February 23, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 23.02.2022, 20:00

ROMANIA AND UKRAINE -
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has assured his fellow Romanians, in the context of the
Ukrainian crisis, that all necessary institutional measures have been taken, in
keeping with the decisions of the Supreme Defense Council. He explained that
these steps were taken in coordination with the NATO allies and EU member
states. Prime Minister Ciucă
called on the relevant ministers to keep monitoring the situation, coordinate and
remain vigilant. In another development, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies
in Bucharest will convene in a joint session on March 1, to adopt a political
declaration in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and
independence. On Tuesday, Cristian Chirteş,
chairman of the Joint Standing Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate for the exercise of parliamentary control over the activity of the
Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), said that Romania’s security situation
from the perspective of the legal attributions of the Romanian Intelligence
Service (SRI) is stable. He also said that, in the context of the Ukrainian
crisis, cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure, Romanian ministries
and agencies, has increased.

CRISIS IN UKRAINE -
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed a decree calling
up reservists aged 18 to 60. Kiev has also urged the West to impose additional
sanctions against Russia, which should target the economy and president Vladimir
Putin’s inner circle. The USA adopted what president Joe Biden has called a
first series of sanctions in response to Moscow recognizing the separatist
republics in Ukraine. We’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western funding,
the White House leader said, adding that additional sanctions will target the
Russian elites and members of their families. The US president described the
latest developments as the beginning of a Russian invasion, saying that an
American battalion and several F-35 state-of-the-art jets will be deployed this
week to the Baltic region and in Eastern Europe. Troops will be sent to
reinforce NATO’s eastern flank, not to fight Russia, president Biden also
argued.

ROMANIA-GREECE RELATIONS -
President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday met in Bucharest Greece’s Prime Minister,
Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The two officials reiterated their strong support for the
territorial integrity of Ukraine, condemning the actions of the Russian
Federation as violations of international law. The two also underscored the importance
of maintaining close cooperation at both EU and NATO levels. The meeting also
highlighted the excellent relations between the two countries, boosted by a
series of factors such as strong economic cooperation, an interest in expanding
sectorial cooperation, stepping up mutual investment and implementing energy
and infrastructure interconnection projects. President Iohannis hailed the
signing of a Joint Declaration on strengthening bilateral cooperation, a
document signed by the prime ministers of Romania and Greece on this occasion.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis expressed his gratitude for the support Romania provided
in extinguishing last summer’s wildfires.

COVID-19 – Romania reported on Wednesday 11,477 new
cases of Covid-19 and 119 related deaths, of which 9 from a previous date. Of the
nearly 9,000 Covid patients treated in hospital, a little over 1,000 are in
intensive care. In terms of vaccination, about 1,000 people had the first shot
in the last 24 hours. The Omicron variant becomes quasi-dominant in Romania,
with over 95% of the results indicating infection with this strain of the
virus, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said. In his opinion, in about three
weeks the number of infections nation-wide could go down, with hundreds of new
daily cases being expected instead of thousands, as is the case now. Minister Rafila
also said a 6th wave of the pandemic is out of the question right
now.

INFLATION – The annual inflation rate in the EU
increased in January up to 5.6%, from 5.3% in December 2021, according to data
made public by the Eurostat on Wednesday. The member states with the highest
inflation rates are Lithuania (12.3%), Estonia (11%) and the Czech Republic
(8.8%). As compared to the situation in December 2021, the annual inflation
rate in the first month of 2022 went down in 8 member states and increased in
19 countries, Romania included, from 6.7% to 7.2%. Romania ranks 11th
among the countries with the highest annual inflation rates. The countries with
the smallest annual inflation rates are France (3.3%), Portugal (3.4%) and
Sweden (3.9%).

FUEL – Ruling coalition parties have agreed to temporarily
cut the fuel excise by 50%. The measure reduces by 1 RON the retail price of
petrol and diesel, Finance Minister Adrian Câciu has said. The proposal was supported by the
Social Democrats, while their leader, Marcel Ciolacu, said the solution is
aimed at preventing prices from going up. In turn, Liberal leader Florin Cîțusaid his
party agrees, in principle, with any measure that reduces the fiscal burden,
but added that, if the retail price of fuel does not go down, somebody will
have to take responsibility. The National Liberal Party (PNL), the Social
Democratic Party (PSD) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania
(UDMR) have also agreed to further subsidize electricity and natural gas bills
in the month of April. (EE & VP)