Radio România Internațional

Tag: vote

  • February 22, 2025

    February 22, 2025

     

    ELECTIONS The Central Electoral Bureau for the election of the president of Romania in May was selected on Friday. The Bureau is made up of 5 judges with the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the president and vice-presidents of the Permanent Electoral Authority and one representative of each party in Parliament. Parties, political or electoral alliances, ethnic minority organisations and independent candidates will be able to submit their candidacies by March 15, after which the Central Electoral Bureau is to rule on their validity. Thousands of Romanians, supporters of the independent sovereigntist Călin Georgescu, who came out first in the first election round in December, took to the streets again in Bucharest today to demand that the electoral process be resumed from where it was canceled. The billionaire Elon Musk, an advisor to the US president Donald Trump, Friday night posted a critical message on his social network X (the third this week) about the cancellation of the December elections. The US vice-president J.D. Vance had also previously questioned the cancellation of the elections. Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said Bucharest would try to provide clarifications about the situation through all diplomatic channels.

     

    RATING Fitch has sent a clear signal that Romania must carry on its fiscal consolidation measures and restore budgetary balance, in order to improve its fiscal credibility, said finance minister Tanczos Barna after the international financial rating agency announced on Friday that it is keeping Romania in the investment grade category. In a statement, the agency confirmed Romania’s long-term rating at ‘BBB minus’, with a negative outlook. According to Fitch, the rating relies on the country’s EU membership and capital inflows that contribute to public revenues and macro-stability. The gross domestic product per capita and the governance and human development indicators are also higher than in countries in the same rating category, the agency explains. These strengths are overshadowed, however, by a significant deterioration of public finances and a sharp slowdown in economic growth in 2024. Adding to this is a possible adverse effect of political uncertainty. In December last year, Fitch announced that it had downgraded the outlook assigned to Romania from stable to negative. The same announcement came later from Standard & Poor’s.

     

    ENERGY Electricity and natural gas tariffs could be offset in Romania even after April 1, when the current aid scheme is set to expire. The energy ministry has posted for public review a draft act extending the capping period, under which the scheme for electricity is extended until July 1, and for natural gas by one year, until April 1, 2026. The capping extension proposal comes as prices on European electricity and gas exchanges have increased significantly, and also as the low temperatures in Romania this winter entailed a significant increase in consumption. As a result, the line minister Sebastian Burduja announced that the government had decided to protect Romanians and support the competitiveness of Romanian companies. After the energy market was deregulated on January 1, 2021, Romania was among the European countries the most severely affected by record-high electricity and natural gas prices. Thanks to the government’s price capping decisions, households and businesses were protected from excessive prices.

     

    CORRUPTION A company and 2 individuals are prosecuted in a case handled by the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), together with investigators from the US Department of Defence, the DNA announced today. The company owned by a Greek national has allegedly bribed a foreign official to get a EUR 9 mln contract to refuel aircraft at the NATO military base in Mihail Kogălniceanu. Two other individuals are suspected of complicity in continuing bribery in connection with an official of a foreign country.

     

    GERMANY Germany holds federal elections on Sunday that are crucial to the country’s future, as the far-right is on the rise and the economy is heading for a third year of recession. The vote comes after the coalition of the Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens led by the Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed late last year. According to polls, the Conservatives are expected to win. With the far-right in second place in the polls, however, analysts say that in order to govern, the Conservatives will have to reach a compromise with the Social Democrats or the Greens, overcoming their differences.

     

    FOOTBALL The Romanian football champions FCSB will face the French team Olympique Lyon in the Europa League round of 16, according to Friday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland. FCSB will play the first leg at home on March 6, with the return leg scheduled on March 13. FCSB qualified for the round of 16 of the Europa League after outplaying the Greek team PAOK Thessaloniki, coached by the Romanian Răzvan Lucescu. The aggregate score was 4-1, with the Romanians defeating the Greeks 2-1 in the first leg, and 2-0 in Bucharest on Thursday evening. (AMP)

  • December 5, 2024 UPDATE

    December 5, 2024 UPDATE

    VOTE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest on Thursday announced that it briefed the allied states on the attempted foreign interferences in the election campaign in Romania. ‘The Romanian Authorities are investigating this attempted initiative underway. ‘We are going to take all the measures needed to protect democracy, national security and sovereignty’, says a communiqué by the Foreign Ministry. In the meantime, the General Prosecutor’s Office was notified ex officio after checking the documents presented by the country’s Higher Defence Council regarding the campaign of independent candidate Calin Georgescu, which were declassified. An investigation is underway on various charges such as election fraud and money laundering. In another development the Constitutional Court on Thursday got four notifications calling for the cancellation of the results in the first round of the presidential election. The head of the Permanent Election Authority, Toni Grebla says the election cannot be cancelled because the terms stipulated by the law have been exceeded and the Constitutional Court has validated the results. The independent candidate Calin Georgescu will be facing the pro-European Elena Lasconi in the presidential runoff due on 8 December. Romanians abroad will have three days to cast their ballot starting this Friday.

     

    EU The European Commission has called on the TikTok platform to preserve all the information in its system linked to the EU election for thorough examination. The Commission has summoned representatives from the member states, European institutions and digital platforms to asses the risks posed by the information systems at the level of the entire bloc starting from Romania’s case. After the outcome of the first round of its presidential election, Romania had called on the European Commission to launch a formal investigation into the platform under the community rules on social media. On Tuesday in the European Parliament, the platform defended the measures it had implemented to fight misinformation in the first round of the presidential election in Romania and denied the allegation that it would have favoured the independent candidate Calin Georgescu. In another development the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken on Thursday said the Romanian authorities had revealed a large-scale and well-funded Russian effort to influence the presidential election.” Earlier, the US Department of State said in a communique that ”Romania’s hard-earned progress anchoring itself in the Transatlantic community cannot be turned back by foreign actors seeking to shift Romania’s foreign policy away from its Western alliances.”

     

    ECONOMY The analysts’ trust in the Romanian economy dropped last month amid the latest political developments. A survey among the experts forecasts a higher inflation rate in the coming year, a depreciated national currency and an economic growth lower than initially expected. The Macroeconomic Trust Indicator of CFA Romania dropped by 13.5 points down to 31.4 points, the lowest level since 2020. 77% of the pundits questioned have forecast a depreciated local currency in the following 12 months, while the rest believes it is going to stagnate. The budget deficit envisaged for the year 2025 would stay at 7.2% of the GDP, the economic growth at 1.3% and the public debt at 58%.

    (bill)

  • November 25, 2024 UPDATE

    November 25, 2024 UPDATE

     

    PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Călin Georgescu, running independently for president of Romania, has surprisingly won Sunday’s first round of the presidential election, with 22.94% of the votes after counting 99.94% of the ballots. Second comes  Elena Lasconi, the leader of Save Romania Union, with 19.17% of the votes, followed by the head of the Social Democratic Party and PM Marcel Ciolacu with 19,16%. He is followed by the president of AUR party, George Simion (13.87%) and the Liberal leader, Nicolae Ciuca (8.79%). The turnover was over 52%, with more than 821,000 Romanian nationals voting abroad. According to the Permanent Electoral Authority, the largest number of valid votes cast abroad went to Călin Georgescu (43.35%), followed by Elena Lasconi (26.82%) and George Simion (12.07%). The former NATO deputy secretary general, Mircea Geoană, and the Liberal Nicolae Ciucă were voted for by less than 5% of those who went to the polls, while Marcel Ciolacu was elected by less than 3% of the Romanians in the diaspora. There were 13 candidates in the presidential race, 9 backed by political parties and 4 independents. The second round of the presidential elections will take place on December 8. On December 1, Romania’s National Day, general elections will be held, after on June 9, local and European parliamentary elections were also organised in Romania.

     

    RESIGNATION Romania’s prime-minister Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation as leader of the Social Democrats over the poor results in the first round of the elections for president of Romania. Ciolacu failed to reach the decisive round, having lost to the candidate of the Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, by several thousand votes. Ciolacu congratulated the two candidates who qualified for the second round and announced that his party will not challenge the results, because the importance of the decisive round on December 8 is much greater than personal interests. He also said he would stand by his colleagues until after the parliamentary elections due next Sunday, and that he would not run for any party position after that. The MEP Victor Negrescu is now the interim party president. The Liberals, the governing partners of the Social Democrats, are facing a similar situation. The party leader Nicolae Ciucă, who also serves as speaker of the Senate, resigned following the presidential election results, where he came in fifth place. He called on traditional parties to “keep Romania united.” Ciucă said that the Liberal Party “is aware of the mistakes it has made and will fight to the end for Romania to remain a free and democratic country.”

     

    DIASPORA The first round of the presidential election came to a close at 7 AM in all the polling stations abroad, the Romanian foreign ministry announced. The last polling stations to close were in Vancouver, Canada, and on the US West Coast. Voters were able to cast their votes as early as Friday. The foreign ministry has set up 950 polling stations abroad for the presidential and parliamentary elections this year. According to the Permanent Electoral Authority, 821,703 Romanians cast their votes abroad, 817,476 on additional lists and 4,227 by post.

     

    REFERENDUM Bucharest residents were invited on Sunday to cast their votes in a local referendum called by the mayor general, Nicușor Dan. The referendum passed the 30% participation threshold. Preliminary results indicate the majority response to the three questions was “Yes”. 67% of respondents agreed that construction permits be issued by the Bucharest City Hall alone, 64% voted in favor of the City Hall Council approving the budgets of the City Hall and local districts, while 82% voted in favor of creating a program designed to fight drug use in schools. The referendum needs to be first confirmed by parliament.

     

    CHINA China has eliminated visa requirements for Romanian nationals over November 30, 2024 – December 31, 2025. The Romanian foreign ministry welcomed the decision, and said the measure will help facilitate the mobility of Romanian citizens, expanding the scale of person-to-person contacts. Visas will be lifted for citizens travelling for business, tourism, visiting or transiting China. (AMP)

  • Surprising result in Romania’s presidential elections

    Surprising result in Romania’s presidential elections

    The independent candidate Călin Georgescu takes the lead in the first round of the presidential elections in Romania.

     

     

     

    Over 9.4 million Romanians cast their ballot for the country’s next president in the first round of voting on Sunday. The voter turnout rate was 52.55%, much higher than five years ago, when it stood at 42.19%. Over 820,000 Romanians voted abroad, most of them in the United Kingdom (150,000), Germany (145,000) and Italy (123,000). The big surprise of the election is the independent candidate Călin Georgescu, a 62-year-old agronomist engineer, who ranked first in the voters’ preferences. He worked as an expert in sustainable development and was secretary of state in the Ministry of Environment. He headed a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then held various positions at the UN in the field of environment, for several years. Since 2013, he has been head of the European Research Centre of the Club of Rome, and is currently a professor at the University of Piteşti (south).

     

    The international media reports that Romanians are voting for extremism, which from a geopolitical point of view is a disaster. Electoral earthquake in Romania: a pro-Russian candidate that no one expected came out first in the first round of the presidential elections, ahead of the pro-European Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, France Presse reports. A hard-right Romanian politician and NATO critic has achieved a shocking result that threatens Romania’s firm pro-Ukraine stance, Reuters reports. Călin Georgescu was associated with the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), a party that had repeatedly mentioned his name as a candidate for prime minister. He was later removed by the AUR leadership, who accused him of damaging the party’s image with his pro-Russian and anti-NATO stance. In a 2021 interview, Călin Georgescu described NATO’s missile shield at Deveselu as “a shame of diplomacy” and said the Alliance would not protect any of its members if they were attacked by Russia. In addition, he said that Ion Antonescu, Romania’s de facto leader in World War II, who was sentenced to death for his role in the Holocaust, and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the Legionary movement – ​​one of the most violent and anti-Semitic in Europe – are national heroes.

     

    A criminal case was opened against Georgescu for promoting the personality cult of individuals suspected of genocide. Romania’s best chance is “Russian wisdom,” he said in another interview. Extremely religious and nationalist, he campaigned for reducing Romania’s dependence on imports, supporting farmers and increasing domestic food and energy production. Călin Georgescu stayed out of the spotlight and focused on social media. Romanians voted for him, including those in the diaspora, despite his strongly anti-Semitic, legionary, “messianic,” pro-Russian and anti-Western discourse. “I said we are not doing politics, we are doing history. It came true,” he pointed out, after the polling stations closed.

     

  • Political agreement on the new European Commission

    Political agreement on the new European Commission

     

     

    The leaders of the three major political groups in the European Parliament have given the green light to the members of the next European Commission. They finally said yes to all the 7 European Commissioner nominations that were still under evaluation, thus ending the weeks-long deadlock between the EU’s political factions over the composition of the future Commission.

     

    Between November 4 and 12 Parliament heard the prospective European commissioners in Ursula von der Leyen’s new team. After the interviews, however, for more than a week, the fate of the 6 vice-presidents and of the Hungarian nominee for public health and animal welfare commissioner Olivér Várhelyi was in limbo over political disagreements between the European People’s Party, Renew, and the Socialists and Democrats.

     

    One of those left waiting was Roxana Mânzatu, Romania’s proposal, who would hold the post of Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness. During the interview, she was asked questions not only about employee rights and the Erasmus programme, but also about the illegal extension of her house in Brașov, a topic also covered by Romanian media.

     

    In a social network post, the Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu welcomed Roxana Mînzatu’s validation as vice-president of the EC and as commissioner for a “relevant” sector. She is an excellent professional and will do Romania credit, said the Romanian PM.

     

    It is the first time since 1999 that no EU commissioner candidate has been rejected, which is a step back for the power of the EP, Politico notes. Along with the agreement on the membership of the future European Commission, the leaders of the main parties represented in Brussels also signed a document in which, as a parliamentary majority, they undertake to work together during their term in office to support Ukraine and to enhance the bloc’s security and competitiveness. The signatories also agreed to adopt a new industrial agreement and to boost circular economy, friendly to the environment. Last but not least, an efficient migration policy is being considered.

     

    The European Parliament’s final vote on the new Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen will be given in next week’s session in Strasbourg. Two-thirds of the MEP votes are needed for the Commission to be endorsed. According to the procedural calendar, if the vote is favorable, the new commissioners will take office on December 1.

     

    The formula proposed by Ursula von der Leyen is slightly changed, with a vice-president position for European diplomacy chief (Kaja Kallas), 5 executive vice-presidents who will also coordinate certain policies, as well as 20 commissioner posts. (AMP)

  • Romania ahead of the presidential election

    Romania ahead of the presidential election

    Next month, President Klaus Iohannis will end his second and last five-year term in office according to the Romanian Constitution. The so-called Iohannis decade is already a topic for reviews, in press editorials or in documentary films, and the balance sheet is by no means brilliant. Coordinating the country’s foreign policy is a presidential prerogative, and this is also the area where the worst backlogs have accumulated. Many Romanians still feel like second-class citizens of the European Union, because their country was admitted to the free travel Schengen Area only with the air and maritime borders, not with the land borders. Although the strategic partnership between Bucharest and Washington seems, according to the officials’ statements, to have reached its peak, Romania has not yet been included in the Visa Waiver program, which allows visa-free entry to the United States. The consistent support given by Romania to neighboring Ukraine, invaded by the Russian troops, created major disservices to some local socio-professional categories, from farmers to transporters, who took to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction.

     

    Internally, there are countless complaints against President Iohannis, one of them being that he completely ignored his role as a mediator in society, a role also stipulated in the Constitution. After Iohannis, the feeling remains that anyone can be president, a columnist has recently written. 14 aspirants initially registered in the presidential race. They are leaders of parliamentary parties, representatives of marginal political parties or independent candidates. One of them, the former Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, a candidate of the Force of the Right group on Monday announced his withdrawal from the race and decision to support the head of the Save Romania Party-USR, Elena Lasconi. The teams of the remaining 13 revved their engines in the last days of the election campaign, which ends on the eve of the voting day, on November 23, at 7:00 a.m. Voting in the country will take place on Sunday, between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. If at the time of closing the polls, there are voters queuing to cast their vote outside or inside, the president of the polling station may decide on the extension of voting until 11:59 p.m., when the system will close automatically.

     

    Voters can vote only in the locality where they have their domicile or residence, and in Bucharest, only in the sector where they are registered on the permanent lists. The address of the polling station to which the voter belongs can be found on the website of the Permanent Electoral Authority. Voters who are in a different locality on the voting day can cast their vote at any section, being registered on the additional lists. Romanian citizens with their domicile or residence abroad can vote either by mail or at any section organized in the country or abroad. The decisive voting round, which will pit the two candidates with the highest number of votes, is scheduled for December 8, a week after December 1, the very National Day, when the Romanians are called to also elect a new Parliament. (LS)

  • October 30, 2024

    October 30, 2024

    PROJECT Ten big Romanian cities have been included in a European project, aimed at turning them smarter and more environmentally-friendly by 2035. Following a selection made by experts with the M 100 Climate Neutrality Forum, Bucharest, Alba Iulia and Brasov in Central Romania, Constanta in the south-east, Iasi in the est and Oradea in the west are going to receive support to curb their gas-emissions and turn these cities in smart, green cities. The M100 forum, underway in Bucharest these days, is an event, designed to offer a debate platform for good practices in the field of sustainability.

     

    VOTE The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent to the Permanent Election Authority a series of proposals regarding the 950 polling stations abroad for the upcoming elections for the presidential seat, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. As compared to the election on June 9th, which had 915 polling stations, 35 additional ones are going to be added for the upcoming election. The most polling stations are going to be in Italy and Malta, 158; Spain will have 147, the UK 107, France and Monaco 68, the Republic of Moldova 59, the United States 48. As in the case of the European Parliamentary election on June 9th, out of objective reasons, polling stations could not be mounted in Afghanistan, as the Romanian troops have been pulled out from that country, Romania’s consular office in Rostov-on-Don is being closed down, in Odessa, as the consular office there has been temporarily suspended, the Sudan, Venezuela, Libya and North Korea. The Romanians abroad are going to cast their ballots on three days, November 22, 23 and 24, as well as on 6, 7, 8 of December.

     

    FAIR The best known event in Romania’s agricultural and food industry, Indagra & Indagra Food kicks off in Bucharest today. Over 500 companies out of 25 countries are attending the event bringing along 150 innovations and products. The international Fair of products and equipment for agriculture, horticulture, wine growing and animal breeding, Indagra 2024, is showcasing the innovations shaping the future of agriculture. From state-of-the-art equipment to technological solutions aimed at improving productivity, the event is the right place where farmers, entrepreneurs and those interested in agriculture can find good solutions for a sustainable future – the organizers say. Indagra is open until Sunday, November 3.

     

    DEFENCE Norway contributes 127 million dollars to the purchase of a system of Patriot missiles for Romania – the country’s Minister of Defence, Angel Tilvar has announced. According to him the initiative is part of an immediate action in terms of anti-aircraft defence, coordinated by Germany and will allow Romania to strengthen security and defence in the Euro-Atlantic space by renewing and expanding the air defence capabilities. We recall that Romania has recently donated a Patriot missile system to the neighbouring Ukraine invaded by the Russian troops.

     

    (bill)

  • October 20, 2024

    October 20, 2024

    MOLDOVA VOTES Moldovans are going to the polls today to cast their ballot for the president and to decide in a referendum the European future of this small, ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking country. The incumbent president, the pro-European Maia Sandu stands most chances to a second mandate and according to the polls, more than half of the respondents are voting in favour of the country’s joining the EU. However, it seems that detaching from Moscow’s sphere of influence is as difficult as gaining independence from the Soviet Union, which the country did more than three decades ago. The authorities in Chisinau have taken measures to prevent any internal and external provocations as well as any hostile actions, including from the pro-Russian, breakaway region of Transdniester. Over 22 hundred polling stations have been set up in the Republic of Moldova and over 230 for the Moldovans abroad, including 16 in the neighboring Romania.

     

     DAY According to Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the day of October 20th is a historic one for the neighboring ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. “I am convinced that at the end of it, the Republic of Moldova will be one step closer to the European Union – where we can build the future together”, Ciolacu wrote on Facebook on Sunday. Numerous political leaders in Romania, both from the opposition and the ruling coalition, have urged the Moldovan citizens to say ‘Yes’ at the referendum concerning the European integration. According to the Moldovan ambassador in Bucharest, Victor Chirila, there are 100 thousand Moldovan citizens in Romania, out of whom 20 thousand are students.

     

    FESTIVAL Bucharest is presently seeing the 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival, unfolding this year under a suggestive motto, “Dramaturgy of the Possible”. Until October 28th, theatre goers are offered the opportunity of watching a series of performances, a selection which, according to organizers, is aimed at expressing various possible scenarios. The edition’s official selection includes over 30 performances mounted by theatre troupes from all over the country. Among these there is the Anthology of Disappearance by Radu Afrim, William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, directed by Andrei Serban, and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. This year’s edition has also brought together theatre troupes from abroad, from Germany, Ireland, Poland and Belgium. The event has been produced by the Theaters Union in Romania, UNITER.

     

    TENNIS Romania’s table tennis player Bernadette Szocs has ensured medals in the singles and doubles contests of the European Table Tennis Championships underway in Linz, Austria. In the semis, Szocs will be up against Maria Xiao of Spain, after a win against Charlotte Lutz of France. In the doubles contest, Szocs and Sofia Polcanova of Austria will be up against the Czechoslovakian pair Hana Matelova/Barbora Balazova.

     

    (bill)

  • Parliamentary elections timetable

    Parliamentary elections timetable

    The election marathon in Romania started on June 9, when the citizens decided who would represent them in the European Parliament and who would lead, in the next 4 years, the town halls and the local and county councils. After the European Parliament and local elections in mid-2024, the end of the year will bring the two main electoral competitions, the presidential and parliamentary elections. The parliamentary elections will take place on December 1, on the very National Day, and will be framed by the two rounds of the presidential election. On Wednesday, the executive, which is responsible for organizing the elections, set the timetable for the December 1 parliamentary elections.

     

    The election campaign will start a month earlier, on November 1, and will end on November 30, at 7:00 am. Romanians in the country will vote between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. For the Romanian citizens in the Diaspora, the voting will start on November 30, at 7:00 a.m. and will end on December 1, at 9:00 p.m., so they will have two days to express their options. The deadline for submitting to the Central Electoral Bureau the protocol for establishing an electoral alliance is September 10. September 16 is the deadline by which voters with their domicile in the country and with the residence abroad, as well as those with their domicile abroad, can register in the Electoral Register, with their address from abroad, for the option of voting in a polling station.

     

    By October 2, the lists of candidates and independent candidacies for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will be submitted to the electoral constituency for the Romanian citizens with their domicile or residence outside the country. By the same date the lists of candidates of the organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities will be submitted for all electoral constituencies. On the other hand, October 17 is the date by which voters with their domicile in the country and with the residence abroad, as well as those with their domicile abroad can register in the Electoral Register with the address from abroad with the option of postal voting and online on the website votStrainatate.ro.

     

    Also by October 17, political parties, political alliances, electoral alliances or organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities can submit their lists of candidates and independent candidacies to the country’s electoral constituencies. October 22 is the deadline for establishing and submitting electoral signs to the Central Electoral Bureau. Establishing the air time for the candidates to the parliamentary elections will be done by October 31. We remind you that, in June, the Social Democratic Party – PSD won the most town halls and county and local councils, and the social democrats and their governing partners, the liberals, obtained more than half of the MEP seats. (LS)

  • July 18, 2024

    July 18, 2024

    Meeting – Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, is participating, today, in the fourth meeting of the European Political Community, which is taking place in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, at the Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. According to a Presidential Administration press release, the program of the meeting includes a plenary session and working groups, and the discussions focus on topics such as security in Europe, support for Ukraine, challenges related to migration, protecting democracy and promoting energy security. During the debates, President Iohannis will address current issues regarding the continuation of support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in the context of Russia’s war of aggression. On the sidelines of the plenary session, an informal meeting of the Coordination Group for the Republic of Moldova is scheduled. The members of the group, which includes the leaders from Romania, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the EU, alongside the Republic of Moldova, will discuss aspects related to Chişinău’s resilience in dealing with multiple current threats.

     

    EP – Today, the European Parliament is voting on a proposal for Ursula von der Leyen to obtain a new mandate as President of the European Commission. To be re-elected, Ursula von der Leyen (65) needs the votes of at least 361 of the 720 MEPs. On Wednesday, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) announced that it found irregularities related to the transparency of the contracts concluded by the European Commission for the purchase of anti-COVID-19 vaccines, a case that directly targets Ursula von der Leyen. Also on Wednesday, the new European Parliament voted its first resolution, aimed at financial, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine, to help it repel Russia’s attacks.

     

    Football – The winner of the Romanian Football Cup, Corvinul Hunedoara (from center-western Romania), plays, today, in Sibiu (center) against the Hungarian team Paksi FC in the decisive leg of the first preliminary round of the Europa League. In the first match, Corvinul, returning to the European cups after a break of 42 years, won, away from home, 4-0 against the vice-champion Hungary. If it passes Paksi FC, Corvinul Hunedoara will play in the second preliminary round of the Europa League with the Croatian team HNK Rijeka. The other Romanian teams participating in the European competitions are the Romanian football champions, FCSB (Bucharest), CFR Cluj (from north-western Romania) and Universitatea Craiova (south-western Romania).

     

    Campaign – The Romanian government has today launched the campaign “We qualify Romania”, whose objective, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said, is to allow Romanians access to the “Visa Waiver” program. The PM claims that there is “a huge opportunity” and urged all Romanians who have valid B1 or B2 visas and those who had such a visa to apply for its renewal. The Romanian government has committed to meeting the accession criteria by the end of the American fiscal year, which ends on September 30. The renewal of the visa for the United States costs the same as a normal visa, i.e. 185 dollars (approx. 840 lei). Romania can enter the “Visa Waiver” program in 2025 if the visa refusal rate is below 3%. Over the past three years, it has fallen from 17% in 2021 to 8% last year. The “Visa Waiver” is a US government program that allows citizens of certain countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days for tourism, business, or transit through the US territory without a visa.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian plays, today, against the Italian Lucia Bronzetti, in the round of 16 of the WTA 250 tournament in Palermo (Italy), with total prizes up for grabs worth over 230,000 Euros. Jaqueline Cristian has qualified for the round of 16 after defeating the Argentinean Julia Riera in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, on Tuesday. The Romanian Irina Begu has also qualified for the quarter-finals of the Palermo tournament, after defeating the Dutch Arantxa Rus, seed no. 5, score 6-2, 7-5. (LS)

     

  • June 6, 2024 UPDATE

    June 6, 2024 UPDATE

     

    STATEMENT The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis is one of the 17 heads of state to sign a joint statement pleading for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It is time for the war to end and this deal is the necessary starting point, the statement reads. The signatories call on both parties to agree to the US president Joe Biden’s plan, which provides for a 6-week ceasefire in a first stage, accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from the densely populated areas of Gaza, and a hostage-prisoner exchange. In a second stage, whose details are yet to be set, a permanent end of hostilities and the release of all hostages would take place.

     

    WAGES The government of Romania Thursday approved an increase of national minimum wages to roughly EUR 740 as of July 1. Over 1.8 million employees are estimated to benefit from this measure. The EUR 40 tax deduction for minimum wages has also been raised to EUR 60. The government also passed a bill amending the Romanian Citizenship Act. According to the justice ministry, the measure was required in order to modernize the current legislative framework, to facilitate Romania’s participation in the US Visa Waiver programme, and to help complete benchmarks in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The new provisions concern the digitization of procedures, so that the application stages may be followed online, the introduction of a citizenship card, and the use of biometric identifiers such as face and fingerprints.

     

    D-DAY Scores of heads of state and government celebrated in Paris on Thursday the 80th anniversary of the Allied Normandy landings, a decisive moment in defeating Nazi Germany in WWII. The US president, Joe Biden, said Ukraine was invaded by a tyrant and promised his country and NATO would stand strong with Kyiv for as long as necessary in this conflict initiated by Russia. He vowed that the free world would not “surrender to bullies.” Attending the ceremonies in France were also King Charles and the French president Emanuel Macron.  They paid tribute to the 73,000 British troops who took part in the landings. Also present were WWII veterans, many of them over 100 years of age. Locals as well as lots of tourists were in attendance. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, was not invited to take part because of his role in the invasion of Ukraine.

     

    VOTE Polling stations opened on Thursday in the Netherlands, the first country to vote in the elections for the European Parliament due over June 6 and 9. Roughly 370 million people are expected to vote in all the 27 EU member states in the following days. Analysts are forecasting a rise of far-right and Euro-sceptical parties amid frustrations caused by the rising cost of living, migration and green policies that are getting more and more unpopular. Like in most EU countries, in Romania the vote for the European Parliament is due on Sunday, concurrently with the local elections. Romania gets 33 seats in the European Parliament.

     

    BOOK FAIR Until June 16th, Romania will be attending the 83rd edition of the Madrid Book Fair with a national stand and 20 literary events. This has been Romania’s 13th participation in this large-scale event staged by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the National Book Centre and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid, with support from the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Embassy in Spain. Among the protagonists of the events there are writers Gabriela Adameşteanu, Eugen Barz, Aura Christi, Nichita Danilov, Cristian Fulaş, Miguel Gane, Stejărel Olaru, Radu Paraschivescu, Radmila Popovici, Andreea Răsuceanu and Radio Romania Journalist Corina Sabău.

     

    TENNIS The Romanian-Ukrainian pair Gabriela Ruse/Marta Kostyuk qualified without playing in the semis of the doubles contest in Roland Garros as Russians Mirra Andreeva and Vera Zvonareva failed to attend the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Ruse and Kostyuk have won a check of EUR 148,000 and 780 WTA points. This is the second Grand Slam semi-final for Ruse and Kostyuk after the Australian Open last year. In the semis Ruse and her partner will be playing the all-Italian pair, Jasmine Paolini/Sara Errani.

     

    FOOTBALL Romania’s football team will be up against Lichtenstein in Bucharest on Friday night in their last training game before the European Championship in Germany. In another friendly on Tuesday our footballers managed a goalless draw against neighbouring Bulgaria. In Group E of Euro 2024, Romania will be playing Ukraine on June 17 in Munich, Belgium on June 22 in Cologne and Slovakia in Frankfurt 4 days later. Officials of the football federation in Bucharest say they expect a large number of Romanian football fans to attend, whether residents in Germany or in other Western European countries. Romania’s last participation in a European football tournament was in 2016 and in the World Cup in 1998. (AMP, bill)

  • Election and Misinformation

    Election and Misinformation

    The European Commission has kicked off an information campaign for citizens on the risks posed by misinformation and information handling by players from outside the European Union. The Brussels’ move comes after a survey it made over the social networks Facebook and Instagram, which it accuses of failing to comply with their obligations on fighting misinformation. In this context, the EU Executive has launched an audio-video clip to be broadcast on all the press channels in all the member states before the elections for the EU Parliament. The 30 second clip is advising the voters to have a critical attitude towards the content distributed by the online media, analyze and don’t believe everything they read.

    Voters must be aware the video and audio materials can contain fake or incomplete information especially at this time marked by the accelerated development of the AI programmes. Another piece of advice is that they should check information and rely on trusted sources, such as the main stream press and not on sites, blogs or other social media disseminating various opinions and rumors instead of verified information.

    Last but not least, European citizens should avoid conveying unverified information so that they themselves may not become a misinformation channel. The informative clip, which is going to appear on media channels in Romania as well by the end of this month, comes against the election campaign for the local and EU Parliament election, which kicked off in Romania on May 10th. We recall that it’s for the first time when Romanians will be voting for their local administration and their favourite MEPs on the same day, June 9th.

    For 30 days from now on, discriminatory messages and slogans or those inciting to hate and intolerance as well as other forms of defamation are strictly forbidden.

    The Central Election Office is firmly recommending to election contenders to obey the general rules of the campaign have a balanced, sincere and constructive discourse and avoid distorted and manipulated information in order to be able to prevent the dissemination of fake news or other forms of derailment that may hinder the good functioning of the election process. The head of the Permanent Election Authority, Toni Greblă, has announced that roughly 21 million ballot papers have been printed, and that for the first time ever 900 polling stations will be set up in foreign countries upon the request of the Romanian communities living in those countries.

    The official has also pointed out that Romanians also have access to the “Code of Good Practices regarding Misinformation” as well as the “Guide for the Prevention and Combating Misinformation Actions Targeting Voters’, available on the websites of the Central Election Office and the Permanent Election Authority.

    (bill)

  • Elections and young people

    Elections and young people

    Ahead of the electoral marathon to take place in Romania this year, with European Parliament and local elections on June 9, with the presidential election in September and the legislative elections in December, the “Youth Vote” initiative was launched in Parliament, being intended to encourage young people to vote and to promote an agenda of their priorities. During the event, the comprehensive study “Young people from Romania in the 2024 election year” was launched. Among the challenges reported by those interviewed are the lack of well-paid jobs, the quality of the education system, and problems related to the living standard. Regarding the trust in institutions, the university environment holds first position, being credited with much and very much trust by 56% of young people, followed by the European Union (51%), the army (50%) and NATO (50%).

     

    The list of institutions that enjoy little trust among young people includes the press and especially the political institutions: Presidency, Government, Parliament and parties. Young people criticize certain aspects of the functioning of the state, such as predictability, equity, independence and orientation of the country towards its citizens, the survey also reveals. And the lack of hope makes two out of three young people to consider temporary or permanent migration from Romania, 68% of them considering that the country is going in the wrong direction. The main aspects identified by most young people as worrying about their situation in Romania are the lack of opportunities on the labor market, the poor quality of education, the vices and the standard of living. Predictably, social networks are among the top sources of information for young people. Thus, 4 out of 10 young people say that they get information from sources such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp. Young people’s interest in politics is low.

     

    The presidential election is considered the most important. The intention to participate in the vote is, declaratively, very high, but it could be invalidated at the polls. In the 2020 parliamentary elections, a little over 25% of young Romanians went to the polls, and the highest participation rate among young people, in the last 8 years, was in the 2019 European Parliament elections, when over 40% of them voted. Choosing the “lesser evil” is an aspect indicated by 4 out of 10 respondents.

     

    “Youth Vote” is not the initiative of a human or a person, it is the project of a generation, said Alexandru Manda, the founder of “Youth Vote” and organizer of the event. He believes that the main conclusion would be that one in four young Romanians says he or she is undecided and does not know who he or she will vote for in this year’s elections. Probably, the biggest problem is that many young people do not see their future here, not because they do not want to, but rather because the system is built in such a way that it does not meet their needs, says the sociologist Dan Jurcan, the director of research of the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES). The IRES survey took place in March, on 800 young respondents, with a margin of error of 3.5%. (LS)

  • March 16, 2024

    March 16, 2024

    NATO – The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, has welcomed the recent entry of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, into the competition for the NATO leadership and considered as gratifying the fact that Central Europe finally has a candidate for the position of Secretary General of the Alliance. The Hungarian official declared, on Friday, that the government in Budapest will not support the Dutch Mark Rutte for this post, stating that in a union such as NATO, mutual trust is essential, and supporting a candidate who declared that Hungary must kneel is not possible. We remind you that President Klaus Iohannis announced, this week, his candidacy for the NATO leadership, in the context in which Romania and other Eastern partners requested greater representation in the allied structures at a time when regional security is threatened by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

     

    Romarm – Romania will receive 47 million Euros for a project carried out by the Romarm Company together with Germany. The budget allocated by the European Commission to the Romanian project is the largest of the 31 winning projects. The Commission released, on Friday, more than 500 million Euros for companies from member states, in order to increase the ammunition production capacity. It is a first installment from a total of about 2 billion Euros. According to the European Commission, at the end of 2024, European arms production will reach an annual capacity of 1,000,000 bombshells (155-caliber) and at the end of 2025 the amount will double. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels, in parallel, the Commission recommends the member states to make joint purchases of larger sizes, in order to give a signal of predictability in the medium and long term to the arms industry.

     

    Russia – Saturday is the second day of the presidential election in Russia, in which almost a third of the approximately 112 million Russians with the right to vote have already participated. President Vladimir Putin voted from his office, in an attempt to promote electronic voting, considered fraudulent by the opposition. Several people were arrested for spraying ink, paint and antiseptic on the ballot boxes or throwing Molotov cocktails in the direction of the polling stations. Furthermore, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt his re-election through attacks and incursions on the border. At least 2 Russian civilians were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the city of Belgorod, while Russia, in turn, attacked a residential area of ​​the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday, killing at least 20 people. According to official polls, Vladimir Putin enjoys a voting intention of over 80%, so he could achieve his biggest electoral victory since he came to power in 2000. The opposition has asked the West not to recognize the election results.

     

    Book Fair – Romania will be present, next week, at the Leipzig Book Fair, in Germany, the most important event in Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to authors, translators and literary debates. Nine invited authors, 12 events, over 150 exhibited titles and a mini-bookstore are waiting for the public, between March 21 and 24, at the Romanian stand organized by the Ministry of Culture in Bucharest. Two of the authors who will be present at the Romanian stand have books translated, for the first time, into German, which confirms a growing interest of the German-speaking literary space in cutting-edge Romanian literature.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ready to play again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne reduced her 4-year suspension to 9 months, was called up to the Romanian team for the match against Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. The match will take place on April 12 and 13, in Florida (USA). Romania and Ukraine have met four times so far, with the Romanians leading with the score 3-1. In November, Romania defeated Serbia 4-0 in the play-off to stay in the World Group of the competition, while Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3-1. On the other hand, also in tennis, the Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu/Irina Hromaceva was defeated by the pair Sara Errani (Italy)/Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia), 6-4, 6-3, on Friday, in the doubles semifinals at the American WTA 125 tournament in Charleston. (LS)

  • European Parliament election: How to convince young people to vote?

    European Parliament election: How to convince young people to vote?


    Radio Romania, the public service, won an editorial project, “YOU+EU 2024 and beyond”, co-financed by the European Parliament, providing information on the upcoming European elections scheduled for June 6-9, 2024.



    Under this project, Radio Romania produces podcasts, video animations and infographics on European topics, as well as 12 debates, in Romania, and two debates in Romanian and English, in Brussels.



    How



    The second debate in English was held in Brussels, on January 23, 2024, at the headquarters of the European Parliament, themed “What to expect from the European elections? How to convince the young people to vote?”.



    The debate was moderated by Vlad Palcu, Editor, Radio Romania International, and involved the participation of MEPs Alex Agius Saliba, Malta, Vice-Chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Dragoş Pîslaru, Romania, Renew Europe Group, Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, Marian-Jean Marinescu, Romania, Group of the European Peoples Party (Christian Democrats), and Olivia Nouailhetas-Baneth, Associate Director at Verian Group, former Kantar Media.