October 24, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 24.10.2023, 13:55

Defence. The NATO Headquarters Multinational Corps South-East was
inaugurated in Sibiu, in central Romania on Monday during a military ceremony.
This new structure will be in charge of coordinating the Alliance’s land
operations in the region during a crisis or military conflict with the aim of
defending the territory of Romania and Bulgaria. The command centre will carry
out its mission and role as part of the NATO defence and deterrence posture on
the Eastern Flank, in the Black Sea region, said Romanian president Klaus Iohannis.
This is NATO’s 10th multinational corps set up in Europe.

Middle East. French president Emmanuel Macron, who has travelled to Israel,
has urged for action to prevent the conflict between Israel and the Hamas
Palestinian Islamist group from spreading. During talks with his Israeli
counterpart Isaac Herzog, Macron said the release of the hostages is the number
one objective. Herzog said Israel was not looking for a war with the Hezbollah
militants on its northern border, but was focusing on fighting Hamas in the
Gaza Strip. US president Joe Biden called for the release of all hostages help
captive by Hamas in Gaza before ceasefire talks. Israel continued its air
strikes against Palestinian territory ahead of an expected ground attack. The
Hamas Palestinian Islamist movement said this morning that the overnight
strikes carried out by the Israeli army in Gaza killed 140 people. Yesterday,
citing humanitarian reasons, Hamas released two more hostages. According to
Israeli authorities cited by the international media, the two persons released
were Israeli citizens living in the Nir Oz kibbutz and are aged 85 and 79,
respectively. Hamas had earlier released two women with American citizenship,
mother and daughter. The UN General Assembly will meet on Thursday to discuss
the war triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, its president
announced in a letter to member states.

Deficit. Hungary and Romania recorded the highest government deficit
level in the second quarter of the year, according to data published by the
European Statistical Office Eurostat. The highest level was recorded in
Hungary, with 6.6% of GDP, followed by Romania with 6.3%, while among EU
countries the level was 3.2%. Previously, Romania’s deficit stood at 5.9% of
GDP in the first quarter of the year and at 6.3% of GDP in the final quarter
of 2022. According to Eurostat, the
measures taken by governments to alleviate the impact of high energy prices
again had a strong impact on public finance this year, with most EU member
states still struggling with government deficit. On the other hand, Denmark,
Ireland, Portugal, The Netherlands and Latvia have recorded a government
surplus.

Climate. The effects of climate change are becoming
increasingly acute for Romania’s citizens, said president Klaus Iohannis in
Bucharest at an event entitled Climate change and development: prospects for
Romania. He emphasised that the climate transition must be fair, inclusive and
compatible with economic growth. Also today, the World Bank published the
Romania climate and development report, saying this country can raise its
national income almost threefold in the next 30 years if it implements measures
to improve resilience to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The
investment needed for a decarbonized energy sector alone
is estimated at 356 billion dollars by 2050, accounting for around 3% of the country’s GDP, the World bank
report also says. (CM)