February 9, 2024 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 09.02.2024, 20:00

FARMERS The government of Romania has approved a support package for
farmers, including loans with lower interest rates and electricity subsidies.
On the other hand, the European Commission Friday approved a EUR 241 mln aid
scheme, requested by Romania to support farmers in the context of Russia’s war
against Ukraine. The aid will be provided as direct grants not exceeding EUR
280,000 per beneficiary. Romania also benefits from EUR 34 mln from the EU’s Solidarity
Fund, in support for the damages suffered as a result of the drought of 2022.
The money was already transferred in December of last year, and Romania has one
and a half years to implement the scheme.

ELECTIONS Merging European Parliament elections and local elections
on June 9 is on the agenda of the ruling coalition in Bucharest. According to
some political sources, the Social Democrats also proposed combining the
elections for the national Parliament with the first or second round of the
presidential elections, which would complement the first scenario. The opposition
is firmly against these initiatives. Save Romania Union has announced it has
started proceedings to ask the Venice Commission for a point of view on merging
European Parliament and local elections less than six months before the
election date. This year all four types of elections are scheduled in Romania -
parliamentary, European, local and presidential.

EXPORTS Romania’s
exports last year exceeded EUR 93 bln, 1.3% more than in 2022, according to the
National Statistics Institute. Imports on the other hand reached EUR 122 bln, 3.2%
below 2022. The trade balance deficit amounted to roughly EUR 29 bln, more than
EUR 5.1 bln less than in 2022. The automotive industry and transport equipment
sector accounted for important shares in the structure of both imports and
exports.

WASTE Romania is the country generating the smallest amount of waste
in the EU, the Eurostat announced. According to data released by the EU
statistics office, 513kg of municipal waste were generated in average by each
EU inhabitant in 2022, which is 19kg less than in the previous year. The
largest amounts are generated in Austria (827kg per capita), followed by
Denmark and Luxemburg (over 700kg). At the opposite pole, Romania generates 300kg
per capita. Although it generates the smallest amounts of municipal waste,
Romania also recycles the least in the EU-around 36kg out of the 300kg per capita,
as against the EU average of 249kg per capita. Malta, Greece and Cyprus also
recycle less than 100kg per capita, as compared to Austria, where the average
is 510kg per capita.

UKRAINE President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed General
Oleksandr Syrskyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,
replacing General Valery Zaluzhny. Ukraine’s head of state said it was time for
changes, and explained that the dismissed general should remain in his team.
After the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer, Zaluzhny
warned that the war had reached a stalemate, turning into a war of attrition,
and that in order to win his country needed technologically superior weapons to
the Russian ones and more troops. International media note that Valery Zaluzhny
is more popular among Ukrainians than Zelensky. In another move, the Russian
president, Vladimir Putin, has threatened the United States with a global war, which
would bring the whole of humanity to the brink of extinction, if
Washington sends troops to Ukraine. In an interview to the controversial
American journalist Tucker Carlson, Putin claimed Russia will fight to
the end to defend its interests.

POLO Romania’s national water polo team was defeated by Italy, 16-10,
in its last match in Group D of the World Championship in Doha, Qatar. In the
first two matches, the Romanians lost to Hungary and outclassed Kazakhstan
25-3. Romania ranks third in the group, after Hungary and Italy. Group winners move
straight into the quarter-finals, while the second and third-ranking teams are
in for a play-off for the quarters. Last month, Romania finished in the 8th
place at the European Championship in Croatia. (AMP)