August 17, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 17.08.2022, 13:55

Measures. Leaders of the governing coalition in Romania are discussing new measures aimed at protecting the population and the economy against the big increases in electricity, fuel and natural gas prices. The measures envisaged include the reduction of the number of intermediaries between producers and consumers, and thus prevent prices from rising. The Social Democratic Party would also like a regulation of the energy market for domestic consumers and SMSEs, but the proposal has been rejected by the National Liberal Party. According to the Social Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu, decisions regarding energy must be adopted by the Government by September 1st and applied for a longer period, until 2025.

GDP. The Gross Domestic Product of the European Union and the Eurozone registered an increase of 0.6% in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the previous three months, according to preliminary data published on Wednesday by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat). In the first quarter of 2022, compared to the previous three months, the Gross Domestic Product registered an increase of 0.5% in the euro zone and 0.6% in the EU. Among the EU member states for which data are available, the most significant growth rates in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the previous three months, were recorded in the Netherlands (2.6%), Romania (2.1%) and Sweden (1.4%). Compared to the second quarter of last year, the GDP increased by 3.9% in the euro zone and by 4% in the European Union between April and June 2022, with all EU member states for which data are available reporting increases. Romania registered an annual growth of 5.3% in the second quarter of 2022, after an annual growth rate of 6.4% in the first three months. The National Institute of Statistics announced that Romanias economy grew by 2.1% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the previous quarter, while compared to the similar period in 2021, the growth was 5.3%.

Entrepreneurship. The “Women Entrepreneur” program will be launched in Romania on Thursday, with the aim of encouraging and stimulating small and medium-sized enterprises founded and managed by women. According to the authorities, just over 35% of the Romanian entrepreneurs are women, and approximately 785 companies will benefit from this program this year. The maximum budget allocated to the program in 2022 is of about 31 million euros, each company being able to benefit from about 40 thousand euros. The “Women Entrepreneur” program also contributes to achieving one of the OECD standards – gender equality in the entrepreneurial field.

Protest. Trade unionists from the Romanian police and penitentiaries are protesting, today, by picketing the Government headquarters, which will be followed by a march towards the offices of the Social Democratic and National Liberal parties, which are partners in the governing coalition. On Tuesday, the trade unionists picketed the headquarters of the Ministries of Interior and Labor. They announced that, on Thursday, the protests will continue at the headquarters of the European Commission Representation in Romania. The trade unionists are unhappy with salaries and the criteria used to award bonuses. They also demand the updating of the value of meal tickets according to the consumer price indices established by the National Institute of Statistics.

Swimming. The Romanian swimmer David Popovici has qualified for the 400 m freestyle final of the European Championships in Rome. He raced in the first of five qualifying rounds. 38 swimmers participated in the rounds, and the first eight qualified for the finals. “It will be the strangest race for me, because I have no experience in this kind of event. Ive only done it three times, in small competitions. But its a good place to start and see if Im good or not”, said David Popovici before the race. At only 17 years old, David Popovici is, as of Saturday, the world record holder in the 100 m freestyle with 46 seconds and 86 hundredths. On Monday he also won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle. A world champion in both the 100 and 200 m freestyle, the Romanian swimmer covered the four lengths of the pool in 1 minute 42 seconds and 97 hundredths, a new world and European record.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, who has just won the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto, has defeated the Russia Anastasia Potapova, 6-4, 6-3 and has qualified for the second round of the tournament tin Cincinnati, with 2.5 million dollars in prize money. In the next round Simona Halep will play against another representative of Russia, Veronika Kudermetova. Romanian player Sorana Cirstea has also qualified for the second round, after defeating the Swiss Belinda Bencic, the defending Olympic champion. Next she will take on the Czech Petra Kvitova. (MI)