June 10, 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 10.06.2022, 13:50

Summit. Romania is today hosting a summit of the Bucharest Nine,
an organisation initiated by the presidents of Romania, Klaus Johannis, and of
Poland, Andrzej Duda. Attending the meeting are the heads of state of the member
states on the NATO eastern flank that are part of the organisation: Bulgaria,
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Hungary. The
agenda of the talks includes the preparation of the most important decisions of
the upcoming NATO summit to be held in Madrid at the end of the month, with
emphasis on the consequences of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine
and NATO’s response. President Iohannis is expected to highlight the need to
consolidate NATO’s deterrence and defence posture on the eastern flank in a
balanced and unitary manner, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. NATO secretary
general Jens Stoltenberg, who was diagnosed with shingles, will attend the
summit remotely.

IMF.
The International Monetary Fund has improved Romania’s economic growth forecast
to 3.5%-4.5% for 2022 and 2023, said the head of the mission for Romania Jan Kees Martijn. He said the uncertainty associated with
this forecast is high, with risks of the war escalating and Russian gas
deliveries being cut leading to a further rise in energy costs and reducing trade
exchanges between European partners. The IMF official also said GDP reached the
level before the crisis in the first quarter of the year after last autumn’s
Covid wave. According to provisional data published on 7th June by
the National Institute of Statistics, Romania’s GDP rose by 6.5% in the first
quarter of the year compared with the same period last year.

Bridge. Criminal investigations were opened following the collapse of a
bridge on Siret river, in Neamţ county, in north-eastern Romania as it was being
crossed by a truck and a van. The two drivers were injured. The bridge was
reopened for road traffic last November after repair works and investigators are
looking into what caused the bridge to collapse only six months after
restoration. The president of the Neamţ county council Ionel Arsene, from the
Social Democratic Party, in government, said last autumn that the bridge was safe
for traffic. Official data show, however, that the reopening was not legally
possible. The development ministry said the investment objective had not been
finalised pending a final report and a team was sent at the site for an
independent inquiry. In April, Arsene was convicted to 8 years and 4 months in
prison for corruption, but he is still in office because the sentence was not final.

Border. Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciucă and his Moldovan
counterpart Natalia Gavriliţa today had talks in Bucharest about ways to
improve border travel between Romania and the Republic of Moldova. According to
a statement from the government’s spokesman Dan Cărbunaru, the two officials shared
views on finding effective solutions, given the high pressure some border checkpoints,
such as that in Galaţi, in the south-east. The Romanian defence ministry is
deploying a new ferry to Isaccea, in the south-east, and will open two new
checkpoints on the northern border.

Sanctions. Companies in Romania controlled by
Russian entities targeted by international sanctions will only be able to carry
on their activity without their accounts being blocked if they are monitored by
the state. The Romanian government issued an emergency order to this effect on
Thursday. The aim is to protect Romanians’ jobs while complying with the
European sanctions against Russia.

Football.
Romania’s national football side are preparing for their Saturday match against
Finland in Bucharest, in Group 3 of League B of the UEFA Nations League.
Romania have lost their first two group matches, nil-2 to Montenegro and nil-1
to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Romania will next face Montenegro in Bucharest next
week and will play their final two matches in September, against Finland away
and against Bosnia and Herzegovina at
home. (CM)