UN President Klaus Iohannis will be leading Romania’s
\ndelegation to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly between
\nSeptember 18 and 22 in New York. In his address, Mr. Iohannis will present
\nRomania’s views on current global developments, highlighting Romania’s foreign
\npolicy priorities and its contribution to reaching the goals on the UN
\nmultilateral agenda. President Iohannis will also attend the Summit on
\nSustainable Development Goals, and will be a guest of honour at the World
\nLeaders Forum organised by the prestigious Columbia University in New York, where
\nhe will be discussing Romania’s outlook on the war in Ukraine and its impact on
\nBlack Sea security.<\/p>\n
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\n
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PENSIONS A new
\nversion of the special pension law, comprising the amendments requested by the
\nConstitutional Court, will be endorsed by the end of September, said the
\ninterim Chamber of Deputies speaker, Alfred Simonis. He added the law covers
\nall categories of special pensions, but because the special benefits paid to
\nmagistrates and other categories cannot be scrapped, as it happened in the case
\nof MPs, taxation will be introduced, which the Court has accepted. Also,
\nSimonis said, ceilings must be introduced for each particular profession, so as
\nto eliminate special pensions of EUR 8,000 or even EUR 14,000 a month. The
\nConstitutional Court last month sent back to Parliament the new draft pension
\nlaw, on grounds that pension benefits currently being paid cannot be readjusted
\nto different principles than the ones in the law under which they have been
\ngranted.<\/p>\n
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\n
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CEREMONY A military and religious ceremony was held on
\nSunday at the Heroes’ Cross on Caraiman Peak in central Romania, to celebrate
\n95 years since the monument was unveiled. Included in the Guinness Book of
\nRecords, the 40m cross is the highest such monument placed on a mountain top in
\nthe world. It was erected at an altitude of 2,291 m between 1926 and 1928, at
\nthe initiative of and with support from Queen Marie and King Ferdinand of
\nRomania, as a tribute to WW1 heroes.<\/p>\n
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\n
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FLIGHTS The Romanian airline TAROM announces new flights to and from Chi\u0219in\u0103u,
\nin the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, as of September 24. TAROM will operate
\nadditional flights over weekends, to reach a total of 21 weekly return flights,
\nwith prices starting at EUR 85. <\/p>\n
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\n
<\/p>\n
MOTORWAYS As of next week Romania will have 1,000 km of
\nmotorway in use, with the opening of the Nu\u015ffal\u0103u – Suplacu de Barc\u0103u segment
\nof the A3 Transilvania motoway. Next month the first 20 km of the Bucharest
\nring motorway will also be opened, and next year the first 2 segments of the Ploie\u015fti-Buz\u0103u
\nmotorway are scheduled to be completed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
SCHENGEN Austria’s opposition to Romania’s Schengen
\naccession is not targeted against Bucharest, but against this freedom of
\nmovement system, said the Austrian minister for the EU, Karoline Edtstadler. The
\nstatement comes after Bucharest warned it would sue Vienna over its veto to
\nRomania’s accession. Karoline Edtstadler told the media she understood the
\nposition of Romanian authorities, but added Austria cannot close its eyes to an
\nalready flawed system. She explained the EU should ensure efficient protection of its external
\nborders before envisioning a Europe without internal
\nborders. In
\nan interview to Austrian mass media, Romania’s PM
\nMarcel Ciolacu said that in case of further opposition from Austria, Romania
\nwill have to take the matter to court and demand compensation for the losses
\nincurred because of its failure to join the Schengen area.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
NATO NATO’s secretary general
\nJens Stoltenberg has warned in an interview published on Sunday, that we must
\nnot expect a swift end to the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv carries on its
\ncounteroffensive against Russian forces, AFP reports. The war began in February 2022, when
\nRussian troops invaded Ukraine. As for Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO, Jens Stoltenberg promised
\nthat sooner or later, Ukraine will be a NATO member. In July’s NATO summit in
\nVilnius, Alliance leaders agreed that Kyiv may join NATO once
\ncertain conditions are fulfilled, with the US and Germany emphasising that
\nthese conditions include reforms to protect democracy and the rule of law. In
\nmid-June the Ukrainian army launched a counteroffensive to push out the Russian
\ntroops from the south and east of the country, but so far only a limited number
\nof localities have been freed.<\/p>\n
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\n
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TABLE TENNIS Romania’s women’s team was defeated by Germany,
\n3-0, on Sunday, in the European Table Tennis Championships final in Malmo (Sweden).
\nElizabeta Samara lost to Xiaona Shan 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-8), Bernadette Szocs was
\ndefeated by Ying Han 3-1 (14-16, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10), and Nina Mittelham beat
\nAndreea Dragoman 3-2 (5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10), after the Romanian player
\nlost two match points. Romania was already a European vice-champion, after
\nwinning the silver in 2021, at home in Cluj-Napoca. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\nRUGBY Defending world champions, South
\nAfrica Sunday defeated 76-0 Romania’s national rugby team in a World Cup Group
\nB match in Bordeaux (France). A week ago Romania lost to Ireland 82-8 (33-8). Romania’s rugby team is next to play against
\nScotland on September 30 and against Tonga on October 8, in Lille. (AMP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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