July 18, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 18.07.2024, 19:50
EC. The MEPs gathered in Strasbourg on Thursday granted a second five-year mandate to the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. According to the results of the secret ballot, she got 401 votes in favour (284 against, 15 abstentions, 7 annulled), far more than the absolute majority she needed, of 361. Numerous European political leaders, including the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, or the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, welcomed von der Leyen’s re-election. The Romanian Prime Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, also congratulated her, promising that his Government will remain actively involved in the collaboration with the future Community Executive, in order to fulfill common priorities for the benefit of the European citizens.
Searches. Prosecutors of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Romania carried out, on Thursday, two house searches in Bucharest and Buzau (south-east), targeting a company from Bulgaria that carried out excavation works on the construction site of the Ploiesti-Buzau motorway, without having an exploitation license. Searches are carried out in collaboration with specialists from the National Agency for Mineral Resources, the Romanian Waters National Administration, the National Environmental Guard, as well as from the National Forensic Institute. The Bulgarian company is accused of carrying out mining activities without a permit or license and of using water resources without authorization to manage them. The damage in question is approximately 750,000 lei (the equivalent of 150 thousand euros), representing the royalty payment owed to the Romanian state for the amount of excavated soil.
AI. By 2027, almost a third of civil servants in Romania will retire, and a large part of the work will be taken over by artificial intelligence following the country’s digital transformation process – claims the Minister of Digitization, Bogdan Ivan. He says that Romania now has the newest regulations in the field and the most up-to-date strategy for applying emerging technologies. “To ensure that civil servants in Romania will know how to use this technology, we have (…) a 10 million euro project at the National Agency of Civil Servants, by means of which over 30,000 civil servants will acquire digital skills”, minister Ivan also said.
Aid. Romania is helping North Macedonia, which is facing problems caused by severe heat. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the Romanian Air Force is carrying out this new mission within the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The C-27 Spartan aircraft configured for firefighting has already managed to fly four times across the burned areas, where the pilots launched water containers. The ministry has also stated that the Air Force’s fleet of transport aircraft will remain in North Macedonia as long as necessary.
Campaign. On Thursday, the Romanian government launched the campaign “We qualify Romania”, whose goal, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said, is to allow Romanians access to the “Visa Waiver” program. The PM claims that there is “a huge opportunity” and urged all Romanians who have valid B1 or B2 visas and those who had such a visa to apply for renewal. The Romanian government has committed to meeting the accession criteria by the end of the American fiscal year, which ends on September 30. The renewal of the visa for the United States costs the same as a normal visa, i.e. 185 dollars (approx. 840 lei). Romania could join the “Visa Waiver” program in 2025 if the visa refusal rate is below 3%. Over the past three years, it has fallen from 17% in 2021 to 8% last year. The “Visa Waiver” is a US government program that allows citizens of certain countries to travel to the United States for up to 90 days for tourism, business, or transit through the US territory without a visa.
