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Tag: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

American support for the Republic of Moldova

All military experts and political analysts say about the Republic of Moldova that it is Ukraine’s neighbor most seriously affected by the Russian invasion there. In solidarity with the authorities in Kyiv, which are trying to resist the invaders, Chisinau, currently hosting many Ukrainian refugees, has become, in turn, a target for Russia.

On Wednesday, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, reaffirmed, in Chisinau, the United States’ support for the Republic of Moldova and for its aspirations to get closer to the West. He saluted the work of the country’s president, Maia Sandu, who has resolutely charted a firm pro-European course.

Blinken promised that his country would support a resilient democracy in the face of Russia’s destabilization attempts. Moreover, he announced a 50 million-dollar aid for the defense of democracy in the face of Russian threats, and investments of 85 million dollars for the consolidation of the energy sector of the Republic of Moldova.

According to the Radio Romania correspondents in Chisinau, the head of Washington diplomacy specified that these funds are intended to reduce the dependence of the Republic of Moldova on Russian energy resources and will contribute to increasing the resilience of state institutions.

The Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure have exacerbated the difficulties the Republic of Moldova is facing in the energy sector, and led to the increase in energy prices, making businesses and ordinary consumers vulnerable, said Antony Blinken, who paid his second
visit to Chisinau since the Russians invaded Ukraine, on February 24, 2022.

The visit of the Secretary of State reconfirms the excellent relations between the United States and the Republic of Moldova and is a strong sign of support, said in turn President Maia Sandu. The message of support conveyed on behalf of Washington comes, commentators recall, after the one received, also this month, from Brussels. The Republic of Moldova has recently signed a security and defense pact with the European Union. Thanks to it, the signatories say, the collaboration between Chisinau and Brussels will be much closer and will offer the republic more tools to strengthen its security on multiple levels, including in the military field.

The Radio Romania correspondent in Brussels notes that, from now on, the Republic of Moldova can participate in missions under the European security and defense policy and will receive help to strengthen its military capabilities. Also, its soldiers will be integrated into the EU rapid deployment corps and will participate in joint exercises and training. (MI)

30 May 2024
May 28, 2024 UPDATE

SALARIES. The Romanian Government is to adopt, this week, a decision to increase the minimum wage to 3,700 lei (approx. 740 euros), starting July 1, the leadership of the PSD-PNL ruling coalition has decided, according to political sources. The coalition also discussed means of reducing budget spending by limiting it to what is strictly necessary, but also maintaining the cap on trade mark-up and extending it to all Romanian food products. Traders do not reject this idea, PM Marcel Ciolacu said, explaining that in France the measure has already proven its effectiveness in protecting domestic producers.

ELECTIONS. In Romania, over 200,000 candidates have registered for the local elections and 494 for the European Parliament elections, both due on June 9. The youngest candidate is just over 23 years old, and the oldest is 100 years old. Over 18,900,000 voters can vote in the elections, in over 19,800 polling stations in the country and abroad. 30 associations and foundations were accredited by the Permanent Electoral Authority to have observers at the European parliamentary and local elections on June 9. They can assist in all the operations of the electoral offices of the polling stations.

PENALTIES. The Romanian MPs have increased the severity of penalties for several crimes and introduced other acts into the scope of criminal penalties. For example, those who terrorize their neighbors, or exert pressure of any kind to force them to sell their homes, risk four years in prison. It is one of the provisions included in the two draft laws that bring changes to the Criminal Code and which received a favorable vote in the plenary on Tuesday. On the other hand, the town hall employees who issue false authorizations certifying that there are more than 15,000 inhabitants in the administered localities, risk imprisonment from six months to three years. The offense is also provided for the owners of gambling halls, which operate on the basis of false certificates. In Romania, gambling halls are prohibited in localities with less than 15,000 people. Deputies also adopted the increase in penalties for the crimes of trafficking in persons and minors, slavery or child pornography. They can reach up to 12 years in prison, without the possibility of suspending execution under supervision, and up to 20 years, if minors are involved.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminiţa Odobescu, emphasized, at a meeting of her EU counterparts, the importance of rapid military assistance to Ukraine and the adoption of a new package of sanctions against Russia. The Romanian official also signaled Russia’s hybrid attacks on the Republic of Moldova. The meeting in Brussels also addressed developments in the Middle East. Minister Odobescu stressed the need to resolve the crisis in Gaza by continuing efforts to release all hostages, cease fire, provide comprehensive humanitarian assistance and resume the political process leading to a lasting peace, based on the two-state solution.

VISIT. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is on a visit to Chisinau for talks on the United States’ support for the Republic of Moldova’s EU accession, as well as energy security. Antony Blinken was in the Republic of Moldova two years ago, at the beginning of March, just a few days after Russia invaded the neighboring country, Ukraine. After the visit to Chisinau, the American official will go to Prague, in the Czech Republic, to participate in an informal meeting of the NATO foreign ministers, where the priorities of the Alliance’s next summit in July, in Washington, will be analyzed. The Republic of Moldova applied for EU accession in March 2022 and three months later it was granted the status of candidate country. In December 2023, EU leaders decided to open accession negotiations.

THEATRE. “Anthology of Disappearance”, directed by Radu Afrim, staged at the National Theatre in Iaşi (north-east), was designated best show at the 2024 UNITER Awards Gala, an event that rewards excellence in Romanian theatre. The awards for leading parts went to Cerasela Iosifescu and Tudor Cucu-Dumitrescu, the award for debut went to the actress Ramona Nicolae, and the “Ion Caramitru” award of excellence was received by actor Valer Dellakeza. Oana Pellea and Dan Condurache were honored with awards for their entire activity. The winner of Best Radio Drama show was “The summer in which my mother had green eyes”, directed by Diana Mihailopol, which was broadcast last year on the Radio Romania Culture Channel. (MI)

28 May 2024
January 9, 2024

Government. The Romanian government should adopt a decision by the end of this month for the implementation of the National Plan to combat school violence and drug use. Students will attend health education courses and will be able to be tested with the parents consent for drug use, according to the National School Safety Plan. Compared to the measures applied so far, the document provides for the establishment of action groups at the level of each pre-university education unit, which will include specialists from the institutions that have undertaken this program. The aim is to combat the trafficking and consumption of psychoactive substances in schools, stop bullying, but also violent crimes. The pre-university education law obliges school principals to report cases of violence against students to the national number 119, and minors involved in such acts, together with their parents, must attend counseling sessions. In case of a refusal, the provision can be applied by court decision.

Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel again on his latest regional tour aimed at preventing the escalation of the Gaza war. According to our correspondent, the head of the US diplomacy will try, once again, to convince the Israeli government to restrict its military operations in order to protect Palestinian civilians. The US would like the Israeli authorities to officially declare that they are moving to the third phase of the war, in which they will reduce their forces in the Gaza Strip and give up massive bombing. Israel is going through a very difficult moment, but has real chances of integration with its Arab neighbors, said Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv, where he already met with President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Israel Katz. On Monday, the Israeli army managed to liquidate two field commanders, one in Lebanon, a member of the leadership of the elite force of the Hezbollah organization, and the second in Syria, who was responsible for Hamass missile attack program on Israel from Syrian territory.

Unemployment. In Romania, the unemployment rate in November 2023 was 5.4%, a value equal to that recorded in October last year, according to the data published on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics. The unemployment rate among men was 0.9 percentage points higher than for women. The high level of the unemployment rate among young people (15-24 years), of 21%, continues to be worrying, the NIS warns.

Health-care. The Romanian Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, has announced that new memoranda on unblocking jobs in the system have been finalized. He stated that he hopes that the Government will approve the memoranda as soon as possible, so that the employment contests can be organized and the vacant positions can be filled. The Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloş, has also stated that the issue of jobs in the health-care will be resolved this week.

Invoicing. The national e-Invoice system took receipts worth a total of 16 billion lei (3.2 billion euros) in just seven days since it was introduced for transactions between companies , the Romanian Minister of Finance, Marcel Boloş, has announced. He has stressed again that the system designed to reduce VAT fraud, introduced on January 1 this year, will work in parallel with the classic one until the middle of this year, when it will become mandatory. Starting July 1, companies that do not report invoices electronically will be fined up to 5,000 lei (1,000 euros). Last year, following fiscal and anti-fraud inspections, the state collection budget was supplemented by 11 billion lei (2.2 billion euros), Minister Boloş also said.

Handball. The European Mens Handball Championship starts in Germany on Wednesday, a competition that will end on January 28. Romania will play in Group B, along with Austria and the strong teams of Spain and Croatia. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the main groups. Romania had not qualified for a European Championship since 1996.

Weather. The weather is cold in most of Romania, even frosty in the east. The severe weather of the last few days has affected this part of the country, where several localities were left without electricity. In Galati county (south-east), the red intervention plan was activated after a minibus with 17 passengers overturned due to powerful gusts of wind. The authorities temporarily closed traffic on several sections of the national road. Several trains are delayed on the railway. In Iaşi county (northeast), after the heavy snow and blizzard on Monday, the authorities agreed to keep schools, high schools and kindergartens closed today. The activity is also suspended in some educational units from other counties. (MI)

9 January 2024
January 7, 2024

Saint John. Orthodox Christians and Greek Catholics celebrate, today, Saint John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament and the only one who knew the Messiah, whose coming he had prepared. The Jews recognized him as a prophet and would come to get baptized in the waters of the Jordan, to repent their sins. The meeting with Jesus also took place in Jordan. John introduced Jesus as the Messiah. Almost two million Romanians are celebrating their name today. Old-style Christians also celebrate Christmas on January 7th.

Israel. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was received, on Sunday, in Amman by King Abdullah II of Jordan, who asked him to put pressure on Israel to obtain an immediate truce in the Gaza war against the terrorist group Hamas, FP reports. Blinken arrived in Jordan on Saturday night as part of a new tour of the Middle East in an attempt to prevent an escalation of the conflict. The Hashemite sovereign also emphasized the need to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The king said that there will be no peace and stability in the region without a just settling of the Palestinian issue, based on the two-state solution, Palestinian and Israeli. From Jordan, Blinken will go to Qatar, the emirate that acted as a mediator between Israel and Hamas since the end of November. From there, the US official will travel to Abu Dhabi, to Saudi Arabia – on Monday – and then Israel. In another move, the Israeli army has announced that it has completed the destruction of the command structure of the terrorist group Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip. The army spokesman said that Israel had killed about 8,000 militants in northern Gaza and that Israeli forces were now focusing on destroying Hamas in the south and center of the Strip.

Ukraine. Last night, Russia launched attacks with drones and three cruise missiles at Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force has announced today, adding that their air defense systems destroyed more than 20 of the drones. The Air Force reported that Russia attacked the south and east of Ukraine in particular, Reuters reports. The Japanese foreign minister, Yoko Kamikawa, is visiting Ukraine today, where he will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, as well as other officials. Minister Kamikawa will once again confirm to the Ukrainian side that Japans consistent policies to support Ukraine remain unchanged even in the current difficult international situation, the press service of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, quoted by news agencies.

Handball. The Romanian womens handball champion, CSM Bucharest, takes on, today, the Montenegrin team Buducnost, in group A of the Champions League. CSM is in the fourth position, and the leader of the group is Gyor (Hungary). On Saturday, the other representative of Romania in the Champions League, Rapid Bucharest, was dramatically defeated by the Slovenian team Krim Mercator Ljubljana, 25-24, away from home, in Group B. Rapid is the penultimate in the group, and in first position is Esbjerg, from Denmark.

Weather. Precipitations have covered all regions of Romania. It is predominantly raining, but snow will soon take over many regions. A yellow code alert will be in place starting this evening, as meteorologists say there will be strong winds, snow falls and blizzard affecting in particular the east and southeast of the territory. During the night from Sunday to Monday and in the first part of Monday, in the east, south and southeast, there will be mainly rains that will turn into snow falls. Meteorologists have also announced that starting Monday the weather will cool significantly, so that on Tuesday the highs of the day will be negative, ranging from minus 8 to 0 degrees Celsius. Its currently raining in the capital Bucharest, the maximum of the day stood at 10 degrees Celsius. (MI)

7 January 2024
Romanian American Cooperation

The Romanian Foreign
Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had a
telephone conversation on topics of priority interest for the bilateral
Strategic Partnership, in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine and
efforts to combat its effects. The dialogue also took place in preparation for
the eighth round of the Strategic Dialogue between Romania and the USA, which
will take place in March, in Bucharest. In the context of the one-year
anniversary of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, they discussed its
profound global effects, as well as joint efforts to counter them. The head of the
Romanian diplomacy made a review of the very comprehensive and multidimensional
aid granted to that state by Romania since the beginning of the war.

In turn, the US Secretary
of State particularly thanked Minister Aurescu for the concrete, substantial and essential support given by
Romania to Ukraine. In terms of regional security, the two officials
highlighted the importance of continuing the coherent and consistent
strengthening of NATO’s Eastern Flank, and Bogdan Aurescu conveyed his
appreciation for the US commitment to the defense of the entire Allied
territory, including in the Black Sea region and in Romania, expressed also on
the occasion of the Bucharest 9 summit in Warsaw. The two heads of diplomacy
also addressed opportunities for strengthening resilience in the Black Sea
region through a strategic approach that would ensure, in a sustainable manner,
the free, safe and prosperous character of the Black Sea and strengthen its
status as a key commercial and energy route.

On the other hand, Bogdan
Aurescu emphasized the major impact that Russia’s war of aggression against
Ukraine has on the Republic of Moldova and reaffirmed Romania’s firm, continuous
and unconditional support for the
Republic of Moldova, for strengthening its resilience and security and for its
European journey’. At the same time, he reiterated the key importance of
Romania’s inclusion in the US Visa Waiver Program.

Against the background of
security challenges in the region, Romania wants to acquire a battalion of
American Abrams tanks, which usually has 54 such armored vehicles. The decision
will be subject to Parliament’s approval. Military experts consider this
third-generation tank to be extremely effective. Its price starts at 10 million
dollars. Representatives of the Romanian Foreign Ministry have also spoken about
procurement
in the naval field. Also, it is estimated that all F-16 aircraft will be delivered
in 2024, after the contract for the purchase of 32 such aircraft from Norway
was signed last year. Currently, the Romanian Air Force has 17 F-16 aircraft,
bought from Portugal and modernized with the help of the USA, as well as older
MIG21 LanceR aircraft of Soviet origin. (MI)

8 March 2023