April 8, 2024
A roundup of domestic and international news
Mihaela Ignătescu, 08.04.2024, 13:55
SEA SHIELD 24. More than 2,200 allied soldiers are participating in Romania, starting this week, in the multinational exercise “Sea Shield 24”. Until April 21, Romanian soldiers, alongside military from the NATO states and the partner states of Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, will be training in the coastal area of the Black Sea, the Danube and the Danube Delta, using 27 sea and river ships, 17 aircraft and 91 of vehicles and boats. The Ministry of Defense in Bucharest says that the exercise is the most complex event conducted by the Romanian Naval Forces in 2024. Also this week, the Royal Air Force of Great Britain begins an air policing mission in Romania. In the next four months, the British detachment, made up of around 220 soldiers and six Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, will perform, together with soldiers of the Romanian Air Force, enhanced air policing missions under NATO command.
MOLDOVA. A population and housing census begins today in the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet, predominantly Romanian-speaking). Until July 7, reviewers will go from house to house to collect data about where people in the republic live, the language they speak, the level of education, occupation, as well as about their homes. The spokesperson for the Government, Daniel Vodă, has stated that all citizens will be obliged to answer the reviewers’ questions and provide correct answers, and the authorities are obliged to keep the answers received confidential, Radio Chisinau reports. The last population and housing census was conducted in the Republic of Moldova in 2014. At that time, the population stood at 2,800,000 people, of which only 2.5 million lived in the Republic of Moldova. Also, the data do not cover the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria (east), which went, de facto, out of Chisinau’s control in 1992, after an armed conflict involving hundreds of soldiers and ended by the intervention of Moscow’s troops on the side of the secessionist rebels.
SLOVAKIA. The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has congratulated Peter Pellegrini for winning the presidential elections in Slovakia. “I look forward to working together for the benefit of our nations and the European Union, ensuring our safety and prosperity”, wrote the head of the Romanian state, in a post on the X network. On Saturday, in the decisive round of voting, former Prime-Minister Pellegrini (aged 48 ), an economist by trade, defeated the pro-European diplomat Ivan Korcok, with 53% of the votes, compared to 47% won by the former. The new Slovak president is an ally of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has questioned the sovereignty of Ukraine invaded by Russian troops and called for peace with Moscow.
WARSAW. The nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS, in opposition) came first in Sunday’s local elections in Poland, ahead of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform. Just as it happened in the October parliamentary elections, the nationalists will, however, lose power in some regional governments, in front of the combined score obtained by the three parties in the government alliance. The result is considered, however, a failure for the pro-European prime minister, who hoped to win without the help of alliance partners.
GAZA. Radio Romania’s correspondent in Israel reports that for the first time since the beginning of the war, the largest number of trucks, almost 330, entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Also, the Israeli army withdrew from Khan Younis, leaving only a few brigades in the area, responding to Washington’s desire to reduce forces and stop the fighting. An Israeli delegation, made up of the head of the Mossad, the head of the Shin Bet and the person responsible for the situation of Israeli prisoners and hostages, has arrived in Cairo, for the first time with extended powers of negotiation, and have already met with the representatives of the brokering states, the head of the CIA, the prime minister of Qatar and the head of the Egyptian Intelligence Service. In this context, sources close to the negotiations have reported that the United States seems to be leading the discussions and is putting pressure both on Egypt and Qatar to convince Hamas to end its game of refusal, and on Israel to make its positions even more flexible.
HANDBALL. The Romanian women’s national handball team defeated the Greek team with a score of 31-24, on Sunday evening, at home, in Buzău (south-east), in its last match in Group 1 of the EURO 2024 preliminaries. In the other match of the group, Croatia defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina with a score of 33-19. Romania came in first, with a maximum of 12 points, followed by Croatia, 8 points, Greece, 4 points, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 0 points. The first two teams in each group qualify for the final tournament, as well as the four best third-placed teams. The European Championship is hosted by Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, between November 28 and December 15.
