June 14, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 14.06.2023, 13:55

Government. 18 candidates proposed for the new Government headed by the Prime Minister Designate, the Social – Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, are being heard in Bucharest today. They are presenting their goals before the specialized committees of the Romanian Parliament. Some of the candidates would keep their previous offices. Also, new names have been included in the list of government members. The list however, proposed b the PM designate, includes only members of the Social Democratic Party and of the National Liberal Party, and no member of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, which was a junior member in the previous coalition. The government proposed by Marcel Ciolacu wants to solve the issue of special pensions, contested by a large part of civil society, to adopt the new unitary salary law and to stop prices from raising. The new government could be sworn in on Thursday, in plenary session of Parliament. We recall that the Liberal PM Nicolae Ciuca resigned to make room for his coalition partner, the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu, in keeping with the agreement the two parties made back in November 2021.

Companies. The number of companies with foreign capital newly established in Romania increased, in the first four months of the year, by 4.6%, compared to the similar period in 2022, according to data centralized by the National Trade Registry Office (ONRC). The figure represents some 2,300 new companies that had a total subscribed capital of about 8.5 million dollars. According to the National Trade Registry, at the end of April 2023, in Romania there were over 246 thousand companies with foreign participation in the share capital, with a subscribed capital value of about 68 billion dollars. The largest number of companies with foreign participation is with investors from Italy, but the highest value of the social capital belongs to Dutch companies.

AI. The European Parliament is voting today the first law on Artificial Intelligence after, on Tuesday, the bill was debated in plenary session in Strasbourg. The main thing that the MEPs emphasized was that artificial intelligence must not be used against people, must respect human rights, as well as European values. The new law was built and improved through amendments precisely in the sense of protecting citizens and, at the same time, giving researchers and business people the possibility to deal with and invest in artificial intelligence without additional burdens that would prevent them from developing this structure for the benefit of society.

Ukraine. The United States has announced an additional military aid worth 325 million dollars for Ukraine, aimed in particular at strengthening air defense against Russia. According to the Pentagon, it is mainly about air defense equipment, ammunition and vehicles. The new tranche of aid comes at a time when the Ukrainian army has launched a counter-offensive against the Russian forces in the east and south of the country to liberate the occupied territories. On Friday, Washington announced about $2 billion in military aid, mainly air defense equipment, in the form of various orders to the defense industry. The United States is Ukraines largest donor. It has delivered or pledged to deliver $39.7 billion worth of arms to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.

Security. Romania is an essential ally and strategic partner of the United Kingdom and what it is doing to help Ukraine regain its full sovereignty and enjoy its full territorial independence is at the top of the allies responses, the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Andrew Noble said in Bucharest today. He attended an exhibition where about 35 British companies in the field of defense and security are presenting their products and activities. Representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Special Telecommunications Service, the Guard and Protection Service, the Romanian Parliament, the Ministry of Economy, as well as the Romanian defense industry were invited to the event. The UK is the worlds second largest defense exporter after the US, with a turnover of ­£22.8 billion in 2022, supplying equipment to support armed forces and security services around the world.

Trump. Former US President Donald Trump, prosecuted for negligent handling of state secrets after leaving the White House, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami on Tuesday, France Presse reports. The 76-year-old Republican is accused of endangering the security of the United States by keeping classified documents, including military plans and information about nuclear weapons. He is also accused of refusing to return documents despite court orders, leading to his indictment for illegal withholding of information relating to national security”, as well as obstruction of justice and false testimony. Since his prosecution started, Donald Trump has denounced an orchestrated “staging” to remove him from the competition against the Democratic President Joe Biden, who is running for a second term.

Rugby. The technical staff of the Romanian national rugby team has announced an enlarged squad of 50 players for the World Cup that will be hosted by France this fall. Of the 50 athletes, 35 perform in the country, and 15 abroad, the vast majority in France. The Rugby World Cup will take place between September 8 and October 28. The “Oaks” will play in Group B. They will play the first match on September 9 against Ireland, then will meet the world champion South Africa on September 17, on September 30 will face Scotland, and on October 8 will take on Tonga. Until then, Romania will play three test matches, all in August, against the USA, Georgia and Italy. (MI)