Radio România Internațional

Category: Today in the News

  • Restructuring in state institutions

    Restructuring in state institutions

    The biggest cut in operating expenses in the history of the Government is starting, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced in Bucharest. In the government meeting he showed that several public institutions will be merged or abolished, with the personnel scheme being reduced, including the posts of state secretaries. Approximately 1,800 positions of civil servants and contractual employees from 32 institutions under the subordination and coordination of the Executive will be abolished, stated Prime Minister Ciolacu, explaining that this signal had been expected both by the public opinion and especially by the business environment.

     

    Marcel Ciolacu: “We are abolishing and merging authorities and institutions. We are reducing the number of employees and cutting official positions. In total, we are talking about a massive cut in posts of 13.5%.”

     

    Regarding those institutions that have an organizational chart approved by the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT), the head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, Radu Oprea, explained that government decisions will follow for the approval of the organizational charts, for their organization and functioning. Regarding the vacant positions, he added, they intend to release those who are subject to the decision of the High Court of Cassation and Justice by which the cumulation of the pension with the salary is prohibited. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s announcement to reduce the number of posts in government institutions comes after he asked the ministers, in the January 10 government meeting, to come up with proposals to restructure positions in the administration and in the state companies. The staff reduction proposals, which Prime Minister Ciolacu declared to be a priority, are part of the 2025 budget calculations.

     

    Similar measures were taken by Parliament. The Chamber of Deputies voted, at the beginning of February, to reduce the number of posts by 240, and the Senate decided to abolish 178. According to experts, however, it is not clear what the impact of the restructuring will be on public spending. The number of positions occupied in public institutions and authorities in Romania was, in January, 1.3 million. In 2020, 1.25 million people were employed by the State, in 2021 – 1.26 million, in 2022 – 1.28 million, and in 2023 – 1.29 million. For a good part of these years, employment in the state institutions was blocked, employment being made only through derogations issued by the ministers and the prime minister. Let’s also remember that, at the end of last year, the Government headed by Marcel Ciolacu adopted an ordinance by which the salaries of state employees and public pensions were frozen. Also, with a view to making budget savings, the tax facilities in the IT, construction and agriculture fields were also eliminated, the taxation ceiling for micro-enterprises was reduced by half and the tax on dividends was increased to 10%. (LS)

  • Discussions regarding the Car Scrapping (Rabla) program

    Discussions regarding the Car Scrapping (Rabla) program

    The Car Scrapping (Rabla) programs were implemented by the Environment Ministry to renew the car fleet in Romania, by gradually replacing old, polluting cars with new ones. In particular, Rabla Plus program had the ambition and, partially, succeeded in accelerating the dynamics of environmentally-friendly hybrid and electric car purchases. Romanians were tempted to buy such vehicles because they were offered generous ecobonuses, going up to 10 thousand Euros in the case of electric cars. Last year, however, the decrease of the ecobonus for electric vehicles from 10,000 to 5,000 Euros caused a market setback of about 32%. Starting from this reality, the representatives of the Automobile Manufacturers Association in Romania are discussing with the authorities scenarios aimed at revitalizing the Rabla program.

     

    The general secretary of the Association, Adrian Sandu has details: “As of last year, we started the dialogue with the Environment Fund Administration and the Environment Ministry to draw up the new program. We want a five-year program, because we want regulated fiscal and legislative predictability. This is the first basis of the development of a business based on healthy principles. Regarding the Rabla program, we want it to be a single program, to no longer have the Rabla Clasic and Rabla Plus programs and to start as soon as possible”.

     

    According to the representatives of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, if the financing of the ecobonus is made from money obtained from green certificates, it is possible that its value be more substantial than if it is made from the state budget, which, this year, is subject to constraints. At the beginning of the month, the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association (APIA) announced that it supports the implementation of a new ‘Rabla’ Program with efficient subsidies of 8,500 Euros for electric cars, which will provide predictability at least until the year 2030. The association campaigns for complementary legislative measures for the development of charging station infrastructure and for the adoption of concrete, planned measures to support sustainable mobility in Romania.

     

    According to Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association, the evolution of the market in 2025 will depend both on economic factors and consumer demand, as well as on political decisions that can accelerate or slow down the transition to electromobility. The Association forecasts that, in 2025, the general market of new registered vehicles will no longer grow as in the last three years, a slight decrease of 0.4% being estimated, with a number of 179,000 units sold. At the same time, ‘electric’ vehicles will have an increase of 34.6% compared to 2024, registering a much more intense pace than in previous years, a trend that will be directly influenced by the future subsidy conditions. Romania ranks fifth among the largest car manufacturers in Europe, and the domestic car industry has generated a turnover of 35 billion Euros in 2023, on the rise as compared to previous reports. (LS)

  • Romania at the Paris consultations

    Romania at the Paris consultations

     

    The security of Europe was the topic of a second meeting organised on Wednesday in Paris by the French president Emmanuel Macron, after the emergency one on Monday. This time around, Romania was also present, represented by the interim president Ilie Bolojan, alongside the leaders of Norway, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Sweden and Belgium.

     

    The meetings come after the radical change in attitude of the United States of America towards European countries, the Kyiv administration and Moscow.

     

    On the one hand, Donald Trump’s government criticises Europe for not getting more involved in resolving the conflict, calls the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator for not holding elections on time, and partly blames him for starting the war, even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, with the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

     

    On the other hand, Washington seems to have softened its tone towards Kremlin, and fears are it might unilaterally negotiate not only a forced peace in Ukraine, but, according to news agencies, also a redistribution of spheres of influence modelled on the infamous 1945 Yalta conference, as a result of which Eastern Europe was ceded to the Soviet Union.

    In this context, the interim president of Romania, Ilie Bolojan, said that the security of Ukraine is also the security of Europe and Romania.

     

    Meanwhile, France will increase its support for Romania, said Ilie Bolojan, after bilateral talks with the French leader:

     

    Ilie Bolojan: “We are once again reassured that, just as France has been by Romania’s side in the very important moments of our country’s history, it remains by our side today. We have reconfirmed the strategic partnership with France. We have also reconfirmed the stability of the French military presence in Romania. At the request of our country, this presence will be consolidated in the coming period.”

     

    At the end of the meeting, Bolojan said that Eastern European states are the first to feel the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and he emphasised that, now more than ever, European unity and cooperation with the US within NATO are vital to resolving the conflict.

     

    Ilie Bolojan: “We do not stand by Ukraine out of a humanitarian sentiment alone. This, and the injustice of the war, is only the first reason. But we also do it out of a strategic interest for our own country. And the second important conclusion was that further cooperation between European countries and the US can be the best formula to solve this crisis, so that we not only have a ceasefire, but also have a just peace, so that in the coming years a new conflict does not begin again. And this just peace and equitable peace cannot be made without the participation of Ukraine and the European Union in the closing of these negotiations.”

     

    In turn, the French president said he sees Russia and Vladimir Putin as “an existential threat to Europe.” Both he and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been invited to Washington next week for consultations on peace in Ukraine, President Donald Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz announced. (AMP)

  • Security decisions in Romania’s Parliament

    Security decisions in Romania’s Parliament

     

    The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest, as the first party to be notified, endorsed a draft law that allows drones that illegally enter Romanian airspace to be shot down. More precisely, drones that enter national airspace illegally will be destroyed or disabled if Romanian or NATO military forces are unable to control them.

     

    Another bill, which regulates the way military missions in Romania are carried out in peacetime, was also passed by the Chamber of Deputies. One of the measures allows the authority of specific structures in the Romanian Army to be transferred for a limited period to a commander of the Allied military forces participating in these missions.

     

    The bills were criticised by the populist-sovereigntist opposition comprising S.O.S. Romania, the Young People’s Party (POT) and AUR. The AUR deputy, Ramona Bruynseels:

     

    Ramona Bruynseels: “NATO is not an instrument for ceding sovereignty. We do not know who will be in government tomorrow. Do you want us to expose ourselves to the risk that, at some point, someone, anyone, will come and use this instrument to introduce repressive measures against Romanian civilians?”

     

    The Social Democrat Daniel Suciu retorted:

     

    Daniel Suciu: “What do you want, esteemed colleagues from the opposition who talk about a transfer of sovereignty and it is not true, it is not about this… what do you want? To have drones fall on our schools? To have drones fall on our cities and then shrug your shoulders that Parliament did not do its job?”

     

    Along with the Social Democratic Deputies, their ruling coalition partners, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, as well as the USR in opposition, voted in favour of the draft laws.

     

    After the documents regarding the control of the national airspace, and the management of military missions on Romanian territory in peacetime were endorsed, the defence ministry made a number of clarifications, amid “an extensive campaign of disinformation and fake news massively distributed by a number of users of various digital platforms in Romania” triggered by the 2 bills.

     

    The defence ministry says that all the procedural steps required for these bills have been taken, including public reviews. The same source also says that attempts to depict concrete measures to strengthen Romania’s and NATO’s defence capacity as acts of national treason are part of a pattern of disinformation campaigns carried out in the public space in Romania, “including by state actors with an agenda contrary to Romania’s sovereignty and against NATO, through which an attempt is made to induce panic and to weaken confidence in the capacity of national security institutions to fulfil their constitutional missions.”

     

    “Claims of unconstitutionality or betrayal of Romania’s interests are false and totally unjustified,” the defence ministry emphasizes, in a press release which explains in detail the content of the two laws. (AMP)

  • Romania will keep to its Euroatlantic path

    Romania will keep to its Euroatlantic path

    Romania’s foreign policy will maintain its natural course, as a member of the European Union and NATO, having a Strategic Partnership with the USA and being open to cooperation with all partners who share the same values and principles that we support. It is one of the important messages conveyed on Tuesday, by the interim president of the country, Ilie Bolojan, at the annual meeting with the heads of accredited diplomatic missions in Bucharest. According to the president, Romania remains a state that firmly believes in the future of the European Union, a pro-Atlantic country and a responsible ally.

    Ilie Bolojan stated that it was time for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which began three years ago, to stop. A ceasefire, followed as soon as possible by a just and lasting peace, is a goal that must be pursued not only by the parties in conflict, but also by the entire international community, he emphasized. In his opinion, the peace that is being negotiated now will not be a lasting one if it does not represent the result of compromises equally acceptable to both sides and if the international players do not provide a comprehensive package of security guarantees for Ukraine, in the short and long term.

    The benefits of our EU membership are clear, and Romania supports any process at the European level that aims to increase the cohesion and strategic resilience of the Union and the member states, assured the interim president. From a strategic and security perspective, Romania has assumed an active role in strengthening defense and deterrence, as well as NATO’s presence on the Eastern Flank and the Black Sea, which is a region of strategic importance for Euro-Atlantic security. We will continue, Ilie Bolojan firmly promised, the close coordination with the allies, to ensure NATO’s defense and deterrence measures. He thanked all the allies and partners for their contribution to the security of Romania and the Black Sea region through the deployment of military personnel and equipment on the territory of the country.

    The Strategic Partnership with the United States has been and will remain a pillar of Romania’s foreign policy, president Bolojan stressed again. We believe in this relationship, which has progressed substantially over time, as we believe that it can be further strengthened in its substance through our joint projects, be they in the field of security, energy, trade or investments in general, Ilie Bolojan also said. He welcomed Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program, which he believes will have a crucial impact on bilateral relations, including from the perspective of cultural and scientific exchanges and relations between citizens. We share with the United States the conviction that investments in Defense must be consolidated, which Romania is already doing by increasing the share of Defense in the Gross Domestic Product and through endowment projects, President Bolojan also stated. (MI)

  • National Day Constantin Brancusi

    National Day Constantin Brancusi

    In 2015 Romanian Parliament endorsed a law declaring February 19th the National Day Constantin Brancusi – which is a national holiday, to pay homage to one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. A series of cultural events has been staged on this occasion in capital city Bucharest and in several major Romanian cities.

    This series of events kicked off on Tuesday at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest with the screening of a documentary entitled “Brancusi the metamorphosis of sculpture”, which comprised rare video archives featuring the workshop of the great Romanian sculptor. The Romanian Cultural Institute is scheduling in the following period a series of thematic events abroad, such as exhibitions, film screenings or conferences in cities like Beijing, Istanbul, Madrid, Tel Aviv, London, Paris, Vienna, Lisbon or Stockholm.

    An emblematic personality of the Romanian Culture, Brancusi had an essential hand in renewing the fine arts vision in universal contemporary sculpture.

    The son of a poor carpenter, Brancusi was born on February 19, 1876, in Hobița, the Gorj County. He left home at an early age to find jobs in various dye-works, workshops, and restaurants across the county.

    During his apprenticeship in Craiova, southern Romania, he discovered his manufacturing skills after building a violin out of the materials he found in the workshop. He later enrolled in the School of Arts and Trades in the same city. After graduating from the local Art School in 1898 he went to Bucharest and enrolled in the National University of Art, which at that time was known as the School of Belle-Arts from where he graduated in 1902. Some of the sculptures he made as a student earned him several awards. In 1904 he decided to walk to Paris with stopovers in Budapest and Vienna. In 1905 he enrolled in the National School of Fine Arts in Paris and a year later his works were on display at Salon d’Automne in Paris. In 1907, three of his sculptures were presented during the salon of the National Society of French Arts.

    The opening was attended by the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who invited Brancusi to become his apprentice, but the Romanian declined saying that “nothing can grow in the shade of a big tree”.

    In the following years he made some famous sculptures such as “The Kiss”, “Maiastra”, “Mademoiselle Pogany”, “The Prodigal Son”. In 2024, UNESCO included in the universal heritage list the sculptural ensemble in Targu Jiu known as “The Heroes Way”, built to pay homage to the Romanian heroes who died in the battles of WWI.

    The ensemble comprises four sculptures, “The Table of Silence”, “The Alley of Chairs” “The Gate of the Kiss” and the “Endless Column” designed and built by the Romanian sculptor between 1937 and 1938. All the four works are on the same axis measuring 1,275 m and which runs from east to west. Constantin Brancusi died on March 16 1957 and was buried in Montparnasse, Paris.

    (bill)

  • Central Bank Report on Inflation

    Central Bank Report on Inflation

    The National Bank of Romania has increased its inflation forecast for the end of this year to 3.8%, from 3.5% previously, according to the institution’s latest quarterly report. The Governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isărescu, has stated that, in the first half of this year, there will be no particular inflationary pressures, but there will be effects generated by past shocks. He recalled the increase in indirect taxes in January 2024 and the reductions in the prices of natural gas and unprocessed food in the second quarter of last year. For the end of 2026, the Central Bank anticipates a level of 3.1% of the annual inflation rate. The Governor of the National Bank explained that, starting from the first quarter of this year, also as an impact of the budget consolidation measures, Romania will enter a period of demand deficit – a positive element with regard to the evolution of inflation, but which may affect economic growth.

    Mugur Isărescu: “The country is entering a period of demand deficit, so let’s see how it works. The important thing is that, in combination with the fiscal policy, the monetary policy, this new situation does not lead to recession. If economic growth is based mainly on investments and especially on the absorption of EU money, we believe that this can be avoided and inflation will go down. There is economic growth – not great, but still growth”.

    The Governor of the National Bank, Mugur Isărescu, has also stressed that Romania was not an inflation champion last year, as stated, but actually had the lowest figures compared to three similar countries – the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. The highest inflation rate was recordedin Hungary, almost 25%, as a peak, then in Poland and we were even slightly below the Czech Republic, the NBR governor stated, explaining that the decrease in inflation in the case of Romania was, however, slower.

    Regarding the risks to the projected inflation trajectory, Mugur Isărescu has warned that there are many uncertainties, including what is happening in Saudi Arabia, namely the discussions on Ukraine between the Trump administration delegation and Russia, as well as the summit of European countries in Paris, also regarding Ukraine. According to the governor, the measures taken by the current governing coalition to reduce the budget deficit will lead to a period of demand deficit. In this context, it is important that the fiscal and the monetary policies combined help avoid the recession.

    Mugur Isărescu has also announced that the Central Bank will grant more flexibility to the exchange rate this year. Therefore, it is possible that the national currency will depreciate slightly and even exceed the threshold of 5 lei for one euro. Mugur Isărescu emphasized, however, that once internal political tensions are overcome, the leu will remain an anchor of stability, and the NBR will allow more flexibility for the exchange rate. (MI)

  • Europeans are closing ranks

    Europeans are closing ranks

    In a few days, it will be three years since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Three years after which it’s difficult, if not impossible, to identify high-level meetings on the conflict and Western aid to Kyiv at which the Europeans do not sit at the same table with the Americans. This happened on Monday in Paris, where the leaders of the main EU states and the heads of community institutions gathered for an emergency informal summit. They were forced to meet by the way in which Washington, increasingly unpredictable under the new Trump administration, treats its traditional allies across the Atlantic.

    General Keith Kellogg, the US president’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, had stated at the Munich Security Conference that European leaders would be consulted but would not participate in negotiations to end the war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said on Monday that Ukraine deserved a peace that respected its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and was backed by strong security guarantees. A peace through strengh, as the two called it. Europe, they promised, was offering all its military aid to Ukraine and considered it dangerous to conclude a ceasefire without a peace agreement.

    This is the lesson learned from the Minsk agreements, which sought to end the conflict after Russia’s occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014. According to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, it is right that European nations, including Britain, demonstrate a willingness to do more for collective self-defense. Europe is ready to invest more in our security, assured the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

    The summit ended with a call for unity for transatlantic security and responsibility for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday evening that he had discussed security guarantees and achieving lasting peace in Ukraine with the French President Emmanuel Macron. “We share a common vision: security guarantees must be solid and viable,” Zelensky wrote on the X platform. In his opinion, any other decision in the absence of such guarantees, such as a fragile truce, would be nothing more than another Russian deception and preparation for a new Russian war against Ukraine or other European countries.

    In Bucharest, the presidential advisor Cristian Diaconescu categorically denied information appearing in the public space according to which Romania would have received an invitation to the Paris meeting but declined it. He announced that the Romanian side is working to open a series of communication channels and that developments will soon follow in terms of Romania’s positioning, of generating a certain type of European and transatlantic solidarity, because both are in the interest of the country’s security. (MI)

  • Will the cap on energy prices stay on?

    Will the cap on energy prices stay on?

     

    After the energy market was deregulated on January 1, 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Romania was among the European countries the most severely affected by record-high electricity and natural gas prices. For half a year, in the chaos that set in amid ineffective communication by the authorities at the time, both household and business consumers suffered. The situation became even more complicated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when the entire European market was deeply shaken, including Romania.

     

    Gradually, however, the situation at national level calmed down, including as a result of the government’s decisions to cap prices. By offsetting electricity and natural gas bills, individuals and industrial operators have been protected from exorbitant prices.

     

    As of April 1 this year, however, the capping should end, at least in theory. Some household consumers have already received written notices to this effect from their energy suppliers. Against the backdrop of steep inflation that has meant a decrease in living standards for many Romanians, significantly higher electricity or gas bills–even doubled in certain cases–would be a hard blow to the family budget.

     

    In this context, the Romanian government could take a decision this week on keeping on the current offset and capping scheme. The solution would be implemented through an emergency order.

     

    The energy minister Sebastian Burduja spoke out however in favour of better targeting this support towards those vulnerable consumers for whom paying for energy utilities represents too great a burden:

     

    Sebastian Burduja: “We expect to have a final decision in the Government, therefore a normative act, an emergency order that will establish exactly what the period after April 1 will look like, namely whether this basic scenario and the same capping and offsetting scheme will be kept for a period of time, let’s say until the end of the year, as the prime minister suggested, or whether there will be a formula to better target the aid for vulnerable Romanians.”

     

    Minister Burduja’s message for dissatisfied consumers is that they can change their supplier at any time:

     

    Sebastian Burduja: “Consumers have full power in their hands. This power means changing their supplier whenever they want. There are no contracts that hold them captive. So, when they receive an offer that they don’t like from their supplier, they go to the National Energy Regulatory Authority website and in a few minutes, online, they can change their supplier to the one that offers them the lowest price or the best conditions, in their opinion.”

     

    And to end with a joke, one of the suppliers in Romania reminds its customers that, in fact, the cheapest energy is the one they don’t consume. (AMP)

  • Genuine winter in Romania

    Genuine winter in Romania

     

    The weather conditions in mid-February bring the first spell of genuine winter in several parts of the country. The National Meteorological Administration has issued a yellow-code warning for snowfall and snowstorms, valid until Wednesday morning, in counties in the southern half of Romania and in the capital city Bucharest.

     

    It will snow moderately and a layer of snow will form, generally 10-20 cm thick. Temporarily, the wind will reach up to 45 km/h, blowing the snow. Also until Wednesday, a yellow-code extreme cold warning is in place in 18 counties in the northern half of the country. In these regions, as well as in the mountains, the weather will be particularly cold, and during the nights and mornings it will be freezing, and the minimum temperatures will generally be between 16 and 10 degrees below zero.

     

    The weather stays particularly cold in Bucharest as well, with negative highs ​​and snowfalls that will bring a substantial layer of snow. The Bucharest City Hall announced that it is ready to use over 300 snowploughs.

     

    Road traffic is slowed down in several counties, but no national roads or highways have been closed due to weather conditions. Snow has fallen on the road, which is why traffic police recommend that drivers be very careful and observe all traffic rules. In addition, drivers are advised not to set off if their cars are not equipped for winter. The deputy chief of the Road Police, Bogdan Oproiu:

     

    Bogdan Oproiu: “We should have a preventive conduct while driving, we should be more tolerant in traffic. We recommend that drivers check the condition and type of their tires, drive at a constant speed, adapted to the weather conditions, and also keep a greater distance in traffic from other cars, in order to be able to stop safely.”

     

    Air traffic is also affected by the weather, but within normal parameters, according to flight plans, at the two airports near Bucharest. Equipment is constantly being used to keep the surface in optimal operating conditions, but some flights may experience delays as the aircraft needs de-icing, which is carried out after passengers board, the Bucharest National Airports Company explained.

     

    Rail traffic is also open on all railway lines in Romania, and train circulation is adapted to the unfavourable weather conditions, the National Railway Company reports. According to the company, before setting off passengers are urged to seek information about traffic conditions from passenger railway transport operators.

     

    Meteorologists warn that the weather will be cold throughout the country until the end of the week. There will be extremely cold nights and mornings, at first in the north of the country and in depressions, then elsewhere as well, and during the day there will be mostly below-zero temperatures. (AMP)

  • The priorities of Romania’s interim president

    Acting as the country’s president for the next 100 days, Ilie Bolojan on Wednesday signed the first decree as head of state, namely to appoint the former foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu as presidential adviser. On Thursday, he also presented his priorities as interim president. “We will have fair and transparent elections”, he promised, referring to the upcoming presidential elections in May, when Romanian voters will elect their president for the next five years. Until then, ensuring the country’s stability is number one on Ilie Bolojan’s agenda:

    “First of all, ensuring the economic, social and political stability of the country. We have no time to waste and the risk of having a major crisis on our hands is real. Another important aspect is the foreign policy. Our country will be represented abroad with dignity and seriousness.”

    Ilie Bolojan also said he wanted to restore citizens’ trust in public institutions:

    “Wherever we are in the system, we have no choice but to be in the service of the people and I expect every institution and every employee to work for the citizens. My aim, as interim president, is to restore people’s trust in public institutions and at the end of this mandate to be able to look you in the eye, knowing that I have worked in your best interest and that I have acted with integrity, dignity and out of concern for the Romanian people.”

    The interim president also said he had talks with a number of officials from defence, foreign affairs and national security in order to acquaint himself with the challenges and urgent needs in these fields. From the opposition, the leader of the Save Romania Union, Elena Lasconi, said she hoped that the 100 days in office of the new president would be a “breath of fresh air”. Her party also came up with a proposal, namely for Ilie Bolojan to start his mandate by, among other, declassifying the expenses of the president’s office. Bolojan took over from outgoing president Klaus Iohannis, whose term in office had come to an end on 21st December last year, but whose stay had been extended by the Constitutional Court following the cancellation of the presidential elections in November and early December.

  • Russian drones crash in Romania

    Russian drones crash in Romania

    The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest is firmly condemning the latest irresponsible attack of the Russian troops, after two drones with explosive payloads have violated Romania’s airspace and crushed on its territory close to the border with Ukraine.

    Moscow’s charge D’affairs in Bucharest has been immediately summoned to the Foreign Ministry and has been briefed on the vehement condemnation of the repeated violation of Romania’s airspace by unmanned flying devices operated by the Russian military forces, which represent a blatant violation of the international law by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

    At the same time, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has underlined that these illegal and irresponsible attacks must stop, and that Romania has the right to take the response measures implied. These actions are an inseparable part of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, which has been carried on for almost three years and which has been causing security risks in the entire Black Sea region and the Eastern Flank of the North Atlantic Alliance, the aforementioned Ministry says.

    Four jet fighters took off from the Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase on Wednesday night after several targets had been detected in Ukraine’s airspace close to Romania and a potential impact zone on the national territory close to the city of Galati, in eastern Romania, had been announced.

    In Romania a team of experts of the Romanian Defence and Interior Ministries on Thursday carried out a series of investigations close to the Romanian-Ukrainian border, where debris from the drone’s impact had been discovered.

    The investigation revealed that both drones had explosive payloads, which were destroyed in the impact. The two sites are outside the inhabited areas and no infrastructure elements have been affected, Defence Ministry sources have announced.

    Authorities in the neighbouring ex-soviet, Romanian-speaking, Republic of Moldova have also announced that two Russian drones violated the country’s airspace and exploded on the ground on Wednesday night, during a massive Russian attack against the port of Reni, in Ukraine. The two drones fell outside the inhabited areas. The two sites have been isolated and there is no threat to citizens presently, the country’s president, Maia Sandu, wrote on Facebook. In her post, she underlined that Russian drones and bombs are falling and exploding on Moldovan soil as the country lacks the necessary defence capabilities.

    The North Atlantic Alliance is close to the Republic of Moldova against the Kremlin’s destabilizing actions and terrorist acts, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, said at the end of the Thursday’s meeting of the NATO defence ministers in Brussels. According to him, Moscow’s actions in the Republic of Moldova are quote a ‘campaign of destabilization and, at times, state-sponsored terrorism aimed at your country’.

    The aforementioned meeting came shortly after the US president Donald Trump announced he had commenced talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on putting an end to the war in Ukraine.

    (bill)

  • Hand-over in the President’s Office

    Hand-over in the President’s Office

    Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday ended his second and final term in office as president of Romania. Senate speaker and National Party leader Ilie Bolojan took over, stepping down from both of these roles for the time being as so as be politically neutral, at least officially. He will act as interim president, as ruled by the Constitutional Court following the resignation of Klaus Iohannis on Monday.

    Ilie Bolojan was born in 1969 in Bihor county, in the west, near the border with Ukraine. He has a background in mechanics and mathematics. He joined the National Liberal Party in 1993. He is seen as one of the best local public administration experts and won three mayor elections in the small city of Oradea between 2008 and 2020. From 2020 until last year when he was elected to the Senate, he served as president of the Bihor County Council.

    As interim president, Bolojan will have limited responsibilities: he will not be able to address Parliament on the main political matters of the nation, will not be able to launch formal process to dissolve Parliament and will not be able to call a national referendum.

    A member of Romania’s ethnic German minority, the outgoing president Klaus Iohannis also served as mayor before being elected to the highest office, as mayor of the central city of Sibiu. He won his first term as president of the country in 2014 and the second five years later. He was due to leave office on 21st December 2024, but his stay was extended as the Constitutional Court annulled the entire process to elect a new president. As a result, the presidential elections will be repeated, with the first round to be held on 4th May and the second on the 18th of May.

    The president’s office website has published the achievements of Iohannis’ two terms in office. According to the document, which is 1,500 pages long, during his first term, he constantly supported the need to strengthen democratic mechanisms and combat corruption. He initiated a project entitled “Educated Romania”, which resulted in new legislation in the field, signed into law during his second term. Among his achievements are also listed his essential role in guiding the nation amid unprecedented crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

    According to opinion polls, however, only 5% of people in Romania have any faith left in Iohannis. Ordinary citizens, journalists and pundits all agree that, despite being in office for a decade, Iohannis has had in fact no notable achievement. They also criticise him for his arrogance, indolence, a taste for opulence, his pointless foreign tours and poor communication skills. Beyond the changing views of the local media vis-a-vis a politician they either glorified, or demonised, British historian Tom Gallagher, who is well acquainted with Romania, wrote that Iohannis “proved a largely worthless Head of State”.

  • Organized Crime Report

    Organized Crime Report

    In 2024, Romania was targeted, along with other European states, by ‘sabotage’ actions and hybrid attacks specific to Russia, with the aim of testing the defense preparation of the NATO countries and finding weaknesses in the infrastructure, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) claims in its activity report for 2024. According to the document, ‘starting with the year 2022, at least 50 incidents took place in 13 countries in Europe, which could be Russian hybrid operations. These include cases of espionage, diversion, vandalism, cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and three attacks on the underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea’. The report also shows that last year Romania did not face a concrete terrorist threat and there were no terrorist attacks, the risk still remaining low. Furthermore, the Romanian supporters of some terrorist organizations, DIICOT claims, continued to carry out only support activities, but they lacked consistency and scope.

     

    On the other hand, the Directorate’s data show that drug consumption has constantly increased, the most wanted being cannabis, which, actually, is also the most seized by the authorities. As far as high-risk drugs are concerned, Romania is mainly a transit country, and the Black Sea ports can be an alternative for the introduction of these substances into the European Union space. Thus, last year, DIICOT prosecutors had to deal with 33,000 cases regarding drug trafficking, almost a quarter more than the previous year. In 2024, investigators seized over a ton of risk and high-risk drugs, over 7 tons of prohibited doping substances and approximately 16 tons of fruit pulp containing cocaine. More than 12,000 cannabis crops or plants were also seized, four times more than the previous year. The report also shows that parcel post systems were among the methods mainly used to introduce small and medium quantities of drugs into the country.

     

    Another aspect mentioned in the DIICOT report is that the number of minors involved in drug trafficking has increased considerably recently, and traffickers are using new methods to bring and sell prohibited substances in Romania, such as specialized online platforms with payment in cryptocurrencies, among other things. Data from the National Antidrug Agency show constant increases in drug consumption in Romania. The domestic market is dominated by consumers from Bucharest whose number is relatively stable and is fueled by criminal groups in the area linked to the Turkish community on the import segment and to the ethnic Roma clans on the street distribution segment, the Agency also shows. (LS)

  • Corruption Perceptions Index 2024

    Corruption Perceptions Index 2024

    Romania continues to be among the EU countries with the worst results in combating corruption, according to Transparency International.

     

    Worrying for 2024 is the fact that the level of corruption globally is still very high, while efforts to combat this plague are decreasing, the non-governmental organization Transparency International reports. The lack of strong measures against corruption has serious repercussions globally in key areas, such as defending democracy, protecting the environment and combating climate change, and promoting and protecting human rights. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2024, anti-corruption efforts in EU countries are stagnating or even declining, which contributes decisively to compromising the rule of law, circumventing access to justice and reducing public integrity. All of these aspects have a negative impact on citizens’ daily lives, whether we are referring to the poor quality of public services, exposure to corruption or the damage to the environment through illegal practices, Transparency International says.

     

    The EU has among the highest scores in the CPI ranking, which is based on data from 13 independent sources, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. In 2024, the average is 62 points, down 2 points from previous years. At the top of the ranking are Denmark (90 points), Finland (88 points) and Luxembourg (81 points). At EU level, the biggest decline in the last year was experienced by countries such as Germany (75 points, minus 3 points compared to 2023), Austria and France (67 points, minus 4 points compared to 2023), Slovakia (49 points, minus 5 points compared to 2023) and Malta (46 points, minus 5 points compared to 2023).

     

    Although it is among the few countries that have remained with a stable score in the CPI ranking, Romania is well below the EU average. For the third year in a row, it is among the countries with the ‘worst’ results in combating corruption, with 46 points out of 100, the same as Malta.

     

    Transparency International Romania emphasizes the importance of cooperation between all societal actors, from academia, public institutions and the political class, to the private sector and civil society. At the same time, their constant involvement in the formation of an upstanding society is essential, each having its role and responsibility in combating corruption. At the national level, Transparency International Romania recommends measures such as improving awareness among citizens regarding the importance of applying the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers in the Public Interest, updating the legislation in the field of public integrity, the government’s commitment to an anti-corruption program that would lift Romania in the CPI ranking to a score of at least 50 points by 2027, and the development of non-formal and informal education programs dedicated to pupils and students.