Radio România Internațional

Tag: transport infrastructure

  • September 7, 2023 UPDATE

    September 7, 2023 UPDATE

    DRONE – NATO does not have
    any indication that the drone debris found on the Romanian territory was caused
    by an intentional attack launched by Moscow, the Alliance’s Secretary General
    Jens Stoltenberg said before the European Parliament on Thursday adding that
    they are waiting for the outcome of an ongoing investigation, Reuters
    reports. The North-Atlantic Alliance had
    previously voiced its strong solidarity with Romania, after being informed on
    the incident close to this country’s border with Ukraine. We are going to
    closely monitor the situation and keep in touch with our ally, Romania, NATO
    says. According to Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis, provided the drone is
    confirmed as belonging to Russia, the incident is tantamount to a severe
    violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania. A day
    before, the Romanian official had said no parts of a drone or any other device
    have reached Romania.




    INVESTMENT – On the sidelines
    of the 3SI business forum, Romania presented two projects worth over 200 mln
    EUR, including a high-performing AI computer, Minister for Research, Innovation
    and Digitization, Bogdan Ivan has said. The Romanian official said the
    Government on Friday will pass a decree that will simplify public procurement
    in the field of IT. More specifically, the decree will eliminate 50% of
    bureaucracy in terms of public procurement to make sure the over 1 bln EUR for
    the government cloud will arrive in time, Minister Ivan pointed out. We recall
    Romania pledged under the National Recovery and Resilience plan to render the
    government cloud 70% operational by the end of 2024 and 100% by 2026.




    ENERGY – Also on the
    sidelines of 3SI Business Forum, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said Romania
    is a regional leader in terms of energy stability. The Romanian official said
    Romania’s gas reserves exceeded 88% on September 1, a target Romania pledged to
    achieve at EU level. Appreciation came both from Brussels and the Republic of
    Moldova, a country facing severe difficulties in terms of its energy reserves.
    Minister Burduja said that the national energy company Transgaz has taken over
    Moldovatransgaz, which operates the energy transport grid in the Republic of
    Moldova, something that will help Chișinău break with Moscow’s influence and
    interference.




    TRANSPORT – On the sidelines
    of the 3SI Business Forum, Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu has presented an
    update on the implementation of two pan-European transport projects – Via
    Carpathia and Rail-2-Sea. Via Carpathia will link Lithuania to Greece and will
    consist of three corridors built in Romania, totaling 1,700 kilometers of
    motorways and express roads. At present, project completion stands at 35%.
    Rail-2-Sea will link the rail systems of Gdańsk in Poland to Constanța,
    Romania, and provides for the building of four rail tracks in Romania.
    Completion stands at 30%. Moldova’s Minister of Infrastructure and Regional
    Development, Andrei Spînu, called that both Moldova and Ukraine be made part of
    these road and rail projects. Additionally, US General James Jones, former
    supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, highlighted the importance of
    transport infrastructure in the current security context, arguing it is key to
    ensure the swift movement of NATO forces on the Alliance’s eastern flank.




    GRECO – The Group of
    States against Corruption (GRECO) have recommended Romania to streamline its
    efforts to promote integrity and prevent corruption in the central government and
    law enforcement agencies. In a report published today in Strasbourg, GRECO
    recognizes progress reported by Romania in developing an institutional and
    legal framework to combat corruption and investigate the integrity of
    government officials. The report hails the adoption by Bucharest of legislation
    regulating incompatibilities and conflicts of interests, as well as the coming
    into force, in December 2022, of a new law on the protection of whistleblowers.
    GRECO however calls on Bucharest to strengthen measures to prevent and combat
    top-level corruption in top executive
    functions such as the President, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers,
    Ministers, Secretaries and Undersecretaries of State, Presidential Advisers,
    State Advisers, State Councilors and Ministerial Advisers, and in staff members
    of the Police and the Gendarmerie. GRECO has issued a number of 26 such
    recommendations. Romanian authorities are expected to report back to GRECO on
    the implementation of its recommendations by 31 December 2024, so it can assess
    the country´s level of compliance. (DB & VP)







  • European funds for transport infrastructure

    European funds for transport infrastructure

    The European
    Commission has approved the allocation of over 226 million euros to upgrade two
    railway segments connecting Bucharest to Constanta, on the Romanian Black Sea
    coast. The project is included in the EU Operational Programme Transport for
    2007-2013, under Priority 1: Upgrading and Development of the TEN-T railway
    network, in view of developing a sustainable transportation system and of its
    integration with the EU transportation networks.




    The upgrading of
    the over 80 km of railway on the two segments, namely Bucharest North to Bucharest
    Baneasa and Fetesti-Constanta, was initially financed by the Romanian state, in
    a project with a total budget of nearly 475 million euros. According to the
    European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, the European
    Commission thus refunds some of the initial expenses incurred by the Romanian
    government for the rehabilitation of the two railway segments. She explained
    the decision was in line with the European Commission’s decision on
    retrospective project co-funding, in view of improving Romania’s absorption of
    European funds. The EU official added that other projects dealing with the
    Romanian transport infrastructure were approved as well, and the nearly 450
    million euros earmarked for these projects would come from the Cohesion Fund
    and the European Regional Development Fund.




    The upgrading of
    the railway section connecting Bucharest to Constanta is primarily designed to
    reduce the duration of the trip between the two cities, to facilitate the shift
    from the mainly road traffic between the Romanian capital city and the sea
    coast to a safer, more modern form of transport, as well as to reduce air
    pollution. Thanks to the rehabilitation project, an estimated 3.7 million
    passengers are expected to travel from Bucharest to Constanta by train by 2030,
    whereas the freight railway traffic is expected to reach 21 million tonnes a
    year. At present, passenger trains travel on the Bucharest-Constanta route at
    160 km/h, and freight trains at maximum 120 km/h.




    The current
    absorption rate for the Operational Programme Transport for the 2007-2013
    period stands at over 81%. Until 2020, Romania is allocated 9.4 billion euros
    for the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme, with the money coming both
    from the European Regional Development Fund and from the Cohesion Fund. More
    than half of the sum, namely 6.8 billion euros, including the national
    contribution, is earmarked for the transport infrastructure, 37% for the
    development of the environment protection sector, and 5% for the energy sector.

  • The Week in Review, 13-19 April

    The Week in Review, 13-19 April

    The International Monetary Fund has revised upwards its initial predictions about Romania’s economic growth rate


    The Romanian economy will grow at a faster pace this year than initially predicted, says the International Monetary Fund in its latest report. The Fund has revised its forecast about Romania’s GDP in 2015 up by 0.3%, to 2.7%. In 2016, the IMF now expects a 2.9% growth rate, compared with its previous 2.5% put forward in October last year. The main factor underlying this growth is the consolidation of private consumption amid a strong increase in real wages, low oil prices and record-low interest rates. Standard & Poor’s rating agency estimates that Romania’s economy will grow by 3% on average every year between 2015 and 2018. The agency affirmed its long and short term local and hard currency BBB-/A-3 ratings for Romania with a stable outlook.



    The European Parliament held a hearing on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism with regard to Romania and Bulgaria


    The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets on Tuesday heard a series of Romanian and Bulgarian officials on the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism applied to the two states when they joined the European Union in 2007. The hearing was held at the request of Romania, who believes its success in combating corruption should be acknowledged and a clear timetable should be set for entering the passport-free Schengen area. The chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate Laura Codruta Kovesi said the monitoring mechanism played an essential role in the reform of the judiciary and the fight against corruption in Romania. She reiterated that the latter should not be subject to political interference and said the state should ensure the necessary instruments to combat corruption. “The fight against high-level corruption in Romania is impressive”, said the Secretary General of the European Commission, Catherine Day during the European Parliament hearing. She said Romania must continue to consolidate the results obtained, especially in fighting corruption at lower levels. In another development, the Clean Romania Coalition and the Academic Society in Romania have published a Map of Local Corruption in Romania indicating the country’s most corrupt regions. Bucharest is the most corrupt area in Romania, followed by the counties of Maramures, in the north-west and Bacau, in the east, while the least corrupt counties are Salaj, in the north-west, Mehedinti and Teleorman, both in the south, and Botosani, in the north-east. The map is based on the figures released by the National Anticorruption Directorate in the last five years. The survey also shows that mayors are the public officials most vulnerable to corruption.



    The state of infrastructure in Romania


    EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu visited Romania, where together with Transport Minister Ioan Rus she visited a segment of the Sebes-Turda motorway, a priority project for the European Commission. The project is part of the Trans-European Transport Network TEN-T which the Commission finances. The motorway is to be completed by mid-2016 and will connect the Transylvania motorway, in the centre, to the European Corridor IV that runs all the way to the Black Sea. Additionally, the Pitesti-Sibiu motorway segment has become a top priority of Romania’s transport strategy, the European Commission notes. The employees of the Dacia Renault car plant in Mioveni, southern Romania, have this week protested against the Government’s delay in building the motorway, which they see as potentially having negative consequences on their jobs.



    Verbal hostilities continue between Russia, NATO and Romania


    In the last few months, Moscow’s threats on European member states hosting elements of the NATO anti-ballistic shield have doubled. The latest episode in the series of harsh exchanges between Bucharest and Moscow authorities came on Thursday, when the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia General Valery Gerasimov warned that any state hosting elements of the shield, such as Romania and Poland, would become priority targets for Moscow. Bucharest and NATO officials were quick to respond. In a message posted on a social networking site, Prime Minister Victor Ponta dismissed the threats and criticism voiced by various officials of the Russian Federation, arguing that they do not intimidate Romanian authorities and cannot produce a change in Romania’s strategy. NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu gave assurances that the Alliance’s anti-missile shield does not target Russia.



    NATO military drills in Romania


    In the current regional security context, Romania is hosting two important multi-national military drills conducted by NATO. In the southeast, over 2,200 military and equipment from Romania, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Molodva are involved in the Wind Spring 2015 military drill, which will end on April 30. Wind Spring seeks to bring stability and security in the region, considering the tense security climate in NATO’s eastern flank. In Campia Turzii, north-western Romania, a joint military drill is taking place, bringing together 350 US military and some 300 Romanian military. Commander of the US Air Forces in Europe Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson said the drill is NATO’s response to Russia, signalling the US’s concern for ensuring security in Europe as one of its top priorities.