NATO<\/b> The war that Russia started against
\nUkraine severely affects the security environment at the Black Sea and in the
\nsouth-east of Europe, the Romanian PM Nicolae Ciuca said at the end of a meeting
\nof NATO heads of government from south-east Europe, hosted by Sofia,
\nBulgaria. Europe is now experiencing the most complicated period since WW2, and
\nwe need stronger defence and more efficient deterrence, Mr. Ciuc\u01ce added. On
\nthe sidelines of the meeting, the Romanian PM discussed with his Bulgarian
\ncounterpart Kiril
\nPetkov, about the Bulgaria-Greece interconnector. Another topic was the road
\nand railway infrastructure, in which context the Bulgarian side proposed the
\nconstruction of 5 bridges over Danube river. In Sofia, the
\nattending heads of government discussed cooperation in the field of security,
\ntaking into account NATO’s latest decisions. Another major topic was related to
\nreducing reliance on Russian gas and identifying means to connect the region to
\nnatural gas pipelines from Western Europe, particularly via Greece.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
UKRAINE<\/b>
\nUkraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky says his country is ready to discuss
\nneutrality as part of a peace agreement with Russia, as a new round of
\nnegotiations is due to begin in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday. A meeting between
\npresidents Zelensky and Putin would be counterproductive at this point,
\nRussia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in his turn.
\nMeanwhile, the losses reported by Ukraine because of the war are in excess of
\nUSD 564 billion, the country’s economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said, according to Reuters. In the
\nfield, Russian forces are regrouping but have difficulty advancing into
\nUkrainian territory. Several Russian units were forced to return to Belarus
\nafter experiencing significant losses. The situation remains dramatic in
\nMariupol, the Sea of Azov port that sees the most violent
\nfighting since the start of the war. The Red Cross announced it was unable to
\nsend aid to the city, and requested Russia and Ukraine to secure a humanitarian
\ncorridor. According to local authorities, nearly 160,000 civilians are stranded
\nin the city without water, food, medicines and electricity. Russia continues to
\ndeny targeting civilians, and blames Ukraine for the repeated failure to secure
\nsafe corridors for the locals to leave the region.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
SCHOOLS<\/b>
\nThe number of Ukrainian children enrolled in Romanian schools stands at 1,140,
\nout of a total of nearly 34,000 minors who arrived in Romania fleeing the
\nRussian invasion, the education minister Sorin C\u00eempeanu has announced. The
\nRomanian Minister said the majority of Ukrainian school children wish to
\ncontinue their studies observing the standard curricula taught in Ukrainian
\nschools.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
VISIT<\/b> There are currently no risks to food safety in Europe. What we do have
Click here for a roundup of local and world 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":[29948,30820,13794,29237,35673,28905,36582],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-children","tag-meeting","tag-nato","tag-refugees","tag-schools","tag-ukraine","tag-war"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nis inflation, said EU Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, at the end of
\nhis meeting in Bucharest with Finance Minister Adrian C\u00e2ciu. According to the
\nEU official, the war in Ukraine will impact Romania’s estimated 4% economic
\ngrowth rate this year. Talks between Gentiloni and C\u00e2ciu also tackled economic
\nmeasures to address the shocks reported in the supply chain. At the same time,
\nthe two officials also discussed the fallout of the war in Ukraine and response
\nmeasures required to deal with the wave of refugees. Also
\non Monday<\/span>, Paolo Gentiloni was received by president Klaus Iohannis. The talks focused
\nprimarily on the situation generated by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, including the economic impact on the EU and its
\nmember states, the
\nchallenges in handling the refugee waves and the situation in the Republic of Moldova.EU Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, is
\nin Bucharest on Tuesday as well, when he is scheduled to meet other Romanian
\nofficials. (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"