March 1, 2023 UPDATE

Visit. The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciuca, assured his Moldovan counterpart Dorin Recean of his support for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of his (predominantly Romanian-speaking) country within its internationally recognized borders. "We are witnessing more and more attempts to destabilize the Republic of Moldova, to artificially create tensions and hostile narratives, built on the intentional propagation of false information", Nicolae Ciucă said.  In turn, Dorin Recean stated that Bucharest is Chisinau's most important partner. "Bucharest helped us enormously in overcoming the energy crisis. Bucharest remains our advocate in all European institutions, so that we can accelerate the European course", added the Moldovan Prime Minister. He was also received by the president Klaus Iohannis with whom he reviewed the implementation status of priority objectives in the fields of energy, agriculture, transport and interconnectivity, health, education and information society. Iohannis reiterated Romania's firm support in managing security challenges, as well as economic imbalances, caused in the Republic of Moldova by the conflict in Ukraine. It is the first official trip abroad of Dorin Recean since taking over the term of head of government in Chisinau. The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, also visited Bucharest last week.

Seismic risk. "Romania is a country at seismic risk, and for this reason the responsibility of construction companies regarding the resistance structure of the buildings they make will have to be regulated very clearly", Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said on Wednesday. The government has developed a bill that will be sent to Parliament for debate and approval, which provides for the ban on leasing apartments in buildings that are part of the first category of seismic risk. The document also sets deadlines for the rapid visual assessment of schools and hospitals, as a priority, followed by the assessment other state buildings and apartment blocks. The executive also adopted an emergency ordinance on the "Safe and healthy schools" program, which proposes a simplified procedure for the introduction of schools that are part of the first category of seismic risk into the investment program. The list will be drawn up by the Ministry of Education and will be sent to the Ministry of Regional Development, and the beneficiaries of the program will be the local public administrations. Also, Wednesday, at the beginning of the Government meeting, the first honorary government adviser in Romania, but also in the world, was presented, which is a structure exclusively based on artificial intelligence and which will receive proposals and observations from citizens, will synthesize and send them to the competent state institutions.

Accident. The Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă, sent a message of support for the Greek people and the authorities in Athens, after the tragic railway accident last night. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest has announced that no requests for assistance have been received so far from Romanian citizens, in the context of the accident in which at least 36 people died and over 80 were injured, following the collision of a passenger train with a cargo one. According to local media, it is the worst railway accident in Greece. The train, with 350 passengers, was going from Athens to Thessaloniki. Several passengers were thrown out of the windows due to the impact. The Minister of Transport, Kostas Karamanlis, resigned, and a station master was arrested.

NATO. The Parliament of Helsinki adopted on Wednesday the draft law that paves the way for Finland's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance, Reuters reports. Both Finland and Sweden are preparing to become NATO members and have officially applied for membership in May 2022, ending decades of neutrality. Recently, a group of ambassadors from NATO member countries, including that of Romania, Dan Neculăescu, paid a working visit to Finland, in the context of this country's aspirations to join the North Atlantic Alliance. At the Madrid Summit in June 2022, the leaders of the NATO member countries took the decision to invite Sweden and Finland to join the Alliance. The accession protocols were signed by the 30 member states, of which 28 ratified them. Only Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified the documents.

Trafficking. 47 people were preventively arrested on Wednesday in Romania, and arrest warrants were issued for 18 in absentia, for migrant trafficking. Prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Romania (DIICOT) found 165 migrants hiding in the almost one hundred searches made in several counties and in the capital. Cars, money, ball guns, mobile phones and documents were confiscated. The criminal group was structured in two segments: the first one dealt with sheltering and transporting migrants to the boarding places in road cargo transport units, and the second segment was made up of  truck drivers. According to DIICOT, the members of the group have also developed ties with people from some state institutions. The criminal activity took place from last year until now.

EPPO. 121 cases opened last year by the European Public Prosecutor's Office targeted Romania, with the estimated damages standing at over 508 million euros, the institution said in its annual report published on Wednesday. Also, at the end of last year, Romania was involved in ten active cross-border investigations. A number of persons were indicted in Romania who were involved in five cases investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, with a final court decision being issued in one case. Most offences investigated in connection to Romania last year referred to non-procurement and procurement expenditure fraud, non-VAT and VAT fraud, corruption and money laundering. The European Public Prosecutor's Office, in which 22 of the European Union's member states are taking part, including Romania, is an independent body responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU. It consists of 112 European delegated prosecutors, including 11 from Romania.

Spring. On March 1st, Romania celebrated the Mărțișor (Spring Amulet) custom to mark the first day of spring. Early 20th century ethnologists found this ancient custom was practiced in the Romanian, as well as the Bulgarian and Albanian communities in the Balkans. In rural Romania, the Mărțișor was viewed as protection against disease and ill luck. A silver coin with a wool or cotton red and white thread would be tied around children's wrists to protect them from disease. 12 days later, the coins would be tied to a tree to ensure that the tree would yield fruit, or around the neck of cattle to keep them healthy. Adopted by the urban world to become a fashion, the Mărțișor today comes in all shapes and forms, including as a small piece of jewelry to be worn as a broach or a necklace. The Mărțișor was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017, following a joint application from Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. (MI)