June 14, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 14.06.2022, 19:47

Visit. French president Emmanuel Macron arrived in Romania on Tuesday evening
and will be meeting Romanian president Klaus Iohannis at the Mihail
Kogălniceanu air base in south-eastern Romania on Wednesday. According to a
statement from the president’s office, the two will have official talks and
will meet Romanian, French and allied military stationed in Romania to
consolidate the deterrence and defence posture on the NATO eastern flank in the
context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The statement also writes
that Emmanuel Macron’s visit is part of intense bilateral political dialogue
and within the strategic partnership between the two countries and the close European
and international cooperation framework. To this adds France’s recent decision
to be the framework nation for the allied battle group created in Romania and
to participate with troops to this group. Emmanuel Macron and Klaus Iohannis
are expected to discuss ways to consolidate the Romanian-French strategic
partnership, Romania’s accession to the Schengen free movement area and
Romania’s active involvement in the protection of the European Union’s external
borders. Talks will also look at the requests to be granted EU candidate status
from Ukraine, Georgia and the majority-Romanian speaking Republic of Moldova.
On Wednesday Macron will also travel to Moldova, one of the countries most
affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he is expected to convey
France’s support.

Radio station. The municipal council of Chişinău
on Tuesday decided that Radio Romania’s station broadcasting in the neighbouring
Moldova can still be called Radio Chişinău for another ten years. The council
recently said the station can no longer use this name, with the Romanian
foreign ministry immediately issuing a statement describing the decision of the
local authorities as unjustified, unfounded and politically motivated. The
Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation has welcomed the new decision and
recalled in a statement that Radio Chişinău is the only station in the Republic
of Moldova to broadcast only in the Romanian language, thus reflecting the
special nature of the Moldovan-Romanian relations and the shared language,
history, culture and traditions between the two countries.

Fuel. Romanian
road carriers are calling on the government to urgently cap petrol and diesel
prices at maximum rates, following the model of neighbouring states, warning
that new price rises are possible next month. While warning of protests, the Federation
of Romanian Transport Operators has welcomed a bill to reduce the VAT on public road
passenger transport services to 5%, but calls on the government to issue an
emergency order to this effect instead, which would have immediate effect.

Tennis. 6th seed Sorana Cîrstea of
Romania on Tuesday defeated Shelby Rogers of the US to reach the second round
at the grass tennis tournament in Birmingham. She will be playing Serbia’s
Aleksandra Krunic in the next round. Cîrstea leads head-to-head meetings
against Krunic 2-1, her two wins dating from 2011 in Tashkent and 2019 in
Budapest.

Weather. A red code alert was in place on
Tuesday afternoon in the capital Bucharest and the surrounding areas for heavy
rain and storm. Streets were flooded, trees felled down and road and pedestrian
travel disrupted. Several flights due to land on Otopeni Airport were
redirected to other airports around the country and even neighbouring Serbia. Railway
travel near Bucharest was also disrupted, with trains leaving and arriving at
Bucharest’s main station being delayed because of trees that fell on the
tracks. Due to the heavy rains seen in recent days, some flooding is expected
on rivers in ten counties in south-eastern Romania. (CM)