December 16, 2018

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Newsroom, 16.12.2018, 13:53

WEATHER Romania is currently seeing mixed precipitations on large
areas and an overcast sky in most of its regions. Snowfalls have been reported
in the country’s west and south-west as well as in its mountainous regions.
Mixed precipitations have been reported in Romania’s central and eastern
regions as well as moderate rainfalls in the south. The highs of the day range
between -3 and 10 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 2
degrees. Weather phenomena like snowfalls, sleet and glazed frost are expected
all throughout the territory in the following hours. Heavy snowfalls and
blizzard have disrupted rail and road traffic in the country’s west and
south-west. Power outages have been reported in towns and villages in Romania’s western regions.

EVENTS Timisoara, a city in western Romania, is today seeing a
series of events aimed at marking the beginning of the anti-communist
revolution in December 1989. Today’s events include a festive session of the
Local Council devoted to the commemoration of the martyr heroes, educational
activities for the young people and an anniversary show. Saturday saw a Freedom
March, staged by an association of the revolutionaries. Monday will be a
mourning day to the memory of the Revolution martyrs, while on December the 20th
locals are to celebrate the day when Timisoara became Romania’s first city free
of communism. The revolt against Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship commenced on
December 16th 1989 in Timisoara and quickly spread to other Romanian
cities. Over 1,000 people were killed and 3,000 wounded in the then clashes
between protesters and riot police. Romania was the only country in the Eastern
bloc, in which the communist dictatorship was overthrown through bloodshed and
its communist leaders were executed.

MEETING
Diplomats from 200 countries have reached an agreement in Poland to maintain
the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Under this agreement, countries are expected
to take certain measures aimed at monitoring their carbon dioxide emissions.
They are also supposed to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions until the
following round of talks due in 2020. Under the same agreement, developed
countries are expected to shed more light on the assistance they are to offer to
the less developed countries in order to obtain more green energy and build up
efficient response capabilities in terms of natural disasters. The United
States has also endorsed the agreement in spite of president Trump’s initial
threats to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The USA cannot withdraw from the
Agreement until 2020.

FUNDS The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina
Cretu has approved a series of changes to the Large Infrastructure Operational
Programme, through which more European funds are to be earmarked for major
infrastructure projects in Romania, such as a new underground section and a
highway. Through this decision the co-financing rate goes up from 75% to 85%
for projects on the development of the European transport network, the underground
and multimodal transport infrastructure. The decision has also come to support
port infrastructure and operations, increasing the opportunities for developing
transport terminals, logistics and major rail installations, a communique
issued by the European Commission Representation in Romania has specified.

MATCH The Romanian
women’s national handball side will today take on the Netherlands in a match
counting towards the third or fourth position at the European Championships in
France. The first Romanian-Dutch game ended up with a Dutch victory, but our handballers
now have the opportunity to equal their best performance in a continental
competition, the bronze medal they won in 2010.