July 20, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 20.07.2022, 19:51

NATO. The Parliament of
Romania, convened in a special meeting on Wednesday, ratified the NATO Accession Protocols of Finland and
Sweden. The documents were signed on July 5 in Brussels. Finland’s and
Sweden’s decision to join the North-Atlantic Alliance comes amid security
concerns related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Romanian Foreign Minister
Bogdan Aurescu has informed his Finish and Swedish counterparts about the
ratification. During a phone conversation with the Finish minister Pekka
Haavisto, Bogdan Aurescu tackled Romania’s joining the Schengen agreement, and
his counterpart stressed his country’s support in this endeavor.

Government.
The Romanian government approved, in
Wednesday’s meeting, the substantiation note for the purchase of 12 locomotives
that run on hydrogen, the Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, has
announced. The estimated value of the contract, financed under the NRRP and
from the state budget, will be 862.23 million lei (about 175 million euros).
According to a Government communiqué, the investment will be used for a pilot
project regarding their use as an ecological alternative to the transport with
diesel traction on the lines that have not been electrified. The benefits include
time saving for passengers, lower vehicle operating costs, lower maintenance
costs and savings for passenger rail transport operatiors, as well as lower
accident rates and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Report.
The US State Department has raised
Romania’s country rating in the field of combating human trafficking to level
2, in its Annual Report. Among the strategic elements that led to Romania’s
advancement in the rankings are the amendment of the Criminal Code and the
increase in the number of investigations and convictions of human trafficking,
the establishment of the Service for Combating Trafficking in Persons within
DIICOT, equipping the National Police with the best IT forensic system for
detecting sex offenders and pedophiles online and legislative amendments for
the protection of Romanian seasonal workers abroad. The report also comes with
a set of 12 recommendations for Romania, which mainly aim to diversify and
increase the quality of services for victims of human trafficking, improve the
process of identifying potential victims, improve funding mechanisms for
non-governmental organizations providing services to victims, increase the
number of police officers with responsibilities in combating this phenomenon
and the immediate investigation of any suspicions of complicity in trafficking
among public system personnel.

Gas.
The European Commission is proposing a plan
to reduce gas consumption in all Member States by 15% from 1 August to next
spring. The proposal comes as the Union faces the risk of further disruptions
in the supply of Russian gas. The European plan focuses on replacing gas with
other fuels and on general energy savings in all sectors. The new regulation
would give the Commission the possibility to declare, after consulting the
Member States, a Union alert on supply security, imposing a
mandatory reduction in gas demands for all Member States. The alert may be
triggered when there is a substantial risk of a severe gas shortage or an
exceptionally high gas demand. To this end, Member States should update their
national contingency plans by the end of September.

Firefighters.
28 Romanian firefighters are participating,
under a European multinational program, in the efforts to extinguish the wild
fires near the Greek capital. According to Radio Romania’s correspondence, no
casualties were reported, but dozens of houses and shops were burned or
damaged. The fires broke out on Tuesday afternoon, on Penteli Mountain, in the
northeast of the capital, from where the catastrophic fire in Mati started,
three years ago, resulting in the death of 102 people. All suburbs in the
region were evacuated and traffic was banned. About 400 firefighters are
operating in the area. They are helped by the army, but also by air fire
extinguishers, dozens of vehicles and hundreds of volunteers.

Automotive.
Romania has again seen the largest increase
in electric car sales in the region, according to data released by the European
Automobile Manufacturers Association. Between April and June 2022, sales of
battery-powered electric cars in the European Union increased by 11.1% to
233,413 units. Many European markets recorded three-digit percentage increases
(over 100%), but Romania had the strongest percentage advance (412.4%). The
share of electric vehicles in the EU reached 9.9% of registrations in the
second quarter of this year, from 7.5% in the same period last year.

Decorations.
Swimmer David Popovici and coach Adrian
Rădulescu were decorated on Wednesday by President Klaus Iohannis. The head of
state awarded David Popovici the National Order ‘Star of Romania’ in the rank
of Knight, and his coach – the National Order ‘For Merit’ in the rank of
Knight. The decoration decision came after the results obtained at the World
Swimming Championships in Budapest (June 18 – July 3), where David Popovici (17
years old) became double world champion in seniors, in the 100 and 200 m
freestyle events. (MI)