Category: The Future Starts Today

A study presented recently by the Romanian-American Chamber of Commerce analyzed the economic impact of the labor shortage in Romania, and the results show that, in the next decade, the country could lose a million people as part of the active workforce. By as soon as 2026, in the absence of immediate measures, the labor force deficit could reach over 220,000 people, and this given that, already, documents show that five million people are able to work, but do not appear as employees. With a population of around 20 million people, the number of employees is officially five million, so a simple calculation shows that only a quarter of Romanians work.

University professor Mircea Coşea, from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, explained this situation to Radio Romania:

There are two elements that must be taken into account. The first is the so-called Italian syndrome, namely, in Romania there is a certain tradition for young people to live together with their parents, in the same house, even if they get married, longer than they should. This lasts until the age of 35 to 40. That’s what happened in Italy, about 20 to 30 years ago. That is why it is called the Italian syndrome. And that means that, having something to live on, from their parents’ pensions or from what their parents help them with, they don’t work. This is a matter of education, after all. The second problem is, shall we say, political. Namely, for political reasons, in Romania, the category of those who receive money not to work, but to vote, is larger than in other countries. These are the so-called social wages, all kinds of assistance, all kinds of bonuses that are given to the population that can sit on the sidelines, not work, but which are subject to very careful treatment by the mayors or other local forces to go to the polls, to vote for those who, in the end, keep them alive by giving them money. It’s a serious matter, because this means that Romania is losing active labor force on the one hand, and, on the other hand, that the labor market is excessively politicized. So it’s a complicated thing.

The problem itself is much more serious, namely, says Mircea Coșea, Romania has a problem that will be extremely serious for the Romanian nation in the future – a large demographic deficit. Moreover, at the level of the entire Union, the demographic statistics are alarming, and show that the population of Europe is decreasing dramatically. The figures indicate that, if at the beginning of the 19th century the population of Europe represented 15% of the population of the planet, in 2050 it will represent only 5%. This comes as a consequence of population growth in other regions of the world and population decline in Europe. The specter of an aging population is beginning to haunt Europe mainly because the number of children is falling more and more, and it is estimated that in 2050 the average age in the Union will be 49 years. This endangers the workforce and health and pension systems. Demographic decline is perhaps the most important challenge for Romania’s future, experts say. The figures differ from year to year, but for several decades they clearly indicate that Romania has a shrinking population. Not enough children are born in the country to make up for the losses that Romania has due to the departure of millions of people from the country, professor Mircea Coșea points out:

4 to 5 million Romanians live abroad and have children who are born abroad, more than are born in Romania, which means that we will enter a complicated labor force deficit. The Romanian state has not taken and is not taking important measures on this topic, namely it should have a very active demographic policy, which encourages new and young families, births, raising children. Now we all know that here we are far behind, we don’t help young people, we don’t have enough nurseries, kindergartens, schools, we don’t have any incentives for the young population to have children and stay in Romania. This problem will cost us a lot, it will cost us a lot in the future, it will cost us the Romanian nation. And now a phenomenon is happening on the labor market that will also have negative consequences, namely we are importing labor, because we can no longer manage with our own labor force, which for the reasons I said before does not work, and then we have to import.

Forecasts show that, in 2050, Romania’s population could go as low as 15-16 million inhabitants. Demographic decline does not bode well for the economy and society, it would mean a smaller economy and an aging population. At the same time, economists say that the demographic decline will lead to changes in the structure of consumption and production. What could be done? We need social laws to stimulate the birth rate, facilities for young families, to ensure certain conditions for young mothers who have a career, because it is very difficult for them to deal with raising children and the household after work, we need many more nurseries and kindergartens.

Professor Mircea Coșea considers that: If you don’t provide an incentive, if you don’t do it in such a way that births are well financed, the raising of children is well organized, with well-trained teachers, with caregivers, with nurseries, with after-schools, there is no way the population will grow.

The effects of climate change are increasingly obvious and acute, whether it is heat waves that leave their mark on health, the phenomenon of drought with a negative impact on the economy, or violent storms that destroy property and endanger people’s lives. The answer to these challenges materializes in measures to adapt to the new realities, but also to mitigate them, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Part of the international climate transition processes, Romania is concerned with all these aspects and, together with its partners, is looking for solutions. Especially since the data is not encouraging.

At the end of another year with record temperatures, the country report on climate and development for Romania, developed by the World Bank and released in October, indicates that the country is very vulnerable to climate change risks, especially floods and drought. Invited to Radio Romania to discuss this topic, the journalist and agriculture specialist Cezar Gheorghe explained that the drought has a solution by segregating the areas, because not all areas in Romania need water, and where water is needed, irrigation systems must be built or restored. Then, he added, we have other opportunities :

We also have, let’s say, what was left to us by nature, namely the Carpathian arch, which can collect the waters that fall from the slopes throughout the winter in different collection basins, with these then being distributed, of course, to the plain areas. We also have the waste water from the cities, which can, in turn, be collected and redistributed to the plains. And, not lastly, why don’t we use this too, I know it’s about technology, I know it’s about a lot of money, but we can use the example of Israel, which effectively desalinates water. We have the Black Sea at our disposal and we can also feed Dobrogea, in turn.

Concerns are also directed towards ways to create more drought-resistant plants. Costel Vânătoru, the director of the Genetic and Plant Resources Bank from Buzău, the so-called Seed Bank, said:

We are talking about this phenomenon of climate change, a phenomenon that some understand, some do not, and believe that it does not exist, but it exists, as you can see – and we must take measures, and these measures have been signaled by specialists, not by us, but for 100 or so years. Constantin Garofid, 100 years ago, signaled the importance and the fact that at that time the agroforestry curtains were cut, so these curtains for the protection of crops, agroforestry. We have a law, for the last several years, which provides for the establishment of such agro-forestry curtains, and it is not applied. Then, of course, we didn’t consider having water reserves, creating water reserves, because when the drought occurs, of course, we need water and then we have no choice, we have to have water reserves. Then we have to rewrite plant culture technologies, and evaluate other species that are suitable to be introduced into crops. According to me, I think that we wrongly concentrated on the big crops: wheat, corn, sunflower, and even rapeseed, which as a rule we do not process in Romania. We should also develop a lot the horticultural sector in Romania, medicinal plants, aromatic plants, because wherever you turn in Romania, where there is a green space, you identify a useful plant in the spontaneous flora, a plant that can be used in food or to treat or prevent a disease. So we have this potential. But after 1990, agriculture was adrift, it did not reach a state of equilibrium, and we did not have the ability to develop long-term strategies, to implement them, to be able to create agricultural policies appropriate to the crop system in Romania, meaning large holdings, associations and even the cell, the family household. So, practically, we have not created best practices guidelines for the operation of all these production cells in Romanian agriculture.

The topic of climate change gathered over 90 Romanian and international speakers at the Climate Change Summit on October 19-20 in Bucharest, who shared solutions for a sustainable future in front of 1,700 participants. At the same time, 827 thousand viewers from all over the world watched the live broadcast on the Twitter account of the partner platform We Don’t Have Time. On this occasion, the Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu said that extreme weather phenomena, but also wildfires, show the negative impact of climate change, a fact that also affects the infrastructure. He said that all countries must take measures for a transition to means of transportation that use electricity or other fuels from renewable sources. Here is Sorin Grindeanu:

Romania is fully engaged in the process of transportation decarbonisation. This further involves the development of a mix of fiscal incentives regarding fuel, traffic, and vehicle registration, also targeting the second-hand import market, together with regulatory action. Decarbonisation of the transport sector transport will also be based on the migration of road transportation to green systems, such as rail or sea.

The World Bank report estimates that if it implements measures to improve resilience to climate change and to reduce carbon emissions, Romania can increase its national income by almost three times in the next 30 years. The document emphasizes, at the same time, that the investments necessary for decarbonizing energy systems are estimated at 356 billion dollars until 2050, equivalent to approximately 3% of Romania’s GDP.

European Cyber Security Month is an annual EU campaign dedicated to promoting cyber security and providing information on digital security through awareness-raising and the exchange of best practices. Every year in October, hundreds of activities take place across Europe – conferences, workshops, training courses, webinars, presentations, and online quizzes – with the aim of providing citizens with resources to learn more about online protection. “European Cyber Security Month aims to raise awareness of cyber security and make us aware of the threats in cyberspace. It reminds us that we can easily strengthen our own cyber security by adopting good digital habits. By being on the alert against scammers, we can stay safe”, urged Margaritis Schinas, Vice President for Promoting the European Way of Life, at the official launch of the campaign at the end of September. Reality shows us that cyber-attacks and cybercrime are increasingly numerous and sophisticated across Europe. At the same time, this trend is expected to continue to grow in the future, given the predictions that 22.3 billion devices worldwide will be connected by 2024 to the Internet of Things (a.k.a. network of connected digital devices).

Digitization offers enormous opportunities and provides solutions for many of the challenges facing Europe, not least during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but at the same time, say those in Brussels, it exposes the economy and society to cyber threats. A number of critical sectors such as transport, energy, healthcare, and finance have become increasingly dependent on digital technologies for their core activities. And a stronger security response to build an open and secure cyberspace can increase citizens trust in digital tools and services. Cezar Bărbuceanu, expert within the National Cyber Security Directorate, said:

“The attacker tries to come up with any kind of information/offer that can attract attention and be impactful in order to fool the average user. Not necessarily to steal his data or money from their account, but through him he can reach many other people who can work in many other places, and can enter and penetrate the operating systems of companies where friends, neighbors, acquaintances of the people they manage to trick. Usually these attacks, these types of phishing, come in waves, and take most people by surprise, because from one user it can go to 1,000 and so on, it can spread very quickly in a very short time.”

Cyber security can be defined as the sum of all the measures taken to create safety in the online environment, say experts in the field. They remind us that phone scams, online scams, card scams, fake winnings that some or others offer us are just some of the ways in which various attackers try, and sometimes even succeed, to get benefits by resorting to deception. Manuela Catrina, deputy director of the NSCD, National Cyber Security Directorate, spoke on Radio Romania about the risks and challenges that the international cyber security ecosystem is facing today, but also about the benefits:

“First of all, after the pandemic period, we have a much greater increase in digitization, which makes us happy. We all encounter the digital area more and more often. Obviously, the digital area comes with its threats. Many of us learn them from our children, because we had no way of learning them from our parents, its a very new area. There are various risks, but I would not like to talk only about risks. Its also an area of benefits that come here, and I think we should try to explain better how these things are used, because 90% of threats can be countered with very, very simple practices. At home we lock our doors, change our passwords, simple things, hygiene, that is, not sophisticated things. 10% are perhaps very sophisticated threats, and there the experts have a lot of work to do. But probably our chance in Romania is to transfer the weak link, the human, as we say in the area of cyber security, to the strong link. I am convinced that we can do it, because I have a lot of confidence that Romanians are intelligent people, people who really like new technology. If my grandmother learned how to use the phone and use social networks in a safe way, I think that your grandmother and your aunt and the neighbors child know how to do it too. So together we can do this.”

Specialists also come with advice: in order to protect ourselves from threats in cyberspace, vigilance and suspicion are needed. They advise caution in accessing e-mail, the source of the message must be checked, it is very important to see where it comes from, what is its legitimacy, you may have to call on the phone if it is a company or an offer from someone where there is access and contact, the text must be checked because, as a rule, the attackers, most of them not being from Romania, use translation tools that translate the text somewhat incorrectly. One must check if the offer is current, do a Google search before accessing or clicking on any kind of link received. In other words, simple things that can make a difference.

Galloping inflation gave Europe chills, but after peaking in the second half of 2022 it began to slowly decline. However, expert forecasts show that inflation will remain above target levels in the world’s major economies until 2024. The situation is by no means a comfortable one. The World Economic Outlook report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that most of the world’s governments are facing budget strains. As for overall inflation, the OECD, which groups 35 of the world’s strongest economies, notes that it has continued to decline in many countries as a result of lower energy and food prices in the first half of the year. By contrast, core inflation, which does not measure the most volatile components such as food and energy, has not fallen much and remains significantly higher than targets set by central banks. Thus, says the OECD, One of the main risks of this situation is that central banks will continue to raise interest rates. The effects of monetary policy tightening are becoming increasingly visible, business and consumer confidence has deteriorated, progressively spilling over into countries’ economies, and interest rates on new business loans and mortgages have risen almost everywhere.

Romania is no exception. Economic analyst Constantin Rudnitchi says that, besides inflation imported through products brought from abroad, what is missing from the mechanism to combat inflation is more budgetary discipline, given a very large budget deficit and state loans on conveyor belt. How does the NBR see the situation? The institution’s spokesperson, Dan Suciu (track):

The forecasts for the end of the year do not change, broadly speaking, and even, I would say, it will do what I said in August 2023, that is, we will have a continuation of the decrease in inflation in line with these forecasts. Especially under the influence of base effects, that is, because there were large increases last year, this year they are not so high, although obviously we still have inflation with significant figures. But it’s decreasing, obviously. And because the goods no longer have the prices they had a year ago. We also have a good agricultural year, as we have seen so far, and perhaps the autumn months will reconfirm this situation, which has caused food prices to cap, at least. In addition, there is an administrative cap, that of the mark-up on basic products decided two months ago. These are the conditions for 2023.

Inflation is expected to reach 7.5% at the end of this year and then fall to 4.4% in December 2024. However, the risks to this forecast are substantial. Starting next year – a year with several elections in Romania, in fact – inflation will also be influenced by the new fiscal and budgetary measures adopted by the government, along with the degree of absorption of European funds. All this in the context of the war in Ukraine, which shows no signs of stopping anytime soon, and rather weak economic developments in Europe. Again, Dan Suciu:

Yes, there are very interesting developments in the economies of the West, and not only, even in the East, I would say that things are interesting, in our East, not in others’, I mean. And among the countries in the region we are the country that in terms of economic growth we are doing a little better, and I would even say that we are the best in the area. We have countries that are at zero or slightly above zero, if not declining, economic growth, such as Germany. These things are important to know in order to understand, in the context in which the Romanian economy evolves, not to have expectations out of touch with reality. Of course, we would all like further economic growth, but we are in a complicated European situation due to the war, the energy crisis that has passed, the disruptions in production flows, which have not yet been found after the pandemic. All these things have led to this relatively weak economic growth in European countries and, therefore, it is important to see that Romania maintains a relatively good growth, the forecast is somewhere over 2%. I repeat, if we do not understand the context, and we see in the surrounding states that we have almost no economic growth, we would say that it is little, but in this context it is quite a lot. It is mainly based on investments, especially on absorbed European funds, and it is important to continue attracting these funds, because, look, from thence comes a state of well-being, which we can then generalize.

The disinflationary process will continue, but inflation may decrease much slower than we initially expected, according to the organization of investment professionals in Romania. Here is the vice-president of this body, Adrian Codirlasu:

We will have a shock introduced by the new fiscal measures, in the sense that excise duties are increased, and certain VAT rates are increased for certain products that are part of the consumption basket. In addition, we see the price of oil has gone up, and will spill over into fuel prices. There will also be a turnover tax, which will also lead to pressure on sales prices, and will also increase the minimum wage, another additional cost for companies, which will also put pressure on price.

So, says Adrian Codirlașu, we can expect that somewhere in the first quarter of next year we will have inflationary pressures, and even inflation will increase a little, and then resume its downward trend. For 2024, the organization of investment professionals in Romania survey shows a inflation rate in October somewhere around 7.5%.

For more than 12 years, Romania and Bulgaria – full members of the EU – continue to be refused Schengen membership, despite fulfilling all the criteria. The citizens of the two countries are the only ones in the European family forced to waste time with border controls. The biggest damages are, however, of an economic nature. This reality was also confirmed by the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who reiterated that keeping the two countries at Schengen’s gate is unfair and unjustified. Postponing the decision on accession several times means limiting the right to freedom of movement and additional costs for their economies. The financial damage for Romania, calculated by independent economists, would be around 200 million euros per month. At the level of the Bucharest government, there is talk of economic losses of up to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product and the idea of requesting reparations is being circulated. At the same time, in Brussels, support for the admission of the two countries working in tandem in this endeavor is openly expressed. In her annual State of the Union speech, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, asked Austria to allow the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen without delay. However, this appeal was quickly rejected by Vienna, according to which the current expansion of the free movement area makes no sense. Migration figures are increasing in Europe. We need more checks, not fewer,” said Gerhard Karner, Austria’s interior minister. According to the Austrian government, Romania and Bulgaria could not effectively control their borders, a fact disproved by all statistics, from Bucharest and Brussels alike. Romania and Bulgaria have already become a model displaying best practices both in terms of asylum and return of migrants, emphasized Ursula von der Leyen.

University professor Ştefan Popescu, foreign policy analyst, told us about the statements of the head of the community executive:

They are important as a general political signal. In any case, for years, the representatives of European institutions – we are talking about certain thematic commissioners, but also the president of the European Commission, who is obliged to please everyone, to make a synthesis of the various options in the EU – the messages were all of support, were positive. The problem is with the states, because we give out such messages in vain if we do not also discuss the issue of the decision within the EU. And here is a two-edged problem, because each state has the right of veto. This can be beneficial in the case of Romania, if it were to succeed in the Schengen case, but it can have negative consequences at other levels, when majorities are created that would go against us.

In July, the European Parliament voted a resolution on the accession of Romania and Bulgaria by the end of this year, and Spain, which currently holds the six-monthly presidency of the EU Council, has placed this goal among its priorities. Meanwhile, after 17 continuous years, the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism was lifted. It is a decision that confirms that the rule of law in Romania is consolidated and strong, and this is an additional argument that supports our accession to Schengen, emphasized Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, recalling that many of the objections in the past were precisely related to the independence of the judiciary. Austria’s refusal represents an arbitrary and unjustified decision, the prime minister said, and if Vienna continues to abuse its right of veto on the future Justice and Home Affairs Council panel, Romania will sue Austria in the European Court of Justice. An action of this kind at the Union Court already exists, since February, opened, however, by a member of the European Parliament, Eugen Tomac, a member of the Popular Movement Party:

We found, on December 8, last year, that in the JHA Council a proposal was made, namely that Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia be invited to the Schengen Area, since they meet the criteria. Given that this meeting started with a proposal and two decisions were made – Romania and Bulgaria were refused, and Croatia accepted – we consider that an abuse of law was committed by Austria, which said it did not agree with the extension of the Schengen Area. But, in exactly the same meeting, they voted for the extension of the Schengen Area. Therefore, several articles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including Schengen legislation, were violated. The European Commission, the institution that determines whether or not a state complies with Schengen legislation and meets the conditions, has been saying for 12 years yes, Romania is ready to enter the Schengen Area. The European Parliament voted yes, and passed several resolutions on this subject. Instead, in the European Council, in the Ministry of the Interior, first Holland, and now Austria, are committing an abuse of law, because they do not allow a European state to enjoy the advantages offered by the single European market, the freedom of movement of goods, the freedom of movement of citizens, restricting our legitimate access, bound by treaties, to enjoy the same rights enjoyed by more than 450 million European citizens.

The Austrian veto regarding Schengen is not directed against Romania, but against a defective system, the decision-makers from Vienna continue to claim, and only secure borders on the outside make possible our vision of a Europe without borders on the inside.

When we talk about the future of medicine, we hear terms such as Age Tech, artificial empathy, cloud computing, machine learning, blockchain, or other innovations in tech, in order to better prevent and diagnose disease. Starting from simple accessories by now, such as smart watches or bracelets, people can monitor their health, or schedule an appointment with their physician in case the data collected by these devices advises to do so. There is more an more talk about a future in which doctors and patients are connected, and major companies are looking into the future of the medical domain. Google already has an automated system for detecting breast cancer, while Microsoft has already got involved in augmented or virtual reality for delivering customized medication for any given patient. The new technologies allow healthcare benefits such as personalized treatment, instant medical data being accessed from large databases able to be accessed by hospitals, physicians, or patients, not to mention a revolution in genetics. We spoke about all these with university lecturer Elena Ovreiu, with the Bucharest Polytechnic:

“Practically speaking, all these digital technologies applied in healthcare do one thing: they help us gather data, get medical data from the patient, results from tests or imaging, but also data about the patient’s history, such as how many times they were an inpatient, what care they got, or his history. This is medical data acquisition. Then the question becomes: How do we get these data from various sensors, technologies, or portable sensors? How do we save these data, how do we protect them, what do we do with them? Because we are talking about personal patient data, which we need to secure, so this is the other direction, cybersecurity. We need to put them into databases to allow interoperability, allowing them to be conveyed between hospitals. And here we come to the idea of standardizing databases and normalizing them. And, once we have data that has been acquired, the question is: What do we do with them, how do we analyze them? What information can we glean from this data, how do we use them to be useful for patients and the healthcare system? As you can see, medical data raise a big number of problems, and technology can provide solutions.

One thing is certain: the medicine of the future will be more and more reliant on AI, and this is very profitable, considering that the medical system was not designed to cope with this great increase in chronic conditions, which right now have come to account for 80% of healthcare expenditures. The benefits of the new technologies are huge, according to experts. The algorithms for analysis and AI have the advantage in the quality and outcome of treatments, reducing costs, and in providing better decisions at the strategic level. Here is Cristina Berteanu, senior emergency physician, PhD, and senior researcher in R&D:

“First of all, these technologies prevent many emergency room cases, they prevent aggravated conditions by making real time decisions, they rely on patient engagement, whereby the patient is involved in managing their symptoms, so this whole digital side has a role in treatments and solving problems. This means faster access, reduced costs, and the accumulation of data that can have further use.

This is even more valuable as healthcare systems around the world face a severe human resource shortfall. Romania has very good quality IT systems and people, has high quality medical personnel, and this association can result in very good electronic medical records. This is according to emergency lung physician Theo Trandafirescu, currently residing in the US:

“This is the future: digital medicine and digital medical records. Improving the health of the population takes intensive resources, collaborative resources, which takes strong partnerships. Data are essential to help us understand patients, diseases, and how data are applied. The population has social and medical needs, and we answer these needs with these innovative programs.

Theo Trandafirescu said that we are already in the middle of a genetic revolution, and that the science world reacted very quickly to so-called genomic products, and research in this direction advanced very quickly over the last few years. Immunology already makes an impact in oncology, but also in the treatment of other ailments such as arthritis, and, with the help of genomics, physicians are better able to understand diseases and propose a customized treatment.

The advent of the Internet has brought humanity into the digital age, with rapid access to information, strongly influencing the way we learn and develop, and making possible the emergence of new business models. Through search engines or specialized websites, information is much more accessible to all people. It has become commonplace to access virtual pages, and we can communicate almost instantly with people thousands of kilometers away. Thanks to quick access to information, we can benefit from knowledge and expertise without the limitations imposed by time or space. The Internet, driven by increasing amounts of online information, commerce, entertainment, and social networking services, continues to grow. But there is also the flip side of the coin: along with the benefits of the Internet, we also face challenges regarding data security and privacy. An analysis of the history of the Internet shows us that it has its origins in efforts to build and interconnect computer networks that arose out of research and development in the United States, and involved international collaborations, particularly with researchers in the United Kingdom and France. It was happening somewhere around the beginning of the 1960s, so that, 10 years later, protocols were designed for the operation of the Internet, in which several separate networks could be united in a ‘network of networks’. History also records that commercial Internet service providers began to appear in the late 1980s, and also that research carried out at CERN in Switzerland by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989–90 led to the World Wide Web. It linked hypertext documents in a IT system, accessible from any node in the network. Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture, commerce, and technology, including the rise of near-instantaneous communication via electronic mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls, video chat, and the World Wide Web with its forums, chat boards, blogs, social networking services, and online shopping sites. In all this mechanism, ever-increasing amounts of data are transmitted at ever-increasing speeds over fiber optic networks. Here is journalist Ion Vaciu, president of the Council for Digital Transformation, speaking on Radio Romania about the impact of the emergence of the Internet on everyday life:

It has practically virtualized everything. In the banking field, it reached the point of virtual currency. In the industrial field it actually introduced links to later day robotics, and allowed remote work. In agriculture there are a lot of applications, there is no area in the industry that is not affected, changed positively, I would say, by the Internet, because, what is the Internet? A network of networks, the largest network on the planet, which has crossed borders across the planet. Because we also have the Internet in satellite communications, and we have the Internet right right up to the edge of the Milky Way.

In April-September 1993, the Romanian Internet began to be launched, recalled Ion Vaciu, and most users in Romania were satisfied with email, the most active areas being university and research. The first internet networks in schools and universities appeared in 1993, and broadband internet has been available since 2000, via coaxial cable, according to Ion Vaciu. The data show that, 30 years after the internet arrived in Romania, the country is in the top 10 countries in the world in terms of browsing speed. The thing that put the country in this leading position is the decades of work from Romanian specialists, who rolled up their sleeves in order to develop communication networks. What is the future of the Internet in Romania, what are the major challenges and opportunities before us, what will happen in the coming years? Again, Ion Vaciu:

We have 10 relevant trends in the development of the Internet and some of them would be: the Internet of Things, which everyone knows about, which would mean increasing the connection and interconnectivity of objects and smart devices in a variety of sectors like healthcare, transportation, and industry. Just today I read in the news that 6G has already managed to connect together unconnected objects, via satellite, with a radar-like function. So, basically, we will also have unconnected objects, so it is not necessary to be on the Internet to be connected, you can be connected in the future, starting in 2030, also through 6G. Then, secondly – 5G and high-speed networks, which, in Romania, according to all the latest ANCOM data, reached the level of 3%, so we only have 5G at 3%, we have a long way to go. Three – Edge computing, a topic very little addressed in Romania, meaning the development of distributed computing infrastructure, which allows data processing and decision-making closer to the user. That means that it is much easier and cheaper to have the data and everything you need to access here, near you. Four – artificial intelligence and machine learning, everyone is talking about it, but it is a much older phenomenon than we would imagine, and it has only exploded just now. Five – virtual and augmented reality, known as VR, AR. Six – using technologies to provide interactive and immersive experiences in diverse environments such as gaming, tourism, and education.

Ion Vaciu added that we also have blockchain and cryptocurrencies, cloud computing, and cloud services – which would be the basis, the infrastructure of new services, cybersecurity, and data protection, quantum computing, for which the first steps were also taken in this country, as well as regulation and digital policy, which few people talk about, but it also needs to be done, and it needs to be done smartly.

Faced with more and more cyberattacks, the EU wants to invest over a billion Euro into a project for protection. Our ambition is to create a European cyber shield to allow a better detection of attacks upstream, said the European commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, specifying that, right now, as many as 190 days can go by between malware spreading and the beginning of an attack. Speaking for Radio Romania, Mihai Rotariu, head of communication for the National Directorate for Cybersecurity, said that Mr. Breton made a metaphor of a cyberattack whose consequences can be avoided or restricted to the smallest possible number users or organizers.

“We can imagine, for instance, a flowing body of water as a representation of a cyberattack. If we manage upstream to filter polluting substances, lets say, we avoid them spreading and affecting many inhabitants downstream. It is no secret that in cybersecurity, in order to make things clearer, we have to use parallels with real life. There was also reference to the investment of over a billion Euro, with two thirds European financing, for building some centers of operations for cybersecurity. They are called Security Operation Centers, or SOC, spread out all over the territory of the Union, able to detect malicious behavior within hours. These centers would act exactly as a shield for securing EU networks. According to the commissioner, these centers could become operational by early 2024.”

The security operation centers all over the EU, united as several multinational SOC platforms, will be using advanced technologies, such as AI and data analysis in order to detect threats and share warnings about them across borders, allowing a prompter and more effective major threats. In addition to the above mentioned shield, the EC also proposes a comprehensive mechanism for emergency situations in terms of cybersecurity. Commissioner Breton said that once the war in Ukraine started, cyberattacks went up 140% all over Europe. In this context, gathering up and coordinating European forces is needed more than ever, since the threat will only be spreading. He was speaking at the international cybersecurity forum in Lille. We asked Mihai Rotariu how vulnerable the Union is to cyberattacks.

“Cybersecurity, in the context of ever faster evolving technologies, gains more and more importance, no only for the IT and communication industry, but also for political decision makers. We have been speaking for years about a European digital market, a safe market, which provides enhanced confidence for users. Unfortunately, the volume and complexity of attacks can sometimes create a wall for individuals. It can create a subconscious fear and reticence towards using digital instruments, because there is a lot of media coverage around cases in which huge databases with confidential access data being published online. Some end up on forums for hackers, who exchange such information in order to launch as many attacks as they can. This kind of media coverage, which sometimes is sensational on purpose, doubled by insufficient digital and cybersecurity education on the part of a regular European user, could lead to a drop in confidence in digital tools at the level of the entire population of the EU. As we said previously, these tools make our lives easier, and can gain us time most of the time.”

Cybersecurity is a common responsibility. This is the European motto in terms of online security, as Mihai Rotariu told us, adding that managing cybersecurity must be quick, since the effective exchange of information is vital.

“We have to work on our speed of reaction, especially in the context of attacks launched as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, in higher and higher numbers. At the same time, let us not forget that, over the last few months, many attacks also use AI. The attackers use advanced technologies in order to hone their attack scenarios, in order to make them more and more plausible for users, who are the potential victims. Untrained users are less and less able to distinguish between legitimate online initiatives and traps. Just as we have a model of European civil protection for disaster, for instance, we should be adopting a model of mutual assistance between member states. Everyone has to invest in cybersecurity and resiliency, offering assistance to other states in need.”

Romania wants to be a regional leader in online security, and it already plays a major role, aided by its hosting of a European Cybersecurity Competence Center. This center aims to improve European capacities and competitiveness in this domain, in collaboration with a network of national coordination centers. At the same time, as Mihai Rotariu points out, Romania has some of the most gifted and sought after experts, at the international level.

As an integral part of healthy ecosystems, pollinators contribute to quantity and quality of food, playing a crucial role in its production. Over the last few years, however, statistics are worrying, showing that wild pollinators have been in decline in the EU, in terms of abundance and diversity. This is the result of the increasing threat from human activities, especially the turn to intensive agriculture, with high use of pesticides and fertilizers. The decline in wild pollinators and its consequences on food safety, human health, the quality of life, and ecosystems strikes worries across society. Scientists and civil society, over a million citizens, have called many times, at the European level, on decision makers in Brussels to take decisive action against the loss of pollinators, including the recent successful European citizen initiative called Save Bees and Farmers. It was submitted to the EC in October 2022, calling for a transition to a form of agriculture that is beneficial to bees. Four years before, the EC had adopted, as a first, a EU framework for combating the decline in wild pollinators. This initiative set long term objectives for 2030, and a comprehensive set of actions to be applied on short and medium term. A new step ahead in protecting nature was taken recently, as the EC adopted a new agreement on pollinators. This comes in the context in which one in three species of bees, butterflies, and hover flies are threatened.

The European Commissioner for Environment, Virginius Sinkevicius, said that pollinators are essential for reversing the effects of climate change. Without them, our diet would be poor, our farmers would be poor. However, the number of pollinators is in decline, and some species are in critical peril. Four out of five flower species need pollinators, and now many species of pollinators are going extinct. Scientists say that a third of all species of bees, butterflies, and hover flies are now in steep decline, which is truly worrying. Pollinators need stronger protections. The extinction of pollinators would lead to a collapse of ecosystems, which would be a nightmare scenario. He said that we must avoid this scenario, and the new pact for pollinators wants to reverse this decline by the year 2030.

About 80% of cultivated species and wild flowers depend on pollination by insects and animals. Which is why the loss of pollinators is considered one of the greatest threats on nature, human well-being, and food security, because it compromises agriculture sustainability on long term. Without pollinators, the population of many plants would go down, and eventually disappear, along with the organisms that depend on them, which would have grave ecological, social, and economic implications. The European Commissioner for Environment, Virginius Sinkevicius, took a more detailed look at this new agreement on pollinators.

He said that it sets as its main objective the reversal of the decline by 2030, identifying three main courses of action. Most of these kinds of action go in the same direction, that of identifying the fundamental causes of the decline of pollinators. The first course of action is better conservation of species and habitats. This is to be done with specific conservation plans for the species under threat. They identify pollinators that are typical for protected habitats under the directive for habitats, and action to enhance protection. This also includes a new initiative called buzz lines – a new models for a network of ecological corridors for pollinators. There will be a new initiative to stimulate the improvement in pollinator habitats in urban areas. A second line of action is restoring habitats in agricultural landscapes. He said that it was easy to forget that a massive percentage of EU land is farmland, which makes it very important to provide support in the common agricultural policy to pollinator friendly agriculture. The third course of action refers to moderating the effect of the use of fertilizers. It is well known that the use of pesticides is also a significant factor in the decline of pollinators, and that impact has to be attenuated.

Among the courses of action is also the institution of a comprehensive system of monitoring, in support of research, by mapping the main pollinator areas up until 2025, as well as specific action to promote and consolidate dissemination of knowledge. Another priority is mobilizing society, and promoting strategic planning and cooperation. Brussels assures us that it would support member states in issuing national strategies on pollinators. The EC and member states will also help citizens and businesses to act, including by raising awareness among the public.

The fact that was obvious to everyone was confirmed officially by the results of the most recent census: Romania is in demographic decline. The difference with the census before this one is 1.1 million people less, while the difference with the 1990 census is 4 million inhabitants less. The main causes are migration to western countries, in addition to a drop in birth rates. Raw numbers show that the Romanian population fell by over 5% compared to 2011. Compared to 2002, it fell by 12%, and in 2021 it reached the level of the year 1966. The phenomenon is not unique to Romania, it is present all over Eastern Europe, but it is equally worrying everywhere. Tudorel Andrei, president of the National Institute of Statistics, spoke to Radio Romania about the results of the census, saying that they show a speeding up in the drop of population numbers, also indicating an aging of the population at the same time:

“The reduction of the resident population is not a phenomenon that we encounter in Romania alone, it is a phenomenon encountered in most Eastern European countries, and even in developed western countries. Unfortunately, in Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia the drop in population numbers is much greater than in the rest of the countries in the east of the continent. The causes are multiple, and we should look for them in the various stages of the transition. The first was that in the first period of the transition we had high levels of migration. These levels went down in the second stage, beginning in 2012-2013, but we also have the issue of births and deaths. Let us not forget that birth and death rates are very complex phenomena, which have some rigidity, they are slow to change, and usually there is a leap in time. What happened in the first period of transition resonates nowadays. So these are, in broad strokes, the two very important factors: migration and natural factors. 30 years of transition meant equally a change in the behavior of the population regarding a first birth within the family related to the number of children being born into a family.

For many women, career comes first now more than two or three decades ago. Professional and educational opportunities have been on the rise, time spent in school is longer, so women decide to have children later in life. At a family level, high incomes count more in the decision to have a child, and high paid professional positions come at a high cost in terms of time and energy. Therefore, more than half of couples in Romania decide to have only one child. Tudorel Andrei said that he was struck by the drop in the population between 15 and 64 years of age. With a drop of 1.4 million, this age group went down in number from 68% in 2011 to 64%. He said that this was the most important takeaway from the census. We asked him what can be done to halt, or even reverse, this phenomenon:

“If we only look at international migration, it indeed went down very much in the last five or six years. In the first years after joining the EU, 2007 and 2008, migration was very high, as high as half a million per year. Today, international migration is not as high. Unfortunately, the natural factor, at least in 2021, was the major factor in the drop in resident population. Let us not forget that the phenomenon of birth, as well as that of death, are very complex, and we cannot change them overnight. We have to have patience. If we want to have a change in the behavior of the population in the near future, we have to wait for results in 10, maybe 20 years, we cannot expect results overnight. This happened once more in the history of Romania, in 1967. That was possible because we were a totalitarian society. We saw the results around 2006-2007, when the population born between 1967 and 1969 migrated to a high degree to the west of the continent.

The loss of 4 million citizens in three decades is already being felt negatively in the job market, especially in the hospitality industry and construction, where there is a sore need of employees. Also affected is the pension system, considering that Romania is far from the ideal and sustainable ratio of four workers to one pensioner. In Romania, 10 salaried workers support 9 pensioners. We asked ourselves what happens if things stay on this throughline. In terms of pensions, in 2030 the budget will become unable to support seniors, according to finance analysts. On the other hand, the health crisis will alleviate, savings will recover, and developed western countries will once again need workhands, mostly obtained from Eastern Europe. Also in 2030, Romania’s resident population could be around 18 million, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Thus, Romania stands to go down the European list in terms of population, going to seventh place instead of sixth, overtaken by The Netherlands.

More than a year since Moscow started its so-called special operation, the leader in the Kremlin claims that the stakes of the military campaign in Ukraine is the existence of Russia as a state itself. Speaking to workers in a factory manufacturing helicopters for the Russian armed forces, Vladimir Putin repeated arguments that the West aims at breaking down Russia. Accusing the West of using Ukraine for waging war against Russia, he said that theirs is not a geopolitical mission, but a mission for survival, one for creating conditions for the future development of their country and their children. As for Ukraine, Putin insisted that Moscow has been trying for decades on end to maintain good relations with that country, but that everything changed in 2014, when, as he claimed, there was a coup d’etat instigated by the West. This would not be the first time, and presumably not the last time, when the rhetoric of the Russian leader seems plucked from a parallel reality. Vladimir Putin stood as an accuser, after perpetrating moves that were condemned by the West as a whole.

Speaking for Radio Romania, Professor Iulian Chifu said that the 21st century was characterized by a bipolar stability, lacking stability, after a generation, and that this instability, with its turbulence, and the reconfiguration of global security and international relations, will be felt for yet another generation. Chifu is the author of a four volume work called The Reconfiguration of Security and International Relations in the 21st Century, in which he makes a snapshot of the situation created by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. As an expert in the former Soviet Union, Professor Chifu made an analysis of the trends and transition to the turbulent present:

“What Gorbachev could not predict, or adjust to, is that, once he let breathe the various nations that made up the notorious so-called ‘prison of peoples’, the USSR, each one of them would strive to reaffirm its identity and find its own independent way. As such, the collapse of the Soviet Union came naturally. There was an attempt of the communist state to survive, but in the end it resulted in the breakdown of the Soviet state as we used to know it, because it was an artificial state, a state made of pieces, controlled only by force and repression, and the concocted unity of a totalitarian ideology. The same thing is happening now, by transfer, maybe today, maybe in the near future. The main question is, what will happen to Putin? What would the post-Putin era look like, his regime, after a defeat in Ukraine. On this topic, the literature is rich, books informed me that things go in a single direction. Putin will not be able to survive, but this is under discussion, and intelligence services are sure that there is a search for a successor to Putin. This would obviously happen not due to popular pressure and revolt, it would come from within, from his inner circle. Putinism is striving to survive replacing Putin, as happened with Khrushchev, for instance, by replacing him with someone within the circle.

According to Iulian Chifu, a probable so-called retirement of Putin and his removal from the limelight would only bring forward someone from his inner circle, who would try to save Putinism as a regime. Professor Chifu also mentioned the situation of the Russian military, made up of people sent to the front line with 80 year old weaponry. They are simply sent to die as cannon fodder, never convinced of any reason as to why they are in Ukrain in the first place. According to him, this has happened before in history, but the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition as wave after wave or Russians are being thrown into battle gratuitously. If we were to look at another angle, Putin, one year after the beginning of the so-called special operation, has no narrative to serve his own people, let alone the international community, as to what he is doing in Ukraine. At the same time, one should not underestimate the role and aims of China. Here is Iulian Chifu once again:

“Putin’s problem is that the world has changed dramatically, absolute power has dissipated, and from two superpowers we went to two great powers and many regional powers, and neither of the superpowers is Russia. They are the US and China, and it is a big problem when you have Putin’s level of ambition and when you have fed the Russian people this level of exceptionalism, also considering the sphere of influence that they were supposed to control. Xi Jinping has another type of weight, he represents a growing power, he has growing aspirations, he wants to influence the world. For him, Putin is a second, a junior partner, and, more than that, he is ruining his business. The moment that China proposed a project of a solution, which is not really a solution, just some principles for solving the Ukraine situation, he had, in fact, two messages: one – don’t even think of using nuclear weapons, and two – get done with this war ASAP.

We asked him why. The professor said that this war is costly for China, in an indirect way. He explained that this, in fact, entailed two distinct processes. Putin has to make a lot of noise in order to be invited at the global governance table, while Xi Jinping is rooted in his economic power. As a result, he needs stability and tranquility for his growth in power to keep being under the radar, and not loudly out in the open. Putin would have a problem if he stirs up trouble. As a result, we are dealing with two countries and two personalities that need opposing things.