Radio România Internațional

Tag: Begu

Sports Weekend

Romanian tennis player Irina Begu on Thursday qualified for the third
round of the WTA 1.000 tournament in Madrid, with more than seven million
dollars in prize money. In the second round the Romanian secured a 6-4, 7-5 win
against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. The other two Romanians, Sorana
Cirstea and Ana Bogdan, have been eliminated in the second round of the
competition: Cirstea by second-seeded Arina Sabalenka of Belarus, who won the
game in two sets 6-4, 6-3. Bogdan has been defeated by US challenger Shelby Rogers, who secured a 6-2,
6-2 win. Irina Begu will next take on Rogers in the competition’s third round.

Now let’s have a look at women’s handball because this weekend will be
seeing the first round of the Champions League quarterfinals. Both Romanian
sides present in the competition are playing on Sunday when Rapid Bucharest
will be up at home against Norwegian side Vipers Kristiansand, the last year’s
winner of the competition, while CSM Bucharest plays Team Esbjerg in Denmark.

In the men’s competitions, Romania’s national side will be trying to
qualify for European Championship in a decisive game against Ukraine in
Gummersbach, Germany. The Romanians are hankering for a win in the fourth group
of the qualifiers topped by Austria with 10 points, a team which has already
qualified for the competition’s next stage. Romania and the Faroe Islands come
next in the group, each with 4 points followed by Ukraine with two. The first
two sides in each of the 8 preliminary groups will advance to the competition’s
new stage together with four of the best sides on the third position. The final
tournament is due in Germany over 10th and 28th of
January 2024. Romania hasn’t qualified for a final men’s tournament since 1996.

Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe and Universitatea Cluj have qualified for the
finals of Romania’s Football Cup. Sepsi secured a 3-0 home win against CFR Cluj
while on Thursday Universitatea Cluj outperformed UTA one-nil. The finals is
due in Sibiu, southern Romania on May 24th.

This weekend will be seeing the matches of the sixth leg of Romania’s Football
Superleague. FCU Craiova will be playing Chindia Targoviste on Friday, while on
Saturday CS Mioveni plays FC Arges and Petrolul Ploiesti will be up against FC
Botosani.

On Monday, FC Voluntari takes on Universitatea Cluj while UTA plays at
home Hermannstadt of Sibiu. On Saturday, Sepsi plays Farul Constanta in a home
game while on Sunday Universitatea Craiova, on their own turf, plays FCSB. On
Monday the capital city Bucharest will be seeing an interesting match pitching
local side Rapid against CFR Cluj. Farul tops the ranking with 42 points,
followed by CFRR with 38 and FCSB with 37.

(bill)

28 April 2023
Sports Weekend

Romanian tennis player Irina Begu on Thursday qualified for the third
round of the WTA 1.000 tournament in Madrid, with more than seven million
dollars in prize money. In the second round the Romanian secured a 6-4, 7-5 win
against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. The other two Romanians, Sorana
Cirstea and Ana Bogdan, have been eliminated in the second round of the
competition: Cirstea by second-seeded Arina Sabalenka of Belarus, who won the
game in two sets 6-4, 6-3. Bogdan has been defeated by US challenger Shelby Rogers, who secured a 6-2,
6-2 win. Irina Begu will next take on Rogers in the competition’s third round.

Now let’s have a look at women’s handball because this weekend will be
seeing the first round of the Champions League quarterfinals. Both Romanian
sides present in the competition are playing on Sunday when Rapid Bucharest
will be up at home against Norwegian side Vipers Kristiansand, the last year’s
winner of the competition, while CSM Bucharest plays Team Esbjerg in Denmark.

In the men’s competitions, Romania’s national side will be trying to
qualify for European Championship in a decisive game against Ukraine in
Gummersbach, Germany. The Romanians are hankering for a win in the fourth group
of the qualifiers topped by Austria with 10 points, a team which has already
qualified for the competition’s next stage. Romania and the Faroe Islands come
next in the group, each with 4 points followed by Ukraine with two. The first
two sides in each of the 8 preliminary groups will advance to the competition’s
new stage together with four of the best sides on the third position. The final
tournament is due in Germany over 10th and 28th of
January 2024. Romania hasn’t qualified for a final men’s tournament since 1996.

Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe and Universitatea Cluj have qualified for the
finals of Romania’s Football Cup. Sepsi secured a 3-0 home win against CFR Cluj
while on Thursday Universitatea Cluj outperformed UTA one-nil. The finals is
due in Sibiu, southern Romania on May 24th.

This weekend will be seeing the matches of the sixth leg of Romania’s Football
Superleague. FCU Craiova will be playing Chindia Targoviste on Friday, while on
Saturday CS Mioveni plays FC Arges and Petrolul Ploiesti will be up against FC
Botosani.

On Monday, FC Voluntari takes on Universitatea Cluj while UTA plays at
home Hermannstadt of Sibiu. On Saturday, Sepsi plays Farul Constanta in a home
game while on Sunday Universitatea Craiova, on their own turf, plays FCSB. On
Monday the capital city Bucharest will be seeing an interesting match pitching
local side Rapid against CFR Cluj. Farul tops the ranking with 42 points,
followed by CFRR with 38 and FCSB with 37.

(bill)

28 April 2023
April 27, 2023

PRESS
The situation of the
media in Romania is not very rosy, there is plenty of room for improvement and
the country should show the headway made in this respect in the upcoming rule
of law report, the European Commission’s Vice-president for values and
transparency, Vera Jourova, said in Brussels on Wednesday. According to the European
Commission’s 2022 rule of law report, media in Romania is facing a series of
issues such as the incomplete transparency of the media ownership and the cases
in which journalists have been subjected to harassment and violence. Asked if
the new legislative instruments proposed by the European Commission last year and
currently under implementation are enough to tackle this issue, Vera Jourova
gave an affirmative answer. ‘Romania still has enough space to do something in
this respect without being pushed by the EU laws. I went to Romania and want to
go back again due to the legal issues and of course it is in Romania’s interest
to also show some progress in the rule of law report in July’, Vera Jourova
went on to say.

TALKS The Education Committee with the Chamber
of Deputies in Bucharest is to resume talks today over the amendments in the
University Education Law after the talks over the pre-university education were
concluded on Wednesday. Centers of Excellence could be staged for some fields
of study under the new law. The threshold of 60% for the additional exam has
been cut down to 50% but the ministry’s initial version with the language
skills evaluation test in two languages of international circulation has been
kept. Religion has been introduced as the optional discipline for the
profile-specific test.

SUPPORT As of May 1st, the
executive in Bucharest is changing the way of granting financial support to the
Ukrainian refugees. So money is now given directly to the refugee not to the
family housing them as happened until now. The grant is unconditionally offered
only for one month after which the refugees will have to find jobs and send
their children to schools or kindergartens. If they want to benefit from
financial support from the fifth month of their stay they must prove they have
found a job in Romania.

TENNIS Three tennis
players from Romania are today taking on their opponents in the second round of
the WTA 1000 tennis tournament in Madrid, a competition with over 7.7 million
euros in prize money. Irina Begu of Romania will be up against Karolina Muchova
of the Czech Republic and Ana Bogdan will be playing Shelby Rogers of the USA.
Sorana Cirstea will meet second-seeded Arina Sabalenka of Belarus. Jacqueline
Cristian is another Romanian to have qualified for the second round after a win
against Sloane Stephens of the USA. The Romanian will next be up against
Anastasia Popapova of Russia.

BOXING Three boxers from Romania will be
attending the World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan over May 1st
and 14th. The three athletes are, Andrei Muset in the 67 kilogram
category, Paul Aradoaie in the 80 kilogram and Emanuel Mica in the 92 kilogram
category. They are accompanied by coaches Dumitru Dorobantu and Napoleon
Gheorghe. We recall that Aradoaie, an European youth champion and European
under-22 champion, won bronze at the European championship in Yerevan last year
in the 86 kilogram category. That was the first medal for the Romanian boxers
after a break of 7 years since the bronze won by Mihai Nistor in 2015. Lots are
to be drawn on April 30th and the first matches are due on May 1st.
The quarterfinals are due on May 10th and two days later the
semifinals of the aforementioned competition. At the world championships in
2021 in Belgrade, Aradoaie stopped in the round of 16 while the other Romanian
representative, Dumitru Vicol, was eliminated in the first round of the 76
kilogram category.

(bill)

27 April 2023
Sports Roundup

The women’s handball sides
representing Romania in the Champions League obtained some remarkable results
last weekend. On Saturday, in the competition’s group A, CSM Bucharest secured
a 35-26 win against Banik Most of the Czech Republic. Cristina Neagu scored
most of the goals for the Romanian side, nine, helping them to consolidate
their first position in the group’s ranking with 17 points. They are followed
by the last year’s winner of the trophy, Norwegian side Vipers Kristiansand
with 15 points. CSM will be up next against Danish side Odense.

In group B, Rapid on Sunday
clinched a 39-29 home win against Montenegrin side Buducnost Podgorica. The
Dutch Estavana Polman scored six goals for the hosts, pushing them to the third
place in the group with 16 points, the same number of points as the team on the
second place, Hungarian side Gyor, and a point less than the group’s leader,
Metz of France. Rapid will be up against Esbjerg of Denmark on the latter’s
home turf.

Romanian side SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea started
off on the right foot in the European League with a home win against Hungarian
side Vác, which they defeated 40 – 30, in group D. Iryna Glibko of Ukraine and Asma
Elghaoui of Hungary were the hosts’ best scorers each with nine goals. Valcea
will be taking on Paris 92 in an away game on Sunday.

Australia is these days seeing a
couple of tennis tournaments in preparation for the year’s first Grand Slam
tournament in Melbourne. Irina Begu was the best Romanian player in the
aforementioned tournaments. Begu made it to the semifinals of the Adelaide
International 1, with more than 826 thousand dollars in prize money. The
Romanian was stopped in her tracks by Arina Sabalenka of Belarus, who won the
match in two sets, 6-3, 6-2. Begu won 43, 323 dollars and 185 WTA points while Sabalenka
eventually won the tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 win against Linda Noskova of the
Czech Republic. In the Adelaide
International 2 tournament, Sorana Cirstea of Romania lost in the first round
to Beatris Haddad Maia. The Brazilian won the match 7-6, 6-1. Irina Begu is
directly qualified for the competition’s main draw and will be taking on Storm
Hunter of Australia.

(bill)

9 January 2023
Sports Roundup

The women’s handball sides
representing Romania in the Champions League obtained some remarkable results
last weekend. On Saturday, in the competition’s group A, CSM Bucharest secured
a 35-26 win against Banik Most of the Czech Republic. Cristina Neagu scored
most of the goals for the Romanian side, nine, helping them to consolidate
their first position in the group’s ranking with 17 points. They are followed
by the last year’s winner of the trophy, Norwegian side Vipers Kristiansand
with 15 points. CSM will be up next against Danish side Odense.

In group B, Rapid on Sunday
clinched a 39-29 home win against Montenegrin side Buducnost Podgorica. The
Dutch Estavana Polman scored six goals for the hosts, pushing them to the third
place in the group with 16 points, the same number of points as the team on the
second place, Hungarian side Gyor, and a point less than the group’s leader,
Metz of France. Rapid will be up against Esbjerg of Denmark on the latter’s
home turf.

Romanian side SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea started
off on the right foot in the European League with a home win against Hungarian
side Vác, which they defeated 40 – 30, in group D. Iryna Glibko of Ukraine and Asma
Elghaoui of Hungary were the hosts’ best scorers each with nine goals. Valcea
will be taking on Paris 92 in an away game on Sunday.

Australia is these days seeing a
couple of tennis tournaments in preparation for the year’s first Grand Slam
tournament in Melbourne. Irina Begu was the best Romanian player in the
aforementioned tournaments. Begu made it to the semifinals of the Adelaide
International 1, with more than 826 thousand dollars in prize money. The
Romanian was stopped in her tracks by Arina Sabalenka of Belarus, who won the
match in two sets, 6-3, 6-2. Begu won 43, 323 dollars and 185 WTA points while Sabalenka
eventually won the tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 win against Linda Noskova of the
Czech Republic. In the Adelaide
International 2 tournament, Sorana Cirstea of Romania lost in the first round
to Beatris Haddad Maia. The Brazilian won the match 7-6, 6-1. Irina Begu is
directly qualified for the competition’s main draw and will be taking on Storm
Hunter of Australia.

(bill)

9 January 2023
RRI Sports Club

Three tennis players from Romania have qualified for the second round of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. The first was Gabriela Ruse, who, on Monday, defeated the Australian of Russian origin Daria Saville, formerly Gavrilova, in the first round. The 24-year-old Romanian, ranked 101 in the WTA classification, obtained the first main-draw win of her career at Flushing Meadows. The Romanian needed two hours and 15 minutes of play, but eventually she defeated 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 a player better placed in the world ranking, i.e. on 58th position. Its worth mentioning that Ruse had suffered surgery on her left wrist at the beginning of the month, and she had played her last game at a tournament in July.

Sorana Cîrstea (WTA 37) also moves on. On Tuesday, she defeated Germany’s Laura Siegemund, world number 182, 6-4, 6-4. The Romanian player had a more defensive performance only at the beginning of the second set, when Siegemund managed a break and took the lead with the score 4-2, but Cîrstea came back and took control, defeating the German 6-4, after winning four games in a row.

Irina Begu, world no. 42, needed three sets to defeat the Belgian Elise Mertens (WTA 33). The Romanian player lost the first set 3 to 6. She then came back and won 6-2 in the second set, winning the decisive set with the same score.

Another two tennis players from Romania were eliminated, on Monday, in the first round. Simona Halep, the tournaments 7th seed, who had won the WTA 1,000 title in Toronto, was defeated, after one hour and 40 minutes, by a 20-year-old player ranked 124th in the world classification, the Ukrainian Daria Snigur, who won in three sets, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Jaqueline Cristian, world no. 77, also lost to the tournaments 2nd seed, Anett Kontaveit, from Estonia. (LS)

31 August 2022
RRI Sports Club

Three tennis players from Romania have qualified for the second round of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. The first was Gabriela Ruse, who, on Monday, defeated the Australian of Russian origin Daria Saville, formerly Gavrilova, in the first round. The 24-year-old Romanian, ranked 101 in the WTA classification, obtained the first main-draw win of her career at Flushing Meadows. The Romanian needed two hours and 15 minutes of play, but eventually she defeated 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 a player better placed in the world ranking, i.e. on 58th position. Its worth mentioning that Ruse had suffered surgery on her left wrist at the beginning of the month, and she had played her last game at a tournament in July.

Sorana Cîrstea (WTA 37) also moves on. On Tuesday, she defeated Germany’s Laura Siegemund, world number 182, 6-4, 6-4. The Romanian player had a more defensive performance only at the beginning of the second set, when Siegemund managed a break and took the lead with the score 4-2, but Cîrstea came back and took control, defeating the German 6-4, after winning four games in a row.

Irina Begu, world no. 42, needed three sets to defeat the Belgian Elise Mertens (WTA 33). The Romanian player lost the first set 3 to 6. She then came back and won 6-2 in the second set, winning the decisive set with the same score.

Another two tennis players from Romania were eliminated, on Monday, in the first round. Simona Halep, the tournaments 7th seed, who had won the WTA 1,000 title in Toronto, was defeated, after one hour and 40 minutes, by a 20-year-old player ranked 124th in the world classification, the Ukrainian Daria Snigur, who won in three sets, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. Jaqueline Cristian, world no. 77, also lost to the tournaments 2nd seed, Anett Kontaveit, from Estonia. (LS)

31 August 2022
August 26, 2022

LAWS Draft laws on the reform of
Romania’s education system could be submitted to the government in early
September – Education Minister Sorin Campeanu has announced. The minister says
that upon public debates over the documents, almost 15 hundred amendments,
which are to be assessed by experts with the ministry. We recall that
representatives of the teaching staff, students, parents and society have
called for the extension of the period of debates, but the ministry turned down
the proposal.

EO The government in Bucharest has endorsed an emergency
ordinance providing for a 30 Euros pay rise for state employees starting August
1st, Labour Minister Marius Budai has announced adding that the
raise is only one fourth of the level stipulated in Law 153 for the year 2022
and it accounts for 2 billion lei of the state budget. According to Budai,
almost one million out of the 1.2 million state employees will benefit from the
new ordinance. The medical personnel and several other categories had already
benefitted the aforementioned pay rise.

TRADE Romania’s exports of drinks have increased by 52 % in the
first five months of 2022 up to 108 million Euros, the National Institute for
Statistics has announced. Between January and May this year Romania’s imports
of beverages grew by 45% up to 251 million Euros, which resulted in a trade
deficit of 143 million Euros. According to papers in Bucharest, the most
sought-after drink is the Romanian version of the French cognac. The demand for
this product has significantly increased on markets in Europe, the USA and
Japan.

FOOTBALL Romania’s football champions CFR Cluj qualified for the
groups of Europa Conference League after a 1-0 home win on Thursday against
Slovenian side NK Maribor in the play-offs. The first game in Slovenia ended in
a goaless draw. FCSB, runner up in the Romanian championship, have also
qualified after a 3-1 away win against their Norwegian opponents. Another
Romanian side Universitatea Craiova was eliminated in the play-offs by the
Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva during the penalty shootout. Lots will be drawn
for the competition’s next stage today in Nyon, France.

TENNIS The Romanian tennis player, seventh seeded Simona Halep,
will be up against an opponent from the qualifying round of the US Open, the
year’s last Grand Slam tournament. Halep last year made it to the round of 16
of the aforementioned competition, her best performance being in 2015, when she
played in the semifinals. Another tennis player from Romania, Irina Begu, will
be up against Elise Mertens of Belgium who has so far won all head-to-head
matches. Sorana Cirstea, also from Romania will be up against Laura Siegemund
of Germany while Gabriela Ruse will be playing Daria Saville of Australia.
Another Romanian player Jaqueline Cristian will be up against Anett Kontaveit
of Estonia.

(bill)

26 August 2022
August 22, 2022

CONTRACT A major funding
contract for the railway network part of the Romania’s National Recovery and
Resilience Plan (PNRR), a project of roughly 1.75 billion euros has been
signed. The contract provides for streamlining the Caransebes-Timisoara-Arad
railway with a total length of 162 kilometers. According to Transport Minister
Sorin Grindeanu this is a major step towards the modernization of the railway
network in western Romania, which is part of the European transport corridor
Orient/East Mediterranean. PNRR funds are going to be used to double and
streamline the aforementioned railway in order to allow trains to run at 160
kilometers per hour. The project also provides for the modernization and
building of railway stations in certain urban areas, building pedestrian
walkways and adjusting platforms to European standards.

TALKS Romanian Prime
Minister, Nicolae Ciuca, Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, and representatives
of the National Energy Regulatory Authority have convened to assess further support
schemes for the population against the background of the latest electricity
price hikes. These are to be applied after March 31st, until when
household and non-household consumers are benefitting from subsidized gas and
electricity depending on their consumption. The government wants to invest in
new energy infrastructure projects aimed at exploiting local resources. In
another development, the executive in Bucharest might endorse this week an
emergency ordinance providing for another pay rise for state employees.
According to Finance Minister Adrian Caciu, the rise has already been applied
in the country’s education and medical sectors and will soon be applied in the
other sectors of the economy.

WEATHER
Meteorologists have again issued yellow and orange alerts for unstable weather
and heavy rain in almost the entire Romanian territory. Until Tuesday night most
of the regions are to see thunderstorms, heavy downpours, gale force winds and
in some areas hail. The heat index will remain high in south-eastern
Romania.

PROGRAMME The
Environment Fund Administration (EFA) in Romania is expected to launch next
week a programme for scrapping vehicles older than 15 years. Under the
aforementioned programme owners can get 600 Euros without the obligation of
buying a new vehicle. Half of the sum will be covered from the EFA funds and
the rest from local budgets. Through its National Plan of Recovery and
Resilience, Romania pledges to get rid of 250 thousand old polluting vehicles
by 2026.

TENNIS Romanian
tennis player Irina Begu on Sunday qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250
tournament in Cleveland USA, which has over 250 thousand dollars in
prize-money. The Romanian secured a two-set win against US challenger Peyton
Sterns and she will be up next against the winner of the game pitching Sofia
Kenin of the USA against other qualified player. Another Romanian in the
competition, Sorana Cirstea will be playing fourth-seeded Elise Mertens of
Belgium.

UKRAINE The invading Russian
army has again shelled objectives in several regions of Ukraine. The southern
city of Mykolaiv has been struck by several S-300 missiles and the region of
Odessa has been attacked with rockets fired from vessels in the Black Sea. The
city of Nikopol close to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia has been hit
by scores of artillery shells amid growing fears of a potential nuclear
disaster in the region. US president Joe Biden on Sunday held talks with French
president Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German
chancellor Olaf Scholz about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and
the support they can provide to this country. In Kyiv, president Zelensky has cautioned
against potential large-scale attacks by Russian troops around Ukraine’s
Independence Day, which marks the country’s breaking ties with the former USSR.
The event takes place on August 24, six months from the onset of the Russian
invasion. In another development, another two ships loaded with Ukrainian grain
bound for Istanbul have been authorized to leave the Ukrainian Black Sea ports
under the UN-brokered agreement signed by Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.

(bill)

22 August 2022
July 25, 2022 UPDATE

DROUGHT Drought has affected
106,389 hectares of land in Romania, according to figures published by the
agriculture ministry. The southern counties of Teleorman, Olt and Dolj have run
out of water for irrigation because of the significant drop in the Danube’s
river flow, agriculture minister Petre Daea announced on social media. Waters
have retreated so much that they no longer reach the pumping stations feeding
the irrigation system, with part of the Danube’s bed now looking like sandy
beach. In the areas where irrigation was used, the state of the crops is good.
Daea said the authorities are speeding up investment works to rehabilitate the
national irrigation network and to bring Danube water closer to pumping
stations. The minister recently said there is no reason yet to declare a state
of disaster over the drought.

TALKS
The Romanian state secretary for strategic affairs, Iulian Fota, Monday had
talks in Bucharest with the US deputy under-secretary for national security Kelli
Ann Burriesci, who is on a regional tour in Europe. The US official was later
received by the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu. Talks focused on Romania’s
participation in the Visa Waiver Program
and on means to strengthen bilateral cooperation to this end. Bogdan Aurescu reiterated
that including Romania in the Visa Waiver
program is a top political goal for Bucharest and a topic of particular
interest to the Romanian public. He also
highlighted the importance of the successful implementation of a joint
awareness raising campaign and voiced Romania’s willingness to work together
with the US to help reduce the visa rejection rate.

COVID-19 In Romania,
the number of coronavirus infections is on the rise. Nearly 5,000 new cases
were reported on Monday for the last 24 hours, most of these in Bucharest,
Cluj, Ilfov, Constanta and Brasov counties. Around 3,400 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised,
204 of them in intensive care. Most of the patients in critical condition are
unvaccinated. Five COVID-related deaths have also been reported.

CORRUPTION Lucian
Duţă, the former chief of Romania’s National Health Insurance Agency (CNAS), Monday
received a final 6-year prison sentence. He was charged by the National
Anti-Corruption Directorate for receiving EUR 6.3 million in bribe in exchange
for awarding a public service contract to 2 software companies. The Bucharest Court
of Appeals upheld the ruling pronounced by the court of first instance in
November 2020, and the court’s decision to seize the EUR 6.3 million from Lucian
Duţă.

ENERGY More than
3,500 MW of renewable energy will be installed in Romania in the coming period,
both solar, using photovoltaic panels, and wind-generated, according to data
provided by a consultancy firm in the field. Almost 700 such projects have been
submitted on the platform made available by the energy ministry to receive
funding under the recovery and resilience plan. The secretary general of the
employers’ association in the field of renewable energy Mihai Verşescu said
investment is needed in this sector, but that business people are reluctant because
of frequent legislative changes. He emphasised that while funding sources are
available, legislation is needed to ensure predictability.

EMPLOYMENT Five out
of ten Romanian employees changed their jobs in the last two years, according
to a poll published by an online recruitment platform. Many job applicants look
for less stressful jobs and more benefits. Four out of ten people who change
their jobs were driven by higher pay, 27% because they had lost their jobs a
result of a wave of redundancies, and 3% because their employers did not agree
to their working remotely. 35% of respondents said they are currently looking
and applying for new jobs and only 21% are completely satisfied with their
current jobs. In conclusion, Romanians seeking new employment want better pay,
the possibility to work from home, more additional benefits besides their wages
and the possibility to relocate abroad.

TENNIS The Romanian
tennis player Irina Begu won the WTA 250 tournament in Palermo, Italy, worth
200,000 US dollars in prize money. In Sunday’s final, she defeated Italy’s
Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. This is Begu’s fifth WTA title,
having also won in Tashkent in 2012, Seoul in 2015, Florianopolis in 2016 and
Bucharest in 2017. Begu also played the finals in Budapest, Marbella, Moscow
and Cleveland. She is 31 years old and is ranked 45th in the world. Until now,
Irina Spârlea had been the only Romanian player to win the singles title in
Palermo, in 1994 and 1995. (CM, AMP)

25 July 2022
May 22, 2022

PROGRAMME Romania has kicked off
a social programme called ‘Seaside for Everyone’, which allows tourists to find
accommodation in hotels on the Romanian Black Sea coast for prices starting
from 7 Euros per night. Representatives of the employers associations in the
field say that prices are almost 70% lower than in the summer holiday season. Over
4 thousand accommodation facilities have been made available for tourists who
can also pay with holiday vouchers. The most sought-after Black Sea resorts are
Mamaia, Eforie Nord, Neptun and Saturn. The ‘Seaside for Everyone’ programme is
presently at its 40th edition and is the only social programme in
Romania entirely supported by the business environment.

UKRAINE President of Ukraine,
Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the
Ministers of Defence from 40 countries due to convene in a virtual conference
on Monday to approve the delivery of Multiple Launch Rocket Systems to the
Ukrainian army. According to the European site Politico, the USA, which has
this weapon, is reluctant to offer it to Ukraine as it would enable the latter
to hit targets deep into the Russian territory as the missiles fitting these
systems have a range of up to 500 kilometers. Zelensky request comes against a
stepped up Russian onslaught in eastern Ukraine, the invaders’ main target
after the defeat suffered in Kyiv. The Russian troops are pressing the
Ukrainian forces mainly in Lugansk, which together with Donetsk are forming the
so-called Donbas. Clashes in Donbas have intensified after Russia managed to
take over Mariupol after a violent siege of nearly three months during which
the city was almost entirely destroyed. According to Reuters, Russia is using
aviation, artillery, tanks and rockets along the entire eastern front. In the
meantime, Polish president Andrzej Duda, is currently paying a visit to Ukraine
where he is going to speak before Parliament. According to a communiqué posted
on his site, Duda has thus become the first foreign president talking to the
Ukrainian legislature since the beginning of the war Russia started in Ukraine
on February 24th.

TOUR US president Joe
Biden has arrived in Japan, the second and last leg of his first Asian tour,
which is meant to strengthen the US’ relations with countries in Asia-Pacific. As
part of this tour Biden paid a two-day visit to South Korea where talks mainly
focused on the danger posed by North Korea’s nuclear programme. Joe Biden is to
meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Emperor Naruhito before attending the Quad
meeting, which brings together political leaders from the USA, Japan, India and
Australia.

DAVOS After a two
year recess caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s political and economic
elite again convenes in Davos, a forum expected to be dominated by the war in
Ukraine, AFP reports. Organisers of the renowned World Economic Forum late last
year announced that a meeting in person would be held in the mountain resort of
Davos over May 22 and 26, after several online editions caused by the pandemic.
A wide range of topics are high on the agenda, from climate changes to energy
prices and fears about a potential global food crisis, gender equality,
football and the metaverse. However, the world economic forum in Davos has become
famous for the talks held outside of its official programme. Among the most
famous events it saw along the years was the first ministerial meetings between
the South and North Korea in 1989 or the talks on Apartheid between the
president of South Africa, Frederik De Klerk and the then dissident Nelson
Mandela. This year’s edition of the Davos forum is expected to bring together
roughly 25 hundred participants, including numerous company directors and over
50 heads of state and government.

TENNIS Two Romanian tennis players, Sorana Cirstea and Gabriela Ruse are today
playing in the first day of the grand slam tournament Roland Garros. Cirstea
will be playing Tatjana Maria of Germany, while Ruse will be up against Elise
Mertens of Belgium. In the tournament’s first round, 19th-seeded
Simona Halep and Roland Garros champion in 2018 will be up against Nastasja
Schunk of Germany. Seven Romanians are on the tournament’s main board. Besides
the already mentioned two, these are Irina Begu, Ana Bogdan, Irina Bara and
Mihaela Buzarnescu who came as ‘lucky loser’ after the qualifying match she
lost on Friday.

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22 May 2022
February 11, 2022 UPDATE

NATO Romania, as a NATO member country and strategic partner of the US,
benefits from all the security guarantees that it needs, in the context of the
most serious crisis since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The statement was made
by Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Friday, during a visit he made
together with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Alliance’s
Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Geoana, at the military base in Mihail
Kogalniceanu, south-eastern Romania. The officials met with military personnel
from allied nations deployed to Romania. In his turn, Stoltenberg said
the presence of NATO troops in Romania is important because it is a powerful
demonstration of NATO unity. Around 1,000 American military were relocated to
Romania, amid concerns raised by the Russian military build-up at the Ukrainian
border. France has also voiced willingness to deploy troops to Romania. A NATO
member since 2004, Romania was already hosting 900 American, 250 Polish and 140
Italian troops. A unit of the US Air Forces
in Europe (USAFE), comprising around 150 troops and 8 F-16 Fighting Falcons, will
have joint training missions with troops and aircraft of the Romanian
Air Forces for 2 weeks, as of Friday. According to a news release, the US
aircraft will also conduct enhanced air policing missions, jointly with Romanian
troops and with the Italian Air Forces unit deployed to Romania in December.

CORONAVIRUS The number of new Covid-19 infections continues to drop in Romania.
On Friday, the Group for Strategic Communication announced 22,737 new cases and
132 deaths, five of which from an earlier date. The Romanian authorities
consider easing the restrictions taken in the context of the pandemic, but in a
gradual manner, as did the countries that have already overcome the peak of the
current wave, the head of the Department for Emergencies, Raed Arafat, said.
The number of new cases is dropping, and if we stay on this trend, we could be
restriction free by Easter, Arafat said. In turn, the head of the immunization programme,
Valeriu Gheorghita, said that in the future vaccination against Covid-19 will
be seasonal, just like the flu vaccine, and adjusted to the strain in
circulation at a particular moment. The vaccination rate among adults stands at
50.5% in Romania at present, Valeriu Gheorghita said.

MOLDOVA A number of bilateral documents were signed in Chisinau on
Friday after a joint meeting of the Romanian and Moldovan governments,
including an inter-government agreement under which Romania is to provide EUR
100 million worth of non-reimbursable aid. The Romanian PM Nicolae Ciucă and
his Moldovan counterpart Natalia Gavriliţa also signed a joint statement on
strengthening cooperation in economy and investments. Other agreements concern
the building, maintenance, repair and use of a cross-border bridge in Ungheni,
and roaming and international call tariffs, cooperation in energy security,
digitisation, research and innovation and defence, justice and home affairs. The
Romanian PM emphasised that this is the most substantial openness ever seen in
bilateral relations, and promised that Romania will remain a determined and
vocal supporter of the Republic of Moldova’s EU accession efforts. In turn,
Moldova’s PM Natalia Gavriliţa
said her Cabinet has undertaken to provide a predictable and attractive
environment for investments in the country, in line with European best
practices.Nicolae Ciucă was received by the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu, to
whom he conveyed Romania’s full support for the reforms she initiated in the
judicial field in particular.

TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Irina Begu (56 WTA) Friday defeated
Tereza Martincova (42 WTA) of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2, and qualified into
the semis of the Sankt Petersburg tournament. Martincova had won (6-7, 6-4,
6-4) her only previous match against Begu, in Tashkent in 2019. (A.M.P.)

11 February 2022
October 30, 2021 UPDATE

GOVERNMENT The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on Saturday decided
that the ministers proposed by Prime Minister designate, Liberal Nicolae Ciuca
be heard by the specialised committees on Tuesday and sworn in by Parliament a
day later. The Prime Minister designate, retired General Nicolae Ciuca, on
Saturday submitted to Parliament a list of his cabinet and ruling programme,
which includes, among other things emergency measures aimed at settling
Romania’s health crisis and offsetting the latest soaring prices in energy. The
National Liberal Party has opted for a minority government jointly with the
UDMR, which presently lacks the support it needs for the right number of votes
in the Legislature. The Prime Minister designate has voiced hope the cabinet proposed
by him will be endorsed by Parliament adding that the talks with the other
parties must continue until the last moment. Pundits believe though that a
rejection of the Ciuca cabinet would pave the way for snap election although
the Constitution allows president Iohannis to propose a third Prime
Minister.

COVID-19 Roughly 89 people have got the anti-Covid
vaccine in the past 24 hours in Romania, out of whom 57 thousand got the first
jab. The number of those fully vaccinated in Romania has exceeded 6.2 million
and the vaccine rollout has been given such a boost of late making the
authorities to predict that if this pace maintained until the end of the year
Romania could have a rate of 70% vaccinated. Over 12,100 new infections were
reported on Saturday as well as 413 fatalities. Roughly 20 thousand people are
currently being treated in hospitals, out of whom 1858 in ICUs. A medical team
from Germany has arrived in Romania to asses Covid-infected patients who can be
treated in hospitals in that country and an aircraft belonging to German air
forces has been made available for the transport of these patients. In another
development, Romania is to receive next week a batch of 10 thousand monoclonal
antibodies as part of the contract the European Commission has signed with the
producer, Romania’s Health Minister Andrei Baciu has announced. The country’s
National Committee for Emergency Situations has also updated the list of
countries and territories with a high-risk of infection with the Netherlands
and Russia in the red tier. In the yellow zone there are Malaysia, Cuba, Costa
Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein
and Jordan.

TENNIS Romanian Simona Halep on Saturday qualified for the finals of the
Transylvania Open underway in Cluj, north-western Romania. The competition’s
odds-on favourite, Halep has outperformed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-0, 6-1 and
will be up against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the finals. Also on Saturday,
the Romania-Georgian pair Irina Bara/Ekaterina Gorgodze qualified for the
finals after a 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 win against Romanian pair Irina Begu/Andreea
Mitu.

FIRE On Saturday Romania commemorated 6
years since the blaze that ripped through the Colectiv night club in Bucharest
killing 65. Another 150 wounded in the fire caused by fireworks during a rock
concert on October 30th 2015, are still being treated for the wounds
they suffered. Religious services and wreath laying ceremonies were held on
Saturday to the memory of those who lost their lives in the disaster. The
survivors, relatives of the victims together with representatives of the civil
society have called into attention the fact that little has changed in the
country’s healthcare system since then. Six years on from the tragedy, the
survivors who are still undergoing treatment, have pointed to the fact that the
infections in hospitals around Romania are still unreported and unmonitored.
Romania still lacks burn care facilities for the treatment and recovery of
those who suffered severe burns. The court trial opened shortly after the event
is still underway.

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31 October 2021
June 11, 2021 UPDATE

EPPO The European Public Prosecutor’s
Office is not an external institution but one in the service of the EU
citizens, the European chief-prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, said in Sofia on
Friday during her first visit since the EPPO’s kicked off its public activity.
We are at home in all the member states (participating in EPPO). We are here
for you and we want to earn your trust through our work, the EU official went
on to say in the last day of her visit to Bulgaria. According to Kovesi, all people
are equal when it comes to applying the law and the EPPO is not going to make any
differences whatsoever between those it is investigating. Kovesi’s visit to
Sofia comes after the Bulgarian authorities’ failure to nominate the 10
prosecutor delegates the country has a right to.

COVID-19 Romania’s infection rate with the novel coronavirus continues to
go down, the entire country being in the green tier at present. 103 new cases
were reported on Friday and the authorities have announced 150 new fatalities,
20 of them in the past 24 hours. 1300 patients are being treated in hospitals,
255 of them in intensive care. Since the vaccine rollout kicked off in December
2020, 4.1 million people in Romania have been fully vaccinated. Andrei Baciu,
state secretary with the Health Ministry has announced that the European
digital certificate for Covid-19 is to become operational in Romania on July 1st.
The digital certificate is a proof of the fact that a person has been
vaccinated, tested negative or had the disease in the past and is now cured.

TENNIS The Romanian-Argentinean pair Irina Begu /
Nadia Podoroska lost in the semifinals of the Roland Garros tennis tournament
to Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA and Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-3, 6-4. This
has been Begu’s second Grand Slam semifinals after that in the Australian Open in
2018 when he played together with her Romanian counterpart Monica Niculescu.

FESTIVAL The George Enescu classical music festival will
be held in Bucharest between 28th August and 26th
September under strict epidemiological conditions, organisers have announced.
This year’s edition, the festival’s 25th, will last four weeks
instead of three, and will take place at three different concert venues across
the capital city, the Palace Hall, which will seat half of its usual number of
spectators, and two other smaller venues, which will open at 70% capacity and
where spectators must present a Covid vaccination certificate or a negative test
result, apart from their tickets, to be able to attend the performances. The
festival’s line-up features 67 different performances and brings together 3,500
musicians, including leading international names and orchestras. The event is
named after Romania’s greatest composer, George Enescu, who was born 140 years
ago.

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11 June 2021
June 10, 2021

VISIT Reuven Rivlin, the president of
Israel, has been visiting Romania these days as on June 11th the two
countries are celebrating 73 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations. The
Israeli president is today attending the commemoration of the 7 servicemen, six
Israelis and a Romanian, who died when their helicopter crashed in the Bucegi
Mountains, southern Romania, in 2010. In the first two days of his visit,
president Rivlin held talks with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis
delivered a speech before the Romanian Parliament and inaugurated the
Romania-Israel business forum together with Prime Minister Florin Citu.

ALERT The government in Bucharest has
extended the state of alert for another month starting June 12th.
Several restrictions have been relaxed on this occasion; the number of people
allowed to attend private events has been increased to 200 provided they are
all vaccinated, tested or had the disease in the past. According to the
authorities, the measures imposed during the state of alert are to be applied
on the stadiums, which are going to host matches of the European Football
Championship UEFA 2020. The National Arena in Bucharest, the venue for the
round of sixteen, will function at 50% of its capacity.

COVID-19 The infection rate with the
novel coronavirus is going down in Romania with most of its territory in the
green tier now. The infection rate stays below 0.16 per thousand with 140 new
cases being reported on Wednesday out of 28 thousand tests conducted.
Authorities have announced 14 new fatalities in the past 24 hours. Less than 15
hundred are being treated in hospitals and 272 of them in intensive care.
61,800 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine are to arrive in Romania today.
Since the vaccine rollout kicked off in Romania in late December, over 4
million people have been fully vaccinated.

INVESTMENT According to data released
by the National Institute for Statistics on Thursday, in the first quarter of
this year, Romania reported 4 billion Euros worth of investment, an increase of
9.9% as compared to the same period last year. The increase has been reported
in all elements of structure: various types of machinery and equipment,
including in the transport area, construction works and other expenditures.
According to the same sources, almost 36% of the investment went to the
construction area, 25% in industry, and the same percentage in trade and
service. Only 3.5% of the total investment went to agriculture.

DAY Army barracks and monuments all over
Romania are today seeing religious services and military ceremonies to the
memory of the servicemen killed in action in various wars involving the
participation of Romania’s armed forces. Wreaths of flowers are to be laid in
cemeteries and at monuments. A brass band of the Romanian Defence Ministry is
to give a concert of patriotic music this afternoon. Under law 379 in 2003 the
40th day after Easter, the Ascension of Jesus Christ, was also
proclaimed the Heroes Day and has been a national holiday here in Romania ever
since.

TENNIS Romanian-Argentinean pair Irina
Begu/Nadia Podoroska will on Friday take on Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA and
Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semis of the doubles contest of the Roland Garros
tennis tournament. Begu and Podoroska are coming after a win against Petra
Martic of Croatia and Shelby Rogers of the USA in the quarters. Begu is
Romania’s last representative in the prestigious French competition.

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10 June 2021