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March 29, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 29.03.2022, 20:00

Talk. Romanias president Klaus Iohannis discussed on Tuesday, on the phone, with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, the critical situation in neighboring Ukraine. “Romania will continue to take care of every citizen of Ukraine who arrives in this country”, the Romanian head of state wrote on Twitter. He added that more than 125 trucks carrying goods, ambulances and fire engines from Romania and other EU member states have arrived in Ukraine via the humanitarian hub set up in Suceava (northeast). President Zelensky informed his Romanian counterpart about the latest on Ukraines fight against the Russian aggression and Russias war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. Iohannis has spoken on the phone with Zelensky before, on February 24 and March 13. In all these talks, the Romanian president has assured his Ukrainian counterpart of Romanias full support, both bilaterally and within the EU.

Ukraine. Moscow will radically reduce its military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv in Ukraine, the Russian negotiators said on Tuesday, after Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul. According to AFP, they also said that negotiations on an agreement on Ukraines neutrality and non-nuclear status were entering a practical dimension. The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, spoke of “substantial talks” between the two sides and said that Ukraines “clear” proposals for an agreement would be “studied very soon and forwarded to President Vladimir Putin.” For their part, the Kyiv negotiators said that Ukraine proposed the adoption of a status of neutrality in exchange for security guarantees, meaning that it would not join military alliances or host military bases on its territory. The proposal will also include a 15-year consultation period on the status of the annexed Crimea and will enter into force only in the event of a complete ceasefire. The Ukrainian side also wants security guarantees like Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which is a collective defense clause. Those who would guarantee Ukraines security could include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Israel, Turkey and Canada. The proposals are the most detailed and concrete that Ukraine has made public so far, Reuters reports.

Commissioner. The effects of the war in Ukraine on the European economy cannot be quantified yet, but it is clear that estimates of economic growth, both in the EU and in Romania, need to be revised downwards, the European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said on Tuesday in Bucharest, where he attended a conference organized by The Economist. In turn, the Romanian Minister of Finance, Adrian Câciu, announced that Romania had obtained from the European Commission more flexibility in the use of European funds, so that 70-80% of the new measures to maintain the purchasing power of Romanians could be supported with community money. During his meeting with the European Commissioner, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca has said that Romania, as an EU and NATO member state, is a safe country, which guarantees the security of business and investment. The two analyzed the economic effects triggered by the Russian military aggression on Ukraine, and the Romanian Prime Minister presented the efforts made by Romania to manage the flow of refugees, as well as the solidarity shown towards the Ukrainians remaining in their country.

Refugees. The EU interior ministers on Monday approved a plan for better coordination with respect to Ukrainian war refugees. The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, has announced that so far 3.8 million people, especially women, children and elderly, have fled Ukraine. Member states have requested additional funding from the Commission to manage the inflows, with the Commission announcing furher aid is already being prepared. The EU interior ministers also agreed to launch a EU-wide platform for the registration of refugees arriving in the Union and applying for temporary protection. They also put together unified rules for receiving and supporting children, including unaccompanied minors, and a plan against human trafficking. In this context, Romania continues to support Ukrainian refugees and the authorities in that country. Since the start of the war, over 570,000 Ukrainian nationals have entered Romania. Most of them have only transited the country, while around 4,300 applied for asylum in Romania.

Visit. The Speaker of the Romanian Senate, Florin Cîţu, who is on a visit to the United States,has met with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, with whom he discussed the importance of Romania in NATO, the strengthening of defense capabilities and the Visa Waiver program. On Monday, he held talks with the Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. The topics addressed were: increasing Romanias defense budget to 2.5% of GDP, the need for tougher sanctions against Russia and the status of Romanias energy security projects. Florin Cîţu is on a working visit to Washington, together with a delegation of parliamentarians, until March 30.

Covid-19 Ro. Over 4,000 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed for the past 24 hours in Romania, the authorities announced on Tuesday, almost double the previous days figure. Little over 2,700 patients are being treated in hospitals for Covid, of whom 400 in intensive care. The authorities also announced 45 related fatalities, one of which from a previous date. The health minister Alexandru Rafila has announced that COVID-19 hospitals will gradually resume their regular operations by the end of September. (MI)