June 13, 2024
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 13.06.2024, 13:55
ELECTIONS – The process of centralizing votes and validating Sunday’s European Parliament and local ballots is expected to end today, the Permanent Election Authority says. After counting votes from over 97% of polling stations, PSD and PNL have jointly won over 70% of mayor seats. PSD ranks first in terms of the number of county councils won, followed by PNL, AUR and UDMR. The PSD-PNL alliance has also won the largest number of MEP seats having grabbed 48.57% of the vote, followed by AUR, the United Right Alliance and the SOS Romania party. The Central Election Bureau has dismissed a few hundred requests calling for a recount or the invalidation of the round of elections. The acting USR mayors of Bucharest Districts 1 and 2 have invoked election fraud and other irregularities, which their opponents from PNL and PSD respectively, who’ve won the election to the former’s detriment, have denied.
CELEBRATIONS – Romania’s Defense Ministry is today marking the National Day of Romanian Heroes by hosting military and religious ceremonies in garrisons across the country, hero monuments and cemeteries. The ceremonies commemorated the heroes who gave their lives in the line of duty fighting in wars, missions or theatres of operation. Bells were rung today at noon in churches across the country. “We express our gratitude to the heroes who survived the horrors of World War II, those who opposed communist dictatorship and fought for freedom in the 1989 anti-communist revolution, playing a key role in toppling the totalitarian regime in Romania”, president Klaus Iohannis said in a message. The head of state also expressed recognition for everyone who is today part of Romania’s defense system. Paying homage to the heroes of the Great War, Romanian authorities declared the National Day of Romanian Heroes on the feast day of the Ascension of Christ in 1920. After 1990, this interwar tradition was resumed. Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christians are today celebrating the Ascension of Christ, marking the ascension of Jesus to Heaven from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem 40 days following his Resurrection.
DEFENSE – The EU Defense Ministers summit kicks off today in Brussels, the last such meeting ahead of the NATO summit in Washington. NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said the meeting will address allied measures and initiatives designed to support Ukraine, as well as Russia’s sabotage and disinformation activities in EU states. NATO wants to agree on the final details of the multiannual assistance plan for Ukraine, as well as on a second plan meant to boost the predictability and sustainability of arms industries in the long term. EU Defense Ministers will also hold talks as part of the Nuclear Planning Group. Russia has a dangerous rhetoric in this regard, has transferred nuclear capabilities from Belarus and has undertaken a number of exercises, Secretary Stoltenberg said. Regarding Russa’s hybrid actions, Jens Stoltenberg said we are witnessing an increasing number of coordinated actions. Some attacks were prevented by Member States by exchanging information, while arrests have been made in countries such as England, Germany, Poland or the Baltic States.
GOVERNMENT – The Romanian Government is today expected to pass an emergency decree on creating a special environment budget designed to fund projects aimed at developing integrated waste management infrastructure. The government will also vote the administrative accord between the relevant Romanian and US authorities, signed in March 2023 in Bucharest, designed to implement the Social Security Agreement between Romania and the USA. Today’s agenda also includes a vote on Romania’s voluntary payment to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for 2024 and negotiations concerning a loan agreement on development policies for fiscal management and green economic growth between Romania and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
G7 – G7 leaders are today convening in Italy to discuss ways of increasing economic pressure on Russia in response to its aggression in Ukraine. US president Joe Biden is expected to sign a new security agreement with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to support Kyiv in the long term, the BBC reports. On Wednesday, the USA extended existing economic sanctions in order to further hamper Russia’s war effort. A new plan is in the making, meant to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, although some EU states have expressed concern regarding the possible risks entailed by this plan. (VP)
