Radio România Internațional

Tag: Three Seas Summit

  • July 8, 2021

    July 8, 2021

    Covid – 19 ▪ The Romanian government has approved, at the proposal of the National Committee for Emergency Situations, the extension of the state of alert across Romania for another 30 days, starting with July 12. The prevention and control measures in force at the moment will continue to be applied, with some changes. The most important is the extension from 90 to 180 days of the period of exemption from these measures for those persons who have already had the infection. On the other hand, the head of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, has drawn attention to the fact that, as of mid-August, the number of COVID-19 cases in Romania will increase due to the new ‘Delta’ virus strain and he has again called for the population to get vaccinated. Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in Romania, in December last year, almost 4.8 million people have been vaccinated, of whom about 4.6 million with both doses. 30 new cases of contamination and 3 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours, and 57 patients are in ICUs.



    Covid world ▪ Tens of new cases of infection with the ‘Delta’ strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and one case of ‘Beta’ variant infection have been identified in Bulgaria, Romania’s neighbor. In Japan, the government has today confirmed its intention to introduce a new state of emergency during the Tokyo Olympics, a competition that is set to begin in two weeks time, given that the number of new cases of contamination continues to rise. The Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, first identified in India, continues to spread rapidly around the world. The Australian city of Sydney on Wednesday recorded the highest number of new cases this year, South Korea reported the highest rate since the onset of the pandemic, and a study published in London shows that the number of infections in England has increased 4 times since June until now. In Spain there has been an increase in the number of new cases: 17,000 yesterday, especially among young people. 1% of young people between 20 and 24 who have been infected should be hospitalized – the Spanish authorities have warned. Globally, more than 185 million cases of infection have been reported so far and at least 4 million people have died, according to wordlmeters.info. Most cases and deaths were recorded in the United States, India and Brazil.



    Dismissal ▪ Romanias Liberal Prime Minister Florin Citu announced on Thursday that he had submitted to President Klaus Iohannis the request for the dismissal of the Finance Minister, Alexandru Nazare. PM Citu pointed out that he had informed the leaders of the PNL – USR PLUS – UDMR governing coalition about his decision. The PM explained that, upon evaluating the activity of the finance ministry, he discovered delays of some important projects which are aimed at eliminating tax dodging and attracting European funds. Meanwhile, PM Citu will be the interim finance minister.



    Summit ▪ Sofia, in Bulgaria, is hosting as of today the 6th summit of the Three Seas Initiative. The summit will assess the progress made so far in the main areas of interest and will equally tackle the functioning of the Investment Fund of the Three Seas Initiative. The organization is a flexible, informal political platform at presidential level, bringing together the 12 EU member states located between the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea. Romania is represented by President Klaus Iohannis, who will emphasize the importance of implementing priority strategic interconnection projects, with a focus on projects of high interest for Romania, namely Rail2Sea ​​and Via Carpatia. From Bucharests standpoint, these projects are essential for the Initiative to really bring about long-term economic development, and to make the economy of the participating states more strategically resilient, also in the context of post-pandemic economic recovery efforts. Alongside the leaders of the Initiative countries, this years summit will be attended by representatives of the US, Germany, the European Commission and the IMF, as partners, and by Greece’s representatives as guests. The initiative is meant to develop the economies of the participating states by boosting digital interconnectivity in transport and energy fields, by increasing real convergence between EU member states and also by strengthening the transatlantic relationship, including by stimulating the US economic presence in the region. We recall that Bucharest hosted the Three Seas Initiative summit in September 2018.



    Football ▪ England and Italy will play in the final of the European Football Championship to take place on Sunday. On Wednesday evening, in the second semifinal, England defeated Denmark 2-1 after extra time. Previously Italy had outclassed Spain 4-2 after the penalty shoot-out, after a 1-all score in 120 minutes. Both semifinals and the finals have been scheduled in London. Bucharest hosted four games from the final tournament, three in the groups’ stage and one in the Round of 16. After a mediocre run in the preliminaries, Romania failed to qualify for the EURO. In exchange, Romanias Under-23 team has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Romania is playing in Group B and will face Honduras on July 22, South Korea on July 25 and New Zealand on July 28. The Romanian footballers have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after having reached the semifinals of the European Under-21 Championship in 2019, hosted by Italy and San Marino. Romania has not participated in the Olympic football tournament since 1964, when it ranked 5th also in Tokyo. Before 1964, Romania had participated only in the European Championships of Paris in 1924 and of Helsinki in 1952. (LS)


  • September 18, 2018

    September 18, 2018

    Three Seas Initiative — The Three Seas Initiative summit continues Tuesday in Bucharest with a plenary session devoted to energy, transports and digital interconnection. The summit was opened on Monday by a Business Forum, when the participants signed a Joint Declaration on the setting up of a network of Chambers of Commerce of the Three Seas Initiative as well as a Letter of Intent related to the creation of an investment fund of the same initiative. President Klaus Iohannis has pointed out that the Three Seas Initiative needed to go to another level, that of concrete economic projects and pragmatic results. Three Seas Initiative is a flexible political platform at presidential level that gathers 12 EU member states located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas.



    Referendum — The Romanian government is today discussing the technical aspects related to the organization of the referendum on redefining the concept of family. On Monday, Romania’s Constitutional Court decided that the law for the revision of the Constitution which stipulates that the family is based on the freely consented union between a man and a woman, and not between spouses as it is stipulated at present, observes constitutional provisions. The government is to establish a date for the referendum and other technical, administrative and financial aspects. The campaign will start upon the announcement of the date of the referendum. The law for the revision of the Constitution in the sense of redefining the concept of family is based on a citizens’ initiative of some Christian organizations that managed to obtain 3 million signatures. The initiative is being contested by the associations defending the civil rights and liberties, including those of sexual minorities.



    CCR — Romania’s Constitutional Court is today discussing the notifications made by President Klaus Iohannis in relation to the changes brought to the Law on the status of judges and prosecutors and the Law on the Superior Council of Magistracy. Among the articles contested by the presidency are those related to cases of dismissal of judges and prosecutors, to the elimination of the written examination for promotion to the position of judge at the High Court of Cassation and Justice, to the impairment of the constitutional role of the Supreme Council of Magistracy as a guarantor of the independence of the judiciary, as well as to the functioning of the Judicial Inspection. Klaus Iohannis has toughly criticized the modifications brought to the criminal legislation. They have been also contested by the opposition parties and the High Court of Cassation and Justice that have, in turn, submitted notifications to the Constitutional Court of Romania.



    Eurostat — 48% of Bucharest’s inhabitants are discontented with the schools and education facilities in their city, show data published by Eurostat based on a 2015 survey that covered 24 EU capitals. Alongside Bucharesters, the Europeans who are the most discontented with the schools in their city are the inhabitants of Sofia, Bulgaria (47%). In exchange, the inhabitants of Dublin, Ljubljana, Nicosia and Helsinki are content with their schools. As for public transportation, the highest level of contentment was reported in Zurich (97%), Vienna (95%) and Helsinki (93%). At the other end, the most discontented with public transportation are the inhabitants of 16 cities among which Athens, Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Riga, Bratislava and Rome. The biggest differences have been reported in terms of air quality, the highest number the inhabitants discontented with the air quality being in Krakow, Ostrava and Bucharest. In 62 cities most respondents said they were content with the level of noise while the citizens of Istanbul, Bucharest, Palermo and Athens are among those most discontented with the noise level.



    Rome — The Romanian justice minister Tudorel Toader continues, Tuesday, his visit to Rome, at the invitation of his Italian counterpart, Alfondo Bonafede. On Monday, after the visit to a penitentiary with almost 100 Romanian detainees, the two ministers talked about bilateral cooperation and collaboration during Romania’s presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. They also tackled issues related to the transfer of convicts from one country to another as well as the situation of minors from mixed families in which parents are in conflict. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)

  • The Three Seas Initiative Summit

    The Three Seas Initiative Summit

    Nine presidents, two Parliament speakers, a prime minister and a foreign minister along with a number of European and American officials are these days attending the Three Seas Initiative Summit held in Bucharest. The event focuses on economic projects for the development of the area stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea. The Three Seas Initiative is a flexible political platform launched in 2015 comprising 12 EU member States: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.



    The Summit is aimed at taking concrete steps towards boosting regional interconnectivity in three key sectors: energy, transport and digital. To that end, talks revolve around clear-cut ways of developing regional connectivity, increasing the convergence and cohesion of the EU and at the same time strengthening transatlantic relations. The Summit in Bucharest is also aimed at setting up a network of chambers of commerce as well as an Initiative investment fund. One of the projects Romania is fostering as part of the Summit is the creation of a smart digital platform for monitoring the hydrographic basins in Central Europe.



    Another project on the agenda for talks is the creation of a railway linking the Polish city of Gdansk to Constanta, Romania, to be used for trade and the quick transport of military troops and equipment. In the energy field, talks are underway to transport gas from the Caspian Sea to Romania’s southern borders and then to the country’s Hungarian border, as part of the BRUA natural gas pipeline. For the first time, the Three Seas Initiative summit is attended by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.



    Also for the first time the Three Seas Initiative Business Forum is being held on the sidelines of the event. Taking part are businesses and government officials from Initiative partner states, but also the United States, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and states in the European Union and the Western Balkans. The guest list includes representatives of the European Commission and European and international financial institutions, as well as representatives of think tanks and academia. In a message to President Klaus Iohannis, US President Donald Trump said the Three Seas Initiative has a huge potential and that Washington is proud to support this effort.