIM program and the financing of irrigation systems. The Economy Ministry will continue the massive support for entrepreneurs through the Start-up Nation and Construct Plus programs, and the defense industry will receive over 2% of the GDP this year as well. The Transport Ministry will also continue the investments, as in the previous years, which will materialize in highways, express roads and the improvement of the national road network.

     

    Theft – New information appears around the treasure pieces belonging to Romania stolen on the night of Friday to Saturday from a museum in the Netherlands. The Dutch police announced that they had elements that show that several burglary suspects come from a province in the northwest of the Netherlands. The Dutch authorities also specify that extensive technical and tactical research has been carried out in the museum and its surroundings, and a team made up of dozens of investigators and specialists is working on the case to arrest the thieves and recover the assets. The stolen pieces are the gold helmet from Coţofeneşti and three Dacian bracelets from Sarmizegetusa Regia, Romanian heritage objects which are also essential parts of the history and identity of the Romanian people, an invaluable cultural heritage not only for Romania, but for the whole world, states the Romanian Culture Minister, Natalia Intotero. The minister dismissed the director of the National History Museum of Romania, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, whom she criticized for the way in which he communicated publicly and institutionally in the case of the theft of the treasure objects. We remind you that the History Museum is the one that sent the artefacts to the exhibition in the Netherlands.

     

    Iuliu Hossu – The Romanian Academy inaugurated on Wednesday the ‘Cardinal Iuliu Hossu Year’, through a tribute ceremony. 2025 was established ‘Cardinal Iuliu Hossu Year’ by law, to celebrate his life, work, personality, martyrdom, the determining role in the making of the Great Union and the efforts he made to save the Jews during the Holocaust. A brilliant Transylvanian intellectual, Cardinal Iuliu Hossu left a mark on Romania’s history. He was arrested and imprisoned in communist prisons following his refusal to renounce the Greek-Catholic faith and his activity in defense of the Greek-Catholic believers. President Klaus Iohannis sent a message on the occasion of the Tribute Ceremony Cardinal Iuliu Hossu Year’ in which he recalls the words spoken by the cardinal – ‘Our faith is our life!’ – and said that these words could become a strong call to civic consciousness, to unity and courage, to solidarity with fellow citizens and the future of the country.

     

    Football – Manchester United will arrive in Bucharest this evening for Thursday’s match against the Romanian football champions, FCSB, held in the eighth and last stage of the main phase of the Europa League. The famous English team holds the fourth place in the ranking, with 15 points, and FCSB is ranked 8th with 14 points. The first eight teams qualify directly for the round of 16, and the teams in positions 9 to 24 play a play-off (round-return) for access to the round of 16.

     

    Resignation – The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić (Vucici), said that he would decide in the next ten days whether he would call parliamentary elections or form a new government. The Prime Minister Miloą Vučević (Miloş Vucevici) resigned on Tuesday, after several months of anti-government protests. The rallies were triggered by the collapse of the roof of a newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city, which killed 15 people. The protesters blamed the fatal accident on the corruption and negligence of the authorities and asked for the publication of all documents related to the construction and for the punishment of the culprits. The outgoing Prime Minister Vučević, a close ally of the president, was the mayor of Novi Sad when the works began.

     

    Elections – The governing coalition (PSD-PNL-UDMR) in Bucharest adopted, on Tuesday, a decision that set the electoral calendar in the run up to the first round of the presidential election on May 4. The electoral period will start on February 18, and the deadline for submitting candidacies to the Central Electoral Bureau will be March 15. The election campaign will start on April 4 and end in the morning of May 3. Voting in Romania will take place on May 4, and abroad, in the 950 organized sections, for three days – May 2, 3 and 4. The Romanian voters abroad have the possibility to vote by mail, by registering on the portal www.votstrainatate.ro.

     

    Talks – The Romanian Foreign Minister, Emil Hurezeanu, discussed with the executive vice-president of the European Commission, responsible for social rights and skills, quality jobs and training, Roxana Mînzatu, about a series of important files in relation to the current European agenda. They addressed topics such as maintaining support for the EU enlargement process, continuing support for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, developing a strategic vision for the Black Sea. They also discussed the promotion of convergence and cohesion objectives in the negotiations on the future Multiannual Financial Framework post-2027 or the consolidation of European action in the field of defense. The Romanian official attended the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels and met with the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte.  (LS)

  • Reactions after the theft in the Netherlands

    Reactions after the theft in the Netherlands

    Four of the most important artefacts from Romania’s national heritage were stolen from the Drents Museum in the Dutch city of Assen. They include the gold helmet from Coţofeneşti, which dates from the 5th and 4th centuries before Christ, as well as three Dacian gold bracelets from Sarmizegetusa Regia, from the second part of the first century before Christ. The pieces, of inestimable historical value, were part of the Exhibition “Dacia – The Kingdom of Gold and Silver” which opened on July 7, 2024 and was to be closed on January 25. The robbery took place on Friday night to Saturday, when four people used an explosive device to enter the museum premises, stole only the Romanian artefacts and fled in a car. Later, they set the car on fire to hide their tracks. The Dutch police do not rule out that Romanians were also involved in the robbery and are investigating the possibility that they fled to Germany.

     

    The four stolen assets are part of the collection of the National History Museum of Romania and were the most valuable in the exhibition. All exhibited objects had been insured for 30 million Euros before being sent abroad, in accordance with Romanian and international legislation. Both the space and the showcases in which the heritage objects were displayed were secured and had surveillance systems installed, as well as alarm systems connected to the local police. In Bucharest, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced that an ex officio criminal file was opened in this case, and the investigations will be carried out by prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice and by specialists from the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police. At the same time, a crisis cell was created at the Romanian government, and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that the recovery of the helmet and the three Dacian bracelets is a priority.

     

    In turn, the Romanian Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, said that the theft of the Dacian treasure is an international shame and that it should be found out whether this robbery was possibly orchestrated to manipulate the nationalist trend ahead of the presidential election in Romania due in May. The prime minister’s control body is verifying at the Ministry of Culture the documents underlying the sending of objects from the national treasury to that exhibition, and the relevant minister, Natalia Intotero, will meet with the royal family and the prime minister of the Netherlands, Dick Schoof. Also, the Interior Minister, Cătălin Predoiu, announced that a team of Romanian criminologist police officers will urgently join their Dutch colleagues to help in the investigation and that the Romanian authorities maintain permanent contact with the Dutch and European ones. The Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, had an exchange of messages with Prime Minister Dick Schoof, who has given assurances that the Dutch authorities are taking all the necessary steps to identify the perpetrators and recover the treasure. (LS)

  • January 27, 2025

    January 27, 2025

     

    ART THEFT Recovering the golden helmet of Cotofenesti and the three Dacian bracelets of Sarmizegetusa Regia, stolen on Friday night from the Drents Museum in the Dutch city of Assen, is a priority, the Romanian authorities say. The prime minister’s office is checking the culture ministry’s documents under which the artifacts had been sent to the exhibition, and the culture minister Natalia Intotero will meet with the royal family and the prime minister of the Netherlands to convey Bucharest’s firm message that the heritage pieces be recovered as quickly as possible. Romania’s PM Marcel Ciolcu has set up a task force comprising interior ministry, justice and culture ministry officials as well as Romanian police, to manage the retrieval of these items of immeasurable historical value.

     

    BUDGET The leaders of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, in the ruling coalition, should meet today for talks on the state budget bill and on means to reduce the deficit to no more than 7% of GDP this year. The original deadline was today, January 27, but the bill could be postponed, as recent trade union protests prompted the ruling parties to announce they are looking for legislative solutions to alter the order underlying the budget law. The alterations, which will be operated in Parliament in the first half of February, concern payment of overtime on weekends or public holidays for employees in the defence, public order and national security system. The coalition would have wanted the budget bill to reach the government this week for approval, and to be sent to Parliament early next month.

     

    FOREIGN AFFAIRS The EU foreign ministers convene today in a Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting, with the main topics on the agenda including the war in Ukraine, the Middle East crisis and relations with the US after Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The FAC meeting in Brussels is the first in this format organised under the Polish EU Council presidency, which began on 1 January, and will be chaired by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. It is also the first such meeting attended by Emil Hurezeanu as head of the Romanian diplomacy. The EU ministers will also have informal conference call with their Ukrainian counterpart, Andriy Sybiga.

     

    AGRICULTURE The Romanian minister of agriculture, Florin-Ionuţ Barbu, takes part on Monday in the first AgriFish Council meeting of this year, held in Brussels. According to a news release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), the agenda will concern the programme of the Polish presidency, unfair trading practices and strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain, trade and performance verification. The Polish EU Presidency will present its work programme and set out the main priorities in the field of agriculture and fisheries for the next six months. In turn, Member State officials will analyse the necessary revision of the performance verification procedure under the financing rules of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Romanian agriculture ministry explained.

     

    BACCALAUREATE High school senior students in Romania are taking the oral tests in the first session of this year’s Baccalaureate exam starting today. The assessment of communication skills in Romanian takes place until Wednesday, with the oral tests in ethnic minorities’ native languages held over three days, starting on January 29. The foreign language oral tests are scheduled between February 3 and 5, and digital skills will be tested between February 5 and 7. The organisation of these tests during the school year has been criticised by some students, teachers and education experts, especially because high school students must also attend classes during the exam days. The written tests in the Baccalaureate exam begins on May 30 and end on June 30, when the final results are to be announced.

     

    BELARUS The incumbent president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko won the presidential election with 87.6% of the votes, according to an exit poll which also says his 4 opponents received 1-2% of the votes. International media say the elections are intended to give a seventh consecutive term to the authoritarian Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and viewed as the most compliant ally of Putin’s Russia. On the eve of the election, the EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas stated that the regime in Minsk has “no legitimacy” and called the “sham election” an affront to democracy. In turn, MEPs demanded that the results of the Belarus election not be recognized, especially since the previous elections, in 2020, which were very likely rigged, were followed by ruthless repression of protests. According to the UN, more than 300,000 Belarusians out of a total population of nine million have fled their country for political reasons, mainly to neighbouring Poland. There are reportedly over 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus. (AMP)

  • March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    ARCTIC ULTRA – The Romanian Tiberiu Useriu, aged 44, last night won, for the third time in a row, the 6633 Arctic Ultra, the most difficult marathon in the world, organized in the polar circle area. The race started on March 8th, and Tiberiu Useriu managed to conclude it after 7 days and 5 hours. Another three Romanians participated in the marathon: Avram Iancu, the first Romanian to swim the English Channel, and also Florentina Iofcea and Polgar Levente. Unfortunately, all three of them had to pull out before the end of the race.




    IMF – Jaewoo Lee, the head of the IMF Mission for Romania, together with Alejandro Hajdenberg, the Resident Representative for Romania, Friday presented the findings of the visit the IMF experts paid to Romania for a week. The IMF says without a change in the current policies, Romanias economic growth will be increasingly fragile, and recommends a balanced mix of monetary and fiscal policies. The institution also recommends increased efficiency in spending by prioritising major investment projects, increasing EU fund absorption and enforcing the fiscal responsibility law. During the meetings with Romanian officials, the IMF experts emphasised the importance of improving budget collection and of keeping public spending within sustainable limits. Bucharest does not have a financing agreement at present, but the international financial institution assesses the state of the Romanian economy on an annual basis, and its experts have come to Romania for the annual consultations, an exercise that all member states must undergo.




    EDUCATION – Over 100 universities and education institutions in 18 countries will be represented on Saturday and Sunday in Bucharest in the 22nd Romanian International University Fair (RIUF). According to the organisers, attending will be institutions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Romania, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the USA, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Greece, and Bulgaria. Visitors will be able to get information on tuition-free education options in Scandinavian countries, as well as on a 3,000,000 euro grant fund for BA and MA programmes offered by institutions in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. The fairs YouForum section comprises over 30 workshops, panel discussions and presentations. The topics approached during the 2 days will include online marketing, branding, gaming, IT, architecture, non-formal education and technology.




    ARTEFACTS – The office of the Prosecutor General of Romania Friday announced that 164 ancient coins, of which 20 Koson-type Dacian coins stolen from the Orastie archaeology site, were recovered following searches conducted in Austria and Germania. According to a news release issued on Friday, the criminal justice division with the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is investigating a case of money laundering and aiding and abetting aggravated theft, involving items from the Romanian national cultural heritage: bracelets, coins, shields and other artefacts stolen from the Orastie Mountains sites and illegally sold in the international market. With support from Eurojust, Romanian officers from the Cultural Heritage Protection Service worked together with relevant judicial authorities from Austria and Germany a large-scale international operation conducted in February – March this year.




    SALISBURY ATTACK – British police Friday announced opening an investigation into the murder of Russian Nikholai Glushkov, a close friend of oligarch Boris Berezovsky, found dead earlier this week at his home in London. Previously, authorities announced that, in the wake of the poisoning of the Russian former double agent Sergey Skripal and of his daughter in Salisbury, police would resume inquiries into a number of deaths that have occurred in Britain over the past few years. The UK, Germany, France and the US issued a joint statement arguing that Russias involvement was the only plausible explanation for the incident. On the other hand, Moscow dismissed the allegations as groundless. The Salisbury attack will be the main topic of a meeting between the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in Brussels on Monday. Stoltenberg says the incident is evidence of Moscows years-long reckless conduct.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    March 16, 2017 UPDATE

    ARCTIC ULTRA – The Romanian Tiberiu Useriu, aged 44, last night won, for the third time in a row, the 6633 Arctic Ultra, the most difficult marathon in the world, organized in the polar circle area. The race started on March 8th, and Tiberiu Useriu managed to conclude it after 7 days and 5 hours. Another three Romanians participated in the marathon: Avram Iancu, the first Romanian to swim the English Channel, and also Florentina Iofcea and Polgar Levente. Unfortunately, all three of them had to pull out before the end of the race.




    IMF – Jaewoo Lee, the head of the IMF Mission for Romania, together with Alejandro Hajdenberg, the Resident Representative for Romania, Friday presented the findings of the visit the IMF experts paid to Romania for a week. The IMF says without a change in the current policies, Romanias economic growth will be increasingly fragile, and recommends a balanced mix of monetary and fiscal policies. The institution also recommends increased efficiency in spending by prioritising major investment projects, increasing EU fund absorption and enforcing the fiscal responsibility law. During the meetings with Romanian officials, the IMF experts emphasised the importance of improving budget collection and of keeping public spending within sustainable limits. Bucharest does not have a financing agreement at present, but the international financial institution assesses the state of the Romanian economy on an annual basis, and its experts have come to Romania for the annual consultations, an exercise that all member states must undergo.




    EDUCATION – Over 100 universities and education institutions in 18 countries will be represented on Saturday and Sunday in Bucharest in the 22nd Romanian International University Fair (RIUF). According to the organisers, attending will be institutions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Romania, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the USA, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Greece, and Bulgaria. Visitors will be able to get information on tuition-free education options in Scandinavian countries, as well as on a 3,000,000 euro grant fund for BA and MA programmes offered by institutions in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany. The fairs YouForum section comprises over 30 workshops, panel discussions and presentations. The topics approached during the 2 days will include online marketing, branding, gaming, IT, architecture, non-formal education and technology.




    ARTEFACTS – The office of the Prosecutor General of Romania Friday announced that 164 ancient coins, of which 20 Koson-type Dacian coins stolen from the Orastie archaeology site, were recovered following searches conducted in Austria and Germania. According to a news release issued on Friday, the criminal justice division with the Prosecutors Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice is investigating a case of money laundering and aiding and abetting aggravated theft, involving items from the Romanian national cultural heritage: bracelets, coins, shields and other artefacts stolen from the Orastie Mountains sites and illegally sold in the international market. With support from Eurojust, Romanian officers from the Cultural Heritage Protection Service worked together with relevant judicial authorities from Austria and Germany a large-scale international operation conducted in February – March this year.




    SALISBURY ATTACK – British police Friday announced opening an investigation into the murder of Russian Nikholai Glushkov, a close friend of oligarch Boris Berezovsky, found dead earlier this week at his home in London. Previously, authorities announced that, in the wake of the poisoning of the Russian former double agent Sergey Skripal and of his daughter in Salisbury, police would resume inquiries into a number of deaths that have occurred in Britain over the past few years. The UK, Germany, France and the US issued a joint statement arguing that Russias involvement was the only plausible explanation for the incident. On the other hand, Moscow dismissed the allegations as groundless. The Salisbury attack will be the main topic of a meeting between the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in Brussels on Monday. Stoltenberg says the incident is evidence of Moscows years-long reckless conduct.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)