THE WEEK IN REVIEW
September 4- 8, 2023
Bogdan Matei, 08.09.2023, 12:27
Hypothesis: a Russian drone fell in Romania
The North Atlantic Alliance reaffirms its strong solidarity with Romania, after being informed about the incident near its border with Ukraine, where possible fragments of a Russian drone were identified. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and remain in contact with our ally, Romania – says NATO in a statement. The Secretary General of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said that there was no information indicating an intentional attack by Russia. He also said that the event demonstrates the risk of an accident caused by the conflict in Ukraine, and recalled that similar incidents had occurred in Poland. The Romanian Minister of Defense, Angel Tîlvăr, announced that Defense Ministry specialists collected evidence near the village of Plauru in Tulcea county (south-east), approximately 70 meters from the Danube. The spokesperson of the ministry specified that measures have been established to strengthen the technical capacity for monitoring and securing the airspace. President Klaus Iohannis declared that, in case it would be confirmed that the drone belonged to Russia, the incident represents a serious violation of Romania’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The day before, the head of state had stated that there was not a single part, nor a drone, nor any other part of any device, that arrived in Romania. The Russians frequently target the river ports of Ismail and Reni, in southern Bessarabia, an eastern Romanian territory annexed by the Stalinist Soviet Union in 1940, following an ultimatum, and taken over by Ukraine in 1991, as a successor state. These ports are an important outlet for Ukrainian exports after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain transit agreement in July. Essential for the transport of goods on the Danube, Reni is about 13 kilometers in a straight line from the Romanian city of Galati, and Izmail is on the Chilia arm of the Delta, which is now the border between Romania and Ukraine.
Regional summit in Bucharest
Bucharest hosted, on Wednesday, the Summit of the Three Seas Initiative, which includes the member countries of the European Union located between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic seas. On this occasion, Greece became the 13th member country of the Initiative, and Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova obtained the status of associated states. In the final joint statement, the leaders of the participating states reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, and condemned, once again, the Russian invasion launched a year and a half ago. On the sidelines of the summit, on Thursday, the Business Forum of the Three Seas Initiative took place, which brought together over a thousand representatives of the business environment, political decision-makers, and representatives of civil society. The Romanian authorities have reiterated that they are interested in carrying out projects that increase the degree of interconnection in the region.
The government assumes responsibility for reducing the fiscal deficit
The social-democratic leader of the PSD-PNL Government, Marcel Ciolacu, announced on Tuesday that his executive team will assume, by the end of this month, responsibility in Parliament for the measures by which they hope to reduce the budget deficit. Without going into details, the prime minister declared that the package of measures will include combating tax evasion, which experts say is quasi-generalized in some sectors. The package is also said to include reforms in the central and local administrative systems, which experts say are also inflated, as well as a tax overhaul, which appears as a milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, agreed upon with Brussels. The Social Democrats and Liberals comfortably dominate the Parliament, so it is very likely that, once agreed between them, the reforms promised by Ciolacu will pass, and the government will continue its mandate. The two poles of the opposition, USR and AUR, which declare themselves ideologically incompatible, announce that, in the current legislature, they will separately initiate censure motions against the government cabinet, while the press claims that the chances of any of them being adopted are zero.
Arrests in the Crevedia case
The owners of the company that owns the LPG station in Crevedia (southern Romania, not far from Bucharest), where two explosions took place last month resulting in numerous victims, were put in detention for 30 days. The prosecutors seized several properties and bank accounts of the two, so that the state could ensure compensation for the victims. According to the authorities, following the explosions on August 26, five people died and over 50 were injured. Six houses were completely destroyed, and almost 80 partially. The owners of the company are accused of having, for at least three years, systematically promoted the violation of legal provisions regarding the performance of the LPG fuel supply, transport, transfer, and storage operations.
Premiere at the US Open
Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea qualified, for the first time, in the quarter-finals of the US Open tournament, the last Grand Slam of the year, where she was eliminated by Karolina Muchova, from the Czech Republic. Cîrstea achieved her greatest performance at the New York tournament. She played only one quarterfinal at a Grand Slam tournament, in 2009, at Roland Garros, when she was only 19 years old. Thanks to the points won at Flushing Meadows, she will climb four places in the world ranking, and will be on the 26th WTA position starting Monday. In the absence of the former world number one, Simona Halep, suspended for a year for an alleged doping charge which has not yet been clarified, Sorana Cîrstea seems to have become, according to sports media, the de facto leader of Romanian tennis.
