MARKUP – The markup for 14 categories of foodstuffs is curbed for a
\nlimited period of three months according to a government decree adopted in late
\nJune. Prices for dairy products, meat, vegetable and fruit are therefore
\nexpected to go down. Farmers will not be obliged to set a cap on prices,
\ngovernment officials say. Failure to observe the new legislation will incur
\nfines up to 400,000 EUR. <\/p>\n
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CAR SCRAPPING – A new car scrapping scheme
\nwas launched in Romania with a view to scrapping old vehicles owned by
\nindividual car owners. Apart from the funds provided by the Environment
\nMinistry, accounting for 80% of the program’s budget, local authorities also
\ncontribute 20%. Whereas the first phase in April was addressed to City Halls,
\nin the second phase individual car owners can apply. The deadline for
\napplications is set for August 31 or until the funds are depleted. The number
\nof beneficiaries was set according to the population of each administrative
\nunit. The program was supposed to kick off in 2022, but has been repeatedly
\ndelayed. <\/p>\n
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3SI – Bucharest will host a new Summit
\nof the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) on September 6, held under the high
\npatronage of president Klaus Iohannis. The summit will be followed by the 3SI
\nBusiness Forum. Attending will be Senate Speaker Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 and Prime
\nMinister Marcel Ciolacu. The 3SI brings together 12 EU member states from the
\nBaltic, Black and Adriatic Seas – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech
\nRepublic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and
\nSlovenia. Political and economic support for Ukraine will rank high on the
\nsummit’s agenda. <\/p>\n
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BORDER POLICE – The Border Police
\nannounced increased traffic on Romania’s borders despite additional measures to
\nease traffic. The overcrowding of borders is owed to many Romanians in the
\nDiaspora coming home to spend their summer holidays with their families and
\nfriends, while many Romanians choose holiday destinations abroad. The
\nauthorities urge drivers to use all border crossing points. The Arad Border
\nPolice spokesman Alexandru Dinc\u0103 said that border police staff are working at
\nfull capacity and additional control lanes have been added depending on the
\ndynamic of traffic flows. At the same time, mobile control stations will be
\ndeployed in order to ensure optimal border crossing. <\/p>\n
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UNEMPLOYMENT – The unemployment rate
\nstood at 5.4% in June, down by 0.1% compared to May, the National Statistics
\nInstitute reports. The number of unemployed stood at nearly 445 thousand in
\nJune, a decrease also compared to the same period of 2022. Broken down in terms
\nof gender, the unemployment rate for men exceeded that of women by 0.8%. Youth
\nunemployment stands at some 22%.<\/p>\n
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JUSTICE – Justice Minister Alina
\nGorghiu met with US Ambassador in Romania, Kathleen Kavalec. The agenda for
\ntalks included bilateral judicial cooperation, combating human trafficking and
\nthe digitization of the justice system in Romania. Minister Gorghiu said the
\nStrategic Partnership with the USA is key to promoting human rights and the
\nrule of law. The Romanian official hailed the good level of bilateral relations
\nin the justice field, and suggested new areas of cooperation, such as legal
\neducation in Romanian schools. Alina Gorghiu highlighted the importance of a
\npredictable legislation for the development of the business sector and boosting
\nforeign direct investment in Romanian economy. The Romanian official expressed
\nRomania’s firm commitment to combat corruption and implement the
\nrecommendations of the 2022 Rule of Law Report of the Venice Commission. With
\nregard to human trafficking, Alina Gorghiu said the Justice Ministry has
\nfulfilled its obligations as per the 2022 Report on Human Trafficking and other
\ncountry-specific reports in this field. <\/p>\n
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SPORT – Romanian athletes on Monday won
\nfive medals – three gold, one silver and one bronze – at the Francophone Games
\nheld in Kinshasa, Congo. In wrestling, our athletes scooped two gold medals,
\none silver and one bronze. Romania’s table tennis team also won gold after
\ndefeating Tunisia in the final. On Sunday, Romania grabbed three medals – two
\ngold and one silver – in the free wrestling competition. Romania thus ranks
\nfirst in the medal standings with 7 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze, followed by
\nMorocco and Cameroon. 57 Romanian athletes represent Romania at the 9th
\nedition of the Francophone Games in athletics, women’s basketball, free
\nwrestling, African wrestling, road bicycle racing, table tennis and judo. The
\ncompetition is hosted by Congo over July 28 – August 6. (VP)<\/p>\n
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<\/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":[36293,30892,40832,32342,116129,36637,36013],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-611757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-3si-summit","tag-border-police","tag-car-scrapping-program","tag-francophone-games","tag-markups","tag-romania-usa-relations","tag-unemployment-statistics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n