June 14, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 14.06.2024, 19:48

PATRIOT. As of Friday, the Romanian Air Force has two operational Patriot anti-missile systems, after the first one entered the combat service in 2022. The Ministry of National Defense reported that two other systems are in various stages of operationalization. Romania bought seven high-range Patriot PAC-3 surface-to-air anti-missile systems, the most modern models also in service with the United States Army, for which it paid 4 billion dollars. Four of the seven systems are already in the country. The Ministry of Defense has recently announced that the first Turkish-made Bayraktar drone system has been added to the equipment of the Romanian Land Forces. Romanian pilots will be able to start performing training flights at the beginning of next month at the latest.

DEFENSE. The Romanian Minister of Defense, Angel Tîlvăr, participated, on Thursday in Brussels in a new meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine in the field of defense, held on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers’ meeting. The talks focused on coordinating the efforts of the member states and identifying solutions to current needs, taking into account developments on the ground. Romania’s contribution and the sustained effort within the Capacity Coalitions were highlighted. Minister Tîlvăr had a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, on which occasion he reaffirmed Romania’s commitment to further support Ukraine. He presented the developments related to Romania’s effort to host and operationalize the F-16 pilot training center in Feteşti (south-east), intended for both Romanian and Ukrainian pilots. At the same time, the Romanian official said that Bucharest will continue to contribute to the training of the Ukrainian military in various formats. Minister Umerov thanked the Government of Romania for the multidimensional support that Ukraine has received since the first days of the Russian aggression.

G7. The agreement reached on Thursday, at the G7 summit, regarding the use of Russian assets to help Kyiv, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin that ‘we are not backing down’, US President Joe Biden said, France Presse reports. The leaders of the G7 states, gathered in Italy, reached a political agreement on the use of the amounts resulted from the frozen Russian assets as guarantees for unlocking a 50-billion dollar loan destined for Ukraine.

UNEMPLOYMENT. The unemployment rate in Romania fell to 5.3% in the first quarter of the year, the National Institute of Statistics reports. In the mentioned period, the employment rate of the working-age population was 64.2%, increasing by 1.2 percentage points compared to the last quarter of last year. The degree of employment was higher for men and for people from the urban environment. The youth employment rate was only 19.9%. Economic analyst Aurelian Dochia has stated that the current context is favorable to the labor force and will keep unemployment at relatively low rates.

SALARY. The average net salary in Romania was 5,217 lei (1,048 euros) in April, up by 32 lei (6.4 euros) compared to March, informs the Institute of Statistics in Bucharest. The highest values of the average net salary were recorded in information technology service activities, including computer service activities – 11,971 lei (2,405 euros), and the lowest in the manufacture of clothing – 2,787 lei (almost 560 euro). Compared to April of the previous year, the average net salary increased by 14%, states the NIS.

TIFF. Until June 24th, the city of Cluj Napoca is hosting the 23rd Transylvania International Film Festival. An important guest at TIFF is director Daniele Luchetti. He will meet with moviegoers, on Saturday, at the screening of the film “Confidenza”, and will receive the special award for his contribution to world cinema. The jury of the festival includes big names in the field, such as the actress Sibel Kekilli, famous for her role in the series “Game of Thrones” or the director Konstantinos Kontovrakis, multiple laureate at Cannes. Until June 24, hundreds of screenings, concerts, exhibitions, discussions and special events are scheduled, where more than a thousand guests, actors, directors, producers and other industry professionals are expected. According to estimates, more than a hundred thousand spectators are expected at this year’s edition. (MI)