March 3, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 03.03.2025, 20:11
INITIATIVE A Parliament group of the Young People’s Party (POT) has initiated the procedure of gathering signatures to suspend Ilie Bolojan from the position of the president of the Romanian Senate and implicitly from that of the country’s interim president. According to Anamaria Gavrila, leader of the aforementioned opposition party, Bolojan has seriously exceeded his authority and didn’t consult citizens over the decision to raise defence expenses. In order to start the procedure of suspending the president, the request must be signed by at least one third of the number of MPs, namely 117 senators and deputies. The move comes after POT has joined the other two opposition groups, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians and SOS Romania, which are contesting at the Constitutional Court the law under which the Romanian Army can shoot down the drones violating Romania’s airspace. The initiative is considered outrageous and dangerous by the Save Romania Union, another opposition party. Its leader, Elena Lasconi, has accused representatives of the three parties that they aren’t fighting for Romania, but against it, as they are trying to block measures aimed at protecting the people living close to Ukraine’s border and undermine Romania’s capability of responding a real threat.
AID The European Union will this year allot another 60 million Euros to the Republic of Moldova so that the country may strengthen its defence capabilities, the European Council president, Antonio Costa, announced in Chisinau. According to him, within the European Peace Facility, set up for supporting the defence capabilities of various countries, the Republic of Moldova is the second beneficiary, with 137 million Euros allotted so far. The head of the European Council visited Chisinau on Monday, three years since the Republic of Moldova submitted its request for joining the European Union. Romania’s interim President, Ilie Bolojan, also went to Chisinau over the weekend and gave assurances that Bucharest would call for more financial support, expertise and projects at EU level. Furthermore, Bolojan said, the Romanian government would continue to cap prices for a good part of the electricity the Republic of Moldova is buying from Romania.
UKRAINE Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan says the security guarantees Europe is to offer Ukraine will in fact benefit the entire eastern flank, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, and that they cannot be ensured without the support of the United States. He said on Sunday at the end of an informal summit hosted in London that the meeting was aimed at achieving coordination in the run-up to the European Council on 6th March and a meeting the next day with leaders of non-EU countries wishing to look for a solution to the war in Ukraine that will ensure lasting peace. According to the Romanian head of state, the leaders gathered in London agreed to maintain financial and military support for Ukraine.
CUTS The Romanian government this week plans to issue a decision to cut the number of under-secretaries, government sources have said. The ruling coalition, made up of the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, have held talks on this subject and the cabinet led by the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu is to adopt a regulation providing for a maximum number of 54 under-secretaries. The same sources said that ministries that now have 6 or 7 posts of under-secretaries will remain with 4 at the most, and each will be validated by the coalition. Also, under-secretaries who are part of management boards of state companies will have to choose between the two positions. The latter is a request from the European Commission, which said that management boards of state companies should include professionals, not politicians. Also this week, prime minister Ciolacu will hold talks with his ministers on the fulfilment of the milestones laid down in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The absorption of European funds is a particularly challenging aspect, and the prime minister wants to stay abreast with the stages of ongoing projects.
(bill)
