September 30, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 30.09.2022, 18:40

Annexation. The leaders of the 27 EU
member states rejected and condemned Russia’s announcement regarding the
annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and
Zaporizhzhia. We do not and will never
recognise the illegal ‘referenda’ that Russia has engineered as a pretext for
this further violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity, nor their falsified and illegal results. We will never recognise
this illegal annexation, the members of the European
Council said in a statement. The United States announced new severe sanctions
against Russia, condemning the latter’s fraudulent claim to have annexed four
more Ukrainian territories. Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday declared
the four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by Russian troops as Russian. He
talked in Moscow at a ceremony attended by hundreds of dignitaries. The
annexation comes after referendums organised in these regions which Kyiv and
the West describe as a farce. Ukraine said it would continue to fight for
liberate these territories and that the annexation has no legitimacy and only
reflects Moscow’s reaction to the recent defeats on the battleground. The
Russian troops control most of Luhansk and Kherson, but only a few areas in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. The Romanian foreign
minister Bogdan Aurescu took to Twitter on Friday to call on the international
community to fully reject the illegal and illegitimate annexation of Ukrainian
territories by Russian following self-styled referenda and illegal aggression.
He underlined that Romania condemns this action and the escalation and
reiterated his country’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity.

Energy. EU members on Friday reached an agreement on measures to compensate for high electricity prices, announced the Czech presidency of the EU. The agreement refers to the mandatory reduction of electricity consumption, a revenue cap on cheap electricity and a solidarity contribution from fossil fuel producers. According to Reuters, the package includes a levy on fossil fuel companies’ surplus profits, to apply in 2022 and 2023, a levy on excess revenues of low-cost power producers and a 5% cut in electricity use during peak price periods.

Moldova. The European Union
will provide support to the Republic of Moldova if Gazprom cuts deliveries of
natural gas, beginning 1st October, the EU commissioner for budget
and administration Johannes Hahn told a press conference in the Moldovan
capital Chişinău. Moldova’s president Maia Sandu said her country is one of the
most vulnerable and worst hit by the energy crisis in Europe and hailed the
support offered by Brussels. The EU official also said the Union will help
Moldova cope with a potentially new wave of refugees in the event of an
escalation of the war in Ukraine. President Maia Sandu reaffirmed her country’s
commitment to make progress on its path to European integration.

Unemployment. The unemployment rate in the European Union stood at 6% in August, stable compared with the previous month and down from 6.8% the same period last year, according to a report published on Friday by Eurostat, the European statistical office. With 5.1% in August, Romania has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the European Union. The lowest unemployment rates are recorded in the Czech Republic with 2.4%, Poland with 2.6%, Malta with 2.9% and Germany with 3%, while the highest are in Spain, with 12.4%, and Greece, with 12.2%.

Resignation. Research minister
Sebastian Burduja takes over the education ministry as the Liberal minister Sorin
Cîmpeanu resigned on Thursday amid accusations of plagiarism. Cîmpeanu is
accused of having plagiarised dozens of pages written by other university
professors. (CM)