PARLIAMENT President Nicu\u015for Dan announced that next week he would sign into law the bills required under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR) and endorsed by Parliament last week. On Monday a new extraordinary parliamentary session begins, for the endorsement of further legislation undertaken by Bucharest as part of the recovery and resilience facility. The Chamber of Deputies will discuss a new bill on the integrity of civil servants and legislation already endorsed by the Senate, as the first chamber notified. The Senate\u2019s agenda includes the 2026-2030 National Strategy and Action Plan on Biodiversity Conservation. Of the draft laws that need to be endorsed by the end of this month as milestones in the PNNR, an agreement backed by a parliamentary majority is yet to be identified with respect to the public sector salary bill.<\/p>\n
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ALERT Romania is facing one of the worst drought periods in recent years, with the Danube water flow dropping to almost 3 times below the multi-annual average for the month, close to its all-time low, according to the Romanian Waters Agency. Authorities are taking emergency measures to keep the Cernavod\u0103 Nuclear Power Plant in operation, as the Danube water flow is extremely low and experts warn the nuclear power plant can barely operate for another 4-5 days. Electricity demand is on the rise due to the high temperatures, and Transelectrica estimates a peak of around 7,800 megawatts next week. The government has declared a nation-wide state of alert for the month of August, because of the fall in the electricity output entailed by the drought. The caretaker PM Ilie Bolojan announced he had talks with Ukraine\u2019s deputy PM and minister of energy, Denys Shmyhal, about support for Romania in high electricity demand periods. Bucharest is also discussing with partners in Bulgaria and Greece to increase imports. Ilie Bolojan added that all national production facilities were requested to work at full capacity so as to preserve the balance in the national energy system. He also called for voluntary electricity saving, especially in the evening.<\/p>\n
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WEATHER Meteorologists have issued several extreme heat warnings valid until Tuesday morning. A code red warning will be in effect in western and northwestern Romania. The highs will reach 40 degrees Celsius, with a temperature-humidity index (ITU) above the critical 80-unit threshold. A code orange warning has also been issued for the north and west of the country, with highs of 38 degrees Celsius, while a code yellow warning will be in place in the northeast, east, centre and southwest. Elsewhere in the country, the weather remains hot, with increasing thermal discomfort and highs between 27 and 40 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n
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DRONE The defence ministry\u2019s radar surveillance system Sunday detected an aerial target near the river border with Ukraine. Two Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft from the 86th Borcea Air Base took off to monitor the situation. The target moved for approximately 20 minutes above the territorial waters and along the Danube\u2019s Sulina branch, in the national airspace, then it left the territory of Romania towards Ukraine, where it was shot down by the Ukrainian forces. Drone fragments fell close to \u200b\u200bthe village of Periprava, on a field approx. 1 km from the border. No casualties or damages were reported. The National Military Command Centre instructed the General Inspectorate for Emergencies to alert the public in Tulcea County via a RO-Alert message. At the end of last week, 3 drones that illegally entered the national airspace were shot down in three consecutive days by Romanian Air Force F-16 aircraft.<\/p>\n
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BACCALAUREATE In Romania, the second session of this year\u2019s baccalaureate exam begins on Monday with the oral Romanian literature test, and continues next week with the other skills assessment tests. The written tests are scheduled to begin on August 10, and the first results are expected on August 18. The education ministry is yet to announce the number of candidates who have enrolled in the so-called autumn session. Last year, there were over 30,000 candidates, and the pass rate was almost 32%.<\/p>\n
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ROMA HOLOCAUST On National Roma Holocaust Memorial Day (Samudaripen) marked on Sunday, the foreign ministry paid tribute to the memory of the Roma Holocaust victims. On August 2, 1944, 82 years ago, around 3,000 Roma at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp were killed by the Nazi regime. Over 500,000 Roma were killed in Europe during World War II. The foreign ministry supports national and international initiatives to promote education, research and commemoration of the Roma genocide. The institution also voices concern over the proliferation of hate speech against members of the Roma community, especially online, and reaffirms the need to fight discrimination and extremist actions of an ethnic or racial nature. The Roma are the largest ethnic minority group in Europe. Of the approximately 12 million Roma people in Europe, around 6 million are EU citizens or residents. Many Roma in the EU are still victims of prejudice and social exclusion, despite clear regulations on discrimination in all EU member states, according to the European Commission.<\/p>\n
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RATING The CFA Romania head Adrian Codirla\u015fu believes that Romania narrowly avoided a downgrade in its country rating, and the Fitch report indicates a worsening of the economic outlook. He argues the decision to keep the rating in place was possible because the government proved it can keep public spending in check, but warns that the lack of reforms, the risk of losing EU funds and a possible return to high deficits keep the economy in a vulnerable situation. President Nicu\u015for Dan welcomed the Fitch Agency report, which reconfirms Romania’s financial stability. The agency announced it maintains Romania’s sovereign rating at BBB-, with a negative outlook. Citing the deterioration of public finances, political uncertainty and risks regarding the implementation of reforms, Fitch warns, however, that without further fiscal consolidation measures, there is a significant risk of the rating being downgraded to \u201cjunk\u201d. The financial rating agency estimates that in 2026 the budget deficit will be 5.9% of GDP, and economic growth will be 0.6%. On August 7, Moody’s is also scheduled to release its rating report for Romania. (AMP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARLIAMENT President Nicu\u015for Dan announced that next week he would sign into law the bills required under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNNR) and endorsed by Parliament last week. On Monday a new extraordinary parliamentary session begins, for the endorsement of further legislation undertaken by Bucharest as part of the recovery and resilience facility. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[30716,29190,152000,29163,31424,29167,160425,156644,36927,29268,160426,143229,29310,28905,116483],"coauthors":[116091],"class_list":["post-1044802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-alert","tag-baccalaureate","tag-drone-2","tag-drought","tag-extraordinary-session","tag-extreme-heat","tag-fitch-2","tag-holocaust-2","tag-memorial","tag-parliament","tag-rating-2","tag-roma-2","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-warnings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n