February 25, 2024 UDPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Mihaela Ignătescu, 25.02.2024, 18:26
Ukraine. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is traveling to Paris on Monday to participate in a working meeting on the war in Ukraine and boosting efforts to continue the support given to that country. The meeting is organized by the French head of state, Emmanuel Macron. On Saturday, hundreds of Ukrainian refugees demonstrated in several cities across Romania, two years after the start of Russia’s war of aggression. In Bucharest, over 300 Ukrainians marched in front of the government headquarters and in front of the embassies of Ukraine and Russia to honor the memory of those who died in the war and to stress that the tragedy is not over. In Constanta (south-east), over 200 people participated in what they called the “bloody genocide march”, which ended in front of the consulate of the Russian Federation. Demonstrations in support of Ukraine took place in several European cities. Thousands of people, including Ukrainian refugees, demonstrated in Berlin, Paris and London, but also in Madrid, Stockholm, Belgrade and Athens.
G7. The G7 countries, the main economic powers of the world, will continue to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian aggression and will look for ways to make Russia pay for the damage it caused, the G7 leaders promised, during a video conference in which the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also participated. The video conference was organized on the occasion of two years since Russia’s full-scale attack. As a sign of solidarity, two of the G7 leaders, the prime ministers of Italy and Canada, Giorgia Meloni and Justin Trudeau, went to Kyiv together with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo. Meloni and Trudeau signed 10-year security agreements between their countries and Ukraine. The war, the biggest in Europe after the Second World War, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded in the two camps and large-scale destruction in Ukraine, which will need 500 billion dollars for reconstruction. Millions of civilians have been forced to take refuge internally or outside the country.
Energy. The war in Ukraine has made us more aware that it is essential for Romania to obtain a bigger energy independence, within the European integrated market, said the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja. He visited Caragele, in Buzău, where the Romgaz company concentrates most of its investments in the exploration activity. Speaking about the importance of this project with an essential role in consolidating the energy independence of the country, the minister has stressed that Romgaz has restarted drilling in the Caragele perimeter, where it has already reached over 1,300 meters in just two weeks, and is expected to reach 5,000 meters by July and, if all the data are confirmed, the 76 Rosetti probe will go into production. “The Caragele perimeter is Romania’s chance to develop and Romanians’ chance to benefit from Romanian gas. The investment in this well alone, a Romanian well, means more than 100 million lei (about 20 million euros), and in the entire perimeter of Caragele the Romgaz company will invest a billion le by 2027”, the minister said. Sebastian Burduja also said that the Neptune Deep project, considered the most important gas field in the country, located in the Black Sea, is planned to start production in 2027.
Trump. Former American President Donald Trump has recorded a new victory in the Republican Party’s internal race to nominate a candidate for the presidential elections that will take place in the USA in November. Donald Trump won the so-called primary elections in the state of South Carolina, getting 20% more than his opponent Nikki Haley. South Carolina is the home state of Nikki Haley, who was governor there for six years, which makes her defeat all the more relevant, Reuters reports. However, Haley is determined to stay in the race at least until the so-called “super Tuesday”, on March 5, when there will be primary elections in 15 states. However, Donald Trump remains the clear favorite of the Republicans despite the many problems he has, including criminal records. Some of the polls say that Donald Trump could defeat the current president Joe Biden in November, who will most likely be the candidate of the Democratic Party.
Israel. Israel is optimistic about the progress of the negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States after a new round of talks in Paris. The parties are discussing the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, a ceasefire and an increase in aid to the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas would like the end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal, so there is a little less optimism in the Palestinian camp regarding the progress of the negotiations. According to the Radio Romania correspondent in Israel, in the talks that will probably be scheduled for next week, the parties will establish, among other things, the identity of the Palestinian detainees who will be released in the first phase.
Award. The Romanian actor Sebastian Stan received, on Saturday evening, the “Silver Bear” for the best performance in a leading role, for his part in the American production “A Different Man”. At the 74th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, the feature film “Dahomey”, directed by Mati Diop, was awarded the “Golden Bear” for the best film. The director Martin Scorsese was awarded an “Honorary Golden Bear” for his entire career, a few weeks before the Oscars, for which the latest film of the American filmmaker, “Killers of the Flower Moon”, received 10 nominations.
