Radio România Internațional

Author: Daniel Bilț

  • March 14, 2025

    March 14, 2025

    FAIR Over March 13-16 the Belgian capital is hosting the international book fair Brussels Book Fair 2025, one of the most important events of this kind in Europe. Romania is attending this fair with over five hundred titles on view at the stand of the Romanian Cultural Institute also known as ICR. There are books and albums translated in several languages, predominantly in French, some of which have been funded through the ICR programmes with a view to promoting the Romanian authors at international level. Besides Romanian authors, the ICR stand is also promoting authors from the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet Romanian-speaking country. The ICR is expected to stage several events, during which authors are going to have a dialogue with foreign authors or with the Belgian readership. The Brussels Book Fair is one of the most important cultural events in the Belgian capital, which is also the EU capital, and brings together several thousand authors, illustrators, publishers, critics as well as readers annually.

     

    EBRD The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD, Odile Renaud-Basso, will be visiting Bulgaria and Romania next week, the aforementioned financial institution has announced in a communiqué. The visit of the EBRD president comes at a time when the institution is preparing fresh five-year strategies for both countries, which will be subjected for public consultations at the end of this year. The EBRD investment in Romania rose from 658 million Euros up to 707 million last year. The EBRD official will be seeing Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, Finance Minister, Tanczos Barna, Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, as well as representatives of the business environment, diplomats and representatives of civil society.

     

    ELECTION Candidates for the presidential election in May have two more days to register with the Central Election Bureau, the deadline being March 15 at midnight. So far, only two candidates are officially enrolled in the race, their candidacies having been validated by the Constitutional Court: Crin Antonescu, supported by the PSD-PNL-UDMR ruling coalition, and the Bucharest Mayor General, Nicuşor Dan, who runs as an independent candidate. Deputy Victor Ponta also registered his candidacy as an independent candidate, for which he was excluded from the Social-Democratic Party. On the other hand, the Constitutional Court’s decision to definitively reject the candidacy of independent candidate Călin Georgescu, a pro-Russian extremist who unexpectedly won the first round of last year’s presidential election, has prompted the parties that supported him, AUR and POT, to prepare a new electoral strategy. Thus, the leaders of the two parties, George Simion and Ana-Maria Gavrilă, announced they would both submit their candidacies for the presidential election, and one of them will withdraw once their candidacies are validated. The leader of USR, Elena Lasconi, who advanced to the second round last year, Diana Şoşoacă (from SOS Romania), who expressed confidence her candidacy would be upheld this time, as well as and MEP Cristian Terheş from the Romanian National Conservative Party, also submitted their candidacies.

     

    TRADE DEFICIT – Romania’s trade deficit increased by 38% in January, compared to the same period last year, the National Statistics Institute reports. In 2024, Romania exported goods worth €92.6 billion, while its imports stood at €133.4 billion. Romania’s deficit remains significant, especially in relations with China, Germany and Poland, while recording surpluses with the UK, the Republic of Moldova and the USA, although in smaller volumes. Trade in agricultural products and foodstuffs remains vulnerable, as Romania mainly exports raw materials and imports end products. To reduce the €5 billion trade deficit in this area, experts recommend a strategy focused on the export of value-added products and more efficient use of statistical data for better-founded economic decisions.

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  • Save the Children is a very active Romanian organization, which since its foundation has positively impacted the destinies of a great number of children

    Save the Children is a very active Romanian organization, which since its foundation has positively impacted the destinies of a great number of children

     

     

  • February 15, 2025 UPDATE

    February 15, 2025 UPDATE

    MOTION The opposition SOS Romania has announced it will table a censure motion against the government led by Social-Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, a document also assumed by the opposition AUR MPs and signed by 125 MPs. The opposition USR MPs say they will announce whether they support or not the move. In turn, the ruling coalition has given assurances the motion stands no chances to get endorsed. No PSD MP will say yes to the censure motion against the Ciolacu government says the vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, Social Democrat Daniel Suciu. He says the move initiated by the opposition would jeopardize the country’s stability. The PNL interim president, Catalin Predoiu, says that the Liberals will defend the government through their vote. Also on Monday, Education Minister, Daniel David, is expected to attend the ‘Government Hour’ hosted by the Chamber of Deputies, upon an AUR request. The AUR MPs are criticizing the measures proposed by the minister on the elimination of the compulsory studying of geography and history by high-school students. AUR has called for keeping the aforementioned subjects in the school programme so that they may contribute to the education of the new generations.

     

    DNA Romanian prosecutors have placed the head of the Joint Logistic Command of the Romanian Army, General Catalin Stefanita Zisu, under legal control on bail for abuse of office with aggravating consequences – according to sources withy the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, known in Romania as DNA. The bail in Zisu’s case stands at 200 thousand Euros, which he must make available in seven days. Retired colonel Lucian Amoraritei has also been charged on several counts, such as forgery, use of forgery and abuse of office. Businessman Ionel Olteanu is also involved with the case. According to prosecutors, between 2022-2023, the two army officers approved the settlements of the invoices issued, although they knew that part of the works at the Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest had not been done. The prejudice they caused was estimated at roughly 12 million lei.

     

    TALKS The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed at the Security Conference in Munich on Saturday that talks are underway with the USA over raw materials exchanges for Washington’s support in countering the Russian invasion. The US president Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US wants access to Ukraine’s vast resources of rare earths and other critical minerals, underlining that the USA should get something in exchange for its military support. At the Security Conference in Munich, Romania is being represented by its Foreign Minister, Emil Hurezeanu. According to a communiqué issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Bucharest, Minister Hurezeanu will be presenting Romania’s assessments of the present regional challenges, such as the deterioration of the security situation in the Black Sea area and the implications of the aggression war Russia is presently waging on Ukraine for the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. The Romanian official is also going to underline the danger of the hybrid actions taken by the Russian Federation and the importance of countering suchlike activities. The head of the Bucharest diplomacy will be pleading for the continued solid support aimed at increasing the resilience of the ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. During the same conference on Friday, the new vice-president of the United States, Republican JD Vance lashed out at the European leaders, whom he compared with the autocrats who headed the repressive regimes in Europe during the Cold War. He voiced concern over Europe, which he said is retreating from its fundamental values and gave several examples of repressive measures, including the cancellation of the presidential election in Romania late last year.

     

    RUGBY Romania’s national rugby side on Saturday conceded defeat to Portugal, 34-6, in their last match in Group B of Rugby Europe Championships 2025. Both sides have already qualified for World Cup 2027 in Australia after their wins this month in Rugby Europe Championships. The Romanians secured a 48-10 home win against Germany and an away win against Belgium, 31-14. Romania failed to qualify only in one |World Cup edition, namely in 2019, when it was disqualified due to an error of the Romanian rugby Federation, which included in its lineup an ineligible player.

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  • February 15, 2025

    February 15, 2025

    DNA Romanian prosecutors have placed the head of the Joint Logistic Command of the Romanian Army, General Catalin Stefanita Zisu, under legal control on bail for abuse of office with aggravating consequences – according to sources withy the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, known in Romania as DNA. The bail in Zisu’s case stands at 200 thousand Euros, which he must make available in seven days. Retired colonel Lucian Amoraritei has also been charged on several counts, such as forgery, use of forgery and abuse of office. Businessman Ionel Olteanu is also involved with the case. According to prosecutors, between 2022-2023, the two army officers approved the settlements of the invoices issued, although they knew that part of the works at the Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest had not been done. The prejudice they caused was estimated at roughly 12 million lei.

     

    MSC The need for a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace in Ukraine invaded by the Russian troops is the message conveyed by the Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the 61st edition of the famous international security conference Munich Security Conference 2025 underway in Germany over February 14 and the 16. According to a communiqué issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Bucharest, Minister Hurezeanu will be presenting Romania’s assessments of the present regional challenges, such as the deterioration of the security situation in the Black Sea area and the implications of the aggression war Russia is presently waging on Ukraine for the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. The Romanian official is also going to underline the danger of the hybrid actions taken by the Russian Federation and the importance of countering suchlike activities. The head of the Bucharest diplomacy will be pleading for the continued solid support aimed at increasing the resilience of the ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. During the same conference on Friday, the new vice-president of the United States, Republican JD Vance lashed out at the European leaders, whom he compared with the autocrats who headed the repressive regimes in Europe during the Cold War. He voiced concern over Europe, which he said is retreating from its fundamental values and gave several examples of repressive measures, including the cancellation of the presidential election in Romania late last year.

     

    RUGBY On its own turf today, Romania’s national rugby side is taking on Portugal in its last match in Group B of Rugby Europe Championship 2025. Both sides are already qualified for the World Cup 2027 in Australia after their wins this month in Rugby Europe Championship. The Romanians secured a 48-10 home win against Germany and an away victory, 31-14, against Belgium. Romania failed to qualify only in one World Cup edition, namely in 2019, when it was disqualified due to an error of the rugby federation in Bucharest, which included in its lineup an ineligible player.

     

    WEATHER And now a couple of things about the weather, which remains cold with a code yellow of snowstorms in the country’s east and south-east. Meteorologists say that it is going to snow even in the country’s capital Bucharest. Temperatures are ranging between minus 3 and 9 degrees Celsius. Snowfalls are expected in most of the Romanian territory, where the weather is getting colder.

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  • Steadfast Dart 2025

    Steadfast Dart 2025

     

     

  • February 11, 2025 UPDATE

    February 11, 2025 UPDATE

    RESIGNATION Romania’s outgoing president Klaus Iohannis is ending his mandate and Senate Speaker Ilie Bolojan will be taking over as interim president. Klaus Iohannis stepped down on Monday after a suspension procedure had been initiated against him in Parliament. On Tuesday the Constitutional Court took note of President Klaus Iohannis’ resignation and ruled that Senate Speaker Ilie Bolojan take over as interim president starting February 12. Bolojan had stepped down as president of the National Liberal Party (PNL). Klaus Iohannis served as president in two mandates and his last one was supposed to end in December 2024. However, the Constitutional Court ruled to cancel the first round of election in December due to interferences in the election process. Romania will have presidential election in two rounds, on May 4 and 18.

    TRADE The EU Polish presidency summoned the member states on Wednesday for talks over the effects and the response of the community bloc to the US decision to levy higher import taxes on all steel and aluminum entering the USA. According to our correspondent in Brussels, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen says the US decision will trigger a similar response from the EU. To similar decisions by president Trump in his first mandate, the EU responded by imposing taxes on a series of US products. The US taxes could trigger an inflow of steel and aluminum imports from the global market, and the oversupply could seriously affect the local producers, including from Romania.

    REAL ESTATE As of Tuesday ruling coalition MPs are holding public consultations in order to regulate protection measures addressing people who conclude sale-purchase deeds with real estate developers. Representatives of real estate developers, public notaries and the National Agency for Land Registry and Real Estate Advertising are also expected to take part. The goal is to complete the legal framework with regulations that will offer the end beneficiaries robust guarantees for the advances paid in real estate transactions and that will also ensure the development and proper functioning of the relevant market in Romania. The initiative comes after hundreds of people who got scammed in the Nordis case called for amending the relevant legislation. Former PSD deputy Laura Vicol, her husband, Vladimir Ciorbă, the main shareholder of the Nordis group, and three other people were put on pre-trial arrest as part of this investigation. The inquiry targets individuals and companies accused of having collected over 195 million EUROS from clients without handing over the apartments.

    112 The buildings of over 100 public and private institutions in Romania were lit in red on Tuesday, marking the European 112 Day. By means of a symbolic visual approach, the Special Telecommunications Service wants to draw attention to the instrumental role of the single emergency number and to encourage citizens to use it responsibly. Abusive emergency calls can jeopardize the swift intervention of specialized teams where it is needed the most, Service officials say. In 2024, as a result of the efforts of the relevant authorities and emergency response services, as well as other government partners and private telecommunications operators, the number of non-emergency calls decreased by nearly one million compared to previous years. 112 Emergency Service operators took over 9.7 million calls, of which 60.45% were actual emergencies, the Special Telecommunications Service also reports.

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  • February 7, 2025

    February 7, 2025

    GDP Romania has overcome Poland in terms of the GDP per capita against purchasing power says a survey conducted by experts with the Romanian Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. According to the same sources, Romania is also ahead other economies in the region, such as Hungary, Croatia or Greece and the nominal GDP per capita has risen by 11% in the past five years, exceeding 80% of the EU average. We’ll be having more on this after the news

    WAGES According to the latest economic forecasts of the European Commission in Romania wages will moderately increase in 2025 and 2026. The European Commission has based its forecasts on the already significant increases in the minimum wages already made by the government in Bucharest, the lower inflation and the labour market relaxation, which is expected to reduce the unemployment rate. European Commission experts are expecting price hikes in energy and food to significantly decrease. The inflation rate is expected to drop down to the Central Bank’s target of 2.5% towards the end of 2026.

    THEFT The Dutch police have announced they have received hundreds of hints regarding the theft of the precious Romanian artefacts from the Drents Museum in Assen. Many of these are about the places where the suspects have been seen and their contacts. The police last week apprehended three suspects, two men and a woman who refused to say where the stolen objects are stashed. All the three suspects are still in police custody. Art detective, Arthur Brand says there is 50% risk the suspects have already melted the golden artefacts: an ancient helmet and three bracelets dating back to the old kingdom of Dacia, 25 hundred years ago, which had been loaned out by the National History Museum in Bucharest.

    VISIT The head of the US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, will be travelling to Israel and several Arab countries in mid-February, the US Department of State has announced. This would be Rubio’s first trip as a Secretary of State to the region after the US President, Donald Trump’s statement on resettling the Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip under US monitoring. Trump’s resettlement idea has prompted a series of accusations that he is planning ethnic cleansing and has drawn condemnation from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. Rubio insists that Donald Trump proposed the reconstruction of the aforementioned territory, which at present offers improper dwelling conditions. According to AFP, Rubio will be participating in the Security Conference in Munich and is going on a Middle East tour, which will take him to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia over February 13 and 18.

    IMF Romania’s Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, is meeting an IMF team, whose four days trip to Bucharest ends today. The IMF experts are having talks with Central Bank officials, including governor Isarescu. The IMF delegation hasn’t called for strict financial measures, like tax hikes or other austerity measures, Finance Minister Tanczos Barna says. Barna met the new head of the IMF mission to Romania, Joong Shik Kang on Thursday. At present Romania doesn’t have an IMF funding agreement underway, but the institution is presently monitoring Romania’s economy, under Article Four, which provides for a mandatory monitoring exercise involving all member states. The consultations’ main purpose was financial and economic assessment at national level as well as recommendations concerning monetary, financial and economic policies with a view to achieving economic stability and development.

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  • January 16, 2025 UPDATE

    January 16, 2025 UPDATE

    GOVERNMENT In its session on Thursday, the government in Bucharest endorsed a decision on staging the presidential election in May this year as well as the election schedule. The first round is due on May 4 and the second on May 18. The Executive also approved rules for the unfolding of the election process bringing a series of amendments. The Romanians abroad will be able to vote for three days, but on a different schedule. Polling stations will be open between 7 and 21 hours, on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday, in the countries west to Romania the ballot will end at 21 hours Romania’s time, so that it may not be influenced by exit polls. Authorities have also imposed stricter rules for the election campaign, mainly in the online area. Social network administrators promoting election messages, which do not abide by the law, will have to pay fines up to 5% of their turnout. We recall that the first round of the presidential election was cancelled through a Constitutional Court ruling, which based its decision on documents provided by the country’s Higher Defence Council (CSAT) invoking interferences from a so-called state entity. The second round was scheduled on December 8 when Romanians had to choose between the independent ultranationalist Calin Georgescu, accused of links with Russia, and the opposition USR leader, Elena Lasconi. The second and last mandate of the incumbent president Klaus Iohannis was supposed to end in December, but his term in office was extended until the election of a new president, which must be validated by the CCR.

     

    RUSSIA “Nikolai Patrushev, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, uses the same aggressive propaganda and disinformation themes with which Moscow has intoxicated the world in recent years”, reads a statement by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The reaction comes after Patrushev said, in an interview in the Russian media, that both Ukraine, invaded by Moscow’s troops, and the neighbouring Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet, predominantly Romanian-speaking) might cease to exist as independent states this year. The Romanian diplomacy stresses that these repetitive public statements cannot hide the reality: the fact that Russia is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine and that it is carrying out massive and systematic hybrid actions against the Republic of Moldova. The Romanian MFA reaffirms that Russia aims to create divisions in Europe.

     

    RATE In the first monetary policy meeting of the year, the Board of Directors of the National Bank maintained the monetary policy interest rate at the level of 6.5% per year, although the inflation rate increased in the last quarter of 2024. The Central Bank’s decision aims to ensure and maintain price stability in the medium term, in a way that contributes to the achievement of sustainable economic growth. The board of directors reiterates that, in the current context, the balanced mix of macroeconomic policies and the implementation of structural reforms, including the use of European funds to stimulate long-term growth, are essential for macroeconomic stability and strengthening the capacity of the Romanian economy to cope with adverse developments. According to experts, the NBR could relax the monetary policy in 2025, but probably only from the second half of the year, pending clearer perspectives on the evolution of inflation and fiscal measures. In 2024, the NBR reduced the reference interest rate twice, from 7 to 6.5%.

     

    TENNIS Romania’s tennis player Jaqueline Cristian for the first time qualified for the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne on Thursday after a 7-5, 7-5 win against Lucia Bronzetti of Italy at the Australian Open. The 26-year-old Cristian, who is presently ranking 82nd in the WTA standings, won the match in two hours and four minutes. In the third round the Romanian will be up against Eva Lys of Germany, who outperformed Varvara Gracheva of France also on Thursday. In the women’s double, Romanian Irina Begu and Brazilian Ingrid Martins were defeated in the first round by Peyton Stearns of the USA and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 6-2, 7-6.

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  • Athlete of the Week

    Athlete of the Week

    Upon the European Championship, which ended the year 2024 for women’s handball, the inter-club competitions have again grabbed the limelight.

    The Champions League saw its ninth leg and the EHF European League kicked off with its groups phase.

    Today we are going to talk about the only Romanian success registered in the past weekend in the Champions League, which belonged to Gloria Bistrita Nasaud. On Saturday, the Romanians clinched their third win in the present edition of the aforementioned competition, where our handballers had just made their debut. Coach Florentin Pera’s trainees clinched a 31 – 28 home win against the Norwegians from Storhamar, a side which defeated them twice last year;  the first time  in the finals of the EHF European League, in Austria in May, and also on Storhamar’s own ground in October, when they got a 25-23 win.

    The Norwegians were also close to victory in Bistrita as well, as they were leading the game 15-13 before the break. However, Gloria managed an excellent second half and secured the victory in the end of the game.

    Spanish player Danila So Delgado Pinto was Gloria’s most effective scorer with 7 goals scored. Left wing Sonia Serafinceanu also managed six goals at the end of her best game in the Champions League this season. And for this reason, Radio Romania International has designated her Athlete of the Week.

    Sonia Mariana Serafinceanu was born in Hunedoara, on July 25th 1997 and took up handball at the local school sports club. She made her debut in the national league with local side Muresul and played for various top-tier sides, such as Cetate Deva, Universitatea Cluj, CSM Slatina and Minaur Baia Mare.

    She has been playing for Gloria since 2021. Sonia made her debut with Romania’s national side in 2029 at the 51st edition of the Carpathians Trophy, held in Brăila. She was part of the national lineup at the last year’s edition of the European Championship. After a lackluster play against Czechia, she scored 6 goals against Montenegro, 7 against Serbia and 3 against France. She didn’t play against Sweden but joined the Romanian lineup in the match against Hungary, where she scored 5 times.

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  • Protests and preparations for the presidential election

    Protests and preparations for the presidential election

    The ruling coalition in Romania made up of the PSD-PNL-UDMR last week decided that the presidential election be held on May 4th and 18th. The Executive in Bucharest is now preparing the documents needed for making these dates official. The country’s Social-Democratic Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, says there is obviously a huge public expectation related to the date of the presidential election. However, the people in the street have conveyed a more radical message: the Constitutional Court cancelled the first round of voting in an unjustified manner and should now re-think the ruling it made on December 6th.

    Such a review appeal was made by the lawyers of the independent candidate, Călin Georgescu, a pro-Russia extremist, who unexpectedly emerged as winner of the first presidential round held on November 24th. The moment of the appeal registration was accompanied by an unauthorized protest staged by thousands of Georgescu’s supporters.

    The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the flagship party of the sovereignist trio in the Romanian Parliament, staged a large-scale protest in Bucharest, during which people from all over the country called for the resumption of the second round of the presidential election and the sacking of president Klaus Iohannis.

    ‘The Meeting for Democracy’, as it was titled, also included a march between the government and presidential buildings.

    “In a normal Romania, at the end of this day, the illegal resident of the Cotroceni Palace, Klaus Werner Iohannis, will announce his resignation and we’ll rejoin the institutional framework so that we may be able to observe the will of the Romanian people”, the AUR leader, George Simion says. According to him, the protests will continue until all the protesters’ claims are met, and thousands of people will take to the streets on January 24th, when we celebrate the Union of the Romanian Principalities. The USR president, Elena Lasconi, who also qualified for the presidential race together with Georgescu, says that she understands the Romanians who took to the streets in order to point out to the Constitutional Court, quote, ‘the fact that it used its power discriminately’. She says the solution is neither in the street, nor on social networks, though.

    In her opinion, it would be normal for president Iohannis to step down and let the head of the Senate take over the country’s leadership as an interim.

    We recall the CCR cancelled the presidential election in November-December last year, after the country’s Higher Defence Council had published a report on foreign interferences in the election process that favoured Georgescu and the alleged illegal funding of his campaign.

    However, the facts, on which the Court based its unprecedented ruling, have not been confirmed by legal investigations yet, which casts a question mark upon its decision. As a result Klaus Iohannis is still Romania’s president, although he finished its second and last mandate on December 21.

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  • January 9, 2025 UPDATE

    January 9, 2025 UPDATE

    AID During the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein Group, the US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, on Thursday announced an additional $ 500 million military aid package for Ukraine, which is probably the last offered by the Biden administration before the country’s new president, the Republican Donald Trump takes over on January 20. A fresh military aid for Ukraine has been announced by Germany’s Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, who has also suggested a possible re-thinking of the Ramstein format in case Trump wants to reduce the US involvement. This has been the 25th meeting of the aforementioned group set up to coordinate the arms supplies to Ukraine, a meeting also attended by NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, who has criticized Russia for carrying on attacks against innocent civilians in Ukraine. The meeting was also attended by the head of the European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, who said the EU was ready to take the lead on supporting Ukraine if the United States was no longer willing. President Trump has pledged talks with both the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, but hasn’t provided solutions for the war in Ukraine yet.

     

    WEATHER Temperatures will significantly drop in the regions surrounded by the Carpathians, whereas in the rest of the Romanian territory they will slightly go down as compared to the previous period. The sky will be overcast in the country’s west, center and north. The western regions are bracing up for more showers, whereas gale force winds and snow storms are expected in the mountains. The highs of the day will be between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius.

     

    ELECTION The parties in the ruling coalition in Romania, namely the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, as well as the representatives of national minorities, have agreed that the first round of the presidential elections will take place on May 4, and the second round on May 18. The coalition also confirmed their nomination of the former Liberal leader Crin Antonescu as their joint candidate for president. In the meantime, the Bucharest Court of Appeal has published its justification for its rejection, on December 31, of a legal action against the Central Electoral Bureau in connection with the annulment, last year, by the Constitutional Court, of the electoral process for the election of president.

     

    VISIT During his trip to Romania, Stéphane Séjourné, executive vice-president of the European Commission, responsible for prosperity and industrial strategy, on Thursday visited a Romanian factory producing last-generation lithium-ion batteries and customised energy storage systems for sectors and businesses from all over Europe. The visit was an opportunity to present the indispensable role played by batteries in the decarbonisation of supply chains in Europe. Séjourné also discussed the challenges facing the batteries sector, as well as Europe’s response in this regard. The EU official also visited the National Aerospace Research and Development Institute, the main research centre in the field of aerospace science in Romania. That was an opportunity to discuss China’s unfair competition in the drone market and the increasingly relevant use of drone technologies in both civilian and military applications. On Wednesday, the European official met the minister for economy, digitalization, entrepreneurship and tourism Bogdan-Gruia Ivan, as well as Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and senate speaker Ilie Bolojan.

     

    TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea will be facing Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the first round of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which will get under way on Monday, in Melbourne. Irina Begu will be playing qualifier Gabriela Ruse in the first round. Jaqueline Cristian, who went straight into the main draw, will face Croatia’s Petra Martic in the first round. Qualifier Anca Todoni will play world number five and last year’s Melbourne finalist Qinwen Zheng, of China, in the opening round.

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  • December 16, 2024

    December 16, 2024

    EVENTS The city of Timisoara, in western Romania, is today marking 35 years since the beginning of the uprising, which led to the fall of communism. 35 years ago on December 16, believers gathered in front of the local reformed church in support of Pastor Laszlo Tokes, who was to be evicted by the former political police, the Securitate. Their protest quickly developed into a real uprising, which triggered reprisals from the authorities who killed 100 people and wounded several hundreds. On December 20, Timisoara became the first city free of communism in Romania and the flame of revolution engulfed the entire country. Under the motto, “35 years of freedom” this week will be seeing a series of commemorative events devoted to the martyr heroes, like conferences, exhibitions, shows, concerts and film screenings. The ‘Freedom Portal’, a sound and light installation, which reproduces the sounds recorded during the revolution, will be inaugurated today. The inauguration will be followed by the traditional march, “Heroes Never Die”. The city will observe a day of mourning tomorrow and the series of events is to end on December 20 with a concert entitled ‘Rock for the Revolution’.

     

    TALKS Leaders of the four pro-European parties – PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR – which will forge the future Parliament majority in Bucharest are meeting today again for talks over the ministries they are to rule in the following period. PSD will have seven ministries, PNL four, USR three and UDMR two ministries. The designated Prime Minister could also be announced today. Sunday’s talks focused on the party that would head the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the specialized committees and those headed by the other political groups that had made it to Parliament, such as the sovereignists AUR, SOS Romania and POT. Another point in the discussions, which hasn’t yet been agreed upon by the pro-European parties, is that of the unique candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Talks are still going on over the ruling programme and budget planning, and are expected to be attended by the incumbent Finance Minister Marcel Bolos.

     

    FAC Romania’s Foreign Minister, Luminita Odobescu, is in Brussels today attending the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) proceedings. This has been the first meeting since Kaja Kallas, took over the position of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice-president of the European Commission. The talks agenda includes the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the latest developments in Georgia, the situation in the Middle East, Syria and Belarus. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine will be tackled prom the viewpoint of the latest developments and measures taken such as the consolidated EU pressure on Russia, including through the adoption of the 15th restrictive measures package as well as the continuation of the EU multi-dimensional support for Ukraine.

     

    PARLIAMENT The present Legislature has kicked off its last week of activity. Four years have passed and many projects and legislative initiatives that have remained unfinished will be taken over by the new Parliament summoned on Friday for its first sitting. Among the issues pending there is also the new forestry code, which is a landmark in the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience and a government top priority, which says the document must be adopted by the end of the year. MPs have so far agreed upon a series of measures such as those enabling the authorities to seize the vehicles carrying wood stolen from forests, the implementation of the green areas around the cities, and a series of facilities for local furniture producers.

     

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  • The European Commission – decision on TikTok

    The European Commission – decision on TikTok

    This is presently one of the most disputed topics at European level from institutions and authorities to mass-media: a well-funded and well-prepared campaign on the TikTok platform that would have backed the independent candidate Calin Georgescu in the first round of the presidential race on November 24. The campaign was estimated at several million dollars although Georgescu says he didn’t pay any money whatsoever.

    Starting from this supposition, the European Commission on Thursday announced its decision to step up monitoring the platform under the European law on digital services.

    According to the commission, the measure is related to the EU Executive’s competences regarding the aforementioned law and has nothing to do with Romania’s election process, which is an issue strictly related to the Romanian authorities and the Romanian people.

    The Commission has called for the preservation of all information in the platform and its connection system concerning the European election in November 24, 2024 and March 31, 2025 in case further investigation is needed.

    The EU Executive, which says that presently it has no position on any possible infringement on the platform’s legal duties, has also summoned a meeting with all the authorities of the member states in charge of coordinating the implementation of the legislation over the digital services as well as a meeting on cyber-security.

    TikTok representatives earlier told the European Parliament that 66 thousand fake accounts, 10 million fake followers and also one thousand accounts, which allegedly belonged to some Romanian candidates, had been eliminated from the platform in the past three months.

    At the same time, TikTok Public Policy Director, Caroline Greer, has underlined that also in the case of the Romanian presidential election, the platform is not responsible for the fact that some election-related information remained unreported.

    According to Radio Romania correspondent in Brussels, if the Executive’s verification proves the platform failed to comply with the European legislation on digital services, it can get fines up to 6 percent of its yearly turnover and for repeat infringements it can get temporarily suspended in the European area until the problems are solved.

    In Romania’s case, it is only the national authorities that can make a decision on possible investigations or sanctions applied to people or groups of people.

    (bill)

     

  • 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)

  • Romania gets $ 10 million to fight human and child trafficking

    Romania gets $ 10 million to fight human and child trafficking