March 19, 2024
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 19.03.2024, 14:05
Elections. The ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party will have a joint candidate for the Bucharest mayor in the local elections of 9th June. According to political sources, Cătălin Cîrstoiu, the current manager of the University Hospital, has the greatest chances to be nominated. The two parties also agreed to have joint candidates for the sector mayors and local councils. The official announcement will be made after talks with the local organisations from Bucharest. The coalition will also finalise this week the joint list of candidates for the European elections, which will also be held on 9th June. In another move, the Court of Cassation and Justice is today debating a challenge filed by the United Right Alliance in opposition following a recent decision of the Central Electoral Bureau to reject the protocol for its establishment. The United Right Alliance is formed by the Save Romania Union, the People’s Movement Party and the Liberal splinter group the Force of the Right. Apart from local and European elections, Romania will also see this year parliamentary and presidential elections.
Protests. The employees of village halls across the country continue their protests begun yesterday, unhappy with their salaries. They are planning to hold 2-hour warning strikes every day and be on token strike the rest of the day. Health care trade unions are also determined to continue their industrial action. They are unhappy that the government only promised a 20% pay rise and that they get too little for on-call duty. After the protests in Bucharest, the Solidaritatea Sanitară Federation held a referendum last weekend on whether to start a general strike.
Car scrapping. A new car scrapping scheme got under way in Romania today, available to those wishing to buy new, more environmentally-friendly cars. People care receive up to 1,400 euros for scrapping a used car and 2,000 euros for two used cars, according to the basic version of the scheme. Under the so-called ‘plus’ version, individual persons can buy cars with a lower pollution level to the amount of 60,000 euros including VAT, with eco-bonuses and an eco-ticket to be potentially added to the scrapping bonus. The budget allocated for the basic version of the scheme is 60 million euros, while that for the ‘plus’ version is 200 million euros, according to the Environment Fund Administration.
Evacuation. Another 11 Romanian citizens and family members were evacuated from the Gaza Strip and arrived in Egypt, said the foreign ministry in Bucharest on Monday evening. A Romanian embassy mobile consular team took them over and accompanied them to Cairo, from where they will fly to Romania. So far, 313 Romanian citizens and family members have been evacuated from Gaza. The Romanian foreign ministry says it is in constant contact with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to facilitate the evacuation of other Romanian nationals and family members should there be requests to this end and depending on the developments on the ground and the agreement of the parties involved.
Tennis. Three Romanian tennis players, Simona Halep, Ana Bogdan and Jaqueline Cristian are in action today in the first round of the WTA tournament in Miami, worth over 8.7 million dollars in prize money. Jaqueline Cristian is facing Diane Parry of France, while Ana Bogdan is facing Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic. Simona Halep will play her first match after a long break against Paula Badosa of Spain, as an unranked player. Her best result at the Miami Open was the semifinals, which she reached twice, in 2015 and 2019. Halep last played an official match on 29th August 2022, being found positive at an anti-doping check. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne earlier this month admitted an appeal filed by Halep to reduce her initial 4-year suspension to nine months. (CM)
