October 11, 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 11.10.2022, 13:55

Romania-Georgia.
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said after talks in Bucharest with visiting
Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili
that Romania is one of the staunchest supporters of Georgia’s aspirations for
European and euro-Atlantic integration. The Georgian president thanked
Bucharest for its support and condemned, alongside president Iohannis, Russia’s
actions in Ukraine, expressing solidarity with Kyiv. Iohannis also said Romania
is working with Georgia and other partner states to carry out major strategic
projects, one priority being the construction of an underwater optical fibre
cable between the two countries to develop the digital connectivity between the
EU, Georgia and, farther afield, in Central Asia. The two presidents also
signed a joint declaration on the creation of a strategic partnership between
Romania and Georgia.

Schengen. European Commission
experts are travelling to Romania to assess the country’s preparations to join
the Schengen area. They will look into how border checks are conducted, the
country’s asylum and migrant return policy and if the staff are trained in
keeping with Schengen standards. Romania’s accession to the passport free area
was also discussed on Monday by prime minister Nicolae Ciucă with Romanian MEPs
from the ruling coalition, who assured him that the biggest groups in the
European Parliament will support next week’s resolution on the accession of
Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen. In another development, interior minister
Lucian Bode has asked politicians to make a truce and work together for Romania
to be admitted into Schengen on 1st January. The Dutch prime
minister Mark Rutte is expected to travel to Romania on Wednesday in the
context of the preparations for the Schengen accession. In recent years, The
Netherlands has been the only country to oppose Romania’s entry.

Motion.
The Chamber of Deputies is today debating and voting on a simple no-confidence
motion against the interior minister Lucian Bode
submitted last week by MPs from the Save Romania Union and unaffiliated MPs
from the Force of the Right Party. The signatories call for Bode to step down
because he failed to reform the institution. The leader of the Save Romania
Union Cătălin Drulă says Bode must also be held accountable for the scandal
involving the purchase of 600 BMW cars for the Romanian Police through tenders
which he says benefitted the political clientele of the National Liberal Party.

Indictment. The European Public
Prosecutor’s Office announced on its website that the Bucharest Tribunal
indicted a Romanian businessman and the company he represents for fraudulently
obtaining 3 million euros worth of European funds for the development of a
research-development centre in medical recovery and bio reconstruction.
The investigation is led by the Bucharest branch of the European Public Prosecutor’s
Office. There are suspicions that in addition to the fraud against the EU’s
financial interests, the company that wrongfully obtained the project and their
representative also laundered money after receiving the funds. The Romanian
businessman
acted in complicity with a company from Spain, the European Public Prosecutor’s
Office also says on its website.

Moldova. The foreign minister
of the Republic of Moldova Nicu Popescu has urgently summoned the Russian
ambassador to Chișinău Oleg Vasnetsov to demand explanations about the launch
of three cruise missiles against Ukraine from Russian military ships in the Black
Sea that crossed Moldovan airspace. The Moldovan foreign ministry says the
Republic of Moldova views this incident as extremely grave and regrettable and
one that could cause additional tension. Violating our national airspace is
completely unacceptable and the shelling of the neighbouring country must
immediately stop, said the Moldovan foreign ministry in a statement. The
country’s president Maia Sandu also strongly condemned what she described as
Russia’s criminal attacks against different regions in Ukraine. (CM)