March 31, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 31.03.2022, 21:02

TALKS Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca held talks in
Bucharest with the EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit.
The two officials have discussed the EU response to the crisis caused by the
Russian military aggression in Ukraine. The head of the Romanian executive has
presented Romania’s strategy for ensuring the country’s energy independence by
using nuclear energy, building green energy plants and by exploiting the new
offshore gas deposits. Commissioner Schmit has underlined the effective efforts
of the Romanian authorities to receive over half a million Ukrainian refugees
and has voiced the European Commission’s support for the member states enabling
them to quickly access the funds that are already at the disposal of the member
states and are to be supplemented.

AID Romania is ready to lay at
the disposal of Ukraine the infrastructure in the port of Constanta, so that the
country may be able to carry on its exports of cereals, as its ports have been
blocked by the Russian invasion. The statement has been made by Romania’s
Defence Minister Vasile Dincu, who has also added that talks in this respect
are underway. The Romanian official has underlined the move represents an
opportunity for Ukraine to fund its survival. Dincu has also mentioned that
Romania may also benefit from the move though the country has no issues in this
respect because it is an exporter of cereals. In another development political
sources in Bucharest have announced that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky
will be addressing the Romanian Parliament on Monday night. Over 86 hundred
Ukrainian citizens entered Romania on Wednesday night slightly exceeding the
number of refugees who came to Romania on Tuesday. 600 thousand Ukrainian
nationals have arrived in Romania since the beginning of the invasion. Most of
them only transited the country towards Western Europe.

UNEMPLOYMENT The unemployment rate in Romania stood at 5.7% in
February, while youth unemployment remains high, tantamount to 22%, according
to the latest figures published by the National Statistics Institute today.
Male unemployment is slightly higher than female unemployment, standing at 6.1%
and 5.1% respectively. The total number of unemployed stood at 468 thousand in
February. The rate of unemployment for people aged 25-74 stood at 4.6% in
February, accounting for 76.6% of the total population.

WAR The
Ukrainian army is bracing up for a new wave of Russian attacks, Ukrainian
president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday. Russian offensives are expected
in eastern Ukraine after they have failed to advance towards capital Kyiv, as
initially intended. Ukraine has noticed a Russian military buildup in Donbas,
Zelensky also says. According to Reuters, in five weeks since they started invasion,
the Russian troops haven’t captured any major city in Ukraine in spite of the sustained
attacks and heavy artillery fire. Furthermore, the Russians have also suffered
heavy losses in military personnel and gear. NATO does not believe Russia’s
pledges to reduce military operations around Kyiv and in the north of the
country. Its Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, believes that Russian troops
aren’t withdrawing but repositioning and the alliance is expecting more Russian
attacks. The NATO official has underlined the allies will continue to support
Ukraine, including with military supplies as long as it is needed. The Russian
invasion has forced the displacement of nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s population
and four million have already left the country. Russian president Vladimir
Putin has signed a decree under which as of April 1st the countries that Moscow
deems as unfriendly are to set up a special account to transfer their payments,
which will be further exchanged into rubles. European leaders have rejected paying
for deliveries in rubles as the contracts stipulate payment in Euros and
sometimes in dollars. Russia is presently supplying about a third of Europe’s
gas.

(bill)