February 28, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 28.02.2023, 13:55

MEETING -
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Monday met with the president of the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, on
the sidelines of the European Investment Bank Group Forum in Luxembourg.
According to the Presidency, Klaus Iohannis praised the activity of the EBRD in
Romania, in particular its support to the private sector by means of a wide
array of financial and technical assistance instruments. Additionally, the
president underscored the EBRD’s key role in funding investment at local level
as well, including to boost the absorption of EU funds. President Iohannis
praised the EBRD’s support to the development of Romania’s capital markets.
Klaus Iohannis also met with the president of the European Investment Bank
Group, Werner Hoyer, and hailed the substantial contribution of this
institution to the implementation of EU objectives and policies, particularly
as regards investment in the public and private sectors. President Iohannis
spoke of the excellent cooperation between the EIB and Romania, highlighting
the fact that the Bank has been Bucharest’s strategic partner for over 32
years, providing specialized technical assistance in a number of fields and
funding major reform projects.

AGREEMENT -
The British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president
Ursula von der Leyen have reached an agreement that is expected to end trade
disputes in Northern Ireland in the wake of Brexit. The two officials said the
agreement marks a fresh start in bilateral relations. According to Radio
Romania’s London correspondent, Sunak and von der Leyen used an unprecedented
cordial tone to announce the impossible: a new deal that would simplify trade
with Northern Ireland at UK level, and that would also protect the EU’s single
market. Should the new agreement be ratified, trading with Northern Ireland
will become easier, cheaper and faster. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has
hailed the new agreement on Twitter, stating that the EU and the UK remain key
allies, devoted to tackling global challenges together.

UKRAINE – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr
Zelensky, has admitted that the situation in Bakhmut, a city sieged by Russian
invasion forces, is getting more difficult by the day. The enemy is
systematically destroying anything that can be used to reinforce our defenses,
Zelensky said, who labeled Ukrainian servicemen involved in this battle true
heroes. As early as last summer, Moscow’s troops have been trying to take
Bakhmut, a key strategic settlement, that has become a symbol of the battle for
the entire Donbas region. In a statement to the Russian television, the head of
pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, claims that all access
routes to the Ukrainian fortress in Bakhmut are in firing range. Previously,
the owner of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced his mercenaries had
captured the village of Yahidne, just north of the city.

VISIT – New projects in the energy
sector are high on the agenda of the official visit paid by Romanian Chamber of
Deputies Speaker Marcel Ciolacu to Azerbaijan. Marcel Ciolacu met in Baku with
the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev. Talks focused on the contract for the
delivery of 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Romania over a year. The
contract is also meant to support the Republic of Moldova as well, Marcel
Ciolacu said. The project for the
transport of LNG and the ROMGAZ-SOCAR partnership for the construction of two
terminals in the Black Sea have also been examined by the two officials. The
underwater cable will be 1,200 km long and will transport as much as 1,000
megawatts, carrying electricity via Georgia under the Black Sea to Romania and
then to Hungary and the rest of Europe. Azerbaijan is Romania’s first partner
in the South Caucasus, Marcel Ciolacu said.

WIZZ AIR – The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will suspend all
flights in and out of Chișinău starting March 14 due to an elevated risk of
crossing the Moldovan airspace, in the context of the war in Ukraine. The
safety of passengers and operating crews remains the number one priority for
Wizz Air, and the company did not take this decision easily, a press release
reads. Starting March 14, Wizz Air will offer additional flights out of Iași,
in the north, to support passengers from the Republic of Moldova. A new
Iași-Berlin route will be established, while Wizz Air will supplement flights
to Barcelona, Milan, Bergamo, Bologna, Rome, Dortmund, Larnaca, London and
Treviso. (VP)