September 14, 2023

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 14.09.2023, 13:53

GOVERNMENT
– The Bucharest government has several normative acts on its agenda today,
among which emergency support for farmers affected by the increase in grain
imports from Ukraine and supporting the production of vegetables grown in
protected areas. The government also wants to green light procedures for the
implementation of the National Program for the development and support of the
food industry in the period 2023-2026 and to increase the domestic production
of farm and food products and the volume of processed products with high added
value intended for export. The executive also plans to grant emergency
humanitarian aid to Syria.

DRONES
– The Russian Federation’s attacks on the Ukrainian Danube ports of Reni,
Izmail and Chilia are unacceptable, State Secretary with the Romanian Defense
Ministry, Simona Cojocaru, said. In recent weeks, we have witnessed an
unprecedented escalation of this war of aggression, very close to Romania’s
border the minister said, after new drone fragments, most likely Russian,
were discovered in the Danube Delta, bordering Ukraine.

STUDY
– Seven out of ten Romanians are interested in having a sustainable lifestyle,
but the price continues to be a major obstacle, so that only 38% find ‘green’
products affordable, while 53% say these products are harder to find, according
to the latest study on the benefits of sustainability. The data processed by
Reveal Marketing Research highlights the fact that, for Romanian consumers,
sustainability is mainly about using resources responsibly, especially by
reducing waste and recycling, caring for the environment and endangered
species, but also about taking measures to reduce pollution and carbon
emissions.

FESTIVAL -
The State Philharmonics in Sibiu is today taking the stage of the George Enescu
Festival under the baton of the American conductor Roderick Cox. Attending the
event for the first time, and conducting a Romanian orchestra also for the
first time, Roderick Cox will give two concerts during the festival: on
September 14 in Sibiu and on September 16 in Bucharest. Together with the
orchestra in Sibiu and violinist Ioana Cristina Goicea, Roderick Cox will offer
the public in Sibiu and Bucharest a program centered on the Concerto for violin
and orchestra in D major op. 25 by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, but also highlights
of the Fourth Symphony in F minor op. 36 by P.I. Tchaikovsky, as well as a
masterpiece of contemporary Romanian symphonic works: Gyorgy Ligeti’s
Lontano. Radio Romania is co-producer of the George
Enescu International Festival.






EU – The war in Ukraine, the tensions with
Russia and the energy crisis were mentioned by the president of the European
Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her state of the union address that she
held, on Wednesday, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Mrs. von der
Leyen also spoke about the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen
area. She clearly said that the two countries deserve to be welcomed in the
free movement area but she did not offer a clear solution to overcome Austria’s
opposition. Romanian MEPs, regardless of political color, believe that
Bucharest must put pressure on the European authorities to make Schengen possible by the end of the year. (EE)