March 28, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 28.03.2022, 13:55

UKRAINE – Ukrainian troops have
successfully launched counteroffensives on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Oleh
Synyehubov, governor of the Kkarkiv Oblast announced on Monday. According to
information published by the Ukrainian media, Russia’s attacks targeted several
cities on Sunday evening. The capital Kyiv and the cities of Lutsk, Rivne and
Kharkiv were reportedly rocked by several powerful explosions. Air raid sirens
went off in most regions, and a fuel depot in Lutsk, in the northwest, was hit
by a missile strike. The Ukrainian leadership accused the Russian army of
inhumane tactics and for the partial or complete blocking of humanitarian
corridors and cities under siege, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak
tweeted.

SCHOOLS – The number of Ukrainian
children enrolled in Romanian schools stands at 1,140, out of a total of nearly
34 thousand underage children who arrived in Romania fleeing the Russian
invasion, Education Minister Sorin Cîmpeanu, has announced. The Romanian
Minister said the majority of Ukrainian school children wish to continue their
studies observing the standard curricula taught in Ukrainian schools.

VISIT – There are currently no risks
to food safety in Europe. What we do have is inflation, said EU Commissioner
for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, at the end of his meeting in Bucharest with
Finance Minister Adrian Câciu. According to the EU official, the war in Ukraine
will impact the estimated economic growth. Talks between Gentiloni and Câciu
also tackled economic measures that need to be taken in response to the shocks
reported in the supply chain. At the same time, the two officials also
discussed the fallout of the war in Ukraine and response measures required to
deal with the wave of refugees. Paolo Gentiloni is paying a visit to Bucharest
on Monday and Tuesday and is expected to meet with president Klaus Iohannis,
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and other Romanian officials. The agenda of the
visit focuses on economic prospects and on the situation in Romania one month
after the start of the war in neighboring Ukraine.

NATO – Romania’s Prime
Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, is today attending a meeting of NATO heads of
government from southeastern Europe, hosted by Sofia, Bulgaria. The meeting
will address the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on regional security
in the short, medium and long term and ways to consolidate coordination and
cooperation in southeastern Europe. On the sidelines of the meeting, Prime
Minister Ciucă will also hold talks with the prime minister of Bulgaria,
Montenegro and North Macedonia, Kiril Petkov, Zdravko Krivokapic and Dimitar Kovačevski, respectively. The meeting
in Sofia follows last week’s extraordinary NATO summit, attended by Prime
Minister Nicolae Niucă and president Klaus Iohannis.

ROMANIA-USA – During talks with
Washington officials, Senate Speaker Florin Cîțu reiterated the need to
consolidate NATO’s eastern flank, including by boosting American military
presence. 25 years after the signing of the Strategic Partnership between
Romania and the United States, the Romanian official reiterated Romania’s
commitment to increasing defense spending to 2.5% of GDP and stepping up
military cooperation with the United States. In a post on Facebook, Florin Cîțu
also argues that one the topics tackled during the talks was the importance of
ensuring Europe’s energy security and Romania’s contribution in this respect.
As part of his visit to the United States, the Romanian official also met with
representatives of the Romanian community in the USA, whom he told they can
contribute to consolidating the strategic partnership.

ENERGY – Romanian Energy
Minister, Virgil Popescu, is today invited to attend a debate regarding the
energy market in Romania, hosted by the Chamber of Deputies. Organized at the
request of USR in opposition, the debate focuses on Romania’s dependency on
Russian gas imports and on securing natural gas and electricity supplies.
Minister Popescu recently said some 460 million Euro can be accessed under the
Recovery and Resilience Plan, once negotiations with the Ministry for
Investments and European Projects are finalized. Businesses that want to access
the funds to purchase facilities that produce sustainable energy can do so
starting this week.

COVID – A little over 1,900 new cases of COVID-19 infection were
confirmed in the space of 24 hours, the authorities announced on Monday. Most
new infections, over 650, were reported in Bucharest. Cluj, Timiş and Ilfov
counties also report large incidence rates. Right now, over 2,800 patients are
being treated in hospitals for Covid, of whom 400 in intensive care. The
authorities also announced 8 fatalities, of which 2 were prior to the reference
interval. According to the National Institute for Public Health, over 13,600
doses of anti-Covid vaccine were administered last week, of which 1,900
accounted for the first dose. Since the start of the vaccination campaign, over
16.7 million doses have been administered in Romania. (VP)