July 9, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 09.07.2024, 20:00
NATO – The war in Ukraine and Russian security threats rank high on the agenda of the NATO summit underway in Washington, especially after Monday’s massive Russian attack on several Ukrainian cities that left dozens dead. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will attend the meeting, asked the allies to respond more firmly to Russia’s aggressiveness by strengthening his country’s air defenses. For his part, US President Joe Biden said that NATO will announce new measures to help Ukraine protect its cities and civilians. The president will meet Zelenskyy and the new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. Represented by president Klaus Iohannis, Romania will reaffirm its firm support for Ukraine, including with respect to NATO accession. At the same time, Romania will argue in favor of continuing support to the Alliance’s vulnerable partners, especially for the Republic of Moldova and for increasing their capacity to respond to hybrid threats. The summit’s agenda includes three meetings at the highest level, including in formats with Ukraine, the European Union and NATO partners in the India-Pacific, as well as NATO’s 75th anniversary.
ATTACK – Ukraine’s Ambassador to Bucharest, Ihor Prokopchuk on Monday attended a spontaneous action mourning the victims of Monday’s Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities, including on a children’s hospital in Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, attending the event were Ukrainian diplomats, Ukrainian citizens currently residing in Romania and Romanians. Ambassador Prokopchuk strongly condemned Russian terrorism and stated that despite its brutal attacks, Russia will not succeed in defeating the Ukrainian nation, which will continue to fight for its independence and territorial integrity.
TAROM – All internal and external flights of the Romanian state airliner TAROM are on schedule, after several flights were canceled on Tuesday when 30 of the 150 pilots called in sick. According to the Union of Airline Pilots, Tuesday’s decision was, in fact, a protest related to the working conditions and salaries, as well as what the pilots called poor management. In the meantime, the management of TAROM and the representatives of pilots have reached an agreement regarding the latter’s salary grievances. The pilots’ protest action caused great disturbances for the passengers, who should have been notified in advance to be able to plan their journeys accordingly, EU commissioner for transport, Adina Vălean, says. The situation doesn’t look good considering the company benefits from state aid approved by the European Commission, the EU official added. Tarom apologized and announced it would compensate travelers who purchased tickets directly from the company and who submit a refund request.
TRANSPORT – Romania benefited from a new transport corridor during my term in office and a total of 12 biln EUR allotted to transport from various financial instruments, an unprecedented amount, the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean said in Bucharest on Tuesday, presenting a report of her term in office. The new North-South transport corridor connects the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. The European official also said that the port of Constanţa (southeast) on the Black Seacoast benefited from 149 mln EUR in grants from the EU for the improvement of the railway infrastructure and 13 mln EUR for the electrification of the railway connection from the port. According to the EU commissioner, Romania is the 6th country in terms of the allocation of funds in the European Union, after Poland, Italy, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.
EDUCATION – Over 300,000 Romanians benefited from activities designed to combat drug abuse, carried out in the first half of the year at national level by National Anti-Drug Agency experts, both in schools as well as at community level. The team of experts provided information regarding the effects of drug consumption, banned in crowded areas, high-attendance events or in tourist resorts. The beneficiaries of these actions were pre-school children, pupils, students, teaching staff, parents, maternity assistants, children in institutional care as well as medical staff and former drug users. (VP)
