February 10, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 10.02.2024, 20:00

ELECTIONS – The ruling
coalition wants to organize the local election on June 9, simultaneously with
the European Parliament election. Social-Democrats also want the national
parliamentary election to be held concurrently with the first or second round
of the presidential election. Social-Democrat leader and Prime Minister Marcel
Ciolacu wants a clear timetable backed by the coalition. The opposition has
criticized the idea, saying it would refer a potential decision to the
Constitutional Court. AUR president George Simion says such a decision would
breach international recommendations. In turn, USR announced it will notify the
Venice Commission regarding the decision to merge the election less than six
months before the date of the vote. European Parliament elections, local
elections, parliamentary elections and presidential elections will be held in
Romania in 2024.

FARMERS – The European
Commission on Friday adopted a financial assistance package worth 241 mln EUR
addressing Romanian farmers in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The aid
will be disbursed until June 30 as direct grants and will not exceed 280
thousand EUR for each beneficiary. The measure addresses Romanian farmers, in
particular those who grow winter grain and rapeseed and who risk going
insolvent due to the difficulties the grain market is experiencing as a result
of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The measure is necessary, adequate and
proportional to remedy a serious disruption of the Romanian economy, the
European Commission argues. Romania was also allotted 34 mln EUR from the EU
Solidarity Fund to compensate damages incurred after the 2022 drought. The
funds were wired in December 2023, and Romania must implement this aid over the
next year and a half.

UKRAINIAN
CITIZENS – Over 7 million Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania in the last
two years in the context of Russia’s war of aggression. The Romanian Border
Police reported 40,000 new arrivals in the last week alone. Most of these
citizens are merely transiting Romanian territory in route to other countries. Accommodation
units provided by the Immigration General Inspectorate are filled to one third
of capacity. Nearly 4,500 Ukrainian citizens have filed for asylum in Romania.

EXPOSIONS – Residents of
Tulcea County (southeast) received alerts via the emergency service regarding
the possibility of falling debris. The alerts were meant to notify the local
population regarding the proper conduct in such situations, recommending calm
and self-protection. People signaled several explosions were heard in areas
close to the Ukrainian border, where new Russian drone and missile attacks were
reported. The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations was notified by the
Defense Ministry regarding possible risks associated with Russian drone strikes
on Ukrainian port infrastructure in Izmail and Reni, close to the Romanian
border. In this context, Turkish F-16 jets were dispatched from the air base in
Fetești to survey national airspace. Jointly with Romanian Air Forces aircraft,
the Turkish jets are carrying out enhanced air policing missions under NATO
command. The Romanian Defense Ministry firmly condemned Russia’s attacks on
civilian infrastructure objectives and elements in the Ukrainian ports on the
Danube. No drone has reached Romania, the Defense Ministry also reports.

MAGISTRACY – The Superior
Council of Magistracy announced a new vacancy-filling contest for over 100
available positions. Applications can be submitted until February 26, and the
contest will unfold in several phases until the end of June. 75 positions of judge
will be unlocked, with the possibility of opening up an additional 30 positions
to public contest. 42 positions of prosecutors will also be made available,
with the possibility of supplementing that number by another 11 positions. In
2023 the Council reported a shortage of 20% of judges, estimated this figure
would increase to 40% by the end of 2025. Romanian magistrates can retire much
earlier than most other social categories.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis
player Ana Bogdan (65 WTA) on Saturday qualified to the final of the
Transylvania Open hosted by Cluj-Napoca, offering some 267 thousand USD in
total prizes. In Saturday’s semi-final, Bogdan knocked out another Romanian
player, Jaqueline Cristian (81 WTA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Ana
Bogdan had knocked out the top seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands (45 WTA),
2-6, 7-6, 7-6, whereas Cristian has ousted Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia (656
WTA), 6-3, 7-5. In the final Ana Bogdan will take on the winner of the match
pitting Harriet Dart of the UK (103 WTA) against Karolina Pliskova of Czechia
(78 WTA). She is the third Romanian player to reach this phase of the competition after Simona Halep (2021) and Gabriela Ruse (2023), neither of which won the trophy. In the women’s doubles, the Romanian pair Jaqueline Cristian /
Andreea Mitu lost in the semi-finals to the American pair Caty McNally / Asia
Muhammad, 6-3, 6-2. (VP)