USR Catalin Drula was validated as president of the USR, the
\ncenter-right opposition of the Bucharest Parliament during a USR online
\ncongress held on Saturday. A former
\nTransport Minister, Drula had been elected by the members of his political
\ngroup during an online poll held recently where he mustered 71% of the total
\nnumber of votes. ‘It is a mandate I asked my colleagues for unity, stability,
\ncoherence and efficiency and this is exactly what I am going to deliver’, the
\nnew leader said adding that the ruling coalition is pushing Romania to the
\nbrink of bankruptcy. ‘Inflation is through the roof, interest rates and taxes
\nare growing exponentially and poverty is rearing its ugly head in Romania’,
\nDrula went on to say. <\/p>\n
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SUPPORT ‘The Republic of Moldova doesn’t have to be and won’t be
\nalone in its efforts to implement the reforms it needs’, Romania’s Foreign
\nMinister Bogdan Aurescu said on Friday at the end of the second edition of the
\nMinisterial Conference of the Support Platform for the Republic of Moldova.
\nAccording to the head of the Romanian diplomacy this platform is ‘a permanent
\ninstrument’ and is useful for Chisinau’s efforts to join the European Union.
\nFinancial assistance pledges of up to 600 million euros were issued during the
\nconference for the support of this ex-soviet republic with a Romanian-speaking
\nmajority. The event in Bucharest brought together delegations from 33
\ncountries, members of the EU, G7, the European Free Trade Association,
\ninternational bodies, financial institutions and UN agencies. German Foreign
\nMinister Annalena Baerbock announced a financial assistance package for this
\nstate of up to 77 million euros. On the sidelines of the conference Minister
\nAurescu held talks with the OSCE Secretary General, Helga Schmid on the
\nsecurity crises triggered by the Russian aggression against Ukraine. <\/p>\n
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WEATHER Britain is bracing up for a hot weekend
\nwith very high temperatures. A national emergency has been declared after a red
\nextreme heat warning was issued for a first time. Temperatures are expected to
\nhit 40 degrees Celsius and hot weather warnings have been issued in France as
\nwell. In only three days in Spain the heatwave caused 84 deaths mostly among
\nthe elderly. Weathermen have cautioned that temperatures will remain high for
\nanother 10 days. <\/p>\n
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GREECE A second contingent of 28
\nRomanian firefighters has left for Greece to replace their colleagues who in
\nthe past two weeks have assisted the local authorities in monitoring and
\nextinguishing forest fires in areas north of Athens. Several fire engines, a
\ntanker as well as command and control vehicles have been deployed to the
\naffected areas. In the past 15 days, firefighters from Romania have
\nparticipated in various missions in the regions of Schimatari and Porto
\nGermeno. Last year Romania also helped Greece in its fight against devastating
\nforest fires. <\/p>\n
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WAR Ukraine has accused the Russian army of
\nusing the platform of the nuclear power plant they occupied in Zaporozhe to
\nlaunch attacks in the southern region of Nikopol, an industrial area on the
\nDnieper River. Ukraine has lashed out at the International Atomic Energy Agency
\nfor not putting enough pressure on Moscow to pull out its troops from the
\nplant. According to Ukraine’s security service, on Friday night, the Ukrainian
\narmy managed to bring down two Russian warplanes. The Russians shelled the city
\nof Kramatorsk in Donbas while in Donetsk, several Russian rockets have
\ndestroyed the railway infrastructure and also hit civilian targets. The
\nanti-aircraft defence system of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday managed to
\nshoot down a Russian missile and in Mykolaiv an Orlan-10 Russian drone has been
\nshot down by the Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has
\nappointed a fresh regional government in Cernauti, close to the NATO border. <\/p>\n
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COVID-19 Romanian authorities on Saturday have reported 3,718 new
\nSARS-CoV-2 infections. 103 patients are being treated in ICUs and 7 related
\nfatalities have been registered. Since the beginning of the pandemic in
\nRomania, authorities have reported 65,800 related fatalities. <\/p>\n
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AMENDMENTS The government in Bucharest on
\nFriday endorsed the final amendments to tax legislation. Some changes are set
\nto come into effect on August 1, while others on January 1 next year. After
\nconsultations with social partners, with employers’ associations, trade unions,
\nand local elected representatives, the Finance Ministry made several changes to
\nthe initial bill. They accepted the proposal by hospitality industry employers
\nfor companies to choose between specific taxes and tax on profits. According to
\nthe changes, VAT would go up from 5 to 9% for restaurants, hotels, and catering
\nfirms, while VAT for soft drinks would go up from 9 to 19%. Starting on August
\n1, tax incentives in construction and the food industry are granted for
\nsalaries of up to 10,000 lei, about 2,000 Euro, and not up to 30,000 lei, about
\n6,000 Euro, as it is at present. Also next month, excises will go up for
\nalcohol and tobacco products. The tax on dividends goes up from 5 to 8 percent.
\nAt the same time, people with salaries of up to 4,550 lei, about 900 Euro,
\nyoung people below 26, and people providing child care would get deductions. <\/p>\n
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(bill)<\/p>\n
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