July 27, 2024 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 27.07.2024, 19:08
UNESCO – The Monumental Ensemble “The Heroes’ Path “, made by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi in Târgu Jiu (southern Romania), and the “Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Dacia” have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The announcement was made on Saturday, during a session of the UNESCO Committee, which is taking place in New Delhi, India. The new entries complete the Romanian presence on the world heritage list, which includes, among others, the Danube Delta, the Dacian fortresses in the Orăştiei Mountains or churches in Moldova and Maramureş.
SCHENGEN – Hungary, which holds the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, will put on the European agenda in autumn the accession of the neighboring Romania to the Schengen Area with the land borders, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, said once more. In his speech at the Summer University in Băile Tuşnad (central Romania), Orban said he hopes there will be a favorable vote by the end of the year. He also spoke about the conflict in Ukraine, warning that Europe will have to pay the price of this war if the Republican Donald Trump wins the presidential elections in the United States.
OLYMPICS – The Romanian tennis player Irina Begu was defeated by Poland’s Iga Swiatek, the current world leader, 6-2, 7-5, on Saturday, in the first round of the women’s singles event at the Paris Olympic Games. Begu is at her third participation in the Olympic Games, after losing in the first round in the singles in 2012 in London and in 2016 in Rio. Her best Olympic result is reaching the quarter-finals in mixed doubles in 2016, alongside Horia Tecau. Irina Begu will also play in Paris in the women’s doubles, teaming up with Monica Niculescu, against the Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh/Chia Yi Tsao. Another Romanian, Ana Bogdan was defeated by the Italian Jasmine Paolini, 7-5, 6-3. Bogdan will also play in the women’s doubles, with Jaqueline Cristian, the opponents in the first round being the Japanese Shuko Aoyama/Eni Shibahara.
DISBURSEMENT – The European Commission approved the release for Romania of 1.7 billion euros for strategic projects in research and innovation. The Minister of Digitization, Bogdan Ivan, announced that after 2 years of negotiations, the Commission considerers fulfilled the condition called “Good governance of the national or regional smart specialization strategy”, coordinated by the ministry. The European money is for investments in all regions of the country, and the goal is, according to the minister, “an ecosystem of innovation that supports entrepreneurs in the field, Romanians who develop last-generation technologies and bring value to the economy and industry”.
INVESTMENT – The funds to be granted to Romanian farmers whose crops have been compromised by drought will almost triple the budget allocations for subsidies in agriculture, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said. Ciolacu visited, together with the Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, the counties of Vrancea and Galati, some of the most affected by the weather conditions, where corn and sunflower crops are over 90% lost. Around 2 million cultivated hectares are compromised by drought in the entire south and east of the country. Ciolacu gave assurances that Romania does not have any problem regarding food security, because it has a fairly large irrigated agricultural area. On the other hand, he said the Government would present a plan to reduce expenses on September 1. Neither the increase in VAT nor in the social contributions is considered, Ciolacu said. We remind you that the European Union announced that it maintains the excessive deficit procedure for Romania. Similar actions were launched on Friday for six other member states, including France, Poland and Hungary. (EE)
