June 25, 2022

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.06.2022, 13:56

SUMMIT Romanian president
Klaus Iohannis has attended the European Council in Brussels during which the
Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have been granted the status of EU-candidate
countries. The European leaders have also tackled the ways in which the EU
members can avoid a major energy crisis in winter. High on the summit agenda
was the situation in Ukraine, the bloc’s relation with the Western Balkans as well
as a series of economic issues. Iohannis has reiterated Romania’s consistent
support for Kiev and presented the efforts to facilitate the exports of
Ukrainian cereals adding that Romania’s ports and transport corridors are
functioning at full capacity. During the Euro summit in Brussels, president
Iohannis has reiterated his conviction for the European future of the countries
in the Western Balkans and the support for the opening as soon as possible of
the talks with North Macedonia and Albania and the identification of solutions
for the process of bringing Bosnia-Herzegovina closer to the union.

ATTACK The alleged
assailant on Friday night in Oslo is a Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin who
is known to the intelligence services, a police official said on Saturday. He
didn’t reveal the identity of the suspect, but mentioned the assailant’s previous
brushes with the law for carrying weapons and drug possession. The attack in
downtown Oslo left two dead and 21 wounded, out of whom 10 severely. According
to police sources, the suspect was being held on suspicion of murder, attempted
murder and terrorism, based on the number of people targeted at multiple
locations.

NATO At the NATO summit in
Madrid next week, the Black Sea region will be acknowledged as having a
strategic importance in the collective defence and battle groups in Romania and
other eastern countries could be given the status of brigades. The alliance’s
deputy secretary general, Mircea Geoana said the summit would bring good news
for Romania, but also for Ukraine for the transatlantic relation and the
alliance per se. ‘From the military and security viewpoints’, Geoana says ‘and
because Russia is an unpredictable and aggressive player, Romania will have the
same quality in terms of national security as Germany and Belgium. There will
be no difference in what NATO has on the eastern flank and in Western Europe.
Next week we are going to attend the NATO summit in Madrid and we are expecting
historic news for Romania’. The talks in Madrid will also be focusing on the
requests from Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, although no decision is
expected in this respect because of Turkey’s opposition.

FESTIVAL Until July 3rd, the city of Sibiu in central Romania is
seeing the International Theatre Festival currently at its 29th
edition. The festival, which is unfolding under a theme simply entitled
Beauty, includes productions of theatre, dance, circus, film, musical and
opera. Street performances, concerts, book launches and exhibitions have also
been included in the festival’s agenda. For ten days artists of the world stage
are offering the public the possibility of enjoying live performances that have
been acknowledged at international level being also recipients of prestigious
awards.

(bill)