November 10, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.11.2022, 20:00

PEACE FORUM – Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis
will be attending the fifth edition of the Peace Forum in Paris due on Friday
and Saturday at the Brongniart palace. According to the presidential
administration, the debates during the forum will be focusing on major topics
on the international agenda such as geo-political conflicts with global
consequences, the aggravation of the climate change, the succession of the
Covid-19 pandemic waves and increasing social gaps. On Friday, Klaus Iohannis
is to participate in a panel entitled Present and future – how to manage
the effects of the multiple crises over the population. On this occasion,
president Iohannis will be referring to the effects of the aggression war the
Russian Federation is waging on Ukraine.

WAR IN UKRAINE – Romania has been actively
supporting us in the fight against the aggressor, Romania supports the idea of
setting up an international tribunal and is supporting our future -
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on the sidelines of a ceremony
opening the border checkpoint in Vicovul de Sus, Romania and Krasnoilsk,
Ukraine. Our citizens will come back through these border checkpoints and the
consistent humanitarian aid from the EU countries is coming to our people also
through these border checkpoints. According to the Ukrainian official, another
seven checkpoints are due to open at the common border. In these special
moments Ukraine is going through, tragic moments after the Russian aggression,
we need to show solidarity and unity – Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has said. According to him, the
mobility of people and goods has become of vital relevance as the illegal,
planned and unprovoked aggression of the Russian Federation is having
disastrous effects upon the Ukrainian citizens and the government in Kyiv. The
aforementioned border checkpoint is the first to open between Ukraine and an EU
member since the start of the Russian invasion.

MOLDOVA – The
European Commission will grant 250 million EUR to the Republic of Moldova to
help this country cope with the serious energy crisis, the European Commission
president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Thursday on the sidelines of her
visit to the Moldovan capital-city. According to the EU official, 100 million
EUR will be disbursed as grants, while another 100 million EUR will be
transfered as loans. 50 million EUR will be granted as additional budget
allotments addressing vulnerable categories. In the last year, the European
Union has provided some 840 million EUR to the Republic of Moldova in loans and
grants. The Commission will continue to support Chișinău, president von der
Leyen pointed out. In turn, president Maia Sandu said the Republic of Moldova
is facing the most serious energy crisis in the last 30 years, and thanked EU
countries, Romania in particular, for their assitance. Thanks to Romania, today our homes have electricity, president Sandu
said. At the same time, the Moldovan head of state thanked the European
Commission for helping Moldova obtain the EU candidate status. We are firmly
committed to carrying out reforms, including the implementation of the
Commission’s recommendations. How fast Moldova is able to open up accession
negotiations is completely up to us, Maia Sandu added.

LAW – The ruling coalition in Bucharest has reached an
agreement on capping and subsidizing energy prices the next year. A solution to
this issue has been delayed for a couple of months now. Under the new
legislation, household consumers with consumption below 100 kW/h will pay 0.68
RON per kW and those below 255 kW 0.80 RON. Households with consumption higher
than 255 kW will be paying 1.3 RON per kW. Major economic consumers will pay
the same price while small and medium-sized businesses in the food
pharmaceutical industry, community services and churches will pay one RON per
kilowatt/hour. The Executive is expected to issue a new ordinance on the issue
to be applied next year.

HANDBALL – Romania’s national handball side on
Wednesday qualified for the main groups of the European Championship – EHF EURO
2022 after a 31-23 win against North Macedonia in Group C. Our handballers, who
lost their first two matches against France and the Netherlands, have managed
to qualify for the competition’s next stage after securing a win in the second
half of the game. The European Championship – EHF EURO 2022 is underway in
Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro over November 4-20. Romania has
participated in all these editions with the exception of 2006, the best result
being the bronze medal they got in 2010. In the previous edition in 2010,
Romania ranked 12th. (DB &VP)