May 27, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 27.05.2022, 13:55

SUMMIT – President Klaus Iohannis
will attend the European Council summit on May 30-31, which will focus on the
war in Ukraine. European leaders will discuss ways to continue providing
political, economic and financial support to Ukraine, including the EU’s
involvement in post-war reconstruction efforts, the Romanian presidency
announced on Friday. The EU Council summit will also address the need to help
Moldova build up its resilience. EU heads of state and government will also
examine approaches to ensure continuous food exports from Ukraine in order to
maintain food safety at global level. Another topic on the summit’s agenda is
streamlining the EU single electricity market in order to keep volatile prices in
check and to protect vulnerable categories, the President’s Office also
announced.

MEETING -
Romania’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is today meeting his Turkish
counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoglu, hoping to convince him to vote in favor of the
NATO accession of Sweden and Finland. Minister Aurescu is attending the
Romania-Poland-Turkey trilateral meeting in Istanbul, and has previously
discussed with the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Finland about their
countries’ NATO accession process. The trilateral format was launched 10 years
ago in order to consolidate regional and NATO security. According to a Foreign
Ministry release, in today’s meeting Minister Aurescu is expected to highlight
Romania’s firm support for NATO’s open doors policy and for a swift accession
of Sweden and Finland. Turkey has accused the two countries, Sweden in
particular, of harboring a large number of Kurdish militants of the breakaway
PKK party, which it officially considers a terrorist organization. Hailed by
the overwhelming majority of NATO states and backed by the population of the
two countries, the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden was determined by
security concerns sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

PNRR – Next
week, Romania is expected to submit to the European Commission the first
funding request under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) worth 3
million EUR, after the government adopted the last piece of legislation
required, namely a mechanism that will help prevent the mismanagement of PNRR
funds. This was the third prerequisite Romania had to fulfill before submitting
its funding request. The first referred to verification procedures for completing
PNRR milestones, while the second prerequisite was to upload evidence of having
fulfilled the 21 milestones by the end of 2021.

CENSUS – Friday
is the last day when the self-enumeration online platform is available. Public
sector employees who’ve completed the online process will receive a day off.
Starting Monday, the census will move to the second stage, spanning over May 31
– July 17, when censors will collect data in the field. Two weeks ago, the
authorities decided to extend the deadline for self-enumeration by an
additional two weeks, against a large number of online registrations. According
to the National Statistics Institute, some 10.2 million online forms were
submitted by May 24, the largest numbers being reported in Bucharest (1
million), followed by the counties of Cluj (440 thousand), Prahova (400
thousand), Brașov and Timiș (380 thousand each). Census participation is
mandatory under the law, while anyone refusing to take part will receive fines
of up to 600 EUR.

EPPO – Three Romanian
citizens are being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office
(EPPO) for community funds fraud, which caused an estimated prejudice of some 3
million EUR. Prosecutors ordered searches in 15 locations in the Danube Delta
area, Bucharest, as well as Gorj and Giurgiu counties. The individuals are
suspected of having used seven companies, one registered in neighboring
Bulgaria, to access funds addressing the Danube Delta, which they subsequently
put to use outside the scope of the funding. The three had arranged overvalued
auctions to embezzle large amounts of EU funds. Bail is set at 1.7 million EUR.

OVERVIEW – The
Liberal and Social-Democratic Parties on Thursday presented an overview of the
first six months in office. In separate events, the leaders of PNL and PSD
spoke about economic growth, measures to curb the compounded effects of a
several crises facing Romania right now and the package of social measures
addressing vulnerable categories. USR and AUR in opposition said Romania is on
the verge of bankruptcy, with soaring inflation, few investments and no
recovery programs.

REFUGEES – The number of
Ukrainian refugees who entered Romania yesterday dropped by 0.9% compared to
the previous day, the Border Police announced on Friday. Within the space of 24
hours, some 93 thousand people entered Romania, of whom some 9,000 were
Ukrainian nationals. Of these, over 4,000 crossed from Ukraine while 937 from
the Republic of Moldova. After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, a little
over 1 million Ukrainians entered Romania.

ROLAND
GARROS – Irina Begu is today playing Leolia Jeanjean of France in the
third round at Roland Garros. Yesterday, Begu ousted Ekaterina Alexandrova of
Russia, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. Begu is the last Romanian in the main draw, after Simona
Halep was knocked out by Qinwen Zheng of China in the second round. Halep won
the tournament in 2018 and played the final in 2014 and 2017. On Wednesday,
Sorana Cîrstea lost to Sloane Stephens of the United States. Another four
Romanian tennis players, Gabriela Ruse, Ana Bogdan, Irina Bara and Mihaela
Buzărnescu, were knocked out in the opening round. Irina Begu, Gabriela Ruse
and Monica Niculescu have advanced to the second round in the women’s doubles.
(VP)