December 30, 2022
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 30.12.2022, 13:55
Statistics — The governor of the National Bank of Romania – BNR, Mugur Isărescu, enjoys the highest confidence among Romanians – 39%, shows a survey conducted by IRES – the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy. He is followed by the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, and the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Marcel Ciolacu, both with 21%. According to the data, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă obtained the trust of 19% of the citizens. The survey also highlights that the occupation least trusted by Romanians is that of politician, followed by that of policeman and journalist. At the opposite end, the professions of firefighter, IT specialist and engineer are at the top of the trust list. Three quarters of Romanians believe that Romania is going in the wrong direction, while only 1 in 5 believes that the direction is right. The opinion poll was conducted by IRES between December 7-12 on a sample of over 1,600 respondents over 18 years and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5%.
Presidency — The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, made, this year, 21 trips abroad, totaling expenses of over 16.6 million lei (the equivalent of about 3.3 million Euros), shows the Presidential Administration, which answered the request of the AGERPRES news agency. The most frequent destination was Brussels, where Iohannis took part in the summit meetings of the European Union and NATO. In September, the Romanian head of state attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain in London. Also in September, he led the Romanian delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), organized in New York, after which he went for two days to the West Coast of the United States, to San Francisco, where he also met with representatives of the Romanian Diaspora. Paris, Madrid, Athens, Prague, Riga, Vilnius, Kiev and Sharm El-Sheikh, in Egypt, were other destinations of President Iohannis.
Corruption — The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) from Romania informed, on Friday, that in November, 28 final court decisions were made for crimes of bribe taking and giving, influence peddling, abuse of office and European funds embezzlement. According to the quoted source, the punishments given by the judges vary between 4 years and 3 months in prison and 10 months with postponement of punishment.
Swimming — The Romanian swimmer David Popovici was included on a select list, drawn up by the Spanish news agency EFE, of the ten athletes who achieved unique performances in 2022. Double world and European champion in the 100m and 200 m freestyle events, the young Romanian, at only 18 years, became the fastest swimmer on the planet, after which he broke the legendary 100m freestyle world record of the Brazilian Cesar Cielo, which dates back to 2009 this is how EFE describes the Romanian swimmer, who appears in the Top 10 alongside, among others, the Argentinean football star Lionel Messi, in turn the new world champion, alongside his team.
Pele – The former great Brazilian footballer Pele died at the age of 82, the family announced on Thursday. He had been hospitalized for a month in a clinic in Sao Paulo, due to a serious illness. By his real name Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele was the only footballer who held three world titles. He scored almost 1,300 goals in his career. He was designated the athlete of the 20th century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999, the footballer of the 20th century by FIFA in 2000, and he is the winner of the Ballon dOr. The death of the football “King” comes two years after the disappearance of another football icon, the Argentinian Diego Armando Maradona. The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, decreed three days of mourning.
Handball — Romania’s mens national handball team was ranked 3rd at the Carpathian Trophy, after defeating the Algerian team 33-25, on Thursday evening, in the tournament’s third place match hosted by Oradea (north-west Romania). The trophy went to Egypt, ranked fourth at the 2020 Olympics, which defeated Slovakia in the final, 33-29. Egypt and Algeria are preparing for the World Championship, which will take place in January next year, in Poland and Sweden. The Carpathian Trophy is a competition organized by Romania for many years. (LS)
