October 2, 2022

A roundup pf news from Romania and the world

Newsroom, 02.10.2022, 13:50

Statement — Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, along with seven other presidents of several NATO member states from Central and Eastern Europe, namely the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland and Slovakia, signed a joint statement reiterating their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. “We firmly support the decision of the NATO Summit in Bucharest of 2008 regarding the future accession of Ukraine,” Klaus Iohannis said in a post on a social network. We remind you that on September 30, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed Ukraines request for an accelerated accession to NATO. The Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, stated that Ukraine has the right to apply for membership, but emphasized that, at the moment, the priority is providing aid to Kyiv. Support for Ukraines accession to NATO has already been expressed by the Baltic States and Canada.

Visit — The Romanian Defense Minister, Vasile Dîncu, said on Saturday, during his official visit to Chisinau, that NATO was not looking for a confrontation with the Russian Federation and that it unequivocally supported the sovereignty, integrity and independence of neighboring Ukraine. According to a Defense Ministry communiqué, Vasile Dincu analyzed, during the discussions with Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliţa, the state of bilateral cooperation, also in a regional context. The discussions also covered the security situation in the area, highlighting the actions taken by both sides to manage the unprecedented number of refugees from Ukraine, as well as the energy crisis generated by Russia. During the meeting with the President of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Grosu, the Defense Minister stated, among other things, that the war in Ukraine triggered multiple crises. He highlighted the role of the two countries’ Parliaments in creating the legislative framework for strengthening resilience, especially in the energy field. Vasile Dîncu also had a meeting with his counterpart Anatolie Nosatîi with whom he discussed the status and prospects of bilateral cooperation in the military field and the regional security situation. At the same time, he reiterated Romanias full support for Moldova’s advance on the European integration path and the development of its relations with the Euro-Atlantic structures.

IAEA — The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, will travel to Kyiv and Moscow next week. According to an IAEA press release, the visit is part of ongoing efforts to “implement as soon as possible a nuclear safety and security zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant”. On the other hand, Germany has announced that it will deliver to Ukraine the first of its four advanced IRIS-T air defense systems to help it repel drone attacks. The announcement was made on Saturday by the German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht during a surprise visit to Odessa. The Black Sea port has been, in recent days, the target of Russian attacks with Iranian-made kamikaze drones. On the ground, Russia announced that it had withdrawn its troops from the strategic Ukrainian city of Liman, amid fears that thousands of Russian soldiers would be surrounded by Ukrainian troops in the city. Retaking the city of Liman is of significant strategic importance for Ukraine, considering that it is located in the Donetsk region, one of the four regions annexed according to the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nord Stream — Germany announced on Saturday that it would set up a joint team with Denmark and Sweden to investigate the leaks that affected the Nord Stream gas pipelines. According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the team will call on the expertise of the “navy, police and intelligence services”, following the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines. The origin of the explosions is not yet known. The Nord Stream 1 (stopped since the end of August) and 2 (not operational) gas pipelines were strategic installations for the direct delivery of Russian gas to Germany. A spokesman for the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, from Russia, said that there were no more gas leaks from it into the Baltic Sea. Huge amounts of methane gas have leaked from the pipeline in recent days. In the context, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced that the EU leaders would discuss the security of the EUs critical infrastructures, on the occasion of the informal summit scheduled for October 7 in Prague, after the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which European officials described as sabotage.

Justice — As of Monday, the MPs from the Special Committee on Justice Laws will resume the debates on the three bills submitted by the Government. This week, the Committee ended the debates on the articles of the bill on the status of magistrates, adopting several amendments. One of them concerns the appointment of high-ranking prosecutors. Therefore, the general prosecutor of Romania could be appointed not only from among prosecutors, but also from among judges. The vote on the report for this bill is scheduled for Monday. As of Tuesday, debates will start in the special committee on the amendments submitted by senators to the draft law on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The bill on the status of judges and prosecutors is the law from the package of Justice laws debated by the committee, after those related to the Superior Council of Magistracy and the organization of the judiciary, which have already been adopted by the plenum of the Chamber of Deputies. This is the first body referred to in the case of the three laws, with the Senate being the decision-making body. (LS)