September 23, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 23.09.2024, 20:28
BUDGET The government in Bucharest on Monday endorsed the first budget adjustment this year. The new positive adjustment will be bringing the GDP deficit up to 6.9%, even though the Finance Ministry also forecasts income raises. The money will be mainly used for co-funding investment projects and also for pay rises approved amid a series of protests this year. According to Prime Minister Ciolacu, Europe’s developed countries, Germany and France, supported investment concurrently with the rising budget deficit. Ciolacu described this raise as sustainable, given that 8.5 lei out of 10 will be used for funding motorways, hospitals, schools, gas and water distribution networks and other objectives of local interest. Ciolacu went on to say that the invested sums would be returned eightfold to the budget as it happened in the case of the motorways built.
FUNDS Romania is to receive 21.6 million Euros from the European Commission for the farmers who incurred losses from the bad weather this summer. The decision was made at the AgriFish Council, which takes place in Brussels and where Romania is being represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu. The European Executive has proposed the allotment of 120 million Euros out of its agriculture reserve in order to directly support farmers from Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia and Italy. According to Barbu, it’s for the first time when farmers get compensations in the same year with the calamities. Data released by the Agriculture Ministry in Bucharest says that over 16 thousand farmers have applied for investigations and the assessment of their destroyed crops. Minister Barbu says that roughly 2 million hectares of corn and sunflower crops have been affected by the extreme weather in Romania plus 100 thousand hectares of autumn crops like wheat and rape.
UN President Klaus Iohannis will be heading Romania’s delegation at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly taking place in New York on the 24th and 25th September. The main theme is “Unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for everyone everywhere”. According to a statement from the Romanian president’s office, Klaus Iohannis will give an address on Wednesday, in which he will call for maintaining multilateral dialogue, especially in a UN format, as an essential element of regional and global security. He is also expected to highlight his country’s efforts and contribution, at all levels, to finding solutions to current global challenges, from security crises like the war in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East, to major challenges facing the world, including the climate emergency and cyber threats.
HANDBALL The Romanian women’s handball vice-champions CS Rapid Bucharest lost 37-29 to the German side HB Ludwigsburg at home on Sunday evening, in a Champions League Group B match. Rapid will next play Team Esbjerg away on 6th October. The Romanian side are in 4th place in their group, with 3 points in 3 matches. Previously, the Romanian champions CSM Bucharest defeated the Croatian side RK Podravka Vegeta Koprivnica 29-28 away, while CS Gloria Bistriţa-Năsăud lost at home to the Slovenian side Krim Mercator Ljubljana 30-35. CSM have four points in three matches played, and Gloria two points. The latter will play their next match away against FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria on 5th October, while CSM will face the Danish side Nykobing Falster Handbold at home on 6th October.
ELECTIONS The Romanian foreign ministry has published a guide for postal voting ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections this year. The voter registration deadline for Romanian citizens with their domicile or residence abroad is 10th October for the presidential elections and 17th October for the parliamentary elections. Registration is made by filling in an online form available at votstrăinătate.ro, a website managed by the Permanent Electoral Authority.
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