September 23, 2023 UPDATE

A rpoundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 23.09.2023, 18:41

BRIDGE – Romania and Bulgaria want to build a new bridge over the Danube, at Giurgiu-Ruse, on which both cars and trains can travel. The project has already been submitted to the European Union, which will give an answer about the financing at the beginning of next year. The new construction would eliminate blockages on the current bridge over the Danube between the two towns, which has only one lane per direction and a transit of over 2,000 trucks per day.

TRANSIT — Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu will travel to Kyiv to clarify aspects regarding the Ukrainian grain transit through Romania. Ciolacu said transporting the grain by train and boat, on the Danube, would be preferable and reminded the agreement made with Romanian farmers to allow, for one month, only the transit and not the import of Ukrainian grain. The PM explained that the export of Ukrainian grain cannot be made through intermediaries and traders and that a very strict control system would be in place. More than 25.5 million tons of cereals from Ukraine have transited Romania so far.

CORRUPTION – Dumitru Buzatu, one of the oldest and most influential leaders of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has been detained by anti-graft prosecutors for bribe taking. He was caught while receiving about 250 thousand euros to favor a company win a contract. A head of the Vaslui County Council and leader of the PSD organization in this county, which is one of the poorest in Romania, Buzatu was a parliamentarian from 1992 to 2012 and was part of the circles of the former PSD leader, Liviu Dragnea, imprisoned several years ago. After the arrest, the current leader of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, called an emergency meeting of the PSD National Political Bureau, following which Dumitru Buzatu was expelled from the party.

GOVERNMENT — Final debates on the final form of the package of fiscal measures to balance the state budget will take place on Monday, according to political sources. A meeting of the economic and social committee has been scheduled, while the PM will have another meeting with the finance minister. After approval, the law for which the government will assume responsibility will be sent to Parliament. Among other things, the introduction of a minimum turnover tax will target 750 large companies, and the additional collection to the budget is estimated at around 1.2 billion euros.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Ana Bogdan defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the final of the WTA tournament in Parma (Italy), in two sets 7-5, 6-1. Ana Bogdan (71 WTA), the competition’s second favorite, previously defeated the Hungarian Anna Bondar, seed no. 7, in the semifinal, 6-3, 6-4. Schmiedlova won three of the four direct matches with Bogdan. (EE)