August 31, 2023 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 31.08.2023, 20:15

TALKS Romania’s Prime
Minister, Marcel Ciolacu, will fly to Brussels on Friday for a new round of
talks with the European Commission on the country’s budget deficit next year.
The Executive in Bucharest would like a deficit over 5% and in order to
convince Brussels, the Romanian Prime Minister is expected to propose a series
of fiscal measures, including that of cutting the VAT quotas down to two and the
elimination of some facilities. Ciolacu is expected to explain that a budget
deficit over 5% is necessary as Romania had to support the neighboring Ukraine,
affected by the war. Early this week, the European Commission held talks with
government ministers from Romania. The conclusions of the aforementioned
meetings have not been made public, but, according to some European sources,
the Commission does not consider the measures proposed by the Romanian authorities
who pledged to raise taxes and curb public expenses as being enough.

VISIT A team of the European Commission is to visit Romania on
Friday and Saturday for talks on ways to streamline the local capabilities handling
the Ukrainian grain exports, after Russia has left the initiative regarding these
exports through the Black Sea and is presently threatening maritime civil
transportation. The expert team will be visiting the ports of Galati, on the
Danube and meet representatives of the Lower Danube Administration, port
authorities and pilots. The team will also travel to the Romanian Black Sea
port of Constanta for talks with the representatives of the operators,
transporters and grain traders here, the European Commission has announced.

DAY A series of cultural events was staged simultaneously in
Romania, the Republic of Moldova and the historic communities in the Diaspora
to mark the Day of the Romanian Language on Thursday, August 31. Set by
Parliament in Bucharest in 2013, the Day of the Romanian Language coincides
with the national day in the Romanian-speaking, ex-soviet, Republic of Moldova,
which thus pays homage to the local movement of national awakening. On August
31 1989, during the soviet regime, the Parliament in Chisinau, picketed by
about 750 thousand people, which accounted for a sixth of the country’s
population at that time, decided the Romanian as the state language also
shifting from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.

ITO As of Thursday the
city of Timișoara in Western Romania is hosting the 7th edition of the
International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO). Attending are clergymen from at
home and abroad, MPs, ministers and academia. The conference will tackle a
number of issues tied to universal history and culture, but also human
trafficking and drug abuse. Religious services will be held, whereas a march
will commemorate the young people killed in the 1989 anti-communist revolution.
The International Meeting of the Orthodox Youth is part of the agenda of the
Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023 programme. The next meeting
will be held in Bucharest in 2025, marking 100 years since the establishment of
the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate.

(bill)