July 16, 2024 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 16.07.2024, 20:00

Weather – Romania is under a code red alert for extreme heat, extended in almost the entire country until Thursday, except for 11 counties in the northern half that are under a code orange alert for extreme heat. Highs of 42 degrees C are announced, and the lows will not drop below 22 degrees Celsius. Thermal discomfort will be particularly intensified, and the temperature-humidity index (ITU) will exceed the critical threshold of 80 units. The sky will be variable. There will be periods of atmospheric instability, at first in the mountainous areas, then locally and in the northern half, and only in isolated areas possibly in the rest of the territory. There will be temporary, increased cloudiness, showers that will turn into torrential rains, frequent electrical discharges and wind gusts of 50…70 km/h.

EP – The new European Parliament started its activity on Tuesday. The first plenary session takes place in Strasbourg and, according to the agenda, MEPs have three days to choose their president, vice-presidents and the makeup of the specialized committees. On Thursday, the MEPs will vote on the renewal of Ursula von der Leyen’s mandate as president of the European Commission. To be re-elected, Ursula von der Leyen, who already has the support of the heads of state and government from the EU member countries, needs the votes of at least 361 MEPs. The European People’s Party, which she is a member of, is still the first political force in the European Parliament, having 188 elected members after the June elections. The Social Democrats obtained 136 seats, and the liberals from Renew, 77 seats. The grand coalition that traditionally brings together these three parties would thus provide enough votes to ensure Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election, but, as in the case of the 2019 vote, it is not certain that all the MPs of the majority coalition will vote for her, so she is also looking for support from the Greens. On Tuesday, Roberta Metsola secured, with broad support, a new mandate as president of the European Parliament, thus leading the EP for another two and a half years. Ms Metsola’s appointment was approved by a large majority of MEPs. The Romanian MEPs, Victor Negrescu, from the Social Democrats and Nicolae Ştefănuţă, supported by the Greens were elected vice-presidents of the EP. There is a total number of 14 vice-president posts.

Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Irina Begu qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250 tournament in Palermo (Italy), with total prizes up for grabs worth 232,244 Euros, after defeating the Spanish Marina Bassols Ribera 6-0, 6-0. Begu won in just 58 minutes. In the second round, she will meet the Italian Martina Trevisan or the Dutch Arantxa Rus, seed no. 5. The Romanian Jaqueline Cristian is also on the singles table from Sicily, seed no. 7, and she will play in the first round against the Argentinean Julia Riera.

IMF – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has maintained its estimates that the world economy will register an advance of 3.2% this year, amid improved growth forecasts for China and India, according to the latest update of the “World Economic Outlook” report, published on Tuesday. At the same time, the IMF slightly improved its growth estimates for 2025, when the world economy is expected to register an advance of 3.3%, 0.1% more than the previous forecast. The forecasts for emerging Europe (a region where Romania is included) were also improved by 0.1%, up to an advance of 3.2% this year. The most recent forecasts of the IMF for Romania date back to April, when the international financial institution estimated that the Romanian economy would grow at 2.8% this year, accelerating to 3.6% in 2025.

Chişinău – The acting president of the Republic of Moldova (with a majority Romanian speaking population), Maia Sandu, is the favorite in the presidential election due in October, shows a new opinion survey published in Chişinău. Maia Sandu – of pro-European orientation – would obtain 34% of the votes, while her political rival, the former president of the state, the socialist Igor Dodon, of pro-Russian orientation, would gather 18% of the votes, according to the survey. Regarding the EU accession referendum, which will take place on the same day as the presidential election, 53% of the respondents plan to vote “Yes”. (LS)