March 23, 2016

Belgium observes 3 days of mourning, security at maximum levels after Brussels attacks

Newsroom, 23.03.2016, 12:00

Belgium observes 3 days of mourning, with a minutes silence held at noon today across the country, and the international community condemns Tuesdays attacks in Brussels, which killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 200. The IS group claimed responsibility for the attacks at the Brussels airport and metro. Belgian media announced today that one of the presumed perpetrators, Najim Laachraoui, was arrested in Brussels, but the report was later withdrawn. The other 2 perpetrators, the Belgian brothers Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, apparently blew themselves up at the Brussels airport. Police say there were previously involved in the Paris attacks in November, coordinated by the French Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested in Brussels on Friday. Experts and officials see the recent attacks as proof that the Jihadist networks in Belgium and other European countries are still able to organise large-scale operations, in spite of the pressure coming from security and police forces. The Dutch Justice Minister, Ard van der Steur, has announced an emergency meeting of EU ministers will be held on Thursday in Brussels, at the request of Belgium. The anti-terrorist alert across that country remains at maximum levels, and the Brussels airport is still closed today, while security around the EU institutions and Belgian nuclear power plants was stepped up.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry has announced that 4 Romanian citizens were wounded in the Brussels attacks. A mobile unit of the Romanian Embassy in Belgium travelled to the hospitals in Brussels to provide consular assistance. Another diplomatic team was deployed to Brussels to give additional support to the Romanian citizens in that country. In Romania, the terrorist alert remains at the so-called level “Blue (Guarded), but security around diplomatic missions and airports has been strengthened.

The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is holding talks in Ankara today with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and with PM Ahmet Davutoglu. The talks will primarily focus on strengthening efforts to fight terrorism, against the backdrop of the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey. Yesterday the head of the Romanian state had a meeting in Istanbul with representatives of the Romanian community in Turkey. The Romanian Presidents visit to Turkey, which concludes today, is designed to help consolidate the bilateral cooperation, which is based on the strategic partnership signed in 2011, and reinforced by shared interests.

The Romanian Defence Minister, Mihnea Motoc, is on an official visit to France on Wednesday and Thursday, at the invitation of his French counterpart Jean-Yves le Drian. According to the Romanian Ministry, the two officials will discuss the recent regional and international security developments and the means to step up bilateral cooperation and the cooperation between the two countries within the EU and NATO. They will also exchange information on key European security and defence policy aspects. The agenda of talks will also include the preparations for the Summit due in Warsaw this July. The Romanian Defence Minister will also make research visits to a number of military sites.

Romania loses an annual 15% of its GDP because of corruption, reads a survey commissioned by the European Parliament. According to the report, the figure includes both direct losses, e.g. rigged public procurement bids, and indirect losses, in that other companies are no longer interested in such procedures and competition is therefore distorted. Apart from Romania, the black list of EU corruption also includes Bulgaria, Croatia and Latvia. The survey indicates that the price of corruption at EU level ranges between 179 billion and 990 billion euros per year. The document recommends the extension of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which Romania would like to see lifted as soon as possible, or the establishment of an EU-level online public procurement system that may reduce the annual losses caused by corruption by some 900 million euros. Another 200 million euros could be saved through the establishment of a European Public Prosecutors Office, the report also says.