October 18, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 18.10.2022, 19:17

ACADEMICIAN – Academician Eugen Simion passed away Tuesday, aged 89. He was a literary critic and historian, essayist, editor, professor and academician. Between 1970 and 1973 he was a professor at the famous French university Sorbonne, where he taught Romanian culture and civilization, while in 1992 he was invited to hold lectures at Ecole Normale Superieure of Paris. Eugen Simion published more than 3,000 articles and studies in literary and cultural magazines. He is also the author of books of great importance for Romanian literature. He was the president of the the Romanian Academy and the recipient of many awards and distinctions.

SHENGEN – The European Parliament’s plenary on Tuesday passed a resolution recommending the admission of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen. The EU Council should adopt a decision on the two country’s accession to the free travel area by the end of 2022, which “should ensure the abolition of checks on persons at all internal borders for both countries in early 2023”, the European Parliament said in a release. The resolution was adopted with 547 votes in favour, 49 against and 43 abstentions. MEPs criticise the member states’ failure to take a decision on admitting Bulgaria and Romania, even though the two countries had fulfilled the necessary conditions ever since 2011. In their opinion, maintaining internal border controls is discriminatory and has a serious impact on the lives of mobile workers and citizens, and by obstructing imports, exports and the free flow of goods from freight ports, they also harm the EU single market, the release also reads. Currently, all EU member states except Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania are part of the Schengen area.

TRAFFICKING – Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery for which the Romanian Government has zero tolerance, said Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, in a message conveyed on the European Anti-Trafficking Day, marked on October 18. It is an important moment at European and national level, of acceptance and awareness of the importance of the fight against this phenomenon of global crime, which affects the lives of the most vulnerable among us, said Nicolae Ciucă. He recalled that the problem of human trafficking had become, in the last two years, a priority for the Romanian Executive at the highest level, the inter-institutional coordination for the prevention and combating of this scourge, but also the assistance provided to the rescued victims being in his direct attention. Human trafficking has decreased by over 70% in Romania in the past year, but the number of victims aged below 18 has gone up, according to the latest report made public by the relevant authority.

CAR SHOW – Paris Motor Show, considered the largest event of its kind in the world, began on Monday after a four-year hiatus. The event lasts only one week, instead of two, as it was in the past, and big names such as BMW, Volkswagen, Jaguar, but also Japanese or South Korean manufacturers are missing. The stars of this years show are electric cars, in the context of the energy crisis and climate challenges. The Romanian car-maker Dacia is also present in the French capital with the first full-hybrid Jogger car, which will be available for sale at the beginning of 2023. In a world premiere, in Paris, the MANIFESTO concept, the full range of models with a new visual identity, is also presented, as well as a limited series of the Duster model, called Mat Edition. In Romania, Dacia is produced at the factory in Mioveni (south), opened in 1968 and taken over by the French group Renault in 1999.

UKRAINE – The United States will hold Moscow accountable for war crimes, the White House said, after the Russian military attacked Ukrainian cities with waves of kamikaze drones, killing at least four people in an apartment building in Kyiv. In recent days, Russia has maintained a high rate of long-range strikes against targets in Ukraine, including with Iranian drones. Tehran denies supplying drones to Moscow, while the Kremlin has not commented. In another move, Russia has started sending heavy combat equipment to Belarus, the Ministry of Defense in Minsk said. According to analysts, Moscow could once again use Belarus as a platform to launch an offensive on northern Ukraine, just as it did at the beginning of the invasion launched on February 24. This could, however, also be a tactic to force the Ukrainian army to deploy its troops in the north of the country, in order to weaken its potential in counter-offensives carried out on other fronts. (EE)