January 29, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 29.01.2023, 13:50

Election. On Saturday
evening, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă
sent congratulations to the new president of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, speaking
of strengthening the relations between the two states. Several European leaders
have welcomed the victory of the new Czech president, who has promised to be an
independent head of state, uninfluenced by party politics, to continue and
provide aid to the war-torn Ukraine and to support Kyiv’s accession to EU. In
turn, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Petr Pavel on
Twitter and said that he appreciated his support for Ukraine. In the second
round of the elections, reserve general Petr Pavel, former head of the NATO
Military Committee, received 58.32% of the votes, while his rival, the
billionaire Andrej Babis, who held the post of prime minister between 2017 and
2021, got 41.67%, according to the final results. The voter turnout in this EU
and NATO member country, with a population of 10.5 million, was 70%. Petr
Pavel, aged 61, ran in the elections as an independent candidate and benefits
from the support of the center-right government. He will replace Milos Zeman, a
controversial politician who had maintained close ties with Moscow before
making a U-turn during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine. The President of
the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has stated, in the run-up to the EU-Ukraine summit next week that Ukraine
has the unconditional support of the EU bloc and that this country must resist the
Russian attacks in order to defend the European values. Meanwhile, Kyiv and its
Western allies are engaged in rapid talks on potentially equipping Ukraine
with long-range missiles and military aircraft, an aide to President Volodymyr
Zelensky said. On the ground, in the east of Ukraine, the fighting continues. The
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that Ukrainian forces
repelled new Russian attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to
Kyiv, Russia is preparing a new wave of offensives to mark the anniversary of
its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Border-crossing. On January 28,
in Romania, more than 151,000 people, Romanian citizens and foreigners, crossed
Romania’s borders. Some 74 thousand people, of which 7,627 Ukrainian citizens,
entered the country. Since early February 2022, (pre-conflict period), until
January 28, at national level, more than 3.42 million Ukrainian citizens
entered the country.

Survey. 80% of Romanian
consumers allow the use of personal data for advertising purposes, according to
a recent survey. Data from the Survey on the use of information and
communication technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals shows that 1
in 2 Europeans aged 16-74 refused to allow their personal data to be used for
advertising purposes when using the internet for private reasons during the
previous 3 months. Moreover, 46% reported that they allowed restricted access
only to their geographic location or denied access to this information
completely. The share of people refusing to allow their personal data to be
used for advertising varied between EU member states. The highest rates were
observed in the Netherlands (73%), Finland (70%), Denmark and Germany (both
63%), Spain (62%). Conversely, the lowest were recorded in Bulgaria (10%),
Romania (20%), Greece (29%), Slovakia (30%) and Latvia (32%).

Festival. Two Romanian
films, ‘Metronome’ by Alexandru Belc and ‘M.R.I. ‘ by Cristian Mungiu, are taking
part in the competition of the Gothenburg International Film Festival in
Sweden, which is taking place these days. According to the Romanian Cultural
Institute in Stockholm, the event annually presents approximately 400
productions from around the world, with around 160,000 spectators attending. ‘Metronome’,
director Alexandru Belc’s debut film, presents a love story between two young
people in communist Romania in 1972, and specialist critics describe it as a
socio-historical analysis of a generation forced to live in a society full of mutual
suspicions and mistrust. In the movie ‘M.R.I’ by the renowned Cristian Mungiu,
the action takes place in a village in Transylvania (centre), where the peace
of the locals is disturbed when a few new workers are employed at a small
factory, and frustrations, conflicts and impulses erupt to the surface through
the thin veneer of apparent understanding and calm. With a history of more than
40 years, the Gothenburg festival is the most important such event in the
region and offers Nordic cinema a generous and sound promotion platform through
a dedicated competition and programs. (MI)