PROTESTS – Due to Bulgarian farmers’ protests, the border with
\nBulgaria will be closed for at least two hours. The National Association of
\nBulgarian Grain Producers has made public a map with 80 road segments where
\ntraffic will be blocked by heavy farming equipment at least two hours a day,
\nindefinitely. Farmers want the government to ease the administrative burden on
\nthe farming sector, compensations for the negative impact of the Russian
\naggression in Ukraine, as well as more protection for Bulgarian agriculture in
\nregulated trade with Ukraine. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has recommended all
\ncitizens traveling to Bulgaria check for border traffic updates and strictly
\nabide by temporary regulations and the recommendations of border police. <\/p>\n
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HEALTH – Health trade unions have been promised a 15% salary
\nincrease, which will add to the 5% increase applied to public sector employees
\nat the start of the year. After long negotiations with Prime Minister Marcel
\nCiolacu, the leaders of the Sanitas Federation said salaries will increase in
\ntwo phases, in March and June, although it is unclear which categories of
\npersonnel will benefit from the increase and when. Talks with the authorities
\nwill continue, trade unions say. Representatives of the Sanitary Solidarity
\nFederation are disgruntled with the government’s latest counteroffer,
\nFederation leader Viorel Rotil\u0103 argues, adding that the increase will only
\naffect the base salaries, meaning health workers’ salaries, which also include
\nbonuses, are expected to increase by a little over 14%. Protest actions will
\nthus continue, Viorel Rotil\u0103 went on to say. <\/p>\n
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BILATERAL RELATIONS – Romania’s Foreign Minister Lumini\u021ba Odobescu
\non Monday paid an official visit to Sofia, Bulgaria, where she had talks with
\nher Bulgarian counterpart Mariya Gabriel, president Rumen Radev and Prime
\nMinister Nikolai Denkov. Minister Odobescu hailed progress reported in the
\ndevelopment of infrastructure projects of mutual interest, such as FastDanube
\nor the construction or a new bridge over the Danube, both designed to
\nsignificantly consolidate regional interconnectivity. The Romanian official also
\nexpressed Romania’s firm support for EU enlargement, both in the Western
\nBalkans, as well as the Eastern Partnership, where Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia
\nhave made steps forward. During her meeting with president Rumen Radev, Lumini\u021ba
\nOdobescu highlighted the importance of the Romania-Bulgaria Strategic
\nPartnership, signed in 2023. <\/p>\n
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\n
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VISIT – The new
\nForeign Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Mihai Pop\u0219oi, has paid his first
\nofficial visit to Romania, where he is expected to meet Prime Minister Marcel
\nCiolacu and Senate Speaker Nicolae Ciuc\u0103. The agenda of his meeting with the
\nRomanian counterpart, Lumini\u021ba Odobescu, will focus on regional challenges.
\nMihai Pop\u0219oi was appointed Foreign Minister and deputy Prime Minister after his
\npredecessor, Nicu Popescu, stepped down in January, claiming he needed a break
\nafter fulfilling the key objective of his mandate – Moldova’s EU rapprochement.
\n<\/p>\n
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\n
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TENNIS – Romanian
\ntennis player Sorana C\u00eerstea has advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA 500
\ntournament in Abu Dhabi (UAE), offering over 920 thousand USD in total prizes.
\nThis was the first win of the year for C\u00eerstea (26 WTA), who ousted Caroline
\nGarcia of France, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. The Romanian player will next take on
\nthird-seed Maria Sakkari of Greece (9 WTA). C\u00eerstea leads 2-1 head-to-head, the
\nGreek player having won the last match 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the second round at
\nCincinnati. <\/p>\n
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\n
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AQUATICS – The Romanian
\nmen’s polo team lost 15-8 to Hungary on Monday in its first match in Group D at
\nthe World Aquatics Championships hosted by Doha, Qatar. Our team will next play
\nKazakhstan on February 8 and Italy on February 9. The winners of each group
\nwill advance to the quarterfinals, the teams in second and third place
\nrespectively will play quarterfinals playoff matches, whereas last-placed teams
\nwill compete in a tournament for positions 13-16. The top four teams will
\nqualify to the 2024 Paris Olympics. France, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Japan, the
\nUSA, Australia and South Africa have already booked their tickets to this
\nyear’s Olympic Games. (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":[32705,116407,116408,113292,28990,31470,116409,116398,116410],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-612140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-bilateral-relations","tag-bulgarian-farmers","tag-health-trade-unions","tag-mihai-popsoi","tag-protests","tag-sorana-cirstea","tag-talks-with-the-authorities","tag-world-aquatics-championships","tag-wta-500-abu-dhabi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n