July 24, 2023

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 24.07.2023, 13:55

Budget. The governing
coalition in Romania is going to discuss, today, the fiscal measures that the
executive must adopt in order to increase revenues to the state budget. The measures
include an increase in the minimum wage of construction workers, in parallel
with the elimination of the exemption from the payment of the health
contribution for those who work in this field, but also for those in
agriculture and the food industry. They are also discussing the establishment
of two VAT rates – 9% and 19%. The government is also considering raising the
minimum gross salary in two stages: one stage in September, proposing an
increase from 3,000 (approx. 600 euros) to 3,300 (approx. 660 euros), and
another in January, to reach the level of 3,750 lei (approx. 750 euros). On the
other hand, according to some government sources, the coalition leaders do not
take into account the elimination of meal vouchers or holiday vouchers. All
these fiscal measures should bring more money to the state budget and, at the
same time, keep the budget deficit as close as possible to the assumed target
for this year, which is 4.4% of the GDP.

Education. More than 5,600 education units in Romania
will be modernized and properly equipped in the next period, the Minister of
Education, Ligia Deca, has announced. Some
one billion euros, allocated through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan,
will be earmarked for that, and the contracts will be signed on Wednesday. The
minister has explained that the money will go into digitalizing the educational
process at preschool, primary, secondary and high school levels, as well into modernizing
the school infrastructure. She has also said that this is a way for the
authorities to make sure that the reform in education is doubled by good
conditions in schools. Ligia Deca added that, at the budget adjustment in
August, the Ministry of Education will request the necessary funds to increase
teachers’ salaries, as agreed after the May-June strike, as well as additional
money, so that the educational system can function properly.

Navy. The training ship Mircea, of the Romanian Navy, has docked today in the Turkish port if Izmir, where it will say until Thursday. Its mission is to promote Romania’s maritime values and traditions and the Romanian naval military education. The ship has a crew of 145 people and is on an international training march in the Mediterranean until July 31st. Since leaving the country it has stopped in the Greek port of Piraeus and in Taranto, Italy. The ship’s crew includes 64 second-year students of the Mircea cel Bătrân Naval Academy and 10 foreign cadets from partner academies in Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Turkey, Italy and Spain. The diplomatic mission of Romania, through the Consulate General in Izmir, planned, during the stopover of the School Ship Mircea in the Port of Izmir, visits by the crew and cadets on board to the tourist attractions in the area, official meetings of the ship’s commander with the local public authorities, as well as a reception, on board the ship, with guests from the local diplomacy, civil and military authorities in the region. The training ship Mircea, designated, in 2019, Honorary Ambassador of Romania for the Seas and Oceans of the World and, in 2022, Ambassador of Sustainable Romania, left the Romanian port of Constanţa (Black Sea) on July 3.

Ukraine. The Russian
Defense Ministry has accused Ukraine of a terrorist drone attack on Moscow today,
after the city’s mayor announced that two buildings had been hit and the media
reported that debris had been found not far from the ministry’s buildings, Reuters
reports. The Ministry of Defense in
Moscow said that two drones were suppressed and crashed. The alleged attack is
reported while Russia has been continuously bombing the port of Odesa in southern
Ukraine for nearly a week. On Sunday, one person was killed in a missile attack
that injured many others and severely damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral.
Ukraine has taken back about 50 percent of the territory Russia seized since
the war began last year, although Kyiv’s counteroffensive will drag on for months,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. In another move, the training of Ukrainian pilots who will
master the American F-16 fighter jets will begin in August and last at least
six months, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.

Poll. Firefighters,
the Army and the Church enjoy the greatest trust among the Romanian population,
with 83.67 and 66%, respectively, according to an opinion poll conducted by
CURS. At the opposite pole are the Presidency, Parliament and the political
parties, with less than 15%. On the other hand, Romanians say that inflation
and prices are the main problems they face, followed by low wages, low living
standards and corruption. Moreover, more than 70% of those questioned are of
the opinion that Romania is heading in a wrong direction and only 21% believe
that the direction is the right one. The research was conducted in July, face
to face, on a sample of over 1,000 people and has a margin of error of +/- 3%.

Weather. Temperatures on
the European continent are falling, but the weather continues to be very warm
in the south of Europe, where today thermometers read over 40 degrees Celsius
in Sicily, Cyprus and Greece. In the Greek island of Rhodes, over 250 firefighters,
including 52 Romanians, are currently fighting the devastating wildfires caused
by the extreme heat wave and strong winds hitting the continent. 30,000 locals and tourists have been evacuated
from several villages and numerous hotels to safer places, 3,000 of them by
water. The authorities are also preparing an air bridge for the repatriation of
tourists and say that this is the largest evacuation operation in the history
of Greece. Two other Greek islands, Corfu and Evia, have issued evacuation
orders today.

Tennis. Romania won no
less than 17 medals, an absolute record, at the European Youth Table
Tennis Championships in Gliwice (Poland), which ended on Sunday. Romania came
in first in the nations’ ranking, with 6 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze medals.
The gold medals (U19) were won in Poland by the women’s team, the men’s team
and in the women’s singles, men’s singles, mixed doubles and men’s doubles
events. (MI)