Romania has suspended its voluntary payments to the United Nations' Palestinian aid agency (UNRWA), the foreign ministry (MAE) said on Monday, joining a series of countries to do so pending a full investigation into accusations that its employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Reuters correspondent reports. "We express our full confidence that the U.N. investigation will clarify the situation as soon as possible," the ministry said. "Until the investigation is concluded, the ministry will ... not make any new voluntary contributions to UNRWA." MAE also said it welcomes the swift response of UNRWA leadership to immediately terminate the contracts of the individuals concerned. It went on to express full confidence that the UN investigations will clarify the situation. “Until the conclusion of the investigation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not launch procedures for new voluntary contributions to UNRWA. The needs of Palestinian civilians will continue to be a priority for Romania, and we will maintain our coordination with our partners, including at the European level,” the statement added. The decision comes after a shocking revelation that agency staff were allegedly involved in the attacks on Israel. "The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks in Israel on October 7," said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's Commissioner-General. Following these allegations, ten other countries have announced so far that they are suspending funding for the UN agency. The United States immediately announced on Friday the temporary cessation of any future financial contributions to UNRWA. Similar decisions were then taken by Canada, Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands, and Germany. The agency announced that it had dismissed 12 employees, according to the United States. In 2022, funds from the UN budget and contributions from other UN entities to the agency amounted to USD 44.6 million. The EU is demanding an “urgent” audit of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and says it is reviewing funding, following Israeli allegations that some staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack. The audit should be led by European Commission-appointed experts and be conducted alongside a UN investigation into the claims, commission spokesman Eric Mamer tells journalists. The EU was the agency’s third largest funder in 2022, behind the US and Germany, which have already announced funding freezes.
Romanian non-profit Dăruiește Viață has completed a new renovation project at the “Louis Țurcanu” Emergency Children’s Hospital in Timișoara, upgrading the Pediatric Onco-Hematology Transplant Unit to modern medical standards. The investment, worth approximately EUR 150,000, was funded by Linde Gaz Romania and Atos Global Delivery Center. The organisation has been working with the Timișoara hospital […]
The multimedia exhibition Aici Se Vede Jazz (Here You Can See Jazz), set to open at SAC Berthelot in Bucharest, explores how jazz found its way in the pre-1990 Bucharest and “the contemporary ways to listen, visualize, perform and relate artistically to its world of sounds and ideas.” Bucharest had improvised studios, rehearsals with the […]
Aon Romania, part of the global group Aon plc, draws attention to the urgent need for structured solutions to protect trade receivables in an economic context characterized by high volatility and geopolitical uncertainty. The subject was central to the discussions at TRADE CREDIT TALKS - Receivable Protection in the Age of Volatility, where business leaders […]
Bucharest’s shopping centres posted mixed financial results in 2024, with major discrepancies between the city’s largest malls and mid-sized retail centres, according to financial analysis platform RisCo.ro. The data shows contrasts in profitability and turnover, as well as significant losses among some of the capital’s biggest retail projects. AFI Cotroceni recorded the highest turnover of […]
Nearly nine in ten Romanians expect to spend less or no more than last year on Christmas shopping, according to a new survey by tbi bank that highlights the impact of rising prices on household budgets ahead of the winter holidays. The nationwide poll, conducted in October on a sample of 1,011 respondents, shows that […]
A total of 77% of homeowners who answered a survey by ING and Ipsos said they implemented measures in the past three years to improve energy efficiency. The need to save on energy bills was the main driver of household modernization, the survey showed. Most respondents (62%) said they did so to reduce energy costs, […]
