Radio România Internațional

Tag: Kostyuk

  • June 6, 2024

    June 6, 2024

    WAGES The government in Bucharest is today expected to endorse a pay rise aimed at bringing the minimum wages in Romania up to 740 Euros starting July 1st. Over 1.8 million employees are to benefit the new measure. The 200 RON fiscal deduction from the minimum wages will be kept until the end of the year.

    VOTE Polling stations have today opened in the Netherlands, the first country to vote in the elections for the European Parliament due over June 6 and 9. Roughly 370 million people are expected to vote in all the 27 EU member states in the following days. Analysts are forecasting an advance of the far-right and Eurosceptical parties amid the frustrations caused by the rising cost of living, migration and the green policies that are getting more and more unpopular. Like in most EU countries, in Romania the voting for the European Parliament is due on Sunday, concurrently with the local elections. Romania gets 33 MEP mandates.

    TENNIS The Romanian-Ukrainian pair Gabriela Ruse/Marta Kostyuk has qualified without playing in the semis of the doubles contest in Roland Garros as Russians Mirra Andreeva and Vera Zvonareva failed to attend the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Ruse and Kostyuk have won a check of 148 thousand Euros and 780 WTA points. This is the second Grand Slam semifinals for Ruse and Kostyuk after Australian Open last year. In the semifinals Ruse and her partner will be playing the all-Italian pair, Jasmine Paolini/Sara Errani.

    BOOK FAIR Until June 16th Romania will be attending the 83rd edition of the Madrid Book Fair with a national stand and 20 literary events. This has been Romania’s 13th participation in this large-scale event staged by the Romanian Cultural Institute through the National Book Center and the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid with support from the Ministry of Culture and the Romanian Embassy in Spain. Among the protagonists of the aforementioned event there are writers Gabriela Adameşteanu, Eugen Barz, Aura Christi, Nichita Danilov, Cristian Fulaş, Miguel Gane, Stejărel Olaru, Radu Paraschivescu, Radmila Popovici, Andreea Răsuceanu and Radio Romania Journalist Corina Sabău.

    FOOTBALL Romania’s football side will be up against the selection of Lichtenstein in Bucharest on Friday night in their last training game before the European Championship in Germany. In another friendly on Tuesday our footballers obtained a goaless draw against the neighbouring Bulgaria. In Group E of Euro 2024, Romania will be playing Ukraine on June 17 in Munich, Belgium on June 22 in Cologne and Solvakia in Frankfurt four days later. Officials of the football federation in Bucharest say they expect the attendance of a large number of Romanian football fans, who are residents in Germany or in other countries in Western Europe. Romania’s last participation in a  European football tournament was in 2016 and in the World Cup in 1998.

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  • January 23, 2023 UPDATE

    January 23, 2023 UPDATE

    MEETING The
    head of the Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu, on Monday participated in a
    meeting of his EU counterparts held in Brussels. High on the agenda were talks
    on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which also involved the participation
    of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba through a videoconference, as well
    as the latest developments in Sahel and other countries in West Africa. The EU
    officials also tackled the latest developments in Iran, Montenegro, Afghanistan
    and Venezuela as well as the launch of the EU mission in Armenia, which has an
    observation and monitoring mandate along the border with Azerbaijan. Aurescu
    referred to the need for carrying on the EU multi-dimensional support for
    Ukraine enabling it to cope with the cold season and a possible onslaught by
    the Russian troops. He mentioned that Romania supports the consolidation of the
    sanctions-regime against Russia by endorsing a 10th package of restrictive
    measures as well as the continuation of the assistance programmes for the third
    countries affected by the war. On the sidelines of the event, the Romanian
    official held talks with his counterparts from Italy, Belgium, Germany and the
    Netherlands. High on the agenda was Romania’s accession to Schengen.








    TENNIS Romanian – Ukrainian pair made up of Gabriela Ruse and Marta Kostyuk has
    qualified for the quarters of the women’s doubles at Australian Open, the
    year’s first Grand Slam tournament after a two-set win 6-3, 6-4, against the
    Czech pair Miriam Kolodziejova/Marketa Vondrousova. The two will be next playing
    Storm Hunter of Australia and Elise Mertens of Belgium who have eliminated
    Monica Niculescu of Romania and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.








    COVID-19 The number of Covid-19
    infections Romania registered last week dropped as compared to the previous
    week. The Ministry of Health has reported almost three thousand infections, 500
    less than between January 9th and 15th. Almost 900 people
    have been admitted to hospitals, out of whom 111 are presently being treated in
    ICUs. 38 related fatalities have also been reported all in patients with
    comorbidities. The number of flu infections is on the rise though.








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  • January 21, 2023 UPDATE

    January 21, 2023 UPDATE

    ASYLUM Romania’s immigration department on Friday registered 40 asylum applications.
    Most of these, 24, were filed by citizens from Bangladesh. The General
    Inspectorate for Immigration has also issued 394 permits for those who applied
    for temporary protection, out of which 388 for Ukrainian nationals. Last year 4,398
    Ukrainian citizens applied for asylum in Romania and they benefit from all the
    rights stipulated in the national legislation. The total number of Ukrainians
    who entered Romania since the beginning of the invasion is around 3.5 million.
    Almost 29% of the accommodation facilities for these refugees have been
    occupied.










    DAY
    The Day celebrating the Union of the Romanian Principalities will be marked by
    the representations of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau, Rome,
    Warsaw, Venice, Istanbul and Vienna. The Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau
    stages a scientific event devoted to 164 years since the Union of the Romanian
    Principalities – Moldova and Wallachia. The Romanian Institute of Culture and
    Humanistic Research in Venice is staging a conference meant to emphasize the
    cordial Romanian-Italian relations during the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859-1866)
    and the symmetric destiny of the two peoples in the process of completing their
    national unity. The Academia di Romania in Rome is also celebrating the Union
    day with a film screening about the portrait of Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan
    Cuza made by photographer Carol Popp of Szathmari. The Romanian Cultural
    Institute in Warsaw will be screening on the Youtube platform a film with
    Polish subtitles entitled ‘The 1859 Union of the Romanian Principalities’
    directed by Radu Gaina. The Romanian Cultural institutes in Istanbul and Vienna
    are also screening films about the aforementioned union and the personality of
    ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza.










    FAIR Romania boasts a national stand at the
    International travel Fair taking place in Madrid until Sunday. The stand has
    been developed by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism jointly with
    several field associations and is promoting cultural trips, rural tourism and
    city-break packages. Among other things, the Romanian programme also includes
    meetings with relevant players from the public and private tourist sector with
    the view to introducing Romania’s touristic potential to Spain. At the same
    time, the fair is a good opportunity of promoting the city of Timisoara as
    European Capital of Culture in 2023.








    TENNIS Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse and her Ukrainian partner
    Marta Kostyuc have qualified for the round of 16 of the women’s doubles in
    Australian Open after their 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 win against Nicole Martinez of the
    USA and Ellen Perez of Australia in Melbourne on Saturday. Ruse and Kostyuk
    will be next taking on the winners of the game pitching the Czechs Miriam
    Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova to Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Shuai
    Zhang of China. Also in the round of 16, the
    Romanian-Swiss pair made up of Monica Niculescu and Viktorija Golubic
    will be taking either on the fourth-seeded pair made up of Storm Hunter of Australia
    and Elise Mertens of Belgium or Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic
    of France.






    AID
    The European Commission has approved a 44 million euro assistance scheme for
    the cattle breeders in Romania. The government in Bucharest has proposed this
    support scheme against the backdrop of the war Russia is presently waging on
    Ukraine. The aforementioned scheme consists of direct grants aimed at
    offsetting the effects of the latest price hikes in energy, fuel and fodder and
    helping the farmers to overcome the financial difficulties caused by the
    present geo-political crisis. The aid, which doesn’t exceed 250 thousand euro
    per farmer, will be granted until December 31st this year.










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  • January 21, 2023

    January 21, 2023

    ASYLUM Romania’s immigration department registered 40 asylum requests on
    Friday. Most of these, 24, were filed by citizens from Bangladesh. The General
    Inspectorate for Immigration has also issued 394 permits for the beneficiaries
    of temporary protection, out of which 388 for the Ukrainian nationals. Last year
    4398 Ukrainian citizens applied for asylum in Romania and they benefit from all
    the rights stipulated in the national legislation. The total number of
    Ukrainians who entered Romania since the beginning of the invasion is around
    3.5 million. Almost 29% of the accommodation facilities for these refugees have
    been occupied.










    DAY
    The Day celebrating the Union of the Romanian Principalities will be marked by
    the representations of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau, Rome,
    Warsaw, Venice, Istanbul and Vienna. The Romanian Cultural Institute in Chisinau
    stages a scientific event devoted to 164 years since the Union of the Romanian
    Principalities – Moldova and Wallachia. The Romanian Institute of Culture and
    Humanistic Research in Venice is staging a conference meant to emphasize the
    cordial Romanian-Italian relations in the period of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859-1866)
    and the symmetric destiny of the two peoples in the process of completing their
    national unity. The Academia di Romania in Rome is also celebrating the Union
    day with a film screening on the portrait of Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza
    made by photographer Carol Popp of Szathmari. The Romanian Cultural Institute
    in Warsaw will be screening on the Youtube platform a film with Polish
    subtitles entitled ‘The 1859 Union of the Romanian Principalities’ directed by
    Radu Gaina. The Romanian Cultural institutes in Istanbul and Vienna are also
    screening films about the aforementioned union and the personality of ruler
    Alexandru Ioan Cuza.










    FAIR Romania has a national stand at the
    International travel Fair taking place in Madrid until Sunday. The stand has
    been developed by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism jointly with
    several field associations and is promoting cultural trips, rural tourism and
    city-break packages. Among other things, the Romanian programme also includes
    meetings with relevant players from the public and private tourist sector with
    the view to introducing Romania’s touristic potential to Spain. At the same
    time, the fair is a good opportunity of promoting the city of Timisoara as
    European Capital of Culture in 2023.








    TENNIS Romanian tennis player Gabriela Ruse and her Ukrainian partner
    Marta Kostyuk have qualified for the round of 16 of the women’s doubles in
    Australian Open after their 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 win against Nicole Martinez of the
    USA and Ellen Perez of Australia in Melbourne on Saturday. Ruse and Kostyuk
    will be next taking on the winners of the game pitching the Czechs Miriam
    Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova to Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil and Shuai
    Zhang of China. Also in the round of 16, the
    Romanian-Swiss pair made up of Monica Niculescu and Viktorija Golubic
    will be taking either on the fourth-seeded pair made up of Storm Hunter of Australia
    and Elise Mertens of Belgium or Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic
    of France.






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  • April 24, 2021

    April 24, 2021

    VACCINE Roughly 15 hundred people got
    the vaccine on Friday in a Vaccination Marathon, which kicked off for three
    days in Timisoara, western Romania, with a view to giving an impetus to the
    immunization campaign, the local medical authorities have announced. 500
    volunteer physicians have got involved in this campaign during which 10
    thousand Pfizer doses are to be administered and even more if needed. 90
    thousand vaccine doses have been administered in the past 24 hours nationwide.
    Almost 3 million people have been vaccinated all over Romania since the vaccine
    rollout kicked off in late December and 1.7 million of these have got the
    second jab. The number of new Covid-19 cases is on a downward trend and so is
    the number of people treated in hospitals, which now are under 11 thousand. 14
    hundred are in intensive care.






    MEASURES The Committee for Emergency
    Situations of the city of Bucharest has extended the containment measures for
    the Covid-19 pandemic. The night curfew between 22 and 5 hours is still in
    place during the weekdays and between 20 and 5 hours at weekend. On April 8th
    the government extended the state of alert on Romania’s territory for 30 more
    days, starting April 13th. The night curfew is to be lifted though
    during the Orthodox Easter over May 1st and 2nd and
    Ramadan over May 8th and 9th.






    RATING A decision by the Fitch rating
    agency to reconfirm Romania’s position among the low-risk countries in terms of
    investment, has been based on its moderate public debt and the positive GDP
    development per capita, says the Finance Ministry in Bucharest. Fitch Ratings
    has affirmed Romania’s rating at ‘BBB minus’ with negative outlook. According
    to the agency, the negative outlook reflects uncertainty regarding the
    implementation of policies to address medium-term fiscal imbalances and the
    impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Romania’s public finances. The plans of
    the present administration include a series of fiscal and macro reforms to
    anchor medium-term fiscal sustainability, but a weak track record of fiscal
    consolidation and very high budget rigidities constitute key public finance
    challenges. Fitch expects Romania’s economy to expand by an average of 5.8% in
    2021-22 thanks to the strong investment momentum and a gradual recovery in
    exports and private consumption.






    TENNIS The world’s
    third tennis player, Romanian Simona Halep is up against Arina Sabalenka of
    Belarus in the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, a
    competition with 570 thousand dollars in prize money. The head-to-head is 3-1
    to Halep, who outperformed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarter finals.
    In the other semifinal game, Australian Ashleigh Barty plays Elina Svitolina of
    Ukraine. Another Romanian player, Sorana Cirstea is today playing Ukrainian
    Marta Kostyuk for a place in the finals of the WTA tournament in Istanbul.






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  • April 23, 2021 UPDATE

    April 23, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The way out of the COVID-19 pandemic is
    mass vaccination, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said on Friday. He
    added that containment measures will be eased out as the number of SARS-CoV-2
    infections, of patients in ICUs and of COVID-related fatalities decreases. On
    Thursday, at the end of the first meeting of an inter-ministry committee
    working to ensure Romania’s return to normal as of June 1, PM Florin Cîțu said
    in his turn that the return to normal life is conditional on vaccination. The
    number of people who have received at least one vaccine dose in Romania is now
    over 2.9 million. Meanwhile, the authorities announced on Friday over 2,500 new
    infections in 24 hours, and 170 COVID-related deaths. Another 1,391 patients
    are in intensive care. Three counties in Romania, Bucharest, Ilfov in the
    south-east and Cluj in the centre, are still in the red zone, with little over
    4 COVID cases per thousand inhabitants, while the other counties report rates
    below 3 per thousand.






    MEETING The Romania-Poland-Turkey trilateral
    meeting works very well, and its relevance and effectiveness have grown
    significantly, contributing in its 9 years of existence, to strengthening the
    North-Atlantic Alliance and to ensuring security in the eastern flank,
    including the Black Sea region, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu
    said. The Romanian official took part on Friday in the plenary session of the
    meeting, alongside his counterparts from Poland, Zbigniew Rau and Turkey,
    Mevlut Cavuşoglu. At the end of the meeting, the 3 foreign ministers signed a
    joint declaration, for the first time since the trilateral meeting has been
    held. Today the participants tackled security-related topics, with a focus on
    the regional situation, on the outcomes of the latest NATO minister-level
    meetings and on the prospects for this year’s summit of the Alliance. The 3
    countries’ officials emphasised on Friday that they would like NATO to be a
    stronger political and military player, with global reach. The participants also discussed the progress
    in implementing the projects selected in the 2020 trilateral meeting and the
    ways to strengthen trilateral dialogue, including by developing new projects.
    During the trilateral meeting Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu hosted
    a special working session attended by the Foreign Ministers of Georgia, David
    Zalkaliani and Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, where he underlined Romania’s firm
    support for the two countries in their efforts to come close to the Euro-Atlantic
    structures.






    ECONOMY All EU member countries ended the year 2020
    with budget deficit. According to Eurostat, Romania was among the states with the
    highest deficit figures, 9.2% of GDP, double the level reported the previous
    year. Eurostat preliminary data point to a skyrocketing budget deficit EU-wide,
    from 0.5% of GDP in 2019 to 6.9% last year. The highest levels, ranging between
    11% and 9.5%, were reported in Spain, Malta, Greece, Italy, Belgium and France.
    Denmark is the only country with a reported budget deficit below 3%.






    TENNIS Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea has
    made it to the semi-finals of the tennis tournament in Istanbul after her opponent
    Belgian Fiona Ferro withdrew at the beginning of the second set on Friday.
    Cirstea won the first set 6-4 and will be up against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine
    for a place in the finals.










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