21 July, 2023 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 21.07.2023, 20:00
Budget deficit. The leaders of the ruling coalition in Bucharest will meet on Monday to discuss the plan of fiscal measures the government intends to implement from autumn to balance the budget and secure further funds for education and healthcare. The business community calls for transparency in the adoption of the measures to reduce the budget deficit. Business people say the result of the fiscal measures envisaged by the government will lead to price rises, a higher inflation rate and redundancies. The government is expected to further increase excise duties, eliminate tax facilities and increase other duties in order to meet its budget deficit target and avoid losing billion euros worth of EU funding. The president of the National Council of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Florin Jianu has urged the government to very carefully analyse the measures it is considering and especially their economic, social and political consequences and has warned that small and medium sized companies are worried about the drop in domestic demand and the increasingly expensive loans.
Grain. The Romanian railway freight company has announced that it is ready to transport large quantities of grain from neighboring Ukraine and believes that it will make a profit from this activity. The general director, Daniel Apostolache, says that since May there has been an increase in grain transport to a level that has not been reached in the last 5 years. He gave assurances that the company is not in danger of bankruptcy and even recorded an operating profit of 77 million lei (the equivalent of over 15 million euros) in the first six months of the year. According to the specialized press, the Romanian railway freight company currently has a market share of 33%, but it has more than half a billion euro in debt.
Care homes. The checks conducted at care homes for older persons, children and persons with disabilities around Romania are in their final stage and the results have been made public by the government. Following inquiries, 47 criminal cases were opened and more than 10,500 fines were levied, while 18 care homes were closed and 110 suspended. Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu asked the labour minister Simona Bucura-Oprescu to dismiss all heads of County Agencies for Payments and Social Inspection, including the Bucharest branch, until disciplinary investigations are finalised. He said firm measures were needed against those state employees who were aware of and tolerated the irregularities taking place at these centres. He also asked the labour minister to come up with draft legislation to address the situation as soon as possible, and on the investment minister Adrian Câciu to make sure that care homes benefit from European funding. The inquiries have been conducted in the wake of revelations of organised criminal groups exploiting and abusing residents of care homes for older persons and persons with disabilities, including beatings, insults, starvation, forced labour and denying them basic hygiene conditions.
Film. Tudor Giurgius film Freedom has made the official selection of the Sarajevo Film Festival, vying for the Heart of Sarajevo trophy. Inspired by true events, the film tells a little known incident that took place in Sibiu during the 1989 anti-communist revolution. Last year, when it was still in production, Freedom won the jury prize at CineLink Industry Days, the Sarajevo festivals programme for projects under development. The film was first screened at the Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj Napoca, winning the audience award for most popular Romanian film. The Sarajevo Film Festival is the biggest event of its kind in south-eastern Europe and one of the biggest in Europe. It was founded in 1995, during the siege of Sarajevo at the time of the Bosnian war.
Sports. The president of the Romanian Olympics and Sports Committee, Mihai Covaliu, said on Friday that Romanias goal at the summer European Youth Olympics Festival, scheduled for July 23-29 in Maribor (Slovenia), is to win 20 medals. The Romanian delegation is composed of 92 athletes, who will compete in 9 disciplines: athletics, 3×3 basketball, road cycling, MTB cycling, artistic gymnastics, handball, swimming, judo and tennis. At the last edition of the European Youth Olympics Festival, held last year in Banska Bystrica (Slovakia), Romania took 8th place in the final ranking, with 19 medals, including 5 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze.
Heat. This month may have been the hottest July on record owing to the unusually high ocean temperatures and the heat waves seen in a number of regions in the northern hemisphere, according to the Copernicus Observatory. Large areas in southern Europe, China and North America have been struggling with extreme temperatures in recent days. A red alert is in place in Greece, where all archaeological sites, including the Acropolis in Athens, are closed during the hottest hours until Sunday. Wild fires are also wreaking havoc in the Athens region and on Rhodes Island, where a number of settlements and resorts have been evacuated. Almost 80 Romanian fire fighters helped extinguish the fires near Athens on Thursday. Italy, Spain, France, Croatia and Serbia are also affected by extreme heat. Meteorologists are warning of a new heat wave in Europe, with temperatures set to pass 40 degrees Celsius, and the European Space Agency saying Europe may next week see the highest temperatures ever recorded on this continent.
