April 29, 2023
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 29.04.2023, 13:55
EU — The European Union has decided to extend for another year the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports, so as to support its economy during the war started by Russia. The announcement was made by Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the community bloc. We recall that the suspension of these taxes generated discontent among farmers in several countries, culminating with the ban, at the beginning of this month, on cereals imports from Ukraine by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. The European Commission has now proposed paying compensations to farmers in five countries bordering Ukraine, including Romania, and allowing these countries to ban the sale of certain Ukrainian grains on their domestic markets. But, the five countries must continue to allow the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products, so that they can be sold in other regions.
Congress — The representatives of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (part of the governing coalition) are electing on Saturday, on the second day of the congress held in Timisoara (west), their president for the next 4 years. The only candidate is the current leader of the party, Kelemen Hunor, who wants to keep his party in the governing coalition. He said that the big challenge of his mandate will be maintaining one round in the local elections. According to Kelemen Hunor, a strategic document will also be adopted at the congress that will show the priorities of Romania and of the Hungarian community for the coming years in the economic, social, political and rights-of-national-minorities fields. Attending the Ethnic Hungarians’ congress, the leaders of National Liberal Party and of the Social Democratic Party (the main parties of the three-party coalition), namely the Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Ciolacu, respectively, expressed their support for continuing their partnership with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, saying that they were a pole of stability and professionalism within the coalition.
May Day – Over 400 festivals, concerts, trade fairs and sports competitions are scheduled to take place over the May Day long weekend, and over 70,000 people are expected to travel to the Black Sea Coast on this occasion. Romanians also chose to spend the May 1st mini-holiday in the Danube Delta and in the Prahova Valley mountain resorts. The number of hotel reservations across Romania is 4 times higher this year than in 2022, show data from a hotel platform. The Interior Ministry announced that some 24,000 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters will be on duty across the country to prevent and combat crime, fluidize road traffic and reduce waiting times at border checkpoints as well as to ensure order and safety at various public events. The Border Police has also taken measures to optimize customs procedures and reduce waiting times, with a focus on the crossing points on the Hungarian and Bulgarian borders.
Budget — Romanias state budget registered a deficit of 1.42% of the gross domestic product, i.e. 22.75 billion lei (about 4.6 billion Euros) in the first three months of 2023, the Romanian Finance Ministry announced. The loss was mainly caused by the increase in the volume of investments by 56.5% compared to the same period of the previous year and the compensation of bills related to the consumption of electricity and natural gas for domestic and non-domestic customers in the amount of 2.5 billion lei (about 500 million Euros). Other factors that contributed to the deficit were the higher volume of reimbursements of goods and services for medicines, the slowing down of the fees and taxes collection rate as well as the implementation of the second stage of the Support Program for Romania. Last year, the state budget registered, in the same period, a deficit of 15.7 billion lei (about 3.1 billion Euros).
Green House — Next week Romania sees the start of the “Green House” program, through which the state offers financing to individuals for the installation of solar panels. For now, both the producing companies and the potential beneficiaries have at their disposal the application guide of the program, which was issued on Friday. To register, those who wish to install solar panels must enter an application on the website of the Environment Agency. The funding remains the same as last year – 20,000 lei per person (approx. 4,000 Euros), accounting for 90% of the expenses. The Romanian authorities propose to double the budget allocated to this program this year and thus reach 150,000 systems installed in 2023. (LS)
