July 8, 2023 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 08.07.2023, 20:00
NATO SUMMIT
– The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, will attend the NATO Summit in
Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. The summit will consist of three
high-level NATO meetings in the NATO-Ukraine, NATO-EU and NATO-Indo-Pacific
formats. The president will highlight the importance of implementing the
decisions of the NATO summit in Madrid regarding the consolidation of NATO’s
deterrence and defense posture on the eastern flank, the presidency reports.
Klaus Iohannis will also reiterate robust support for Ukraine, as well as
support for Ukraine’s bid to join NATO and for more vulnerable partners, in
particular the Republic of Moldova. President Iohannis will also seek to
highlight the importance of the Black Sea region for Euro-Atlantic security in
NATO resolutions and documents. On the sidelines of the summit in Lithuania,
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expects most allies to express their
commitment to increase their defense spending to over 2% of national GDPs
starting 2024. Secretary Stoltenberg said that 11 NATO members, including
Romania, have already met this target.
NURSING
HOMES SCANDAL – Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has called a government
meeting on Sunday with several members of his cabinet and heads of relevant
institutions after a scandal broke out regarding abusive treatments applied to
elderly and people with disabilities in three nursing homes in Ilfov County
near Bucharest. Prime Minister Ciolacu called on Labor Minister Marius Budăi to sack the directors of the
National Social Inspection Authority, its Ilfov branch and the National
Authority for the Protection of People with Disabilities. In turn, Labor
Minister Marius Budăi said
prosecutors must establish how the Ilfov Agency for Social Inspection and
Payments continued to earmark funds to these homes without verifying the
conditions beforehand. Minister Budăi
said the Ministry is considering amending the social welfare law, so that each
nursing home should be monitored by a social auditor. Meanwhile, the police
have detained, placed on house or pre-trial arrest a number of individuals in
connection to this case.
VISIT -
Ukraine deserves to join NATO, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said
in Istanbul upon meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Kyiv
wants to join NATO, but the United States have warned Ukraine would not be
joining NATO at the end of the NATO summit in Vilnius next week. On the other hand,
Russia and Ukraine should resume peace talks, the Turkish president said,
also calling for an extension of the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports,
concluded in July 2022 under the aegis of the UN and Turkey. Previously, Russia
said it sees no reason to extend the agreement, set to expire on July 17.
TALKS -
Romanian Foreign Minister Luminița
Odobescu had a telephone talk with her Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan,
about consolidating bilateral relations. The two officials exchanged views
about the security developments generated by Russia’s war in Ukraine ahead of
the NATO summit in Vilnius. According to a Foreign Ministry release, the two
ministers analyzed lines of action designed to consolidate strategic
cooperation, with a focus on setting up a Romania-Turkey strategic cooperation
council, which will serve as a dialogue platform focusing on key areas of
mutual interest. Luminița Odobescu
expressed an interest to continue dialogue on security matters in the
trilateral Romania-Poland-Turkey format as well.
NEVERSEA
– The fifth edition of the Neversea electronic music festival continues this
weekend in Constanța. The
biggest beach festival in Europe, Neversea expects a daily number of 70,000
visitors from Romania and abroad to take part in the event. This year’s special
guests include American rapper Lil Uzi Vert, the Romanian artist Inna who
performed alongside internationally-acclaimed DJ Alok Alok, Timmy Trumpet, J
Balvin and Steve Aoki. (VP)
