March 17, 2023 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 17.03.2023, 20:00

ECCC The European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) will be
inaugurated on May 9th, on Europe Day, in Bucharest, at the Polytechnic
University, rector Mihnea Costoiu told Radio Romania. He also said this is the
first European agency headquartered in Romania’s capital. The ECCC has a
4.5-billion euro budget for investment. Bucharest could thus become a hotspot
for global cybersecurity leaders, given that the EU lays great emphasis on
digital economy and protecting companies and citizens in the online
environment. The ECCC aims to increase Europe’s cybersecurity capacities and
competitiveness, working together with a Network of National Coordination
Centres (NCCs) to build a strong cybersecurity community.

NATO Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has eventually agreed
with Finland’s NATO accession, but not with Sweden’s as well. We have decided
to initiate the ratification of Finland’s accession process to NATO in our
parliament, he said after a meeting in Ankara on Friday with his Finnish
counterpart, Sauli Niinisto. As far as Sweden is concerned, the Turkish
official said talks would be carried on. Hungary, the only other country yet to
approve Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO accession, announced it would back Finland
at the vote on March 27. Turkey’s veto so far to the 2 countries joining the
Alliance revolved around what Ankara called the harbouring of terrorists,
i.e. militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), on their territories.

WARRANT The International Criminal Court Friday issued a warrant for
the arrest of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in relation to war crimes
committed in Ukraine since the start of the invasion in that country, France
Presse reports. Putin is allegedly responsible for the war crime of
unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of
population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,
the ICC said, and emphasised that there are reasonable grounds to believe that
Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes.
A similar arrest warrant was issued against Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner
for Children’s Rights in Russia. For over a year, the ICC has been
investigating possible war crimes or crimes against humanity committed during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Moscow repeatedly denying allegations of its
forces committing atrocities in Ukraine.

FILM The nominations for the Gopo Awards, a yearly event dedicated
to Romanian cinema, have been made public. The film Metronome, directed by
Alexandru Belc, got most nominations, alongside Immaculate and Men of
Deeds, with 10 nominations each. The awards ceremony will be held on April 25
in Bucharest. (AMP)