January 21, 2024

A roundup of local and international news

Newsroom, 21.01.2024, 13:49

Protest — A protest by Romanian transporters and farmers was approved by the general mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, for three days, starting on Sunday, in the center of Bucharest. In this action, the local administration admitted the participation of no more than 5 thousand people, 100 tractors and 100 truck heads. The Bucharest Prefect, Rareş Hopincă, announced that, until Saturday, when the organizers had the obligation to notify the state institutions regarding the participating vehicles, the presence of only one vehicle had been communicated, but the Gendarmerie can extend this deadline. According to Radio Romania’s correspondents, on Saturday, a new protest took place in Sibiu (center), and dozens of tractors and trucks crossed the main roads of the city. A similar action took place on the southern belt of Craiova (south-west), and on the Jiului Gorge (south-west) tens of vehicles hampered road traffic, driving at low speed. Previously, the protesters also temporarily blocked Siret and Halmeu towns on the border with Ukraine, also dissatisfied with the drop in cereal prices generated by imports from the neighboring country. The European Commission is working on measures to solve to the problems caused by the export of cheap Ukrainian grains to the states bordering Ukraine – Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The representatives of the EC confirmed that they received a letter from the five countries, one of the requests being aimed at the introduction of import taxes for Ukrainian grains. These are cheaper and do not have to meet the same quality standards as those produced in the EU.

Parliament — The Romanian Senate was convened, on Monday, in an extraordinary session, to adopt the emergency ordinances recently issued by the government in the context of the farmers and transporters protests. There are several laws – one of them refers to the excise duty on diesel fuel, while other modifies regulations in the field of road transport. The government adopted the ordinances on Thursday as an urgent response to the requests of farmers and transporters who have been protesting throughout the country for more than 11 days. The emergency ordinances were proposed after negotiations from the Ministries of Agriculture and Transport. One of them modifies road transport regulations. The new provisions will allow category B license holders to also drive agricultural or forestry tractors with a maximum speed of 40 km/h on public roads. Another amendment eliminates the obligation to carry out the periodic technical inspection of slow vehicles, respectively of those whose maximum designed speed is up to 25 km/h. Regarding the diesel fuel excise duty, the Government decided to postpone until June 1 the application of a European directive by which diesel and kerosene must have the same tax mark. The ordinances were adopted to respond to an emergency situation, but during the parliament recess, so, according to the Constitution, the Parliament must be convened to turn them into laws. In this case, the Senate is the first chamber notified.

Weather — The bad weather affected several areas in Romania. In Bucharest, more than 20 cars were damaged by fallen trees as a result of the heavy snowfalls. On some sections of national roads, road traffic was temporarily blocked due to the layer of snow and ice formed on the road. Currently, traffic unfolds in winter conditions, and the Traffic Police called on drivers not to travel if their cars are not equipped with winter tires. Railway traffic was also affected. On some sections of the railway trains are running at low speed. Other trains are delayed due to broken rails due to the low temperatures. Also, the air traffic at Bucharest’s airports takes place in winter conditions. Delays are reported for some flights due to aircraft de-icing actions, which are carried out after the boarding of passengers.

Heavy snows — At least 50 people have died this week due to severe winter weather affecting the United States, the authorities have announced. Freezing, snow and ice made roads extremely dangerous, disrupted air travel, closed schools and left thousands of homes without electric power. More than 1,100 US flights were canceled and another 8,000 were delayed because of the weather, while the cold persisted in some regions, such as the center of the country. The wave of cold and heavy snow falls also hit Europe. In the west and north, hundreds of flights have been canceled in recent days. Most were at the Frankfurt airport. In Sweden, the snowstorm brought chaos to the roads and school buses, buses and commuter trains stopped running. Low temperatures and snow were also recorded in Great Britain, Scotland and France.

Sculptor – The sculptor Vlad Ciobanu, one of the most valuable fine artists in Romania, passed away at the age of 75. Since 1990 he had taught at the Bucharest National University of Arts. Throughout his career he received numerous awards, including the Prize of the Union of Fine Artists for Sculpture, in 2005. Vlad Ciobanu was the coordinator and curator of several editions of the International Sculpture Symposium ” Brâncusi Workshops” from Târgu Jiu, southwest Romania , in the period 2005-2021. He wrote numerous articles, papers and essays about the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi. He had numerous solo or group exhibitions in the country and abroad, in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, France. Important monuments signed by Vlad Ciobanu can be found, among others, in Alexandria (south) – “Unknown Hero”, Alba Iulia (centre) – “King Ferdinand”, Onești (east) – “Dimitrie Cantemir”. The Artoteca Gallery, in Bucharest, hosted the last solo exhibition by Vlad Ciobanu called “Pilgrim” between December 4, 2023 and January 8, 2024. At the end of the exhibition, Maestro Vlad Ciobanu gave an interview, possibly his last interview, for our radio station, which you can listen to in one of the future editions of World of Culture. (LS)