June 21, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 21.06.2023, 13:55

Visit. Romania
supports the opening of EU accession talks with the Republic of Moldova as soon
as possible, said Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu in Chişinău during his
first foreign trip since taking office. He was received by Moldova’s president Maia Sandu and met his
counterpart Dorin Recean, with whom he discussed Romanian-Moldovan
collaboration in areas like security, economic, investments and infrastructure.
Dorin Recean stood for the creation of a friendly economic environment and
urged Romanian businesses to invest in his country. Marcel Ciolacu reiterated Bucharest’s
readiness to provide all necessary support to step up Moldova’s process of
European integration. He was accompanied on his visit by the Liberal speaker of
the Senate, the former prime minister Nicolae Ciucă.

Ukraine.
Leaders and representatives from more than 60 countries are attending in the
British capital London a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine. Kyiv is
trying to mobilise as many states, businesses and financial institutions as
possible to support the reconstruction of the country, even before the end of
the war. Ukraine’s immediate needs are evaluated at 14 billion dollars, but a
study conducted by the World Bank estimates that the recovery of the Ukrainian
economy would cost 411 billion. On the eve of the conference, the European
Union announced its 4-year financial offer for Ukraine, amounting to 50 billion
euros. This includes loans and grants and should provide predictability to
other donors and investors. In exchange, Ukraine is expected to implement an
ambitious reform programme needed for it to join the European Union and to
guarantee investments and reduce risks. Romania is represented in London by its
new foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu.

Protest.
Magistrates from several courts and prosecutor’s offices in Romania stopped work
today for an unlimited period in protest against the planned amendment
to the law on special pensions The ruling coalition formed by the Social
Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party wishes to change the conditions
for granting special pensions for judges and prosecutors, to gradually increase
the standard retirement age to 65 and calculate pensions based on the incomes
made over a number of years instead of in the final year in work. The reform of
special work pensions is an element of the National Recovery and Resilience
Plan and failure to comply would cause Romania to lose 3 billion euros worth of
EU funding.

Football. Romania are playing Spain today on the first day of the
Football European Under-21 Championship co-hosted by Romania and Georgia. Romania
are in Group B alongside Spain, who have five such titles, Ukraine, the 2006
finalist, and Croatia. The final tournament, which is taking place between 21st
June and 8th July, brings together 16 teams divided into four
groups, two of which are hosted by Romania, on stadiums in Bucharest and Cluj
Napoca, and two by Georgia, in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi. Romania will also
host two quarterfinals and a semifinal, while Georgia will host the other two
quarterfinals, a semifinal and the final, on 8th July in Batumi.
This is Romania’s third consecutive participation in the championship and
fourth in total, the first in 1998 when it hosted the championship for the
first time. Their biggest achievement was reaching the semifinal in 2019, which
ensured their qualification to the Tokyo Olympic Games. (CM)