Tag: Mertens

  • August 26, 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)

  • April 24, 2021 UPDATE

    April 24, 2021 UPDATE

    VACCINE A Vaccination Marathon has kicked
    off for three days in Timisoara, western Romania, with a view to giving an
    impetus to the immunization campaign, local medical authorities have announced.
    500 volunteer physicians, nurses and medical students have got involved in this
    campaign during which 10 thousand Pfizer doses are to be administered. The
    first drive-in vaccination center was opened in Deva, western Romania on
    Saturday, allowing people to get a jab in the parking lot of the local city
    mall. 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 currently being treated in hospitals. 22 hundred
    Covid infections have been reported in the past 24 hours and 154 fatalities.
    About 1380 patients 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.






    OSCAR The 93rd Academy
    Awards is to take place on Sunday, 23rd April, with a two-month
    delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Director Alexander Nanau’s film ‘Collective’
    is Romania’s proposal for 2021 Academy Awards, and it will be running in the Best
    Documentary Feature and the Best International Feature Film sections. A Romania-Luxembourg
    production, the film presents the joint efforts of physicians, government
    officials and journalists to unearth a major fraud in Romania’s healthcare system,
    in the aftermath of the blaze that destroyed the Colectiv night club in
    Bucharest in October 2015. ‘Collective’ has been designated the best
    documentary by the European Film Awards and by the London Critics’ Circle Film
    Awards.








    TENNIS Romanian
    tennis player Sorana Cirstea on Saturday qualified for the finals of the WTA
    tennis tournament in Istanbul with 235 thousand dollars in prize money. The
    Romanian clinched a 6-4, 6-4 win against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and she will
    be up against top-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium on Sunday. Mertens
    outperformed Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-4.




    (bill)



  • Halep gewinnt WTA-Turnier in Prag

    Halep gewinnt WTA-Turnier in Prag

    Rumäniens Tennisstar Simona Halep hat am Sonntag das mit 200.000 Dollar dotierte Turnier von Prag gewonnen. Die Wetranglistenzweite und erste Favoritin besiegte im Endspiel in zwei Sätzen (6-2 und 7-5) Elise Mertens aus Belgien.


    Im Doppel-Endspiel besiegte das tschechische Paar Kristýna Plíšková/Lucie Hradecká ebenfalls in zwei Sätzen (beide 6-2) das Team Raluca Olaru/Monica Niculescu aus Rumänien.