July 27, 2023 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 27.07.2023, 20:00
Wildfires. Forty Romanian fire fighters arrived on Thursday on Greeces Rhodes Island, heavily affected by uncontrolled wildfires, the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergencies announced. They joined the other 52 Romanian firefighters who were already there. They came with with 3 fire engines and a 10-ton fire truck, as well as a personnel transport vehicle. The Romanian citizens who plan on traveling to Greece in this period are advised to get fully informed of the situation ahead of leaving, and those who are already in the affected areas are urged to comply with the instructions issued by local authorities and follow official sources of information.
Climate. According to the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, early warning systems regarding extreme weather phenomena must be continuously developed, and it is particularly important to take meteorological warnings into account in order to avoid tragedies. In a post on social media, the head of state wrote that these days, Romania and Europe are acutely feeling the effects of climate change through violent storms, intense heat waves and wildfires amplified by atypically high temperatures. “We are witnessing extreme weather phenomena with a major impact on the well-being, health and even on the lives of citizens” , Klaus Iohannis wrote.
Gas. Romanians will have safe access to natural gas, even in the case of lower temperatures than usual in the winter season, as Azerbaijan guaranteed Romania access to a capacity of up to 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas if necessary. The statement was made by the energy minister, Sebastian Burduja, who had a meeting in Bucharest with his counterpart E.S. Parviz Shahbazov. “The filling level for Romanian storage facilities is over 75.5%, significantly over the level promised by Romania to the EU, and nearly 700 million cubic metres more than we had at the same time in 2022”, the minister said in a social media post on Thursday. He added that he discussed with the energy minister of Azerbaijan ways to develop the strategic partnership, bilateral investments and joint projects in the energy sector, including a green corridor to connect the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. “The cooperation between Romania and Azerbaijan in the energy sector entails major benefits not only for the two countries, but for the security of Europe as a whole,” Sebastian Burduja pointed out.
Agency. The Bucharest government approved, on Thursday, the measures regarding the organization and operation of the Agency for Monitoring and Assessing the Performance of Public Enterprises. The newly established institution has the role of developing and proposing to the Government the bill on the states property policy, coordinating and monitoring the implementation of corporate governance actions and policies at the level of the public supervisory authorities and applying sanctions for the violations identified. In order to achieve the objectives of the new agency, the main working tool will be a dashboard for monitoring the performance of public enterprises through which the financial, non-financial and key performance indicators will be tracked, reads the press release.
Police. The Minister of the Interior, Cătălin Predoiu, had a meeting with the representatives of the management of the Romanian Police and the Border Police, asking them to strengthen actions to combat organized crime, stressing the need for an effective response to criminal groups, reads a communiqué issued by the ministry on Thursday. The minister appreciated the activity of the two institutions and insisted on the “intensification of efforts to increase the degree of safety” for all citizens. According to the Interior Ministry, the main priorities for the next period will be the fight against drug and human trafficking, the safety of road traffic, and strenghening the measures taken to secure the borders. “Additional attention must be paid to collaboration with European agencies and neighboring states for synchronizing measures to combat illegal migration and to ensure the flow of traffic through border crossing points,” the ministry said.
Ukraine. The Russian army hit the port infrastructure in the region of Odessa (southern Ukraine) in an overnight missile attack that killed a security guard and damaged a cargo terminal, the local authorities announced on Thursday morning. The ports in the Odessa region, at the Black Sea or the Danube River, have turned into the preferred targets of the Russian army, after Moscow recently terminated a deal allowing Ukraine to export grains to international markets.
Moldova. The Russian Federation will have to downsize its Chişinău Embassy personnel, according to a decision made by the Moldovan authorities and already communicated to Russias ambassador to that country. Russia will keep 10 diplomats and 15 technical and support personnel, on a par with the number of staff of the Moldovan embassy in Moscow. According to the Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu, Moldova has been the target of the Russian Federations hostile policies and activities for decades, and many of the Russian embassys activities have aimed at destabilizing the country. In Moscow, the foreign ministrys spokesperson, Maria Zaharova, said the decision was ungrounded and a further step taken by Chişinău towards deteriorating bilateral relations.
Sports. The Romanian athletes Constantin Popovici and Cătălin Petru Preda won a gold and a silver medal respectively at the 2023 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka (Japan). They ranked first and second in the high diving competition held on Thursday. Popovici, aged 34, is Romanias first world high diving champion. Also on Thursday, the Romanian swimmer David Popovici came in sixth in the final of the 100m freestyle event, in which he held the title of world champion. He still keeps the record, with 46 seconds and 86/100, set a year ago at the European Championships in Rome. (MI)
