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THE WEEK IN REVIEW

A connector pipeline between the main lines in Greece and Bulgaria affords Romania access to alternative sources of natural gas, in an international context in which is it more and more likely that Moscow would cut off supplies for the entire EU. This lessens worries that we might run out of gas by the winter; in addition, this opens the way for Romania to be able to help other countries in the region reduce their dependence on Russian gas. These were statements made on Thursday by Romanian PM Nicolae Ciuca in Athens, where he went on a working visit. Also on Thursday, Ciuca met in Bucharest John Hopkins, president and CEO of NuScale, the American company that is set to develop in Romania the technology of small modular nuclear reactors. The discussions emphasized the importance of the Global Partnership for Infrastructure, launched at the G7 summit, and the allocation of the 14 million dollar grant for the next stage for the development of the new reactors in Romania. The PM mentioned that Romania will be taking part in the program through the Nuclearelectrica National Administration, putting in 9 million dollars as co-financing of the new stage of the program. Nuclear energy is a viable solution for reaching energy independence and decarbonizing objectives, according to the premier.

Mihai Pelin, 09.07.2022, 21:01

The Parliamentary Forum for Security and Intelligence in Bucharest

The Parliament in Bucharest will speedily go through the process of ratifying the protocols needed for Finland and Sweden to join NATO, said Chamber of Deputies speaker Marcel Ciolacu, who also said that a special session of Parliament would be called to this end. He took part in the 22nd edition of the joint parliament session on security topics in Bucharest, in which the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmitro Kuleba, took part by video conference. The official said that Russias aggression against his country is a phenomenon that threatens international security, and called for his country to receive aid in the form of heavy weaponry in order to stabilize the frontline. Romania is still one of the most active supporters of Ukraines aspirations to join the EU, according to PM Nicolae Ciuca, speaking in a video message sent to the participants in the event. Among the topics under discussion were the war in Ukraine, the future of diplomacy, defense, security, and intelligence challenges, cybersecurity, 5G, human trafficking, terrorism, and energy security.

Fiscal adjustments

Romanias National Bank has decided to raise by one percentage point, up to 4.75, the reference interest rate, with the aim of keeping a firm grip on the liquidities on the monetary market, and to maintain the present levels of minimum obligatory reserves for assets in local and hard currency for credit institutions. Governor Mugur Isarescu explained that inflation will continue to grow until the middle of this quarter, but at a slower pace. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has submitted for public debate the bill for changing the tax codes, which is set to be endorsed by the executive next week. The document provides for increasing taxes on gambling wins, increasing excises for cigarettes and alcohol, reducing the ceiling up to which tax incentives apply in constructions, agriculture, and the food industry, scrapping the special tax status for the hospitality industry, and resuming turnover based taxation. These measures are set to come into effect on August 1, but there are some provisions that would be applied early next year. Among them are increasing taxes on dividents, changing the criteria for registering as a micro-enterprise, raising the VAT rate for catering, for food and drinks deliver, for restaurant services, and for hotel accommodation, as well as changing the calculation of building taxes.

The UNITER awards

At the 30th edition of the UNITER gala, the award gala of the Romanian Theater Union, the best theater productions of 2021 were rewarded. The best stage show award went to the play The Plowman and Death, by Iohannis von Tepl, adapted and directed by Silviu Purcarete, shown at the Vasile Alecsandri National Theater of Iasi. Best director was won by Horia Suru, for his interpretation of the Trilogy of the Mines, by Csaba Shekely, staged at the Playwright Theater in Bucharest. Best stage design was awarded to Cosmin Florea, for his show Three Sad Plays, scripted and directed by Radu Afrim, also at the Vasile Alecsandri National Theater of Iasi. The best radio play award went to A Century of Romanian Theater in Bucharest — The Reckoning of Forbidden Memory, written by Mariana Onceanu, and directed by Petru Hadarca, a production of Radio Romania. The Excellence Award went posthumously to Ion Caramitru, former director of the Bucharest National Theater, and founder of UNITER.

Drought in Romania

A large part of Romania is under a severe drought, which is ravaging farming, while other regions are afflicted by heavy rain, hail, and storms. At the national level, 70% of the territory is under drought in various stages. Dozens of rivers have run dry. The authorities are constantly monitoring the strategic water reserves, and are making a national appeal for people to use drinking water rationally. The drought also brought down significantly water levels along the Danube, which went under half of the average considered normal for this time of the year. This affects both navigation and energy production at the major dams on the Danube, Iron Gates 1 and 2. According to experts, we will be seeing extreme events all along this month. A new heat wave is expected starting July 15, which will only worsen the drought.