April 21, 2022 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 21.04.2022, 19:26
Aid. On Thursday, the Bucharest executive adopted an aid scheme, worth 200 million euros, for investors with an initial turnover of at least one million euros. Also on thursday, the equvalent of 90 million euro was allocated for cattle, sheep and poultry farmers. The Romanian Minister of Agriculture, Adrian Chesnoiu, stated at the end of the government meeting that Romania is doing well in terms of internal stocks until the new harvest and that, following assessments, it is not in the food risk zone. In turn, the Romanian Minister of Finance, Adrian Câciu, stated that, until the middle of the year, the executive wants to come up with two more state aid schemes that will mainly target the processing industry, in order to start the shift towards an economy based on production. Câciu specified that Romania is not in a position to ask for help from the International Monetary Fund, because it has a lot of money at its disposal from the European Union. Another measure that came into force on Thursday regards the payment of 500 lei each for over 240,000 students from poor families. The interim minister of European projects, Marcel Boloş, explained that the amount represents three monthly installments allocated under he “Support for Romania” program, which totaled 122 million lei.
Ukraine. US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday a new military aid for Ukraine worth 800 million dollars. It includes “heavy artillery, dozens of howitzers, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and tactical drones”, Biden said in a White House statement. He added that Russian ships would be banned from US ports. Russian President Vladimir Putin “will never succeed” in occupying Ukraine, the American leader also said. The US military aid to Ukraine since the start of the war has so far amounted to more than 3 billion USD, Reuters reports. On the ground, Russia claims to have conquered the port city of Mariupol at the Sea of Azov, which will allow the direct connection of the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donbas with the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014. The statement was made by Vladimir Putin himself, and this would be a success he needs before May 9, the day when Moscow celebrates Victory Day. He also cancelled the assault on the huge Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold of Ukrainian defense in the area, but maintained the blockade. The Ukrainian government has called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate about 500 wounded Ukrainian soldiers and about 1,000 civilians from inside the besieged plant.
Refugees. Over 760,000 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the Romanian Border Police announced. Of them, several thousands are asylum seekers. On Wednesday, in 24 hours, some 7,700 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania, by 4.8% more than on the previous day.
Election. The war in Ukraine was a topic for debate on Wednesday evening in Paris, when the two candidates to the countrys presidency, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, took part in a televised debate. The centrist Emmanuel Macron reminded his far right contender that she must repay millions to a Russian bank, which gave her a loan for her presidential campaign five years ago. Macron also said a French president cannot depend on Putin and the Russian power. The candidates also clashed over Frances role in the EU, the Radio Romania correspondent reports. Macron, an established pro-European, pleaded for a strong and sovereign Europe, while Le Pen is known as a Eurosceptic. Opinion polls regarding voting intentions for the April 24 election, show Macron as the winner, with around 55% of the votes.
Match for peace. Wednesdays match for peace between Romanias football champion, CFR Cluj and Ukraines champion Dinamo Kyinv ended in a goalless draw. All money collected from the tickets will be donated to the Ukrainian refugees. The match was preceded by a concert for peace, featuring vocalists from the two countries. The event in Romania was staged by Dinamo Kyivs head coach, the Romanian Mircea Lucescu and is part of a European tournament organized by the Ukrainians, after their championship was cancelled following Russian invasion.
Report. At the end of 2021 Romania had 931 km of motorway, a little over 5% of the total length of national roads, the National Statistics Institute announced. Of the total length of national roads, some 6,200 km are European roads. On December 31, 2021, the length of the Romanian public railway totaled 10,764 km. (MI)
