October 15, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 15.10.2024, 20:00

EU – The European Commission (EC) approved, on Tuesday, a positive preliminary assessment of the 6 targets and 62 of the 68 milestones related to Romania’s third payment request in the amount of 2 billion euros (without pre-financing ), under the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RMR), the central element of the NextGenerationEU programme. The money can be used for reforms and investments in areas such as the green and digital transition, sustainable transport, the business environment, tourism, healthcare and education. The EC has found that, at this stage, 6 milestones have not been reached, being about reforms of the governance of state enterprises, as well as investments in the field of transport and a reform of the fiscal regime of micro-enterprises. Romania now has one month to submit its observations to the Commission. If, following observations, the EC confirms its assessment that the benchmarks in question have not been satisfactorily met, part of the payment will be suspended. From that moment, Romania will have a period of six months to fulfill the pending milestones. Romania’s Recovery and Resilience Plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan will be financed with 28.5 billion euros, of which 13.6 billion euros in the form of grants and 14.9 billion euros in the form of loans.

DEFENSE – The permanent offices of the two Chambers of the Romanian Parliament decided, on Tuesday, to submit to the Ministry of National Defense the prior approval decision for the initiation of the procedure for awarding the purchase contracts for 44 AAV-7 amphibious assault vehicles, sourced from the U.S. Marine Corps’ inventory. The purchase, carried out through the American security assistance program, has an estimated value, VAT excluded, of 210 million dollars. The purchase was approved by the Supreme National Defense Council in May.

NATO – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is conducting the annual nuclear exercise, against the backdrop of increasingly frequent threats, by Russian President Vladimir Putin, that he will use nuclear weapons in the context of the war in Ukraine. NATO sources mentioned, however, that the exercise is in no way a response to Moscow’s threats, given that such military maneuvers have been taking place annually for over a decade. 60 aircraft from 13 countries participate in the operation, takes place for 2 weeks in Belgium and the Netherlands. The approximately 2,000 soldiers taking part in the exercise simulate missions in which NATO aircraft transport American nuclear warheads.

ENERGY – Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja on Tuesday attended the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting in Luxembourg. The agenda for talks included the contribution of the energy sector to the competitiveness of the European Union, divergence of wholesale electricity prices, winter preparedness, a report on the state of the Energy Union and follow-up on REPowerEU. Earlier this month, Minister Burduja said the European Commission forwarded the Energy Council a proposal by Romania, Bulgaria and Greece on a functional energy market, “an energy union as the founding fathers would have wanted”. “If we take this commitment and abide by EU regulations, including steps towards decarbonization and green transition, then of course we ask to enjoy the same rights, access to energy at competitive prices compared to what other countries are paying”, Minister Burduja explained.

CLIMATE SUMMIT – Climate change is an unprecedented challenge whose effects exceed national borders, the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, said in the opening of the Climate Change three-day summit hosted by Bucharest. Governments should cooperate both at national and international level to come up with an effective approach to climate change, the president said, adding that Romania faced heat waves, prolonged draught and extended floods within the space of just a few months. In this context, Romania needs to improve its policies and financial support for the research, production and application of green technologies. “We must join forces and pool our expertise to build a safer, greener future, with opportunities for all!”, the president also said.