April 27, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 27.04.2022, 20:00

UKRAINE Romania condemns in the strongest terms Russia’s blatant violation
of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and of its obligations
under international law, the PM of Romania Nicolae Ciucă said after Tuesday’s
meeting in Kyiv with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal. Mr. Ciucă announced
on Wednesday that Romania is considering opening new checkpoints on the Ukrainian
border. He emphasised the importance of the opening of the Isaccea-Orlivka
checkpoint in the south-east in 2020, and of deregulating freight transport for
Ukrainian operators on April 5. The number of Ukrainian nationals to enter
Romania was 50% higher on Tuesday than on the previous day, the Border Police
announced on Wednesday.

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT The
legal committees in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies Wednesday passed a
favourable opinion on all candidacies for judge posts with the Constitutional
Court of Romania. Parliament is due to vote on the candidacies next week. This
June, the terms in office of 3 judges come to an end: Valer Dorneanu, nominated
by the Chamber of Deputies, Mona Pivniceru, nominated by the Senate, and Daniel
Morar, nominated by the Presidency. The Constitutional Court comprises 9 judges
appointed for non-renewable 9-year terms in office, with one-third of the
members replaced every 3 years.

GOVERNMENT The
finance minister Adrian Câciu stated at the Government Hour debates that the
measures included in the Support for Romania package pave the way for
preserving the country’s economic growth trend. Invited to the talks by USR
party in opposition, Mr. Câciu emphasized that in order to have a high economic
growth rate this year, Romania must primarily encourage the agriculture and
constructions sectors. Adrian Câciu also mentioned that Romania, which relies on imports in many sectors, needs to
increase its domestic output and invest in processing.

NATURAL GAS Russia’s decision to discontinue natural gas supplies to Poland and
Bulgaria is an aggressive and unacceptable move, seen by the EU as a form of
blackmail, said the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. We
will make sure that Gazprom’s decision has the smallest possible impact on
European consumers, she told a press conference on Wednesday. The
European Commission chief advised European energy providers not to give in to
Russia’s request to have natural gas supplies paid for in rubles, and
emphasised that this would most likely be a violation of the EU sanctions
against Russia. After they refused to pay for natural gas in the Russian
currency, Poland and Bulgaria are the first EU member states targeted by a
suspension of Russian gas supplies. In this context, Greece announced it would
assist Bulgaria, while Poland announced current gas supplies cover the
country’s domestic demand.

RECOVERY
Romania has fulfilled all the goals set out in the National Recovery and
Resilience Plan approved by the European Commission, the economy minister
Florin Spătaru said in Bucharest. He emphasised that certain benchmarks related
to the reforms undertaken as part of the plan will have to be revised in the
forthcoming period, and along with the investment element they will contribute
to a major progress of the Romanian economy, which has the potential of growing
up to four-fold by 2030, provided that the principles in the Recovery Plan are
observed and funding is used wisely. According to the economy minister, the
opportunities offered by the Recovery Plan are not only the money, but also the
economic and administrative reform principles, which will lead to reshaping
Romania’s economy in line with the principles of digitisation and green economy.

TENNIS Three Romanian athletes play in the WTA Madrid tournament’s main
draw. Romania’s Irina Begu (62 WTA) Wednesday qualified into the tournament
after defeating Kamila Rakhimova (96 WTA) of Russia, 6-1, 6-0. In the first
round, Simona Halep will play against Shuai Zhang of China, and Sorana Cîrstea
against Nuria Parrizas Diaz of Spain. WTA Madrid Open takes place between April
28 and May 7. Simona Halep won the 2016 and 2017 tournaments. (AMP)