The Eurofighter Typhoon jets of the Italian Air Force landed on Friday, November 25, in the 57th Air Base from Mihail Kogălniceanu, Constanța county.

The Italian detachment, made up of approximately 150 military personnel (pilots and technical personnel) and Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, will perform, together with the Romanian Air Force military, Enhanced Air Policing missions under NATO command for six months.

This is the third rotation at Mihail Kogălniceanu of the Royal Italian Air Force, after those performed in 2019 and 2021.

Joint air police missions contribute to developing reaction and deterrence capacity and strengthen interoperability between the Romanian and Italian Air Forces.

Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-role fighter jet built by British Aerospace EAT to offer air superiority. It is used mainly by the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany and entered production in 1983. The first jets were delivered and flown in March 1994, and more than 570 aircraft have been produced.

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Even though his post hasn’t gathered much engagement, it is critical for understanding the positioning of the Romanian politicians towards one of the most exciting political events in the EU. Italy, a country which has the third biggest economy in the EU and replaced the UK in terms of political influence in Europe, is now led by the leader of Fratelli d’Italia, Giorgia Meloni. Her party is famous for its nationalist views; some see this evolution as against European democratic values. Yet, democracy brings nationalists to power, and no one can censor that, including Ursula von der Leyen, who threatened to cut Italy’s funds if Fratelli d’Italia succeeded to power in the country.

Indeed, Fratelli d’Italia is a nationalist party, and some of its political agenda doesn’t coincide with the one of the European Union. European publications are announcing the rising of crypto-fascism to power in Italy. Still, Giorgia Meloni assured she would govern for all Italians and has never threatened to head Italy toward exiting the EU.

When positioning Romanian political parties to Italian politics evolution, we have to say that the prominent leaders didn’t hurry to salute the victory of Fratelli d’Italia or the appointment of Ms. Meloni as Prime Minister. Except for the regular official congratulations between the heads of European Governments, which made Romanian PM Ciuca express his congratulations, the other political party leaders avoided publicly expressing themselves on the subject.

Fratelli d’Italia has a Romanian branch and, according to its political agenda, wants to enter the Romanian Parliament in 2024. Maybe this potential competition in 2024 could be a reason for the silence of many, but it’s too early to say anything about what will be in two years.

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Fratelli d’Italia: History

The important underlying aspects of the history of the Fratelli d’Italia (FDL) Party’s emergence don’t stop here. Giorgia Meloni and the other party leaders come from the extremist National Alliance founded in 1995, which emerged into The People of Freedom Party (PDL) led by Silvio Berlusconi. A right-wing split within the PDL party led to the emergence of FDL, which is represented by a tricolour flame symbol and is one of the most right-wing-led parties since 1945.

Fratelli d’Italia in Romania: Entering discussions with the Romanian Parliamentary parties

FDL is not only growing in popularity all over Italy, but it’s also starting to expand to other European nations regarding right-wing politics. As mentioned by Defapt.ro after  FDL won the elections in Italy, Pasquale Elicona took his role seriously and wants to enter Romanian Parliament in 2024. One of the Romanian Parties targeted for possible support or alliance is AUR, the Romanian nationalists, now reaching 25% popularity and voting intention in Romania.

FDL underlying scope

Outside of the political ties and duties, Elicona is a successful businessman and a director of many recruitment companies that brings Italian workers to Romania. His goal is to expand the party in all Romanian counties and city elections by collecting votes from the Italians spread across the country and under the scope of supporting and giving a voice to the minorities and the Italian community.

The Romanian parliament is somewhat welcoming to right-wing politics, with various subliminally patterns of nationalism in different present parties. The president of the secret services in Romania, Eduard Hellvig, announced on multiple instances various references directed towards such right-led mentalities:

‘’We are in need of Nationalism in Romania’’

President of the Romanian Secret Services

FDL from the larger view of Europe

Romania is not the only country where right-wing politics are present and slowly growing in popularity. Regardless of the type of nationalism, offensive or defensive, there are countries such as France, Hungary, and Sweden, where right-wing parties are established and have already started discussions with the EU.

FDL vs the European Union sentiments

These political changes and emergences are making the European Union enter a state of readiness and weariness due to the uncertainty of the type of political mindsets the nationalist parties will adopt. This is due to previous situations that proved the majority of right-wing and nationalist political parties, including Meloni’s FDL, tend to be against the EU legislation and to challenge the EU’s rules and regulations.

‘’We have to see which Meloni will turn up at negotiations, the pro-NATO, the pro-Ukraine Atlanticist, or the anti-EU expressing willingness to challenge EU…[…]’’.

European Union Commission

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, is yet to comment and go public on the unfolding events. She even mentioned that:

‘’ If relations went in a difficult direction, then the EU had tools to deal with such crises’’

President of the European Commission

This could only mean that the measures taken with the other states that previously challenged the EU will be applied to Italy. The political spectrum is shapeshifting worldwide, and the EU is prepared to face any situation.

Is Italy going to exit the European Union? After Brexit, no one can say that a particular country is to stay in the EU, as the national political configuration is changing and Euro-sceptics are taking over the power.

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After the official meeting in Bucharest, Emmanuel Macron and Klaus Johannis met in Kyiv along with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The European officials saw the effects of the Russian attacks on this official visit. According to the France Ambassador in Ukraine, the event was crucial for the Ukrainians because it allowed the four government leaders to see the scale of the devastation.

Romanian President Klaus Johannis send a message on social media on this occasion, along with images from Irpin town.

No words to describe the unimaginable human tragedy and horrible destructions we saw today in Irpin. I strongly renew my appeal for all Russian perpetrators to be held responsible by the international criminal justice, which Romania fully supports.

Klaus Johannis, Romanian President

The message of the four political leaders meeting in the capital of Ukraine is a strong one. The horrors of the war can be seen on the buildings in Ukraine, and throughout Europe, so this official visit was certainly not a class trip between political leaders. Is this an encouragement for Ukraine to join the EU or a political temptation for Moscow amid a military conflict?

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According to Agerpress, the Competition Council sanctioned five pharmaceutical companies, suppliers of immunoglobulins and other human plasma-derived drugs, and the representative association of the plasma protein therapy manufacturers – PPTA (Belgium) with fines totalling EUR 71 million.

As a national competition authority that ensures the application of the federal and Community rules on competition, the Competition Council started an investigation in 2018 on the pharmaceutical market and found that these companies adopted a strategy aimed at limiting and even interrupting the supply of the Romanian market with immunoglobulins, to put pressure on the authorities to suspend the clawback tax for medicines derived from human blood or human plasma.

Who are the European companies investigated and sanctioned by the Romanian authorities?

According to a statement from the competition authority, the companies who sought financial advantages are Baxalta Gmbh, Switzerland – 22.5 million euro; CSL Behring Gmbh, Germany – 15 million euro; Biotest AG, Germany – 5 million euro; Kedrion Spa, Italy – 3.26 million euro; Octapharma AG, Switzerland – 25.34 million euro; PPTA, Belgium: 71,000 euro.

By analyzing the events, we can conclude that all these companies endangered patients’ lives for their financial gain. Immunoglobulins are essential for patients with severe health conditions, for its a medical treatment for numerous diseases characterized by antibody deficiency. These pharmaceutical companies generated a crisis through this marketing strategy urging the authorities to take immediate measures to provide patients with the necessary medicines, therefore suspending the clawback charge for drugs.

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Romania has few travel restrictions at the moment and the New Year’s Eve parties were an attraction for the locals and tourists. Among them, some cannot help themselves from overdrinking.

Just a few days ago, a drunk Irishman jumped the fence and broke into the Romanian Parliament building in Bucharest. Apparently, he told the police he thought the building was his hotel, but this is, of course, a blunt lie. Now, a drunk Italian adopted the same behavior, this time with the Museum of Art.

On the first day of the New Year, around 2 AM, a drunk Italian tried to jump over the fence of the Museum of Arts in Bucharest. He was immediately stopped by the Gendarmerie guards protecting the place.

The Italian, 27, was immobilized after being sprayed with tear gas. Police were called to intervene and they investigated the circumstances of the attempted break-in.

The Italian was fined 100 EUR for his intention of trespassing the property and he was freed.

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The Italian, 73, came to Romania after his ex-wife, 43, broke up with him. The victim had a funeral house in Vanju Mare, Mehedinti county, Western Romania, as a tragic coincidence. The tragedy happened precisely there, in front of the store, when the former couple started quarreling. Apparently, the old Italian was jealous of his younger ex-wife, for she had started a new life in Romania after breaking up with him.

Sources say the Italian also threatened a few witnesses who wanted to calm him down before the murder.

The Italian is now in hospital, as he survived the attempted suicide so far, but his condition is severe. The Romanian authorities are currently investigating the murder.

Guns are not allowed in Romania, and the population cannot detain guns, except for law enforcement officers and members of the hunting associations. It appears the Italian had a pistol on him, and the Romanian police investigators are trying to find out how that was possible. It’s either the Italian had come with a gun on him from Italy, a country where hundreds of victims are killed with firearms each year, or he had bought it from Romania illegally.

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Witnesses saw the aircraft falling from the sky with the engine on fire. The aircraft is small, Swiss-made, Pilatus-12, famous for its one-engine feature. It is capable of carrying up to 9 passengers.

In fact, in the crash died 8 people, including a child. It seems that, apart from the two Romanians, the rest of the passengers were French.

According to the Romanian press, the name of the pilot is Radu Ștefan Petrescu, a real-estate investor. According to some, he was the wealthiest Romanian in real estate, but he was a discreet presence in public life.

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The South Korean broadcaster considered it better to offer its viewers something different. Something unusual. Something which turned out to be, as they admitted, an ‘inexcusable mistake‘.

Namely, each country was described on-screen by captions or images. A few examples for you to understand the dimension of it all:

• Team Romania entrance was accompanied on South Korean TV by an image of Dracula.
• Team Italy entrance was accompanied by an image of a pizza
• Team Ukraine offered the South Korean broadcaster the opportunity of displaying images from the Chernobyl disaster
• Team El Salvador entrance was acompanies by an image of Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency is legal in this country
• For Team Norway a salmon fillet was shown

And the examples go on…

The captions used by the broadcaster were even more intriguing:

• When Team Haiti entered the arena, the South Korean viewers could read on their TV screens: ‘The political situation is fogged by the assassination of the president.’
• Marshall Islands were described for the South Korean viewers as ‘a former nuclear site for the US’
• Syria was described by the words: ‘Rich underground resources; a civil war that has been going on for 10 years.’

Yes, the local broadcaster apologized for this ‘inexcusable mistake’, but the stereotypes about the nations will certainly live longer than these Olympic games. And the Italians indeed make the best pizza out there and the Norway fishermen catch the tastiest salmon, but this is not something to define a nation, especially during the Olympics.

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His appreciation was made during an interview which he offered to the Italian publication Il Giornale.

The risk is that politicians are tempted to play down the situation, as happened in the summer, in order to revive the economy. This absolutely must not happen. Now we need to organize ourselves for the third wave, which will arrive in February.

Dr. Fabrizio Pregliasco, interview in Il Giornale

Italy was one of the most devastated countries during the first wave of COVID-19 which hit harder in spring. Yet, the Italian doctors affirmed they had “strange cases of pneumonia” in December. This is why no one can say for certain when the pandemic started. Also, the so-called “first patient” in Italy, identified in January, might not be the first patient and all, but only the first to be diagnosed as COVID-19 infected.

What is going to be the situation in Romania – will it be a third wave of pandemic in March-April?

Romania was not an exception – everything happening in Italy was replicated in Romania one or two months later, only with a milder strength and at a smaller scale. In fact, the first COVID-19 infected person in Romania was an Italian visiting his relatives.

The difference in time means that, if the suppositions of the Italian virologist are correct, Romania will have a third wave of pandemic somewhere in March-April, along with other South-Eastern European countries. Is the country prepared for such a possibility? Politicians will always say “yes”, but the medical system is already overwhelmed, let alone the economy…

Is Europe prepared to confront a third wave?

From the medical point of view, after a year of fighting pandemic, we could say that the medical system is better prepared for a wave now than in the beginning of the pandemic. After all, in February there will be a year since the beginning of this medical crisis. Besides, the COVID-19 vaccine will be available in early spring in EU, manufactured by many producers and countries. This will help.

From the economic perspective, a third wave will be an additional burden to the economy, but also to the entrepreneurs. Specialists estimate that there will be millions of unemployed all over Europe and a third wave, coming along with lockdowns and restrictions, will only deepen the financial and economic crisis.

Europe is better prepared than one year ago for another wave, but the economic effects will be devastating. This means that the recover packages prepared by the European governments might prove insufficient, and billions more will have to be injected in the economy for it to survive the crisis.

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