🟨🤝❓🇭🇺 AUR co-founder and leader of its Brussels delegation, Claudiu Târziu, told POLITICO that he and AUR are open to dialogue with Fidesz and will not oppose their request to enter the ECR group if Fidesz desires.

Târziu said that Fidesz's outburst came from a lack of communication between the two parties.

🔗 https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/hungarys-mega-presidency-or-just-meh/

🇪🇺🗳⚡️ The other nominees for the remaining three big positions in the European Union are:

♦️ Ex-Portuguese PM, Antonio Costa (S&D) for president of the European Council

♦️ Current Estonian PM, Kaja Kallas (RE) for the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs (head of diplomacy)

♦️ Current president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, (EPP)

These nominations have to pass the vote of the European Parliament, but as is with EU politics, no candidate is nominated if he doesn't stand a chance to pass the vote in the parliament, so we can safely assume that these will be the 4 people in charge of the European Union for the next 5 years.

@Wallachian_Gazette

🇷🇴✈️🕊🌐 The 57th "Mihail Kogălniceanu" Airbase will become NATO's biggest and most important stronghold on the European continent!

Currently, that position is held by the airbase at Ramstein, Germany.

The airbase will host 16 F-16s of the Romanian army + a number of allied NATO aircraft periodically rotated after 6 months, MQ-9 "Reaper" UAVs recently purchased by the Romanian MoD and once finished, a new "military city" for the American & other NATO allied troops full with every desirable facility like kindergartens, schools, drugstores, restaurants, theaters (cinemas) & more, on top of the other military facilities like a new double runway, hangars, new fuel storage facilities, new command tower & more. The capacity of the airbase will increase from the current ~2000 personnel stationed to 10.000 and the families of those deployed.

The airspace around the airbase will become the most protected in Romania and perhaps even in NATO.

📝 This is a strong message to Russia that NATO has no intentions to leave Romania and hopes of that happening anytime soon are delusional, in fact, NATO is digging in.

@Wallachian_Gazette

🇷🇴🤝🇹🇷 Defense minister, Angel Tîlvăr met with his Turkish counterpart, Yaşar Güler and the commander of the Turkish Navy, Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu.

They toured the Istanbul Shipyard Command meaning that the Romanian MoD is likely interested in acquiring some Turkish ships.

The ship industry in Romania took a big hit after the Dutch company, Damen Holding B.V. decided to leave the Mangalia shipyard following a blunder committed by the ministry of the economy, laying off its employees and returning the shipyard into the hands of the Romanian state who struggled to find orders before selling the shipyard to Damen in 2018.

Damen only retains the shipyard at Galați which it continuously expands. It successfully built a number of search & rescue ships for the Romanian Coast Guard and plans to build a ”drone carrier” for the Portuguese Navy. Damen has built at Galați a lot of ships for other navies, like the Pakistani Navy for which it built two corvettes, the Dutch navy for which it built a Combat-Support Ship (CSS) and a Joint Support Ship (JSS).

The Romanian Navy to make up for the lost capacity in the shipbuilding sector has resorted to buying old ships from other countries and refitting them with newer systems, like the two Sandown class minehunters and the two frigates bought from the UK. Last time we've heard from the navy was when it decided it wanted to build two brand new offshore patrol vessels (OPV) and jointly purchase with other EU members a planned new generation of corvettes believed to be ready past 2030.

@Wallachian_Gazette

🟦🗳⚡️ Elena Lasconi is elected the new president of the Save Romania Union party (USR).

🔗 https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/politica/elena-lasconi-este-noul-presedinte-al-usr-a-castigat-alegerile-interne-cu-68-2839691

🇪🇺🗳 Ursula von der Leyen was nominated for a 2nd term as president of the European Commission by the following heads of state:

🇬🇷 Greek prime-minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis who, despite technically winning the 2023 Parliamentary elections, his party, New Democracy, he did so because of the Greek electoral law grants an additional bonus 50 seats for the party that gains 40% of the vote during an election and thus managed to form a majority. He is negotiating for the European People's Party (EPP)

🇵🇱 Polish prime-minister, Donald Tusk, and his party the PO, marginally defeated Law and Justice by forming a grand coalition of centrist and leftist parties. He is negotiating for the EPP.

🇩🇪 German prime-minister, Olaf Scholz, whos party, the SPD recorded the worst performance in the European elections since 1980, falling to under 14% behind CDU and AfD. He is negotiating for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)

🇪🇸 Spanish prime-minister, Pedro Sanchez, who lost the last election to the center-right PP, but remained prime-minister because the PP wasn't able to form a coalition. He is negotiating for the S&D

🇫🇷 French president, Emmanuel Macron, whos party, Renaissance, was crushed by National Rally in the European Elections and as a result called for snap elections. He is negotiation for Renew Europe (RE)

🇳🇱 Dutch prime-minister, Mark Rutte, whos party, the VVD, lost the 2023 general elections to the PVV recording its poorest performance since 1971. Rutte promised to retire from politics after the elections but he broke the promise when he accepted his nomination as the future head of NATO. He is negotiating for RE.

These heads of state who are hated at home negotiated the future of the European Union behind closed doors and chose some particularly unreliable politicians.

Ursula von der Leyen is investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office for the COVID-19 vaccine acquisitions. She has refused to this day to reveal her private chat with Pfizer CEO, Alex Bourla when she sold some 40 billion EURs worth of vaccines in what is the biggest corruption case in the history of the EU. She is alleged to have bought COVID vaccines 25% more expensive than their market value.

Antonio Costa who is to lead the European Council was toppled in Portugal following the biggest corruption scandal in Portuguese history (Operation Influencer), regarding two lithium mines who might pose dangers to the health of the inhabitants nearby.

Kaja Kallas, the Estonian PM, will lead EU diplomacy after she was turned down from NATO because she was considered "too hard on Russia" despite being married to a man who had business dealings in Russia and kept conducting business in Russia after the placing of sanctions on Moscow.

It is unclear who will lead the European Parliament but it is expected that current president, Roberta Metsola (Malta) will continue to head it for the foreseeable future.

@CIG_telegram

🇷🇴🤝🇰🇷 More details from the contract signed between the Romanian MoD and Hanwha Group were revealed:

Romania will purchase 54 K9 "Thunder" self-propelled howitzers and received the Romanian designation: K9 "Tunet" and 84 tracked K10 Ammunition Supply Vehicles as well as 17k 155mm shells worth 4.1 billion Romanian lei (~920 million EURs)

The K9 Thunder SPG can fire 8 shells in under a minute, which follows the lessons of the Russo-Ukrainian war, that artillery needs to vacate its position quickly after firing otherwise it risks being destroyed by counterbattery fire.

18/54 K9s will be manufactured in the city of Changwon the capital of South Gyeongsang province and will be delivered in 2025. The remaining 36 will be assembled in Romania.

Hanwha assures that the K9s were tested in the most difficult of conditions in South Korea and elsewhere, like Norway, India, or the Middle East, to account for climates and certain terrain features which South Korea lacks.

🔗 Adelin Petrișor

—btw, for any Romanian subscriber that still thinks AUR would oppose the new von der Leyen Commission, prepare to be disappointed.

The only way for AUR to actually oppose the 2nd term which Ursula wants would be to follow PiS’ footsteps and threaten to leave the bloc if Meloni is dumb enough to go through with her plans. (She probably is).

AUR 🟨 cannot be an opposition party if it sits in the ECR. The only opposition party is S.O.S. România ⭐️

🇷🇴✈️🚀🇷🇺 The 57th ”Mihail Kogălniceanu” Airbase is strategically placed a short flight distance from Russian points of interest in Crimea and southern Ukraine.

Romanian F-16s can cover the distance between the base and Sevastopol in under 30 min and depending on the missiles they carry, they can hit targets upwards of 300 km away.

Romania has the F-16 AM/BM variant, composed of some of the earliest F-16 aircraft manufactured in the 1970s who received a Mid-Life Update (MLU) during the 1990s.

When Romania bought them in 2016 (so far, 17 such aircraft from Portugal) they came with night vision systems, two Multi-function displays, modernized fire control radar; hybrid navigation system; advanced IFF system; electronic warfare management system, JHMCS helmets and most importantly, AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM, AIM-9M and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles. All three missiles are short range, with the AIM-120 AMRAAM having the longest range of 160-180 km being designed for dogfights, not ground targets.

The 32 other F-16 aircraft bought from Norway are newer than those acquired from Portugal, having the M6.5.2. configuration. They have the designated variant Block50 or F-16C/D and can carry a whole load of bombs depending on the mission it is sent on, from AGMs to JDAMs to even nuclear loads. The AGM-158 JASSM is the air-to-surface missile with the highest operational range of 370km which the F-16s can reliably fire. They have a capacity for 4 such missiles in one sortie being well within the range of Crimea.

@Wallachian_Gazette