March 2, 2025

A roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 02.03.2025, 14:00

SUMMIT – Leaders of Ukraine’s allies, including Romania’s interim president, Ilie Boljan, are meeting in London this afternoon for a crucial summit. They will discuss new security guarantees in the face of a US letdown following Friday’s heated meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. The Ukrainian president was warmly welcomed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday, and dozens of people gathered to cheer for him outside Downing Street. The British Prime Minister assured the Ukrainian president of the UK’s “absolute determination” to support Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion, and the two governments signed a £2.26 billion loan agreement, which the Ukrainian president said would be used for domestic arms production and would be repaid from Russia’s frozen assets in the West. Driven out of the White House after President Donald Trump accused him of not being grateful enough and refusing to make peace with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy received the support of leaders of European countries, with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said that the free world needs a new leader and that Europeans must accept this challenge. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, however, that the Ukrainian president must find a way to reconcile with Donald Trump, and French President Emmanuel Macron said that after their falling out, the two leaders must find common ground through respect and gratitude.

PROTEST – Bucharest on Saturday hosted a large protest against the government and in support of the former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu, placed on pre-trial arrest this week on a number of charges. Organized by the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), the protest gathered tens of thousands of participants in Victory Square. Protesters called for the resignation of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and the organization of the second round of the presidential election, annulled last year by the Constitutional Court. Attending the protest was Călin Georgescu himself, who is charged of instigation to actions against the constitutional order. Georgescu said only the Romanian people can judge him, and that he will not yet announce his candidacy for May’s presidential election. Attending the rally were also politicians from Bulgaria, Poland, Italy and Spain, who held speeches in support of Georgescu.

ELECTION – Parties, political and election alliances, organizations representing national minorities and independent candidates have two weeks left to submit their candidacies to the Central Election Bureau for the presidential election slated for May. According to the election calendar set by the government and currently debated by Parliament, the election campaign will start on April 4 and last for a month. At home, the election will be held on May 4, while the vote abroad will start on May 2 and end on May 4. The second round is slated for May 18. This week Parliament dismissed Toni Greblă from the helm of the Permanent Election Authority and appointed an interim replacement. The Audiovisual Council also adopted a set of regulations that will apply to the election campaign.

GAZA – Israel announced that it is suspending the entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip, criticizing the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for refusing an American proposal to extend the ceasefire agreement. “Israel will not accept a ceasefire without the release of our hostages. If Hamas persists in its refusal, more consequences will follow”, a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office reads. Hamas responded, describing Netanyahu’s decision to stop humanitarian aid as “cheap blackmail”, a “war crime” and “a blow” to the ceasefire agreement, Reuters reports. In a statement, Hamas urged the brokers of the ceasefire agreement to force Israel to end punitive measures against the Gaza Strip. The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement ended on Saturday without Hamas and Israel reaching an agreement to implement the second phase, which was supposed to take effect on Sunday and included the release of the remaining hostages in the Strip and a definitive end to the war. (VP)