April 2, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.04.2024, 19:55

NATO. The Romanian Parliament adopted, on Tuesday, with a large majority of votes, a Declaration of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, gathered in joint session, marking 20 years since Romania’s accession to NATO and the Alliance’s 75th anniversary. The document stresses that belonging to the Alliance is a guarantee of the protection of citizens, democracy and individual freedoms. “It is our responsibility to continue to support the legitimate aspirations of other vulnerable states in our neighborhood, such as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, to adhere to these values”, the statement also reads. Romania enjoys respect and influence within the North Atlantic Alliance, and its voice is listened to, it is a voice that matters, said the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Romanian Mircea Geoană, in a short video posted on a social media.

LAW. The Romanian Ministry of Defense has published the draft of the new National Defense Law. The document put up for public debate explicitly recognizes hybrid threats as a major challenge to national security, providing specific mechanisms for identifying, preventing and countering them. It also provides the legal framework for the employment of military and non-military capabilities outside the territory of the Romanian state, to protect Romanian citizens in danger. Among the novelties is the possibility of the militarization of the protection forces within the Ministry of the Interior, in the situation of mobilization or during an armed conflict. It is also proposed to establish the National Military Command Center – a new entity that will be responsible for the coordination and management of all defense forces.

CONSULTATIONS. The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is hosting on Wednesday a working meeting with the European Council president Charles Michel, focused on the future strategic agenda of the EU. The prime ministers of Belgium, Hungary and Croatia will also participate, the Presidency has announced. Consultations held in Bucharest are part of a wider process of defining the priorities of the EU for the 2024-2029 period, which started on the sidelines of the informal meeting of the European Council in Granada on 6 October 2023, the Presidency release also reads. Talks on the future strategic agenda of the EU will continue with a view to adopting a final document at the European Council summit scheduled for late June.

STRIKE. The Romanian Post employees’ strike continued on Tuesday, at national level, in the context in which the company’s management opened two cases in court: one for suspending the strike and another for establishing the illegality of the strike, the National Trade Union Bloc has announced. The representatives of the union claim that they will appear in court on Wednesday to present their defense. The Company’s employees demand an increase of 400 lei in salaries, as well as an increase in the loyalty bonus. According to the TUB, over 7,000 members from 32 counties across the country are participating in the action. The management of the company and the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization have proposed a salary increase in two installments, which in autumn would lead to a total net increase of approximately 370 lei on average.

JCET 2024. Servicemen of the Romanian army, alongside counterparts from the Republic of Moldova and the USA, are taking part, until April 19th, in the multinational exercise Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) 2024, hosted by Moldova. The exercise is focused on joint training drills and experience-sharing between the military of the three states and is aimed at boosting interoperability between participants.

CENTRAL BANK. On March 31, the currency reserves of the National Bank of Romania went up to 64.2 bln EUR. The gold reserves stood at 103.6 tons. Against the latest developments on international markets, Romania’s gold reserves now stand at some 6.9 bln EUR. Public debt payments in foreign currency due in April, direct or guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance, amount to approximately 2 bln EUR. The National Bank has also announced that the IRCC, the reference index for consumer loans, fell to 5.90% per year. The downward trend will determine the reduction of mortgage rates for hundreds of thousands of Romanians. The three-month ROBOR index, which sets the value of consumer loans with variable interest in Lei, also went down.

DEEPFAKE. The National Cybersecurity Directorate has launched a guide on identifying deepfakes. The document provides detailed information about the creation and identification of deepfakes and teaches users what to do when targeted by such phenomena. (MI)