This bombshell has sent shockwaves through Romania’s political landscape, raising profound questions about leadership ethics and national priorities.

The Hidden Decision

Ponta revealed that he ordered the opening of the critical Porțile de Fier (Iron Gates) dam, diverting floodwaters away from Belgrade and toward unsuspecting Romanian communities downstream. This drastic measure was taken after consulting emergency response teams, with assurances that affected residents would be evacuated and compensated. Among the flooded areas was Cetate, where renowned poet Mircea Dinescu owns property; Dinescu reportedly received compensation for the damages.

The aftermath of this decision led to Ponta being granted Serbian citizenship, a move that has long been shrouded in mystery. However, as he seeks the Romanian presidency, he intends to renounce this citizenship.

A Storm of Criticism

The revelation has unleashed a torrent of criticism from across the political spectrum. Nicușor Dan, mayor of Bucharest, has called for the immediate desecretization of documents related to Ponta’s decision-making during the 2014 floods. Dan has questioned the sincerity of Ponta’s “sovereignist” campaign slogan, “Romania First,” given his past actions favoring Serbia. Meanwhile, Marcel Ciolacu, leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), has urged Ponta to withdraw his presidential candidacy in light of the scandal.

Ponta has defended his decision as a necessary crisis measure, emphasizing that no Romanian lives were endangered. He maintains that Romania acted as a “good neighbor” by assisting Serbia during a time of need and promptly repairing material damages in affected areas. However, critics argue that prioritizing Serbian interests over Romanian communities undermines his credibility as a nationalist leader.

Rising in the Polls and Impact on Presidential Elections

Despite the controversy, Ponta remains a significant contender in the upcoming presidential elections. Recent polls have shown him as a strong candidate, although his support has varied. In some polls, he has been ranked second among sovereignist candidates, trailing behind George Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). However, in more recent surveys, Ponta’s support has waned slightly, with him polling around 9%. This fluctuation highlights the volatile nature of Romania’s political landscape, where nationalist and far-right candidates are gaining traction.

This controversy adds another layer to Ponta’s already tumultuous political career, marked by previous corruption charges and misconduct allegations during his prime minister tenure. The scandal has reignited heated debates about leadership ethics and national priorities in Romania, casting a shadow over Ponta’s presidential ambitions.

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Cristina Neagu, the best player on Romania’s team, missed the game because he is still suffering from a knee injury. However, all the Romanian players did their job and ensured the victory for their national team.

Romania confirmed its value again after beating Chile in the group’s first game, 44-19 (25-16). With 81 goals scored, Romania is the best-scoring team at this championship.

In the third match, Romania will meet the Danish solid team on Tuesday, December 5.

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The play-off between Romania and Serbia was in Kraljevo, Serbia, but the home team didn’t take advantage of playing in front of their fans. It was 0-2 after the first day, and the following matches haven’t made any difference.

After the two victories on Friday (achieved by Gabriela Ruse, 2-0, with Mia Ristic and Jaqueline Cristian, 2-0, with Aleksandra Krunic) and the success on Saturday (achieved by Jaqueline Cristian, 2-1, in front of Lolei Radivojevic), the “doubles” team of Romania, consisting of the pair Monica Niculescu (944 WTA) and Anca Todoni (250 WTA), won against the couple Katarina Kozarov / Aleksandra Krunic with a score of 2-0 (6-1, 7-6).

Romania and all the other winning nation teams will compete in the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers in 2024, with a chance to qualify for next year’s Finals.

In April this year, Romania lost 2-3 at home with Slovenia in the Billie Jean King Cup after having 2-0 on the first day, thus losing the opportunity to go further in the competition to the final tournament.

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All fans in the world for Kosovo Je Srbija published images of the Serbian fans displaying large banners during the football games the Serbian clubs had recently.

The Serbian words are

Румун има само три брата: Дунав, шуму и Србина

meaning

Romanians have only three brothers: the Danube, the woods and Serbia

Also, the Romanian words displayed say

Va multumesc, frati romani!

and

Va multumesc, fratilor!

meaning

Thank you, Romanian brothers!

The chants of the Romanian supporters sparked the scandal at the National Arena in Bucharest

On September 11, during the football match, Romania had against the province of Kosovo, a territory Romania doesn’t recognize as a country, the Romanian fans started chanting “Kosovo Je Srbija,” which led to the suspension of the game for an hour.

After returning to the field, the players from Kosovo were defeated with 2-0, leaving the stadium while making obscene gestures towards the Romanian fans.

The Romanian fans did nothing else but express the Romanian Government’s official position towards these two international territorial issues. While not recognizing the Serbian province as an independent country, Romania also considers Moldova a Romanian province. It will do whatever diplomatic means to unify both Romanian territories once again, even if not bluntly expressed internationally.

Such incidents show that the Eastern European region still has deep issues to address, and the people in the regions are not satisfied with the status quo regarding territories and autonomies.

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This question appeared after Kosovo passport holders were granted free access to the European space. Following this week, the EU adopted visa-free travel for Kosovo, as announced by the European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations.

Namely, Visa-free travel for Kosovar passport holders will become a reality on 1 January 2024 at the latest. Following an agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on a proposal by the Commission, passport holders from Kosovo will be allowed to travel to the EU without a visa for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 days.

Currently, five European states do not recognize Kosovo’s independence: Romania, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia, despite insane pressures from the European Commission. Will these five countries allow Kosovo passport holders to travel freely within their territory? It seems there will be another round or many more rounds of collision (to be read negotiations) between the European Commission and these five rebel countries.

The outcome of these negotiations depends on many variables – the internal political configuration of each respective country, the concessions within the negotiations, and any other external pressures.

At the beginning of the year, the Kosovo Prime Minister demanded the five to recognize its ‘country’, but with no success.

Will this decision hurry things up toward a unanimous recognition of the Serbian province as a state? Or, on the contrary, Kosovo passport holders will be forbidden to enter Romania and all the other states? Only eight months are remaining, and things will definitely sort out by then.

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Context behind

The first move that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, took since he began the large-scale, aggressive invasion of Ukraine on February 24 was to put his army north of the Crimean Peninsula. Russia’s scope is to restrict Ukraine any access to the sea, leaving the nation and its armed forces isolated on land.

In an effort to seize the important Ukrainian port cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa, Russian forces have been attempting to advance along the Black Sea coast into the Kherson region for more than seven months, as stiripesurse tells us. Kherson is a coastal region very close to the Romanian NATO territory hence the reason why the USA decided to send in the heavy infantry airborne troops in the Constanta Port and a few other European regions.

On the other hand, Serbia is an ally of Russia in this conflict. As such, Serbia has been subjected to multiple threats and pressure by Russia to join the sanctions the West imposed on her.

Current context

The last time the 101 Airborne Division was deployed in Europe was 80 years ago, on the Normandy beaches, marking the start of the end of the Nazi regime. The light infantry force is prepared to be deployed in a matter of hours to any battlefield in the world in case of emergencies such as the friction between Russia and NATO.

”When you have such opposing positions, it is enough to look at the forces with which Russia is now entering Ukraine. When you see that the Americans have sent the best unit in the world, and this is the Airborne Division 101, brought it to Romania and deployed it a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine, then it becomes clear what awaits us, whether it will reach a direct clash or not. It is clear to you that there are no concessions here, and it is clear to me how this will develop further and how it will affect our country”

Aleksander Vucic, President of Serbia

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According to Agerpres, more than 30 Romanian authors will be at the country’s booth, marketed under the motto “Books for Friends” (BFF). According to the source cited, there will be more than 30 events attended by writers, editors, translators, cultural journalists, and university professors from both nations, as well as an exhibition of Romanian editorial innovations (fiction, non-fiction, books for children and youth, and art).

Nichita Stanescu, the most adored Romanian poet in Serbia, will be the focal point of the event’s graphic representation of Romania’s presence. The event entitled ‘Belgrade in 5 friends. My friend, Nichita’ is organized in association with the National Museum of Romanian Literature, the Writers’ Association from Serbia, and the Filip Visnjic publishing firm.

“Professional dialogues. News in Romanian and Serbian literature” are the titles of two events dedicated to book professionals, organized in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute. They aim to intensify literary translations and editorial collaborations between the two cultural spaces.

A similar event entitled BookFest was organized in Bucharest, as well. The event honoured Japanese guests and culture.

In other words, cultural exchange is one of the most fascinating ways to get to know the unknown, and such events ensure this opportunity.

Romanian literary works are appreciated and known abroad. Valuable Romanian culture and authors also find their appreciation and academic recognition on an international level. Through these events, Romania has the chance to share its literature wealth with other people. This act represents more than a cultural exchange but also an expansion of Romanian literature internationally.

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Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Serbia will be connected by the end of 2022 through a network of around 100 fast and ultra-fast recharging stations. A short waiting time for recharging will encourage electromobility in the region. Fast charging stations ensure that 80% of the battery is recharged in about 40 minutes; for ultra-fast ones, the estimated recharge time is less than 20 minutes.

 We are expanding our electromobility offer in all the countries in the region where we have filling stations. Basically, by the end of 2022, about 15% of the OMV and Petrom regional network will have recharging stations. By 2030, we will provide our customers with approximately 500 stations with alternative solutions for mobility such as electro-mobility, gas mobility such as LNG and CNG and hydrogen.

Radu Căprău, member of OMV Petrom Executive Board, responsible for Downstream Oil.

OMV Petrom plans to expand in Romania and in Bulgaria

OMV Petrom was the first energy company in Romania that, in a pilot project carried out together with Electrica, installed four years ago the first fast recharging station for electric vehicles, in an OMV filling station.

In the past two years, OMV Petrom has concluded three partnerships with Eldrive, Enel X and Renovatio to develop a network of 80 fast and ultra-fast recharging stations in Romania and Bulgaria. Out of these, at least 20 will be ultra-fast charging stations. Currently, there are 19 recharging stations operational in Romania and Bulgaria.

The expansion of the EV Charging Network in Moldova and Serbia

OMV Petrom will expand its partnership with Renovatio in Moldova, with a minimum of 5 recharging stations, with an installed capacity of 75 kW. They will be installed in Petrom filling stations located in Chisinau, as well as in other cities across Moldova.

OMV Petrom will implement in Serbia by the end of the first semester of 2022, in partnership with charge&GO – the regional EV charging platform, a network of 5 charging stations for electric vehicles in OMV filling stations, located on Serbia’s highways. Their available power will be between 100 kW and 200 kW.

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Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, sent off to Romania a donation on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The donation consists of medicines for the treatment of patients with the Covid-19 virus and oxygen.

The Covid situation in Romania is disturbing. The daily number of cases exceeds 16,000, but more worrying is the daily number of deaths, which regularly exceeds 400. This made Serbia, along with other countries, send the medication and oxygen in an attempt to save lives.

There is humanitarian aid in the trucks, in the first place in medicine and oxygen, which our Romanian neighbors desperately need. We are convinced that this help will save many human lives

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Niola Selaković

Minister Selaković wrote on the shipment in Romanian: “Serbia is with brotherly Romania in the most difficult moments”, and Romanian Ambassador to Serbia, Mrs. Silvia Davidoiu, wrote in Serbian – “Thank you”.

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