{"id":972139,"date":"2026-01-17T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/?p=972139"},"modified":"2026-01-18T15:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T13:32:03","slug":"january-17-2026-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html","title":{"rendered":"January 17, 2026 UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>FRANCE<\/strong> The latest information that recently appeared in the public space according to which, France would be extremely dissatisfied with Romania\u2019s position regarding the trade agreement EU-Mercosur or if there is a connection between this file and the French military presence in Romania \u2018is false\u2019, the French Embassy in Bucharest says. According to it, the French military presence is part of commitments to collective security and strengthening NATO\u2019s Eastern Flank. The embassy has also reaffirmed its commitment to the French-Romanian strategic partnership and the security of the region.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>OECD <\/strong>Romania\u2019s accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a decisive step for the way in which the Romanian state will be functioning in the following years, its impact being comparable with the country\u2019s accession to NATO and the European Union \u2013 Romania\u2019s Finance Minister, Alexandru Nazare wrote in a Facebook post. According to him, OECD means clear rules, operational institutions and public policies based on data and expertise from developed economies \u2013 practically, a new level of openness and a new development stage for Romania. Romania has lately taken concrete steps, which take us closer to the objective of accession in 2026 and the consolidation of the reforms assumed.\u201d In Minister Nazare\u2019s opinion the benefits are clear: increased trust and investment, lower funding costs for the state, more effective and predictable public policies, a more resilient and competitive economy and a better life for the Romanians wherever they are.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>GAS <\/strong>In cold weather, Romania cannot cover its need for natural gas only from the domestic production \u2013 the Intelligent Energy Association says adding that in this situation, imports, mainly from Hungary, become essential. The chair of the aforementioned association, Dumitru Chis\u0103li\u0163\u0103, said in a communiqu\u00e9 that in some situations Romania cannot make rapid gas deliveries to consumers around the country and those in the neighbouring Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. When gas deposits go down, extraction capabilities also stay low, says the aforementioned association, which adds that during periods of cold weather, Romania is not only managing gas supplies towards the population but also the regional transit of natural gas.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>TRADE<\/strong> Hundreds of officials were invited to Paraguay on Saturday for signing the historical agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries \u2013 Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In Europe the agreement has already prompted the farmers to take to the streets amid fears that markets will be flooded by cheaper South-American products. The European Parliament on Monday is expected to tackle a no confidence vote against the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen for having signed the agreement. The EU-Mercosur agreement will be creating a common market of roughly 720 million people. According to pundits, the country benefitting most is Brazil whose GDP is to rise by 0.46% until 2040. The other Mercosur economies are to grow by 0.2% whereas the European Union will see a growth of only 0.06%. The main beneficiaries will be the South-American producers of fruits, fish and coffee. In terms of industry, Europe will be the main beneficiary as its countries rely more on technology and will be exporting industrial and electronic equipment, automobiles, medicine and clothing. Besides its risks, the agreement may also be beneficial to Romania.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WEATHER <\/strong>Romania\u2019s National Meteorology Agency on Saturday issued a series of yellow warnings for extremely cold temperatures valid until January 21 for almost all regions. Starting Sunday, the weather will be extremely cold in almost all regions with frosty nights and mornings and lows between -20 and -10 Celsius. In eastern and central Romania the cold weather will persist at noon as well with highs between -15 and -9 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n<p>(bill)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FRANCE The latest information that recently appeared in the public space according to which, France would be extremely dissatisfied with Romania\u2019s position regarding the trade agreement EU-Mercosur or if there is a connection between this file and the French military presence in Romania \u2018is false\u2019, the French Embassy in Bucharest says. According to it, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":884000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[29699,39462,29026,183987,183483,32502,35307,183988],"coauthors":[116091],"class_list":["post-972139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-cold-weather","tag-eastern-flank","tag-france","tag-historical-agreement","tag-mercosur-en","tag-oecd","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-yellow-warnings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>January 17, 2026 UPDATE - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"January 17, 2026 UPDATE - Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FRANCE The latest information that recently appeared in the public space according to which, France would be extremely dissatisfied with Romania\u2019s position regarding the trade agreement EU-Mercosur or if there is a connection between this file and the French military presence in Romania \u2018is false\u2019, the French Embassy in Bucharest says. According to it, the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-17T18:01:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-18T13:32:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88\"},\"headline\":\"January 17, 2026 UPDATE\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-17T18:01:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-18T13:32:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\"},\"wordCount\":617,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cold weather\",\"eastern flank\",\"France\",\"historical agreement\",\"Mercosur\",\"OECD\",\"Ursula von der Leyen\",\"yellow warnings\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Newsflash\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\",\"name\":\"January 17, 2026 UPDATE - Radio Romania International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-17T18:01:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-18T13:32:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\\\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Homepage\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News and Current Affairs\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Newsflash\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/newsflash\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"January 17, 2026 UPDATE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/\",\"name\":\"Radio Romania International\",\"description\":\"Totul despre Rom\u00e2nia \u015fi rom\u00e2ni, \u00een 13 limbi\\\/dialecte!\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/author\\\/newsroom\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"January 17, 2026 UPDATE - Radio Romania International","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"January 17, 2026 UPDATE - Radio Romania International","og_description":"FRANCE The latest information that recently appeared in the public space according to which, France would be extremely dissatisfied with Romania\u2019s position regarding the trade agreement EU-Mercosur or if there is a connection between this file and the French military presence in Romania \u2018is false\u2019, the French Embassy in Bucharest says. According to it, the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html","og_site_name":"Radio Romania International","article_published_time":"2026-01-17T18:01:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-18T13:32:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Newsroom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Newsroom","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html"},"author":{"name":"Newsroom","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88"},"headline":"January 17, 2026 UPDATE","datePublished":"2026-01-17T18:01:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-18T13:32:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html"},"wordCount":617,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","keywords":["cold weather","eastern flank","France","historical agreement","Mercosur","OECD","Ursula von der Leyen","yellow warnings"],"articleSection":["Newsflash"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html","name":"January 17, 2026 UPDATE - Radio Romania International","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-17T18:01:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-18T13:32:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Newsflash-stiri-alb-960x540-1.jpg","width":960,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-17-2026-update-id972139.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Homepage","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News and Current Affairs","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Newsflash","item":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"January 17, 2026 UPDATE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/","name":"Radio Romania International","description":"Totul despre Rom\u00e2nia \u015fi rom\u00e2ni, \u00een 13 limbi\/dialecte!","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/#\/schema\/person\/4a479940371b9fdefd194f561e8a7f88","name":"Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/author\/newsroom"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972139"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=972139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}