DRONE – NATO does not have
\nany indication that the drone debris found on the Romanian territory was caused
\nby an intentional attack launched by Moscow, the Alliance’s Secretary General
\nJens Stoltenberg said before the European Parliament on Thursday adding that
\nthey are waiting for the outcome of an ongoing investigation, Reuters
\nreports. The North-Atlantic Alliance had
\npreviously voiced its strong solidarity with Romania, after being informed on
\nthe incident close to this country’s border with Ukraine. We are going to
\nclosely monitor the situation and keep in touch with our ally, Romania, NATO
\nsays. According to Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis, provided the drone is
\nconfirmed as belonging to Russia, the incident is tantamount to a severe
\nviolation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania. A day
\nbefore, the Romanian official had said no parts of a drone or any other device
\nhave reached Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
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INVESTMENT – On the sidelines
\nof the 3SI business forum, Romania presented two projects worth over 200 mln
\nEUR, including a high-performing AI computer, Minister for Research, Innovation
\nand Digitization, Bogdan Ivan has said. The Romanian official said the
\nGovernment on Friday will pass a decree that will simplify public procurement
\nin the field of IT. More specifically, the decree will eliminate 50% of
\nbureaucracy in terms of public procurement to make sure the over 1 bln EUR for
\nthe government cloud will arrive in time, Minister Ivan pointed out. We recall
\nRomania pledged under the National Recovery and Resilience plan to render the
\ngovernment cloud 70% operational by the end of 2024 and 100% by 2026. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
ENERGY – Also on the
\nsidelines of 3SI Business Forum, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said Romania
\nis a regional leader in terms of energy stability. The Romanian official said
\nRomania’s gas reserves exceeded 88% on September 1, a target Romania pledged to
\nachieve at EU level. Appreciation came both from Brussels and the Republic of
\nMoldova, a country facing severe difficulties in terms of its energy reserves.
\nMinister Burduja said that the national energy company Transgaz has taken over
\nMoldovatransgaz, which operates the energy transport grid in the Republic of
\nMoldova, something that will help Chi\u0219in\u0103u break with Moscow’s influence and
\ninterference.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TRANSPORT – On the sidelines
\nof the 3SI Business Forum, Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu has presented an
\nupdate on the implementation of two pan-European transport projects – Via
\nCarpathia and Rail-2-Sea. Via Carpathia will link Lithuania to Greece and will
\nconsist of three corridors built in Romania, totaling 1,700 kilometers of
\nmotorways and express roads. At present, project completion stands at 35%.
\nRail-2-Sea will link the rail systems of Gda\u0144sk in Poland to Constan\u021ba,
\nRomania, and provides for the building of four rail tracks in Romania.
\nCompletion stands at 30%. Moldova’s Minister of Infrastructure and Regional
\nDevelopment, Andrei Sp\u00eenu, called that both Moldova and Ukraine be made part of
\nthese road and rail projects. Additionally, US General James Jones, former
\nsupreme commander of allied forces in Europe, highlighted the importance of
\ntransport infrastructure in the current security context, arguing it is key to
\nensure the swift movement of NATO forces on the Alliance’s eastern flank. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
GRECO – The Group of
\nStates against Corruption (GRECO) have recommended Romania to streamline its
\nefforts to promote integrity and prevent corruption in the central government and
\nlaw enforcement agencies. In a report published today in Strasbourg, GRECO
\nrecognizes progress reported by Romania in developing an institutional and
\nlegal framework to combat corruption and investigate the integrity of
\ngovernment officials. The report hails the adoption by Bucharest of legislation
\nregulating incompatibilities and conflicts of interests, as well as the coming
\ninto force, in December 2022, of a new law on the protection of whistleblowers.
\nGRECO however calls on Bucharest to strengthen measures to prevent and combat
\ntop-level corruption in top executive
\nfunctions such as the President, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers,
\nMinisters, Secretaries and Undersecretaries of State, Presidential Advisers,
\nState Advisers, State Councilors and Ministerial Advisers, and in staff members
\nof the Police and the Gendarmerie. GRECO has issued a number of 26 such
\nrecommendations. Romanian authorities are expected to report back to GRECO on
\nthe implementation of its recommendations by 31 December 2024, so it can assess
\nthe country\u00b4s level of compliance. (DB & VP)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\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":[116198,116197,37418,116199,29812,38666],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-611837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-3si-business-forum","tag-drone-debris","tag-energy-projects","tag-greco-recommendations","tag-jens-stoltenberg","tag-transport-infrastructure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n