July 25, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.07.2024, 19:51

House of Romania. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, participated, on Thursday, in the inauguration of the House of Romania in Paris, an event organized by the Romanian Embassy in France. In the speech delivered on this occasion, the head of state said that, through this special effort, Romanian values and culture are better represented and promoted. On Friday, Klaus Iohannis will attend the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, and also the reception hosted on this occasion by the French President, Emmanuel Macron. President Iohannis received, last week, at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, the Romanian Olympic team that will compete in the Olympics. He handed the athletes the national flag, which will be carried during the opening ceremony by rowers Ionela and Marius Cozmiuc. The Romanian Olympic team is made up of 106 athletes.

Government. In Thursday’s meeting, the Romanian government adopted the emergency ordinance on the organization of the presidential elections on November 24 and December 8 and the parliamentary elections on December 1. The President of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Toni Greblă, announced that the adopted normative act aims to create a separate electoral infrastructure for the two types of voting and also provides for the manner in which the members of the electoral offices will be appointed for the two elections. According to Toni Greblă, this emergency ordinance will be followed by three other government decisions regarding the technical-administrative measures necessary to organize the elections, the calendar and the allocated budget. According to the emergency ordinance, Romanians from the diaspora will be able to vote by mail in the parliamentary and presidential elections.

Drones. The North Atlantic Alliance announced on Thursday that it had no indication that the remains of Russian drones found in Romania were evidence of an intentional attack on NATO territory, but it warned about “irresponsible and potentially dangerous” actions, Reuters news agency reports. The Ministry of Defense in Bucharest announced on Thursday that remains of a Russian drone were found in the north of Tulcea county (south-east), after the attacks on Tuesday night to Wednesday on the civil and port infrastructure in Ukraine, near the border with Romania . According to the Ministry, the locations identified as possible areas of incidence are outside the inhabited areas (…). At the same time, the Ministry has firmly condemned the Russian attacks on elements of Ukrainian civil infrastructure, which are unjustified and in serious contradiction with the norms of international law. We recall that recently, the residents of the north of Tulcea County received RO-ALERT messages, informing them about the possibility of some objects falling from the airspace on the Romanian territory near the border with Ukraine. Similar incidents, in which fragments of Russian drones fell on Romanian soil, took place in the fall of 2023 and this year, in March.

Diplomacy. The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Olha Stefanishyna, thanked Romania for its support, including in the process of joining the European Union, noting that European enlargement is a guarantee of security. We resist, we have resisted and we will resist together in a stronger, more united Union – said the Ukrainian official on Thursday, after a meeting with the head of Romanian diplomacy, Luminita Odobescu. During a meeting with the Romanian minister and the vice-prime minister for European integration of the Republic of Moldova, Cristina Gherasimov, she thanked Bucharest for its support and emphasized the openness of the Chisinau authorities to speed up bilateral programs for the exchange of experience in the field of European affairs. The meetings took place before the second day of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy hosted by Bucharest, focusing on hybrid threats and the response to them, as well as another session, on the stage of Romania’s accession to the OECD and current topics on the agenda of Romanian economic diplomacy in the current geopolitical context.

Eurobarometer. More than 72% of the EU citizens believe that the community forum plays an important role in supporting the rule of law in their country, according to a recent Eurobarometer. In Romania, the share is 65%. The poll was released on Wednesday at the same time as the Rule of Law in the EU report, and shows that almost 9 out of 10 Europeans think it is important for all member states to respect the Union’s core values, an opinion unchanged since 2019. Compared to 5 years ago, the share of those who feel informed about these values has increased, from 43% to 51%. Through these fundamental values, Europeans understand the observance of human rights, the rule of law and democracy. The survey also shows that for 86% of Europeans it is important that the press and civil society organizations can work freely, without any pressure, even if they are critical of the government. (MI)