March 28, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 28.03.2025, 19:48

Defence. Romania has a direct stake in seeing the war in Ukraine come to an end and would like to see this neighbouring country enjoy peace and pursue its European path, reads a statement from the president’s office after a meeting of the Country’s Supreme Defence Council. The Council met on Friday in the first meeting called by Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan to discuss the evolution of the war in Ukraine and the stage and prospects of the negotiations to solve this war of aggression. According to the statement, the ceasefire should be followed by a peace accord that provides solid security guarantees and discourages future aggression from Russia. Transatlantic cooperation is vital in this process and it is also necessary for Romania to adopt a proactive strategy, while consolidating its bilateral relationship with the US with a view to maintaining a consistent US military presence on its territory. Consolidating the NATO deterrence and defence posture, especially on the eastern flank, remains a priority, the statement also says. In Friday’s meeting, the Country’s Supreme Defence Council also analysed and approved the equipping of the Romanian Naval Forces with a new, light corvette type vessel capable of conducting different types of missions within a short period of time.

Media. The National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), the coordinator of digital services in Romania, on Thursday conducted an exercise to test the capacity to respond to challenges that may emerge in the online environment, in view of the presidential elections in May. Representatives of national authorities, the European Commission, major online platforms and civil society participated in the exercise. In another development, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu criticized the recent decision of the National Audiovisual Council in Bucharest to remove op-ed content by some journalists, viewing the move as a deviation from democracy. Opinions should not be confused with information and should never be censored, said the Prime Minister, who added that it is unworthy of the members of the Audiovisual Council to ground their decisions on political opinions and personal reasons, and not on the law. The main role of the Council is to ensure a civilized and balanced framework for public debates, not to obstruct them or turn itself into a Ministry of Truth, Marcel Ciolacu said.

Ukraine. The leaders of the countries that support Ukraine are currently ruling out the lifting of any sanctions imposed on Russia and are even considering increasing them. This is the unanimous conclusion of Thursday’s summit in Paris, after Russia made lifting sanctions a condition for a ceasefire agreement in the Black Sea region to come into force. Present at the meeting, the interim Romanian president, Ilie Bolojan, said that Romania is ruling out sending troops to Ukraine, but if a peace plan is reached, it could become a transport hub for the designated forces. At the same time, he announced that Romania will participate in the working group for monitoring compliance with the ceasefire agreement in the Black Sea, based on the available infrastructure and also through collaboration with Turkey and Bulgaria.

Policy. The Romanian minister for investments and European projects Marcel Boloş on Friday called in Brussels for a stronger future cohesion policy that would remain the European Union’s long-term structural investment policy. According to a statement from the ministry, Boloş presented the General Affairs Council with the joint position of 16 member states to support the importance of a strong cohesion policy in the post-2027 EU budget. The document emphasises the need to continue to provide strong and balanced support for all EU regions with a view to consolidating economic, social and regional cohesion.

Summer time. Romania will switch to summer time on Saturday night, when 3:00 am (local time) will become 4:00 am. Thus, the last Sunday in March will have only 23 hours, becoming the shortest day of the year. The transition from winter time to summer time has come under intense debate in recent years, with the European Parliament recommending abandoning the time change. The EU member states were supposed to notify, by 2021, whether they wanted to permanently apply summer time or winter time, but the discussion has not been finalized. The time change was decided for practical reasons – to make the most of daylight. Currently, 70 countries around the world have summer time and winter time. (CM)