August 1, 2018 UPDATE

Romania signs loan agreement with EBRD

Newsroom, 01.08.2018, 19:12

LOAN — Romania signed on Wednesday a loan agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, worth 50 million Euro, for a project of improving disaster risk management, the Finance Ministry has announced. The loan is aimed at improving emergency and response infrastructure in case of disasters and enhancing the institutions’ capability to plan investment, with the purpose of reducing the risk of disasters and adjusting to climate change. The loan is granted for up to eight years and will be paid back between November 1st 2024 and May 6th 2026.

NOTIFICATION – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has notified the Constitutional Court in relation with the Law on the status of local elected representatives. Iohannis says the law is not clear enough and contradicts other legal provisions. Also, according to the Presidency, the definition of the conflict of interests in the case of local elected representatives comes against the rule of law as defined in Romania’s Constitution and the European treaties.

SWINE FLU – The authorities in Bucharest presented on Wednesday new measures to combat African swine flu, which has been affecting Romania this summer. New measures will be taken after a government meeting attended by eight ministers, the head of the Emergency Department, and public health officials. According to a tally issued a few days ago, over 440 hotbeds have been identified. 99% of the cases were in household raised pigs, and two in pig farms. The first payments to owners have been issued, worth over 130,000 lei, the equivalent of about 28,000 Euro. The payments are reimbursements for culled pigs, as well as collateral losses. The swine flu was discovered in Romania last summer, but it reemerged two months ago. The disease does not affect people, but it has a high social and economic impact.

GAS — Natural gas for consumers went up in price by 5.85% starting August 1, according to the National Energy Regulatory Agency. This is the third price hike for home consumers this year. Starting on April 1 2017, the price of gas for domestic consumption was liberalized, with producers no longer being state regulated in terms of prices. The agency issued calculations showing that between 2013 and March 2019 gas prices go up almost 76%.

OSCARS – Radu Judes movie I dont care if we go down in history as men is Romanias entry to the 2019 Oscars in the foreign film category. The film is a behind the scenes look at a historical reconstruction of the battle of Odessa in WWII as a street performance. This is Radu Judes sixth feature length movie, and was dubbed by international critics as a smart alarm signal regarding populism, a challenging, sarcastic and crucial look into the past and the present, and a daring comedy drama. I dont care if we go down in history as men is Radu Judes second film submitted by Romania for the Oscars. The first was Aferim!, which ran in 2016.

UNTOLD – The Untold electronic music festival starts on Thursday in Cluj, central Romania, lasting until August 5. Around 350,000 people are expected to attend. Festival goers are from 75 countries, including New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Argentina, and Canada. In total, 10 stages have been set up this year, for the 250 artists performing, such as The Chainsmokers, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Tujamo and Afrojack. The authorities say that the security measures taken make this the safest festival in Europe. Along the four days of the festival, over 1,100 gendarmes, police, firefighters and medical staff will provide security and safety. 70 surveillance cameras will monitor the perimeter of the festival.

WARNING — The Romanian Foreign Ministry has issued a travel alert of bad weather for the Romanian citizens who are in Greece or are planning to travel to this country. Thus, heavy rain and storms and also hail have been forecast for Greece. A travel alert has also been issued for southern France, where high temperatures of 40 to 42 degrees Celsius are expected. On Thursday, there will be a code red alert in Italy’s capital Rome and in several other cities in the north and center of this country.

WORKERS — The General Inspectorate for Immigration in Romania issued in the first half of the year over 4,000 work permits for foreign citizens, more than twice the number in the same period last year. According to GII data published Tuesday, Romania hosts over 100,000 foreign citizens, most of them living in and around Bucharest, Timisoara, and Cluj. In terms of the highest numbers of citizens by country, top is Vietnam, followed by Turkey, China, Serbia, and Sri Lanka.