UKRAINE – Ukrainian troops have
\nsuccessfully launched counteroffensives on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Oleh
\nSynyehubov, governor of the Kkarkiv Oblast announced on Monday. According to
\ninformation published by the Ukrainian media, Russia’s attacks targeted several
\ncities on Sunday evening. The capital Kyiv and the cities of Lutsk, Rivne and
\nKharkiv were reportedly rocked by several powerful explosions. Air raid sirens
\nwent off in most regions, and a fuel depot in Lutsk, in the northwest, was hit
\nby a missile strike. The Ukrainian leadership accused the Russian army of
\ninhumane tactics and for the partial or complete blocking of humanitarian
\ncorridors and cities under siege, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak
\ntweeted. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
SCHOOLS – The number of Ukrainian
\nchildren enrolled in Romanian schools stands at 1,140, out of a total of nearly
\n34 thousand underage children who arrived in Romania fleeing the Russian
\ninvasion, Education Minister Sorin C\u00eempeanu, has announced. The Romanian
\nMinister said the majority of Ukrainian school children wish to continue their
\nstudies observing the standard curricula taught in Ukrainian schools. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
VISIT – There are currently no risks
\nto food safety in Europe. What we do have is inflation, said EU Commissioner
\nfor Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, at the end of his meeting in Bucharest with
\nFinance Minister Adrian C\u00e2ciu. According to the EU official, the war in Ukraine
\nwill impact the estimated economic growth. Talks between Gentiloni and C\u00e2ciu
\nalso tackled economic measures that need to be taken in response to the shocks
\nreported in the supply chain. At the same time, the two officials also
\ndiscussed the fallout of the war in Ukraine and response measures required to
\ndeal with the wave of refugees. Paolo Gentiloni is paying a visit to Bucharest
\non Monday and Tuesday and is expected to meet with president Klaus Iohannis,
\nPrime Minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 and other Romanian officials. The agenda of the
\nvisit focuses on economic prospects and on the situation in Romania one month
\nafter the start of the war in neighboring Ukraine. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
NATO – Romania’s Prime
\nMinister, Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, is today attending a meeting of NATO heads of
\ngovernment from southeastern Europe, hosted by Sofia, Bulgaria. The meeting
\nwill address the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on regional security
\nin the short, medium and long term and ways to consolidate coordination and
\ncooperation in southeastern Europe. On the sidelines of the meeting, Prime
\nMinister Ciuc\u0103 will also hold talks with the prime minister of Bulgaria,
\nMontenegro and North Macedonia, Kiril Petkov, Zdravko Krivokapic and Dimitar Kova\u010devski, respectively. The meeting
\nin Sofia follows last week’s extraordinary NATO summit, attended by Prime
\nMinister Nicolae Niuc\u0103 and president Klaus Iohannis. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
ROMANIA-USA – During talks with
\nWashington officials, Senate Speaker Florin C\u00ee\u021bu reiterated the need to
\nconsolidate NATO’s eastern flank, including by boosting American military
\npresence. 25 years after the signing of the Strategic Partnership between
\nRomania and the United States, the Romanian official reiterated Romania’s
\ncommitment to increasing defense spending to 2.5% of GDP and stepping up
\nmilitary cooperation with the United States. In a post on Facebook, Florin C\u00ee\u021bu
\nalso argues that one the topics tackled during the talks was the importance of
\nensuring Europe’s energy security and Romania’s contribution in this respect.
\nAs part of his visit to the United States, the Romanian official also met with
\nrepresentatives of the Romanian community in the USA, whom he told they can
\ncontribute to consolidating the strategic partnership. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
ENERGY – Romanian Energy
\nMinister, Virgil Popescu, is today invited to attend a debate regarding the
\nenergy market in Romania, hosted by the Chamber of Deputies. Organized at the
\nrequest of USR in opposition, the debate focuses on Romania’s dependency on
\nRussian gas imports and on securing natural gas and electricity supplies.
\nMinister Popescu recently said some 460 million Euro can be accessed under the
\nRecovery and Resilience Plan, once negotiations with the Ministry for
\nInvestments and European Projects are finalized. Businesses that want to access
\nthe funds to purchase facilities that produce sustainable energy can do so
\nstarting this week. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
COVID – A little over 1,900 new cases of COVID-19 infection were
\nconfirmed in the space of 24 hours, the authorities announced on Monday. Most
\nnew infections, over 650, were reported in Bucharest. Cluj, Timi\u015f and Ilfov
\ncounties also report large incidence rates. Right now, over 2,800 patients are
\nbeing treated in hospitals for Covid, of whom 400 in intensive care. The
\nauthorities also announced 8 fatalities, of which 2 were prior to the reference
\ninterval. According to the National Institute for Public Health, over 13,600
\ndoses of anti-Covid vaccine were administered last week, of which 1,900
\naccounted for the first dose. Since the start of the vaccination campaign, over
\n16.7 million doses have been administered in Romania. (VP)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35374,36638,13794,33029,31308,36637,35673,36572],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-energy-debate","tag-nato","tag-nicolae-ciuca","tag-paolo-gentiloni","tag-romania-usa-relations","tag-schools","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n