Radio România Internațional

Tag: Ursula

  • European Assessment on Romania

    European Assessment on Romania

    The European Commission has
    positively assessed the second payment request submitted by Romania within the
    National Plan of Recovery and Resilience, PNRR, with a value of 3.22 billion
    Euros, after the country fulfilled 49 out of the 51 milestones and targets in
    the aforementioned plan. As for the two pending objectives, concerning
    investment in energy, Romania has failed the exam, which prompted the European
    Commission to activate the procedure of suspending payment for the related activities.
    For this reason Romania will receive 53.36 million Euros less as part of the
    PNRR assistance component, but still has 6 months left to bring evidence that
    it has properly met the aforementioned objectives.


    This procedure gives Member States
    time to fulfill the outstanding milestones while receiving a partial payment
    linked to the milestones and targets than have been satisfactory fulfilled.


    The country’s new Prime Minister,
    Marcel Ciolacu says the present assessment is encouraging the government to
    carry on the process of meeting all the milestones and targets. He pledges the
    two outstanding milestones will be fulfilled shortly, so that Romania may get
    all the money allotted. Ciolacu’s predecessor, Nicolae Ciuca says the European
    money will essentially contribute to the modernization of Romania in all key
    domains, mainly infrastructure as well as the medical and educational systems.


    The president of the European
    Commission Ursula von der Leyen says that ‘Romania has progressed well in the
    implementation of its recovery and resilience plan, for instance carrying out
    reforms on road safety, renewable energy and public sector cloud services.
    Romania has also been taking important steps to fight undeclared work and
    invest in 5G networks. Now, we encourage Romania to speed up its work within
    the next six months on the two milestones related to energy investments that
    are not yet fulfilled. We encourage all Member States, including Romania, to
    proceed swiftly with the implementation of their recovery and resilience
    plans.’


    Out of the 3.22 billion Euros,
    roughly two thirds are non-reimbursable, while one third is loaned. The first
    payment request was reimbursed to Romania in October 2022, when the country
    received 2.6 billion Euros out of which 1.8 billion in grants and 0.8 in loans.
    Romania benefits from 29 billion Euros allotted to its PNRR, half grants and
    half loans. For this implementation of its National Plan of Recovery and
    Resilience, Romania has already received two-pre-funding installments of
    roughly 3.79 billion Euros.


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  • The EU and the Ukrainian grain exports

    The EU and the Ukrainian grain exports

    Romania has decided to continue to allow the transit of Ukrainian grain but introduced additional control measures to protect its farmers such as the establishment of customs controls for all agrifood products coming from Ukraine, as well as the sealing and strict monitoring of grain trucks while they are transiting the Romanian territory. The measures have been announced after the talks on Wednesday attended by the Agriculture Ministers of the two countries. How was this situation possible? In order to support Ukraine after the war Russia commenced against this country last February, the EU has suspended customs duties and the other means of trade protection applied to imports of grain and other food products coming from that country.


    However, the decision has caused turmoil on East-European markets and five countries – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – have notified the European Commission against the backdrop of the protests mounted by their disgruntled farmers.


    In a common letter, the five countries have proposed a series of measures aimed at significantly reducing the market imbalances caused by the massive imports of Ukrainian cereals. They have also applied for European support for the development of the transport infrastructures in their countries but also for additional vehicles needed by their market operators.


    Through a well-developed transport network the products coming from Ukraine could reach faster their destination in other world regions while Brussels, in cooperation with the world food programme, must work out a solution so that the Ukrainian grain may not remain in the EU, the Prime Ministers of the five countries said in their letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Later, Poland and Hungary were the first to take unilateral measures, banning the imports of cereals and other food products from Ukraine to protect the local farming sector. Slovakia and Bulgaria followed suit against the background of the plummeting prices in the region.


    Furthermore, the harvest season, which is due in two months is going to take farmers aback and they are expected to face a series of issued related to storing capabilities, presently occupied by the Ukrainian grain. The European Commission has called on all the four countries to give up all the restrictive measures they have individually imposed and which Brussels has deemed as illegal and running against the accession treaty as well as the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU. In the meantime, president von der Leyen on Wednesday sent a letter to the Prime Ministers of Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary pledging 100 million Euros in support for the farmers in those countries affected by the fiscal and transit facilities granted to Ukraine. This new financial aid joins another of its kind, worth 56.3 million Euros, already in force.


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  • January 10, 2023 UPDATE

    January 10, 2023 UPDATE

    VISIT Romanian
    Defence Minister Angel Tîlvăr and Chief of Staff
    General Daniel Petrescu are paying a formal visit to Poland. Bilateral meetings
    with Defence Minister Mariusz Balszczak with representatives of the Chief of
    Staff of the Polish Armed Forces as well as the Romanian anti-aircraft
    detachment ‘Sky Guardians’ part of the NATO Group deployed to Bemowo Piskie
    Training Area are high on the agenda. According to Defence Ministry sources,
    the visit of the Romanian officials in Poland is proof of the excellent cooperation
    relations between the two countries. On Monday, Tîlvăr and Petrescu met the Romanian soldiers deployed to the NATO base
    in Pristina, Kosovo, who are participating in the NATO Kosovo Force – KFOR
    mission. The officials in Bucharest held talks with KFOR commander the Italian major-general
    Angelo Michele Ristuccia about regional security issues.










    DECLARATION President Klaus Iohannis
    has hailed the signing of the third Joint Declaration on EU-NATO cooperation
    adding that Romania firmly supports the consolidation of security and
    prosperity in the Euro-Atlantic zone. The document has been signed by NATO
    Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the presidents of the European Council,
    Charles Michel and the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen at the
    headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance in Brussels. Romania will continue
    to have a substantial contribution to the implementation of the new priorities
    and action guidelines the joint declaration comprises, Foreign Minister Bogdan
    Aurescu has said. According to a communiqué by the Romanian Foreign Ministry,
    the NATO ministers meeting hosted by Bucharest in late November gave an impetus
    to the process of signing the aforementioned joint declaration, prompting the
    participants to voice support for deepening the EU-NATO cooperation. Romania
    hails the message of unity and complementarity of the efforts the new
    declaration promotes, the communiqué also says.










    BANK Romania’s
    Central Bank on Tuesday decided to raise the yearly key interest rate to 7%
    from a previous 6.75% starting January 11 this year. This has been the highest
    level of the key interest rate in the past 13 years and a higher key interest
    rate also translates as higher installments for credits in the local currency.
    Raising the key interest rate allows the Central Bank to keep inflation at bay
    after a year with record-high price hikes.








    COVID-19
    The first cases of
    infection with the new strain of the coronavirus, called Kraken, have been
    confirmed in Romania. Experts say that, although the number of cases of
    COVID-19 is on the rise again, there are no problems in their management,
    including those that require hospitalization, and the new variants of
    SARS-CoV-2 do not generate concerns about the severity of the disease. On the
    other hand, there have also been cases of double infection, with flu and Covid,
    and a 74-year-old woman diagnosed with ‘Flurona’, a term used by specialists to
    describe simultaneous infection with the two viruses, has died.






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  • From Schengen to CVM

    From Schengen to CVM

    Romania
    could soon get the green light for its long awaited accession to Schengen. The
    issue of Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to Europe’s border-free area could be
    included on the agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council over 8-9
    December. The final decision on the enlargement is to be made by the EU
    members, which are part of the Schengen zone, and only the Netherlands, which
    has constantly opposed Romania’s accession, has again proved reluctant.




    Authorities
    in the Hague say that in principle they do not oppose Romania’s accession, but
    the Dutch Parliament has recently recommended that no irreversible decision be
    made without additional verifications. A voluntary assessment mission has this
    month come to Romania and Bulgaria and experts of the European Commission and
    the member states have submitted their report to the working group for Schengen.




    The
    Netherlands didn’t send its experts with the mission, which according to
    Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, has ended with conclusions as positive
    as possible. Ciuca says he hasn’t read the report, which hasn’t been published
    yet, but got the good news from the Romanian representatives who participated
    in its analysis. The report ‘confirms Romania’s preparation for the Schengen
    acquis and brings us closer to reaching this country objective’, Prime Minister
    Ciuca says.


    Accompanied
    by the Interior and Justice Ministers, the head of the Romanian executive has
    this week flown to Brussels, where he got assurances that Romania benefits from
    full support for its accession to Schngen. All the European officials, Ciuca
    talked to during his two-day visit, say the same thing.


    Nicolae Ciucă: We
    have proved that we can protect the EU’s external borders. We did that even
    before the beginning of the conflict and focused even more on the issue after
    its commencement. And the pressure on the border personnel was as complex and
    dynamic as it could possibly be.




    Romania’s
    results have been appreciated in Brussels and that is also visible in the
    non-legislative resolution recently passed by the European Parliament with a
    landslide majority, which calls on the EU Council to take all the necessary
    measures to endorse a decision by the end of the year on Romania and Bulgaria’s
    entry into Schengen. We have also received positive signals regarding the
    lifting of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) and the Prime Minister
    has mentioned the talks he had in this respect with the president of the
    European Commission Ursula von der Leyen while the Justice Minister Catalin
    Predoiu held applied technical talks with other European officials.




    The
    Prime Minister has mentioned the stage in the process of endorsing the new
    justice laws, underlining that the progress in the past months may serve as a
    good basis for a positive CVM report from the European Commission. During his
    visit to Brussels Ciuca told the Romanian MEPs that joint action is needed
    concerning both the country’s accession to Schengen and having the Cooperation
    and Verification Mechanism lifted.


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  • December 16, 2021 UPDATE

    December 16, 2021 UPDATE


    COVID-19 Romania on Thursday reported 812 new Covid infections and 84 related fatalities, including 19 from an earlier date. The fortnightly incidence rate in Bucharest continues to drop, now standing at 0.77 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. Three new Omicron cases have been identified, with the total number reaching 11. The European Commission said it expects this new variant to become dominant in the European Union by mid-January. The Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she was, however, confident that the Union has the strength and means to overcome the disease. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned that the rapid increase in Omicron cases is imminent and that vaccination alone will not prevent transmission. To reduce the burden on healthcare systems, the Centre has again called for a fast reintroduction and consolidation of the so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions.



    PROTEST Romanian policemen from the Europol trade union on Thursday staged a protest rally in front of the Interior Ministry in Bucharest. They are denouncing the executive for not getting involved in the salary law adding they havent received a pay rise since 2007. Trade union leaders have cautioned that unless they get a positive answer to their claims, policemen will not accept to enforce the interdictions imposed by the pandemic. Sanitas, a trade union federation in the medical sector, has also called on the government to give up the idea of freezing salaries in state enterprises.



    POLL The Army, the Romanian Academy and the Church are coming first in a poll on the institutions most trusted by the Romanians – says the Religious Life Barometer in December this year. The survey has been conducted by the Institute for Political Sciences and International Relations of the Romanian Academy jointly with the Sociological Research Center LARICS. According to it, 67% of the Romanians trust the army and 65% the Academy. Over 62% have confidence in the Church. Next come the city halls of the respondents and the police. Only 20% of the respondents say they trust the media while 15% in the presidency. Last in the ranking come the political parties with 9%.



    EVENTS The 32nd anniversary of the start of the Romanian anti-communist revolution of 1989 was being marked on Thursday in Timişoara, the city in western Romania where the uprising began. An open door event was held at the Revolution Memorial and pupils from 15 schools laid flowers at the monuments of those killed in the revolution. Other commemorative events included the screening of a film called “Remember 89” and a rally held under the motto Heroes Never Die. The day ended with a folk concert and a midnight church service. December 17th is going to be a mourning day in Timişoara. The anti-communist uprising that would go on to spread across the country and lead to the fall of the communist regime began in this city on 16th December 1989, when a group of demonstrators blocked traffic and then marched to the city centre chanting anti-regime slogans. The first arrests were made and the following day the army opened fire on the protesters.


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  • Nachrichten 24.06.2015

    Nachrichten 24.06.2015

    BUKAREST: Präsident Klaus Iohannis hat Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu als Leiter des Auslandsnachrichtendienstes nominiert. Der Historiker hatte das Amt bereits unter Präsident Traian Băsescu zwischen 2007-2012 belegt. Ungureanu war zuvor Außenminister in der Zeitspanne 2004-2007. In der ersten Hälfte des Jahres 2012 bekleidete er für drei Monate das Amt des Ministerpräsidenten. Der ehemalige Leiter des Externen Nachrichtendienstes, Teodor Melescanu, war im vergangenen Herbst zurückgetreten. Der rumänische Staatschef Klaus Iohannis informierte die Vorsitzenden der beiden Parlamentskammern über die Nominierung Ungureanus. Das Parlament soll nun darüber abstimmen.



    BUKAREST: Die rumänischen Abgeordneten haben an Mittwoch das neue Steuergesetz verabschiedet. Dieses soll nun am 1. Januar 2016 in Kraft treten. Der Haushaltsausschuss hatte am Montag die Änderungsanträge zum Steuergesetzentwurf gebilligt, die die Reduzierung der Mehrwertsteuer ab 2016 auf 19% vorsehen. Das neue Steuergesetz sieht unter anderem die Abschaffung der Steuer für Sonderbauten und die der Verbrauchsteuern auf Treibstoff vor. Ferner verabschiedeten die Abgeordneten am Mittwoch den Gesetzentwurf zu den Parlamentswahlen. Die größte Änderung, die das neue Gesetz mit sich bringen würde, ist die Rückkehr zum Verhältniswahlrecht mit Kandidatenlisten. Die 5%-Hürde soll beibehalten werden, außerdem werden Normen zur Berechnung der Anzahl der Parlamentsmitglieder nach der Bevölkerungsgröße festgelegt.




    BRÜSSEL: Verteidigungsminister Mircea Duşa ist zum Treffen der NATO-Verteidigungsminister nach Brüssel gereist. Zur Diskussion stehen dabei Themen wie die Lage in der Ukraine vor dem Hintergrund der geplanten Stationierung von schweren Waffen der USA in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Am Dienstag war Duşa mit seinem moldauischen Kollegen Viorel Cibotaru zusammengekommen. Die beiden diskutierten über die militärische Zusammenarbeit zwischen den zwei Staaten. Über das NATO-Assistenzprogramm für die Verbesserung der moldauischen Offensivstärke erklärte Duşa, es sei ein Zeichen dafür, dass die NATO die Anstrengungen der Behörden in Chişinău für die Konsolidierung der Sicherheit und der nationalen Verteidigung unterstütze. Das Assistenzprogramm, das auch Georgien und Jordanien einschließt, sieht die Reformierung und die Modernisierung der Verteidigungsstrukturen, sowie die Unterstützung der Neubewertung der militärischen Doktrin vor.



    BUKAREST: Beate und Ursula Hansen, die Gewinnerinnen unseres Preisausschreibens “Băile Govora, o oază de sănătate (Bad Govora, eine Gesundheitsoase) sind am Dienstag in Rumänien angekommen. Die RRI-Redakteure vom Deutschen Dienst Alexandru Grigorescu und Florin-Alexandru Lungu sind ihre Reiseleiter. Beate und Ursula Hansen werden acht Tage in Govora verbringen. Das Palace-Hotel, das die Unterkunft sichert, ist ein historisches Monument, das 1911-1914 gebaut wurde. Die Gewinnerinnen des Hörerquiz werden die bedeutendsten historischen und kulturellen Sehenswürdigkeiten der Region besuchen.