November 16, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 16.11.2024, 19:05

Visit. On Friday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis held bilateral consultations with the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, on the occasion of the Romanian head of state’s official visit to Berlin. The German leader informed Klaus Iohannis about the telephone conversation he’d had with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in which he asked him to stop the attacks on Ukraine. President Iohannis stressed that Germany was a reliable ally of Romania, contributing significantly to the strengthening of NATO’s Eastern Flank and to helping Ukraine resist the Russian aggression. The discussions between the two also looked at the development of economic relations, boosting investments and the strengthening of cooperation in the sphere of European affairs. Chancellor Olaf Scholz reassured Romania of Germany’s support for Schengen accession. The two presidents agreed that Romania would represent not only a natural addition to the European area of free movement, with positive economic consequences, but would also contribute to the improvement of the defense of the borders of the European Union. On the other hand, the President of Romania recalled the major difficulties faced by the Republic of Moldova in the context of the war, but also the desire expressed by the citizens, through a referendum, to join the EU, despite external attempts to influence this process.

Award. Romanian Ambassador Gabriela Dancău has been awarded the ‘Ambassador of the Year 2024’ Award in Italy, in recognition of her political-diplomatic, cultural and economic activity, on behalf of Romania, throughout Italy. On this occasion, Ms. Dancău said that the award was the result of the activity of the entire Romanian diplomatic and consular team in Italy, made up of the members of the Embassy in Rome, of the seven career consulates, four honorary and two cultural institutes. The most important actions organized by the embassy include the joint meeting, in Rome, of the Romanian and Italian governments, the signing by the prime ministers of the two countries of the joint Declaration for the development of the Consolidated Strategic Partnership or the extensive program, in the last two years, of cultural events held in the most important historical places of Italy. The ‘Ambassador of the Year’ prize is awarded annually by the Gazzetta Diplomatica publication, in memory of Giovanni Jannuzzi, an esteemed Italian diplomat.

Aid. The Romanian Ministry of Energy has welcomed the decision of the European Commission, which approved a 790 million euro aid that the Romanian state will use to cover the costs generated by the closure of four non-competitive coal minesThe measure will help Romania to gradually give up coal production, until 2032, according to the commitments assumed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The money will cover social costs for workers who have lost or will lose their jobs, as well as those related to the safety and rehabilitation works required to close the mines.

Budget. The chief negotiator of the European Parliament, the Romanian MEP Victor Negrescu, has announced that he obtained the agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission regarding the budget of the European Union for next year. The new budget foresees allocations worth almost 200 billion euros, an increase of about 10.5 billion euros compared to the previous year. It also includes increases of approximately 6% for key European fields and programs. Negrescu also said that he secured 3 billion euros from the cohesion funds for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe affected by the recent floods. The agreement on the European budget for 2025, negotiated by the Romanian MEP, includes budget priorities that directly concern Romania as well. Among the increases obtained are some in areas such as competitiveness, social policies, environment, but also for the enlargement of the Schengen area, for which 10 million euros were allocated. The inter-institutional agreement is now to be approved in the November plenary session of the European Parliament.

Oil. Romania’s crude oil production decreased by 3.8% after the first nine months of 2024, compared to the same period last year, and reached 2 million tons of oil equivalent, reports the National Institute of Statistics. In the same period, crude oil imports totaled 5.7 million tons, almost three times more than the domestic production. According to the latest energy balance forecast published by the National Strategy and Forecast Commission, domestic production would decrease until 2027 with an average annual rate of 2.5 percent as a result of the natural decline of deposits. Instead, imports will increase by 1.5% every year until then.

Caravaggio. |As of Saturday, the National Art Museum in Timişoara (western Romania) is hosting the exhibition “Caravaggio’s Lights”. The most important painting is ” Boy Bitten by a Lizard”, a painting made in 1597 by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, exhibited alongside another 42 other works by artists from the circle of the great Italian painter. The pieces are worth tens of millions of euros and were brought from Florence guarded by gendarmes. The exhibition will be open until the end of February.

Christmas fairs. The big cities in Romania are preparing for the Winter Holidays, and this year’s Christmas markets promise to be spectacular and offer visitors a lot of activities and specific products. One of the most visited such fairs in Eastern Europe, the one in Sibiu (center), opened its doors on Friday evening. The main attraction is the tree decorated with thousands of lights in the central square of the city, but also the ice rink or the 120 little houses with seasonal products and souvenirs. The fair in Sibiu is visited annually by approximately 300,000 tourists from the country and abroad. Also in Craiova (south), on Friday evening, thousands of people participated in the opening of the Christmas Fair, the main theme of which this year is inspired by the story “Beauty and the Beast”. One of the main attractions in Craiova is Santa’s flying sleigh – the highest in Eastern Europe. (MI)