28 July, 2016 UPDATE

Drought damages crops in southern, eastern and central Romania.

Newsroom, 28.07.2016, 12:15

Deputy Prime Minister Vasile Dancu on Thursday discussed with local
authorities ways to fight the effects of drought in several counties in
southern, eastern and central Romania. Vegetable, corn, sunflower, soy and
fodder crops are bearing the brunt of the scorching weather. Furthermore, the
irrigation system is still not operational while weather forecasts for August
show scarce rains and high temperatures. According to Agriculture minister
Achim Irimescu, it’s preferable for farmers to be given subsidies in advance
rather than being paid damages later. Irimescu went on to say that farmers
would need around 6.7 million euros to irrigate their crops.

The Romanian
authorities have started taking the necessary steps to implement the decisions
taken at the recent NATO summit in Warsaw, including the setting up of a
multinational brigade on Romanian territory. The Romanian Defence Minister
Mihnea Motoc said on Thursday that at least six allies, including Bulgaria and
Poland, have shown signs that they are interested in taking part in this new
brigade. Poland said it would deploy one company, while Bulgaria will send
around 400 soldiers. In another development, the defence minister announced on
Wednesday that Romania would contribute to the international coalition fighting
the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with 50 soldiers, who will be assigned a
counselling mission starting this autumn. The announcement was made on
Wednesday in the opening of a large-scale drill in Cincu, central Romania,
where 27 hundred troops from 10 countries are training between July 27th
and August 7th.

The foreign ministry in Bucharest welcomes the appointment of the
Romanian expert Maria-Cristina Stepanescu as the head of the EUCAP
Nestor crisis management mission as of September 2016. According to the
ministry, this is the first time Romania holds the chairmanship of a EU crisis
management mission. The decision to appoint her was taken recently by the EU Political and Security Committee
following a proposal from the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy. The EU’s civil mission in the Horn of Africa,EUCAP
Nestor,was launched
in July 2012 under the auspices of the Common Security and Defence Policy and
aims to provide assistance to the states in the area, in particular Somalia,
for capacity building in the field of maritime security, including the fight
against piracy.

Romania strictly observes the highest control standards in exporting
military gear, the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has announced. According to
the ministry, the exports are regulated through domestic legislation being in
line with Romania’s international commitments as a member of NATO, UN and the
OSCE and as a signatory country of the Arms Trade Treaty. The National Control
Authority approves export licenses following rigorous research and Romania
promptly participates in any investigation on the destination of weapons made
in Romania, the ministry also said. The statement comes after the British daily
The Guardian has published an article on Romania’s discreet sales of 1 billion
dollars worth of weapons to some Middle Eastern countries. According to the
daily, weapons made in Romania have reached Syria.

German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday stood firm on Germany’s
migration policy, after coming under pressure after two terror attacks by
asylum seekers in recent days. Merkel told a press conference in Berlin that
she would do everything to prevent new attacks, saying the state must rebuild
trust after the fear caused by the recent incidents. She announced a security
plan facilitating the expulsion of refugees whose asylum applications have been
rejected or who break the law, so as to detect radicalised migrants among asylum
seekers. More than 1 million asylum seekers arrived in Germany last year.

Romania has been included in the
Urban_Wins European project on the management of human resources, alongside
five other states, namely Austria, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Spain. The
project, which is financed under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation
Programme, will be carried out over 3 years and will study the way in which
cities use their resources and products and how they eliminate the waste they
generate. A series of plans will be tested in 8 pilot cities, including
Bucharest. Urban_Wins seeks the transition to sustainable consumption and
production models and the development of a more efficient waste management
system to improve the quality of urban living and citizens’ well-being.