GAS RESERVES – Romania’s gas
\nreserves exceeded 90% storage capacity on Friday, thus covering the necessary
\ndemand for household users and businesses for the upcoming cold season,
\nregardless of the weather, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 has announced. The
\nRomanian official called on the relevant authorities to continue stockpiling
\nnatural gas at a high pace and to carefully watch gas demand. We recall that in
\nJune, the European Parliament passed a resolution requiring Member States to
\nreach at last 80% gas storage capacity by the end of the year. Gas reserves
\nwere labeled a critical resource, and EU official recommended all states should
\nsecure gas reserves up to 90% of their storage capacity. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
NATO – 14 NATO allies,
\nincluding Romania, as well as Finland signed a Letter of Intent for the
\ndevelopment of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a common European air and
\nmissile defense system. Spearheaded by Germany, the initiative provides for
\ninstalling Arrow 3 anti-ballistic systems developed by Israel and the USA and
\nAmerican Patriot systems in European states. This multinational and
\nmultifaceted approach offers a flexible and scalable way for nations to
\nstrengthen their deterrence and defense in an efficient and cost-effective
\nway, NATO deputy Secretary General, Mircea
\nGeoan\u0103, said on the sidelines of the NATO Defense Ministers meeting held in
\nBrussels. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TRILATERAL MEETING – Officials from
\nBulgaria, Greece and Romania on Friday had a trilateral meeting in Sofia,
\nBulgaria. Energy infrastructure, support for Ukraine and the European prospect
\nof the Western Balkans ranked high on the agenda of the meeting, Bulgaria’s
\nForeign Minister, Velislava Petrova said. The Greek Alternate Minister for
\nEuropean Affairs, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, highlighted the need to eliminate the
\ncountries’ dependency of Russian energy imports, underscoring the importance of
\nthe recently inaugurated gas pipeline linking Greece to Bulgaria. Minister
\nVarvitsiotis underscored the need for Greece, Romania and Bulgaria to join
\nefforts to help Ukraine recover after the war. The Romanian Secretary of State
\nfor European Affairs, Daniela Grigore G\u00eetman, in turn referred to the need to
\nboost efforts with a view to admitting countries in the Western Balkans in the
\nEuropean Union. Secretary G\u00eetman also argued in favor of the European
\nintegration of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
DEFICIT – Romania’s current
\naccount deficit went up by 6 billion EUR in the first eight months of the year
\ncompared to the similar period of 2021, reaching nearly 17 billion EUR, the
\nCentral Bank reports. The biggest deficit was reported for goods and services.
\nRomania’s external debt also went up by over 5 billion EUR during the same
\ninterval, now standing at 141.7 billion EUR. Government debt exceeded 125
\nbillion EUR, accounting for 48% of the GDP in August, the same as in July and
\nthe end of 2021. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
BOOK FAIR – Romania will be
\nrepresented this year at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, to
\nbe held over October 19-23. Romania’s pavilion is organized by the Ministry of
\nCulture and is due to host public readings, author sessions, book launches,
\ndebates, negotiations between publishers, print shops and authors, the Ministry
\nof Culture announced on Friday. Much like previous years, authors and
\npublishers from the Republic of Moldova will also be well represented in the
\nfair. This year, the ministries of culture of Romania and the Republic of
\nMoldova are cooperating to ensure the best possible representation of
\nRomanian-language literature from both countries. The series of Romanian events
\nwill end on October 22 with the presentation of the album Order 7161, created by photographer Mark Schroeder. The volume is
\nan elaborate documentation effort illustrating the trajectory of German
\nnationals deported from Romania to Siberia during World War II. The event will
\nbe followed by a public debate on the recent market release of the volume Why Romanians are Different from Germans,
\nwritten by Jan Cornelius and Adina Popescu and published in German. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PILGRIMAGE – Thousands of
\nOrthodox Christians on Friday attended Holy Mass at the Metropolitanate of
\nMoldavia and Bukovina devoted to the Feast Day of Saint Paraskeva of the
\nBalkans. Pilgrims from all over the country and abroad formed kilometer-long
\nqueues to get before the reliquary of Saint Paraskeva, who is particularly
\nhonored in Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian and Serbian Orthodox churches. In 1955,
\nthe Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church agreed to generalize the cult,
\nestablishing October 14 as the Saint’s Feast Day. Also known as Holy Friday,
\nSaint Paraskeva is considered to be the patron saint of Moldavia and the poor.
\n(VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[37114,31445,37112,37111,37113,37115],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-book-fair-in-frankfurt","tag-current-account-deficit","tag-european-sky-shield-initiative","tag-gas-reserves","tag-romania-bulgaria-greece-trilateral-meeting","tag-saint-paraskeva-pilgrimage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n