March 9, 2025
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 09.03.2025, 13:48
Elections. The Central Electoral Bureau will meet today to analyse the registrations as candidates in the presidential elections submitted by the pro-Russian, anti-West extremist Călin Georgescu and by Bucharest’s general mayor Nicuşor Dan. The Bureau is looking at a number of motions asking for Georgescu not to be allowed to run for president on account that his discourse and behaviour are incompatible with the highest office. Any decision issued by the Bureau today may be challenged in the Constitutional Court within 24 hours, with the Court obliged to issue a final ruling within another 48 hours that cannot be appealed in any court. On Saturday, the Constitutional Court rejected for procedural reasons two motions against Georgescu’s candidacy. Sources with the Court explained that without a decision from the Central Electoral Bureau, there is no official candidacy that can be challenged. The former Liberal leader Crin Antonescu has also registered his candidacy. He is backed by the three parties in the ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. Candidacies for the presidential elections of May 4th and 18th may be submitted by Saturday, 15th March. In December last year, the Constitutional Court annulled the entire process to elect the president on grounds that the election process had been corrupted in favour of the independent candidate Călin Georgescu.
Car scrapping. This year’s edition of the car scrapping scheme has been published on the website of the environment ministry for public consultation. To scrap a used vehicle, the applicant benefits from an ecoticket worth around 1,400 euros in the case of a motorcycle, 2,000 euros in the case of a vehicle with thermal or hybrid engine, 2,600 euros in the case of a hybrid plug-in vehicle or electric motorcycle and 5,100 euros for an electric car. The specialist press notes that the amounts are the same as last year, when the value of the tickets decreased, leading to a drop in the number of registrations of electric cars. The Romanian Association of Car Makers and Importers said it disagreed with the new funding guidelines and especially the sums granted in the case of electric cars, arguing that this risks slowing the transition to electric cars even more.
Gaza. The main European nations said they supported a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza that would cost 53 billion dollars and would avoid displacing the Palestinians from the territory, the BBC reports. The plan, drafted by Egypt and supported by the Arab leaders, was rejected by Israel and US president Donald Trump, who presented his own vision to turn the Gaza Strip into a “Riviera of the Middle East”. On Saturday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the UK welcomed as realistic the Egyptian plan proposing that Gaza would be rebuilt within 5 years. They said in a statement that the proposal promises “swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions” of the inhabitants of Gaza. Under the plan, Gaza would be governed temporarily by a committee formed of independent experts, and international peace keeping forces would be deployed to the territory. The Arab-backed plan is an alternative to Trump’s idea that the US would take over the territory and resettle its population.
Germany. Germany on Saturday passed a crucial stage towards the formation of a new government, less than two weeks since the federal elections were won by the Conservatives and in which the Social Democrats led by the current chancellor Olaf Scholz saw their worst results in the last 38 years. The two parties said they reached a principle agreement and the future chancellor, Friedrich Merz, wants a government in place before Easter. He plans massive investment to relaunch and refuel Europe’s largest economy. The Social Democrat co-president Lars Klingbeil said his party accepted the Conservatives’ proposal to consolidate border controls and got them to agree on the increase in the hourly minimum wage.
Tennis. Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian on Sunday reached the third round of the WTA 1000 tennis tournament in Indian Wells, the US, worth 9 million dollars in prize money. She defeated Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in three sets. In the next round, Cristian will play Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, seeded 6th. Another Romanian player, Sorana Cîrstea, lost in three sets to 10th seed Emma Navarro of the US. (CM)
