Radio România Internațional

Tag: PM

December 20, 2024 UPDATE

PARLIAMENT The two chambers of the Romanian Parliament resulting from the elections on December 1 Friday convened in separate sessions for the first time. The new legislature comprises as many as 465 MPs, 331 Deputies and 134 Senators. Seven political parties have members in the 2 Chambers, of which 4 are pro-European (the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania) and 3 are sovereigntist parties (the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians—AUR, SOS Romania and the Party of Young People—POT). The 19 national minorities are also represented in Parliament. Until a new Senate speaker is elected, the most senior Deputy, the Social Democrat Ioan Stan, an MP since 2000, serves as acting speaker. He said Parliament’s top priorities are citizen safety, economic development and strengthening social balance. In turn, the most senior Deputy, Seres Dénes of the UDMR, who has been an MP since 1992, serves as acting speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. “It is time we worked together to protect the fundamental values of democracy, overcoming any political differences,” Seres Dénes said.

VISIT Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban was received in Bucharest on Friday by his Romanian counterpart, PM Marcel Ciolacu. On this occasion, the Romanian Prime Minister highlighted the “decisive” role that Hungary played in Romania’s full Schengen accession. “It is an excellent result that would not have been possible without the decisive involvement during the Hungarian presidency of the EU”, Marcel Ciolacu emphasised. He added that Hungary is one of Romania’s most important trade partners. In turn, Viktor Orban said he believes that “a new era of cooperation” between Romania and Hungary is beginning. “Hungary wants to continue and deepen its collaboration with Romania,” the Hungarian PM stated. On November 22, the Romanian PM met his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, for talks, among others, on Romania’s full Schengen accession. The visit to Budapest took place in the context in which Hungary is holding the rotating EU presidency until the end of December.

DEFENCE Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, accompanied by senior defence officials, made a working visit to Romania on Friday, in the Caracal Garrison, where Portuguese troops are currently deployed. According to a news release issued by the Romanian defence ministry, the defence chief of staff, General Gheorghiţă Vlad, met with the Portuguese officials to discuss the security situation, bilateral cooperation in the field of defence and joint training opportunities. General Vlad highlighted the strengthening of the relations between Romania and Portugal this year, emphasising the valuable contribution of the Portuguese troops to consolidating NATO’s response capacity in Romania.

FORESTRY The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, Friday signed into law the Forestry Code, endorsed on December 17 by the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body in this case. The Code defines the legal framework for the digitised fight against illegal logging. Video surveillance of forest roads with monitoring/recording systems is introduced, which will help detect theft and illegal logging. New forestry offences are also defined, such as falsifying digital forestry data or declarations, which will be punished by imprisonment for up to 5 years. The new Forestry Code provides, among other things, for the establishment of a National Forestry Registry, which will include all forest owners in Romania.

EU SUMMIT The war in Ukraine, the EU’s trade relations with the United States, the situation in the Middle East and Russia’s interference in the elections were some of the topics discussed at the EU winter summit in Brussels. Attending the summit was also Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, who called for unity between the European Union and the United States to obtain peace and save Ukraine. The EU heads of state and government also discussed the supply of military equipment and ways to consolidate Ukraine’s energy sector and other civilian infrastructure that has come under deliberate and increasingly intense attacks by Russia. Talks also looked at the effects of Donald Trump’s return to office on transatlantic trade relations. The EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU and the United States should do everything to avoid a trade war, because both economies would be affected and China would be only one standing to gain. Also, European leaders recognised Russia’s meddling in the election process in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia and called for more efficient coordination across the Union to counter Moscow’s hybrid attacks. (AMP)

20 December 2024
Japanese Investments in Energy and Technology

Important Japanese companies have expressed their interest, these days, in Bucharest, to invest in Romania, in transport infrastructure, energy, digitization and high technology. The Romanian PM, Marcel Ciolacu, had a meeting, on Tuesday, with a delegation of Japanese investors from the fields of energy, research and technology, industry, infrastructure and banking, led by the Japanese Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Shinji Takeuchi. According to a government press release, the Prime Minister appreciated the level of bilateral relations developed on the basis of the Strategic Partnership, the common values promoted by the two states and the economic opportunities offered by the current international context.

Marcel Ciolacu stated that Romania’s role as a factor of stability in Europe and in the region, as well as its geostrategic, economic and political advantages qualify the country as a destination for investors. He also mentioned the State aid schemes, as well as the investments in new technologies, that should help Romania become a technological hub in the center and southeast of Europe. In this context, he mentioned Romania’s interest in developing the Port of Constanţa on the Black Sea, as well as in supporting regional interconnection projects. In turn, the Japanese economic delegation showed its interest in strengthening financial support for Romania in projects in the fields of transport infrastructure, energy, digitization and high technology. ‘The investment opportunities offered by Romania are particularly important and offer new perspectives to develop our bilateral relations’, said the Japanese deputy minister.

Previously, during the first edition of the Romania-Japan Energy Forum that took place on Monday and Tuesday, in Bucharest, the Energy Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with a Japanese company, Itochu, for the Tarniţa-Lăpuşteşti hydropower plant project, in Cluj County (north – western Romania). According to the ministry, it is a project of strategic importance for balancing the national energy system. The Japanese company will participate, according to the relevant minister, Sebastian Burduja, in reviewing the technical documentation for the development of the hydropower plant in Romania, and also in such stages as the feasibility study, technical design and project execution. Also, ELCEN (the State Electric Power Plants Company in Bucharest) and Panasonic are working on a joint project aimed at a complex system of photovoltaic panels, battery storage and green hydrogen production, a symbolic step towards what we call the green transition of the energy sector, minister Sebastian Burduja says.

Moreover, the Romanian civil nuclear program will benefit from Japanese support, the minister has assured, who also discussed with Japanese businessmen about a possible collaboration in the production of blue ammonia. ‘Through our partnerships, Romania assumes the role of regional leader in renewable and nuclear energy. We have taken a concrete step in the direction of a safer, more competitive and more sustainable Romania from an energy point of view’ said Sebastian Burduja. (LS)

6 November 2024
May 21, 2023

EDUCATION
In Bucharest, the Liberal PM Nicolae Ciucă, the Social Democratic leader Marcel
Ciolacu and the labour minister Marius Budăi invited trade unions in public
education to talks in order to avoid an all-out strike announced for tomorrow. Unionists
said protests could only end when the solutions to their demands, particularly
concerning salaries, were introduced in officially endorsed legislation. The
finance minister Adrian Câciu said the teaching staff’s demands could have been
solved, if Romania had received the money in the second disbursement round
under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is currently suspended
because of targets that have not been met in the field of energy, for which the
National Liberal Party is responsible. On the other hand, PM Nicolae Ciucă said
the solution to the unions’ demands has to do with the unified salary law that
the labour ministry headed by the Social Democrats has failed to finalise in
spite of the support of the entire ruling coalition. Amid these disagreements, the
president of the Social Democratic Party, Marcel Ciolacu, demanded that
negotiations on the new cabinet make-up following the PM rotation should be
suspended until the issue in the education sector has been solved, and the Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, a junior partner in the ruling
coalition, agreed. The Liberals on the other hand argue that the government
transition should be completed quickly in order to maintain stability and
balance. Under a protocol signed by the 2 parties, on 26 May the Social
Democrats should take over the prime minister post from the Liberals, for the
next 1,5 years, until the next general elections.

MOLDOVA
A large-scale rally is held in Chişinău today, at the
initiative of president Maia Sandu, in order to prove Moldovans’ support for
the country’s EU accession. Europe is the Republic of Moldova. The Republic of
Moldova is Europe. Moldova is not alone, the president of the European
Parliament, Roberta Metsola said in Romanian at the European Moldova National
Assembly. Participants adopted a resolution confirming the support of Moldovan
citizens for the country’s EU accession efforts. The rally takes place as the Republic
of Moldova, an EU accession candidate country, would like to begin accession
negotiations by the end of this year. For this stage to begin, Moldova must
complete 9 recommendations, which will be assessed by this autumn in a European
Commission report. In Bucharest, the Organisation of Moldovan Students
organised a similar rally in front of Moldova’s Embassy. Scores of people
watched the speeches in Chisinau jointly with the Moldovan Ambassador to
Bucharest, Victor Chirila.

UKRAINE The US president Joe Biden Sunday announced new military aid
measures for Ukraine, following talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The new aid package will
consist of ammunitions, artillery and armoured vehicles, Joe Biden explained, just
days after approving the provision of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. According
to Reuters, this new package is worth up to USD 375 mln and is designed to
strengthen Ukraine’s defence in the war against Russia. The British PM Rishi
Sunak also announced in Hiroshima that his country would start training
Ukrainian pilots this summer, to support Ukraine’s air forces in the conflict.
Rishi Sunak added that no one wants peace more than Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but
the terms for peace, he added, should be based on Ukraine’s principles. In the
3-day summit in Japan, the G7 nations voiced their willingness to stand by
Ukraine in the long run.

FLOODING
In Italy, code red alerts for heavy rainfalls with landslide risks are valid
today as well, in the Emilia Romagna region in the north of the country, already
affected by unprecedented flash floods. Fourteen people died and 36,000 others
were evacuated by the authorities. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent
in Italy, in Ravenna province alone, the most severely hit by the floods, over 16%
of the territory has been evacuated. A preliminary estimate by Confagricoltura,
the association of Italian farmers, indicates that the flooding in Emilia
Romagna caused crop damages of over EUR 1.5 bln.

GREECE
Greece is holding elections today for its single-chamber 300-seat parliament, with
around 9.5 million people expected to take part in the vote. As many as 36 parties
and political associations are running for parliamentary seats, for which they
need at least 3% of the votes. The most likely to win is incumbent PM Kyriakos
Mitsotakis’s party, New Democracy, with 33% of the voting intentions in polls. The
left-of-centre Syriza party, headed by Alexis Tsipras, is predicted to carry
26% of the votes. A novelty in this election is the scrapping of the 50-seat
bonus for the winning party. Unless the parties manage to form a new
government, early elections will be held in July, with a return to the previous
bonus system. (AMP)

21 May 2023
March 24, 2023

EDUCATION Romania’s
government has today approved a bill on the country’s participation in the 2025
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The government says
Romania’s participation is intended to bring the Romanian education in line
with developments in high-performing education systems in the world, and to
review one’s own performances in relation to the other participating countries.
The initiators argue this participation is important given Romania’s EU
membership and its current observer status and future membership of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development. PISA tests indicate the extent to
which students are prepared to face current society challenges, and measures the
basic skills of 15 year olds in areas like reading, maths and sciences.

SCRAPPING In
Romania, the Rabla Clasic and Rabla Plus scrapping programmes were launched on
Friday. They are designed to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the
use of non-polluting vehicles. The vouchers provided by the government may
reach EUR 10,000 for the purchase of electric cars worth up to EUR 75,000.

VISIT While in Chişinău, PM Nicolae Ciucă reiterated Romania’s
support for neighbouring Republic of Moldova’s European accession efforts. In a
meeting with his counterpart, Dorin Recean, Ciucă announced the building of new
bridges across Prut river and the set up of new border checkpoints. In turn, PM
Recean announced that very soon EUR 25m out of a non-reimbursable EUR 100m assistance
package provided by Romania will be used for the development of village schools
and infrastructure.

PROTESTS France’s
PM Élisabeth Borne condemned the violence accompanying Thursday’s protests
against the pension reform, which increases retirement age from 62 to 64. Violent
clashes have been reported in several cities. According to trade unions, attending
the protests in nearly 300 localities were 3.5 million people, but the interior
ministry argues there were only 1.2 million. Most protests were peaceful, but in
Paris and some other cities incidents were reported. Some 150 police officers
and gendarmes were injured and hundreds of violent people were arrested. Unionists
are determined to try all legal means to cancel the law endorsed on Monday and
to carry on protests. This weekend, each union will organise actions in their
towns and regions, and a new call for strike and nation-wide protests is
announced for Tuesday, March 28, Radio Romania’s correspondend in Paris reports.

FOOTBALL Romania’s national football team plays against Andorra away
from home on Saturday, in the first round of the EURO 2024 qualifiers. The final
tournament will be hosted by Germany. Also on Saturday in
Group I, which includes Romania, Belarus takes on Switzerland and Israel faces
Kosovo. On March 28, the national team faces Belarus in Bucharest. The top 2
teams in each of the 10 preliminary groups qualify into the final tournament,
with the last 3 participants to be decided in March 2024, after the Nations
League play-offs. (AMP)

24 March 2023
March 20, 2023 UPDATE

VISIT – On an official visit to the United Arab
Emirates, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis Monday had a meeting in Abu Dhabi
with his counterpart, Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan. There are a lot of bilateral,
regional and global areas where we can cooperate quite well. There are huge
opportunities and I believe we both want to capitalize on them,’ the Romanian
official said during the meeting. President Iohannis suggested the two
countries may cooperate with a view to promoting environment education and skills
for the green transition. He also presented the goals of the Three Seas
Initiative that Romania will host this September in Bucharest, and the
opportunities it provides to private investments and investment funds,
encouraging the involvement of UAE investors. In turn, his counterpart pleaded
for the development of relations with Romania and for Bucharest’s active
presence at the COP28, a meeting scheduled to take place this year in the UAE. On
this occasion, the two countries’ relevant ministers and officials signed
bilateral documents in the fields of energy, cyber-security and education. On
Sunday president Klaus Iohannis visited Masdar City, a model of sustainable urban
development focusing on energy efficiency and environment protection.

DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign
minister Bogdan Aurescu Monday took part in the meeting of EU foreign ministers
(Foreign Affairs Council) and in a joint meeting of EU foreign and defence
ministers. According to the Romanian foreign ministry, the EU officials primarily
discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the implementation of the EU
Action Plan on the geopolitical consequences of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
On this occasion, Bogdan Aurescu highlighted the multifaceted consequences of
the security crisis generated by Moscow, with an impact beyond Ukraine, and
warned against destabilizing Russian actions against the pro-European
authorities in the Rep. Moldova. Mr. Aurescu voiced Romania’s support for
carrying on the Union’s support efforts for Ukraine, including the provision of
ammunition, and the need to further isolate Russia internationally and to
maintain pressure on Kremlin. The Romanian official also announced that this
April Romania and Ukraine will organise jointly a first high-level conference
on Black Sea security, under the Crimea International Platform. Also in
Brussels on Monday, at the international donor conference for Turkey and Syria,
in the aftermath of the February earthquakes, Minister Aurescu announced a new
financial assistance package totaling EUR 1.3 mln.

MOLDOVA The Romanian PM Nicolae Ciucă will travel
to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova this week, for a meeting with his
counterpart Dorin Recean. On this occasion, PM Ciucă will reiterate Romania’s
support for that country’s reforms, for consolidating its economy, resilience
and security and for its EU accession efforts. Meanwhile, in Chisinau, the
Supreme Security Council announced a number of decisions after Monday’s meeting
convened by president Maia Sandu in the context of the exceptional situation
in the judiciary. One of these decisions is to step up the creation of the
Higher Council of Magistrates, which is to become operational within 30 days. After
the meeting, Moldova’s president stated that some members of the system oppose the
cleaning of the judiciary and seek to continue using it to their own benefit. We
need a judicial system free from corruption, able to uphold justice and rebuild
people’s trust, Maia Sandu concluded. (AMP)

20 March 2023
New Education Draft Laws

After having been analyzed by experts from the ministry and representatives of the governing coalition in Romania for several months and after almost ten thousand amendments, the new draft education laws were presented on Monday by Minister Ligia Deca. Based on the Educated Romania project and on the reports of OECD experts, as the minister showed, the projects are aimed at increasing the quality of education and reducing functional illiteracy. The proposed changes come against the background of worrying figures that place Romania at the bottom of the European ranking in terms of educational performance.

Ligia Deca: “Five out of ten 15-year-old students have mathematical skills, and skills in the field of sciences respectively, below the minimum level of performance, that is, they cannot use logical thinking in everyday situations or cannot explain familiar scientific phenomena or processes. Four out of ten students, also 15 years old, have reading skills below the minimum level of performance, as defined in the context of the PISA study, that is, they read a text and cannot easily formulate conclusions. Two out of ten participants in the Baccalaureate exam did not pass it, and we also know that three out of ten science teachers rarely connect the lessons or the theoretical part with what the students can observe in everyday life, and six out of ten have not attended any modern methods science teaching course in the last two years.

According to the pre-university education bill, one of the important changes will be that the high schools in high demand will be able to organize separate admission exams for more than half of the places.

Ligia Deca explains: The National Assessment will include tests in the Romanian language, mathematics and, as the case may be, the mother tongue, consequently, the current format will not be changed. The new element is the possible high school entrance examination. Again, if the high school wants and if it can demonstrate that, in the previous years, it received applications from a very high number of students, for those teaching subjects for which there is this demonstrated competition, 60% of the places can be filled following an exam.

Regarding the Baccalaureate exam, there will be a complementary test of basic skills in addition to the current form. The new draft Education Laws provide, among other things, for the increase in the merit scholarships and in those for Olympiad winners, as well as for progressive salary increases for the teaching staff. Politicians, trade unions and parents’ associations accused the education minister of lack of transparency and blamed her for not having organized consultations with those interested regarding the future education laws.

The opposition Save Romania Union – USR believes that the changes presented by minister Ligia Deca cannot be part of a program entitled Educated Romania and cannot modernize the education system. The Prime Minister, however, believes that the two draft laws, which regulate pre-university and university education, will introduce norms and practices from European states with old traditions in education and with good results on an international level. (LS)

28 February 2023
Political Priorities

After a rather long winter recess, which started well before Christmas, on December 14, 2022, Romanian MPs are returning to work on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, for the first parliamentary session of the year.

Among their priorities, the mass media notice, are sensitive bills, such as the one capping special pensions at the level of the salaries paid for the respective positions, or the ones amending the education laws, on which the parties in the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Ethnic Hungarians in Romania are yet to reach an agreement.

The Undergraduate Education Bill and the Higher Education Bill are still being analysed by education experts in the 3 parties. These are part of the Educated Romania project, launched nearly a decade ago by president Klaus Iohannis, and still pending approval.

According to the timetable agreed by political decision-makers, these bills should be passed by the government in February and reach Parliament in March, for endorsement. But the Social Democratic MP Vasile Dîncu said recently that he had asked his party chief Marcel Ciolacu to request an extension for the education laws deadline, for further consultations. On the other hand, the Liberal spokesman Ionuţ Stroe insists that the original timetable must be complied with.

Another bill to be discussed and endorsed concerns the pension benefits granted to certain categories of public sector employees, including magistrates, court staff and military personnel.

Ahead of the elections due in 2024, another bill pending in Parliament stipulates that at least one-third of the candidates for parliamentary and local elections must be women.

Meanwhile, analysts say, the Liberals and the Social Democrats are planning ahead for the PM rotation decided by the ruling coalition. Under a protocol in this respect, the 2 main coalition members are to swap posts at the end of May, when the Social Democrat Marcel Ciolacu should replace the Liberal Nicolae Ciucă as prime minister, and the latter should take over the Senate speaker post, currently held by his fellow Liberal Alina Gorghiu.

The Liberals insist that, under the protocol, some government ministers should also be replaced, although the Social Democrats would like to keep the offices where they claim their members have put up good performances, such as Sorin Grindeanu at the transport ministry and Adrian Câciu at the finance ministry. (AMP)

30 January 2023
Romanian PM Ciucǎ in Brussels

Romania’s accession to the passport-free travel area
was the central topic of the talks that Romania’s PM Nicolae Ciucă had in
Brussels on Wednesday with high-ranking EU and Belgian officials.

In fact, the theme was approached in all the
discussions with the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, the
European Commission chief Ursula von de Leyen, and with Belgium’s PM Alexander
De Croo.

In his meeting with the president of the European
Commission, PM Ciucă highlighted the very good conclusions of the recent EU
assessment mission, which in his opinion confirms that Romania is prepared to
join Schengen.

Alexander De Croo praised the efforts of the Romanian
authorities and said one last step needed to be taken, an important one for all
citizens. As for Nicolae Ciucă, he pointed out that Romania took all the
necessary measures to reach its goal. He emphasised that Romania made efforts
to meet all technical requirements and standards and that naturally, if
necessary, the Romanian authorities were open to clarifying any points based on
the Commission’s existing approaches and bilaterally, with any EU member
country interested in finding out more than the Commission’s report mentions.

At the NATO headquarters, PM Ciucă had talks with the
Alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. The latter reiterated that
Romania was a valuable Ally, which made important contributions to NATO’s
security, and that NATO is ready to protect both Romania, and all its other
members, in the context of the recent developments in Ukraine, whereby Russia
has turned the Black Sea region into a war zone. Jens
Stoltenberg also praised Romania’s efforts to support the French-led NATO
battle group in Romania, which comprises troops from the Netherlands and
Belgium as well.

Romania will continue to make active and responsible
contributions to promoting Euro-Atlantic security and stability, and the
consolidation of NATO’s deterrence and defence posture is essential, PM Nicolae
Ciucă said in his turn. Given the dynamic nature of these developments and
Russia’s unpredictability, he went on to say, NATO needs to closely monitor the
situation at the Black Sea. This war has unfortunately highlighted what Romania
has been arguing for a long time, namely the strategic relevance of the Black
Sea to NATO, to the Alliance’s major security interests.

Apart from Schengen-related matters and the EU’s
response to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, PM Nicolae Ciucă’s talks
with Brussels officials also tackled the strengthening of the Union’s
neighbourhood policies and the energy security. (AMP)

27 October 2022
September 5, 2022

School – Almost 3 million pre-school and school children in Romania started a new school year on Monday in over 17,800 units across the country. The 2022-2023 school year will have 36 school weeks divided into five modules, separated by five mini holidays. End-of-semester tests will no longer be mandatory and there will be only one grade point average, an annual one, instead of semester grade point averages for each subject. Refurbishing works are unfinished in several schools while others lack fire safety certificates.

London — The presdient of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was looking forward to a constructive relationship with Liz Truss, the future British PM, in full respect of the agreemnets between the EU and the UK. The Romanian PM Nicoale Ciuca also congratulated the leader of the British Conservative Party Liz Truss for her success in the internal elections. Lizz Truss won against Rishi Sunak in the internal competition within the British Conservative Party after the resignation of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A foreign minister in the Johnson government, Liz Truss will be sworn in as prime minister on Tuesday, after being received by Queen Elizabeth II, occasion on which the acting prime minister will also come to present his resignation. Boris Johnson announced his resignation in July, after he had resisted for a long time challengers from his own party and the scandals overshadowed, for a while, by the war Russia started against Ukraine on February 24. Since then, he has stood out thanks to his firm support for Kyiv, especially the military aid offered. At domestic level, the British are waiting for consistent economic measures to help the population in winter, given that utility prices will be three times higher than last winter, and that inflation has exceeded 10%, Radio Romania’s correspondent to London reports.

Swimming – Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă congratulated Romanian athletes Bianca Costea, David Popovici and Vlad Stancu for their performances at the World Junior Swimming Championships from Lima, Peru. The Romanian PM wrote in a Facebook post that the three are “an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the more than three million children and young people who started the new school year”. “We are proud of our team that made known the Romanian anthem at the world competition for juniors in Lima”, Nicolae Ciucă also stated. On Sunday, on the last day of the competition, David Popovici won the gold in the 100m freestyle, Bianca Costea won gold in the 50m freestyle, and Vlad Stancu won the bronze medal in the 1,500 m freestyle event. Romania took 4th place in the medal ranking at the Junior World Championships, with 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. Gold was won by the mens 4×100 m freestyle relay team (David Popovici, Alexandru Constantinescu, Ştefan Cozma, Patrick Sebastian Dinu), David Popovici won gold in the 200m and 100m freestyle and Bianca Costea in the 50m freestyle. The Romanian swimmers ended a summer full of performances, with David Popovici being the star. He won the 100m and 200m events both at the Senior World Championships in Budapest and at the Senior European Championships in Rome.

Accord – The European Commission and Ukraine on Monday signed an agreement regarding a 500 million-Euro aid for housing and education for displaced people, as well as for agriculture in the war-ravaged country, AFP reports. This funding, announced by the EC on the sidelines of a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels, attended by the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denîs Shmîgal, is part of the European commitments announced this spring. “Electricity exports from Ukraine can replace considerable volumes of Russian gas imports,” said the head of the Ukrainian government. At the same time, he added that, “Ukraine has the largest underground gas storage facilities and could become the gas shelf’ of Europe.” Meanwhile, the price of gas in Europe rose by 30% on Monday, after Russia announced that gas delivery through the Nord Stream gas pipeline remained halted indefinitely, increasing fears of disruptions and the rationalization of gas this winter in the EU – Reuters reports.

Commemoration — On behalf of Germany, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has apologized to the relatives of the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage-taking, assuming responsibility for the various “failures” that accompanied the tragedy, as part of Monday’s commemoration of the attack. On September 5, 1972, members of the Palestinian organization Black September entered an apartment of the Israeli delegation in the Olympic Village, killing two Israeli athletes and taking hostage nine other members of the delegation hoping to obtain an exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The intervention of the German security services ended with the death of all the hostages, a bloody denouement for which the West German authorities were partially responsible. Five Palestinian attackers were shot dead and three others were arrested. The Scholz government agreed to unlock the sum of 28 million Euros for compensations. Documents will also be declassified to allow German and Israeli historians to have a better understanding of what happened. The Israeli President Isaac Herzog, present at the commemoration of the attack, expressed hope that the agreement would bring this painful episode to a point of healing.

Moldova – The President of the neighboring Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet with a majority Romanian-speaking population), Maia Sandu, convened a meeting of the Supreme Security Council on Monday in which two main topics were analyzed: the procrastination of high corruption cases and the numerous false bomb alerts of the recent period. After the meeting, Maia Sandu spoke, in a press release, about the measures that must be taken to increase peoples trust in the judiciary, but also about the need to stop the phenomenon of leaking information from pending criminal cases, which, she says, harms investigations. Referring to the multiple false bomb alerts, Maia Sandu said that these were the actions of elements that aim to increase the degree of anxiety in society. (LS)

5 September 2022
September 5, 2022

School – Almost 3 million pre-school and school children in Romania started a new school year on Monday in over 17,800 units across the country. The 2022-2023 school year will have 36 school weeks divided into five modules, separated by five mini holidays. End-of-semester tests will no longer be mandatory and there will be only one grade point average, an annual one, instead of semester grade point averages for each subject. Refurbishing works are unfinished in several schools while others lack fire safety certificates.

London — The presdient of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, said she was looking forward to a constructive relationship with Liz Truss, the future British PM, in full respect of the agreemnets between the EU and the UK. The Romanian PM Nicoale Ciuca also congratulated the leader of the British Conservative Party Liz Truss for her success in the internal elections. Lizz Truss won against Rishi Sunak in the internal competition within the British Conservative Party after the resignation of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A foreign minister in the Johnson government, Liz Truss will be sworn in as prime minister on Tuesday, after being received by Queen Elizabeth II, occasion on which the acting prime minister will also come to present his resignation. Boris Johnson announced his resignation in July, after he had resisted for a long time challengers from his own party and the scandals overshadowed, for a while, by the war Russia started against Ukraine on February 24. Since then, he has stood out thanks to his firm support for Kyiv, especially the military aid offered. At domestic level, the British are waiting for consistent economic measures to help the population in winter, given that utility prices will be three times higher than last winter, and that inflation has exceeded 10%, Radio Romania’s correspondent to London reports.

Swimming – Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă congratulated Romanian athletes Bianca Costea, David Popovici and Vlad Stancu for their performances at the World Junior Swimming Championships from Lima, Peru. The Romanian PM wrote in a Facebook post that the three are “an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the more than three million children and young people who started the new school year”. “We are proud of our team that made known the Romanian anthem at the world competition for juniors in Lima”, Nicolae Ciucă also stated. On Sunday, on the last day of the competition, David Popovici won the gold in the 100m freestyle, Bianca Costea won gold in the 50m freestyle, and Vlad Stancu won the bronze medal in the 1,500 m freestyle event. Romania took 4th place in the medal ranking at the Junior World Championships, with 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. Gold was won by the mens 4×100 m freestyle relay team (David Popovici, Alexandru Constantinescu, Ştefan Cozma, Patrick Sebastian Dinu), David Popovici won gold in the 200m and 100m freestyle and Bianca Costea in the 50m freestyle. The Romanian swimmers ended a summer full of performances, with David Popovici being the star. He won the 100m and 200m events both at the Senior World Championships in Budapest and at the Senior European Championships in Rome.

Accord – The European Commission and Ukraine on Monday signed an agreement regarding a 500 million-Euro aid for housing and education for displaced people, as well as for agriculture in the war-ravaged country, AFP reports. This funding, announced by the EC on the sidelines of a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council in Brussels, attended by the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denîs Shmîgal, is part of the European commitments announced this spring. “Electricity exports from Ukraine can replace considerable volumes of Russian gas imports,” said the head of the Ukrainian government. At the same time, he added that, “Ukraine has the largest underground gas storage facilities and could become the gas shelf’ of Europe.” Meanwhile, the price of gas in Europe rose by 30% on Monday, after Russia announced that gas delivery through the Nord Stream gas pipeline remained halted indefinitely, increasing fears of disruptions and the rationalization of gas this winter in the EU – Reuters reports.

Commemoration — On behalf of Germany, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has apologized to the relatives of the Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage-taking, assuming responsibility for the various “failures” that accompanied the tragedy, as part of Monday’s commemoration of the attack. On September 5, 1972, members of the Palestinian organization Black September entered an apartment of the Israeli delegation in the Olympic Village, killing two Israeli athletes and taking hostage nine other members of the delegation hoping to obtain an exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The intervention of the German security services ended with the death of all the hostages, a bloody denouement for which the West German authorities were partially responsible. Five Palestinian attackers were shot dead and three others were arrested. The Scholz government agreed to unlock the sum of 28 million Euros for compensations. Documents will also be declassified to allow German and Israeli historians to have a better understanding of what happened. The Israeli President Isaac Herzog, present at the commemoration of the attack, expressed hope that the agreement would bring this painful episode to a point of healing.

Moldova – The President of the neighboring Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet with a majority Romanian-speaking population), Maia Sandu, convened a meeting of the Supreme Security Council on Monday in which two main topics were analyzed: the procrastination of high corruption cases and the numerous false bomb alerts of the recent period. After the meeting, Maia Sandu spoke, in a press release, about the measures that must be taken to increase peoples trust in the judiciary, but also about the need to stop the phenomenon of leaking information from pending criminal cases, which, she says, harms investigations. Referring to the multiple false bomb alerts, Maia Sandu said that these were the actions of elements that aim to increase the degree of anxiety in society. (LS)

5 September 2022
July 8, 2022 UPDATE

CONDOLENCES President Klaus Iohannis conveyed condolences to the family of Japans former PM, Shinzo Abe, who died on Friday from his injuries after being shot in the street by an attacker. “He was a strong defender of democracy and multilateralism, but also a true friend,” Iohannis posted on Twitter. Japans ex-PM was shot dead by a former member of the Japanese defense forces, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK reports. Abe, 67, was delivering a campaign speech near a train station in the western Japanese city of Nara when he was the target of an armed attack. Armed violence is extremely rare in Japan, where firearms are banned. Shinzo Abe was the longest-serving Japanese prime minister in history. He led the Japanese executive from 2006 to 2007 and then from 2012-2020. He resigned two years ago for health-related reasons.

STATISTICS Romanias economy grew by 5.1% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the previous quarter, according to preliminary data made public today by the National Statistics Institute. Compared to the corresponding period of 2021, Romanias GDP went up 6.4%, the institution said, to over RON 343.5 bln.

GOVERNMENT Petre Daea was sworn in as minister of agriculture and rural development on Friday at the Cotroceni Palace. Attending the ceremony was president Klaus Iohannis, PM Nicolae Ciucă, the interim Senate speaker Alina Gorghiu, the Chamber of Deputies speaker Marcel Ciolacu, and presidential advisers. President Klaus Iohannis had signed the decree appointing Petre Daea as agriculture minister earlier that day. On Wednesday the leaders of the Social Democratic Party voted unanimously in favour of the appointment. The former agriculture minister, Adrian Chesnoiu, also a parliament member, stepped down and left the party after the National Anti-Corruption Directorate had requested permission to prosecute him for abuse of office.

NATURAL GAS An interconnector between the gas pipelines in Greece and Bulgaria, which became operational on Friday, gives Romania access to other natural gas resources, in an international context in which it becomes increasingly likely that Moscow will suspend deliveries to the European Union. Romania will be able to help other states in the region reduce their dependence on Russian gas, said Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in Athens, where he paid a working visit and met with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

FORUM Russias war of aggression against Ukraine has generated the most severe security crisis in Europe since WW2, state secretary in Romanias defence ministry Simona Cojocaru said at the “Atlantic – Black Sea” Security Forum held in Bucharest. In her opinion, if Russia reaches its military goals in the east of Ukraine, its operational efforts will most likely focus on the Ukrainian territories north-west of the Black Sea. Therefore, the risk of regional instability might grow significantly, posing a major challenge to Romania. The most dangerous scenario for Ukraine, Romania and NATO would be a land corridor to Odessa and a connection to Transdniester, Simona Cojocaru explained. In a video call, Ukraines defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Russias aggression on his country will continue until countered by strong resistance. Terror cannot be stopped by diplomacy alone, he emphasised.

MEETING The foreign ministers of the worlds 20 most developed economies had a closed-doors meeting, marked by the conflict in Ukraine. The meeting held on the Indonesian island of Bali brought together Moscow and its harshest critics for the first time since Ukraine was attacked. During the talks attended by Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the EUs High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy Josep Borrell urged all participants to help end the war, restore Ukraines sovereignty and guarantee the containment of the global fallout. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed that Russia has heard “a strong chorus from around the world… about the need for the aggression to end”. “To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country. Its grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports? You should let the grain out,” Blinken told Lavrov. The latter in fact left the meeting hall where Russia was criticised. According to the German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, this proves Moscows unwillingness to cooperate. The Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi also called for an end to the war in Ukraine.

SWIMMING Romanias David Popovici Friday won another gold medal at the European Junior Swimming Championship held in Otopeni, near Bucharest, in the mens 50m freestyle final, with 22.16 seconds. This is the 4th medal for Popovici, after the gold in the mens 4x100m freestyle relay and the 200m freestyle race, and silver in the 4x100m medley relay. On Thursday, another Romanian athlete, Vlad Stancu, won the 1,500m freestyle final. Romania now has a total of 6 medals, 4 of them gold and 2 silver. David Popovici, 17, is also the defending senior world champion in the 100m and 200m freestyle events, won in Budapest. Taking part in the championship in Otopeni are some 500 athletes from 42 countries. Romania is represented by 26 swimmers, 14 boys and 12 girls. (AMP)

8 July 2022
Conclusions of the Romanian PM’s visit to Brussels

The Government continues to be strongly committed to consolidating dialogue with the European partners and Romania remains a reliable ally, fully dedicated to the European project. This is the main message conveyed by PM Nicolae Ciuca at the two-day meetings he had with the EU officials in Brussels.

The PM insisted during the talks on a quick decision to be taken as regards Romanias accession to the Schengen area. In terms of monitoring of the justice system, he gave assurances that the governing program includes clear objectives and investment likely to convince the European Commission that the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, imposed on Romania 15 years ago, when the country joined the EU, should be lifted. Ciuca also discussed with the EU officials about the way in which the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, funded with EU money, would be implemented. He received guarantees that Romania would benefit technical assistance from the Commission to draw these funds. Nicolae Ciuca announced, in Brussels, that the Romanian government would set up a structure that should monitor, coordinate and check the way in which this European instrument is used. Nicolae Ciuca: ”We cannot afford to lose this chance. We already have 12 billion euro cohesion funds, which must be spent in a very short time. There are the funds received under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the European funds under the multi-annual financing framework. These require the involvement and responsibility of each of us, in order to reach our goal.”

Talks with the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, focused on pandemic and the impact of the new variant, Omicron. Ciuca gave assurances that the authorities are trying to find the most effective ways to convince people to get vaccinated in order to avoid a new wave of casualties like the one Romania saw in November. Nicolae Ciuca: ”There were talks regarding the way in which the vaccination campaign unfolds and the need for the people to get immunized. This is, in fact, the only instrument that protects us, helps us deal easier with the disease and have fewer infections than in the fourth wave.”

During the meetings with the US Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, Nicolae Ciuca voiced Romanias concern with the complicated situation at Ukraines eastern border, and insisted on the need to strengthen deterrence actions on NATOs eastern flank and at the Black Sea. At the same time, he gave assurances that Romania would further observe its commitment to allocate 2% of its GDP to defense. (EE)

22 December 2021
December 18, 2021 UPDATE

VISIT The PM of Romania Nicolae Ciucă will be on a visit to
Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, for talks with senior EU and NATO officials. According
to the Government, on Monday the Romanian PM will have a working dinner with
the president of the European Council Charles Michael. On Tuesday, Ciucă will
have meetings with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der
Leyen and with other EC members. The PM will also have a meeting with the
secretary general of NATO Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO headquarters.

BUDGET The
government of Romania passed a number of measures on which the 2022 public
budget is based. An emergency order freezing the salaries of public officials and
other public sector staff, with 2 exceptions, was endorsed by the Cabinet with
amendments compared to the version subject to public debate. The bill also
includes other measures, such as a low VAT rate only for the purchase of a
family’s first home. The new tax provisions, alongside the new Ceilings Act,
are the foundation of next year’s state budget, and are designed to reduce
expenditure and maintain the public deficit below 6.2% of GDP.

ANTI-CORRUPTION The government approved the 2021-2025 National
Anti-Corruption Strategy, the justice minister Cătălin Predoiu announced. He pointed
out that the document is a political commitment to support all institutions
involved in fighting corruption, and also a first goal met out of the ones
included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan in the judicial sector. Predoiu
added that the Strategy is correlated with international instruments to which
Romania is affiliated, such as GRECO and the Cooperation and Verification
Mechanism. The CVM was introduced in January 2007, upon Romania’s and Bulgaria’s EU accession, to support the 2
countries in overcoming deficiencies in judicial reform and in fighting
corruption.

BORDER As of Monday, December 20, travellers entering Romania are
no longer required to fill in separate COVID-19 statement, because all the data
will be included in the digital Passenger Locator Form (PLF). The measure is expected
to help reduce waiting times at border checkpoints, including at the Henri
Coanda Airport, near Bucharest. The transport minister Sorin Grindeanu Saturday
requested the Airport management to take steps to streamline passenger flows
and to avoid crowding. The request came after hundreds of people waited for a
long time for the authorities to check their documents. Romanian border
checkpoints are getting crowded these days, as many Romanians living abroad are
coming home for Christmas. Queuing is reported at the checkpoints on Romania’s
western borders, where apart from travel documents the digital Covid
certificates and PCR tests must also be checked. In order to streamline border
crossing, at the checkpoint in Giurgiu (south), the number of border police
will be increased by 20%.

MINORITIES Romania
celebrated on December 18 the Day of Ethnic Minorities. President Klaus
Iohannis said on this occasion that ethnic minorities make an essential
contribution to social cohesion and that only together can a modern Romania be
built, with no place for racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Protecting cultural
heritage, including that of national minorities, is a priority for the Culture
Ministry, which treasures the culture of minorities as an element contributing to
the shaping of Romanian culture as we know it today, reads a news release
issued by the institution.

COVID-19 733 new COVID-19 cases
and 64 related fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours in Romania, the
authorities announced on Saturday. The coordinator of the vaccination campaign,
Valeriu Gheorghiţă, announced on the other hand that the number of people
requesting their first doses of anti Sars-CoV-2 vaccine is on the decrease. He detailed
that the number of people who get their first vaccine doses drops by 15-25%
from one week to the next. On Saturday only 4,500 first
doses were administered. Meanwhile, the Omicron variant of the virus has been
reported in 89 countries, with the number of cases doubling over 1.5-3 days in
areas with community transmission, the WHO announced on Saturday. WHO first
labelled Omicron a variant of concern on November 26. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

18 December 2021
Nicolae Ciucă, PM designate once again

At the end of a third round of talks with the parliamentary
parties in the almost three months since USR left the ruling coalition, the
head of state once again designated the interim defence minister Nicolae Ciucă to
form a new government.

Klaus
Iohannis: I am satisfied that there is a robust majority in the Parliament
of Romania, a majority consisting of the National Liberal Party, the Social
Democratic Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the ethnic
minorities group. They nominated a PM and I accepted this nomination. I will therefore
designate Mr. Nicolae Ciucă to form a government team and to come before
Parliament for a confidence vote.

Nicolae
Ciucă was previously designated for the post on October 21, but he stepped down
after a minority coalition made up of the National Liberal Party and the Democratic
Union of Ethnic Hungarians failed to secure enough votes in Parliament for
endorsement.

This time
around, extensive negotiations led to an agreement on the governing programme, a
new Cabinet structure (with two new ministries) and the concept of a rotation
of prime ministers between the Liberals and the Social Democrats.

Nicolae
Ciucă said Romanians expect the new government to provide stability and
solutions for the difficulties entailed by the pandemic and the energy crunch,
and voiced hopes that the new team will get to work thoroughly as of Thursday.

The Liberals
will have eight ministries in the new government. They are keeping the foreign
and interior ministries, the education ministry and the energy ministry, and
will head four more, including justice, and the ministry for European funds and
investments.

Not all
Liberals are happy with this scenario, however, and senior party members are criticizing
their leader’s handling of the negotiations. Florin Cîţu argues however that
the coalition with the Social Democrats is not unconditional, and promises that
citizens’ interests and financial stability will not be compromised.

After a
stint in the opposition, the Social Democrats will head nine ministries plus
the Government secretariat general. Important fields are included, such as the public
finances, defence, transports and economy.

The PM
rotation order was one of the most passionately debated issues. The Social
Democrats eventually agreed to take their turn at the helm of the cabinet in 18
months’ time. The party president Marcel Ciolacu explained that the Social
Democrats agreed to back the Liberal’s PM nominee in return for the inclusion
of important social support measures in the governing programme.

In turn, UDMR
will have a deputy PM post in the Ciucă Cabinet, alongside with the three
ministries they are already heading-regional development, environment and
sports.

The USR would
not attend the consultations with the president, and leader Dacian Cioloş argued
that president Klaus Iohannis renounced his role as a mediator. Also in
opposition, AUR mentioned they would not endorse the new government in
Parliament. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

23 November 2021
November 22, 2021 UPATE

COVID – In Romania, the number of coronavirus infections continues to drop, 1,550 new cases of COVID-19 being reported in the last 24 hours. 154 deaths were also reported, of which 29 were registered prior to the reference period. More than 11,000 people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are hospitalized. There are 1,539 patients in ICUs, a smaller number compared to the previous day, and 150 of them have a certificate attesting to their vaccination, according to the authorities. The average infection rate is now below 3.5 cases per thousand inhabitants, and more than half of Romania’s counties are no longer in the red scenario. The head of the COVID vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, warned that there is a risk that the scenario experienced by Germany, which quickly passed from the 4th to the 5th wave of the pandemic, will be repeated in Romania, where the vaccination rate is low. An even greater danger would be the emergence of a mutation of the coronavirus that bypasses the bodys immune response, said Gheorghiţă. The number of fully vaccinated people is close to 7.2 million.

Government – Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis on Monday signed the decree on the appointment of the Liberal senator Nicolae Ciucă to the position of prime minister. He said, after consultations with the parliamentary parties and groups, that Ciucas nomination is supported by a solid majority in Parliament, which includes PSD, PNL, UDMR and the group of national minorities other than the Hungarian one. Klaus Iohannis received the representatives of PNL, PSD and UDMR simultaneously during the consultations. He also spoke with the leaders of the nationalist opposition party, AUR, while USR, a former junior partner of the Liberals in the government, boycotted the presidents invitation, accusing him of being the godfather of a monstrous coalition. According to the Constitution, the candidate to the position of prime minister has ten days since nomination to ask Parliament for a vote of confidence on the governing program and the entire list of ministers. PSD spokesman Radu Oprea said that, in the future Executive, the Social Democrats would have a ministerial position for the Secretary General of the Government, as well as the portfolios of Finance, National Defense, Economy, Transport, Agriculture, Health, Labor, Culture and Youth. UDMR keeps the three ministries it already manages – Local Development, Environment and Sports. And the Liberals are left with the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Investment and European Projects, Energy, Education, Research and Tourism. According to the media, Liberal leaders across Romania and from Bucharest have virulently criticized the PNL president, the outgoing prime minister Florin Cîţu, because he ceded too many key portfolios to the Social Democrats. A retired general, Ciucă had been appointed last month by President Iohannis to form the government, but he relinquished his mandate after it became clear that the minority government made up of PNL-UDMR would not receive the investiture vote. Earlier, the USR government proposed by the partys leader, Dacian Cioloş, was rejected by senators and deputies. If he is invested, Ciucă will become the first career soldier to lead a government of post-communist Romania. His first nomination came shortly after an opinion poll confirmed that the Army and the Church are on the first places in a classification of institutions enjoying the highest degree of Romanians trust. According to the survey, conducted by the Laboratory for Information Warfare Analysis and Strategic Communication, 87% of Romanians say they trust the Army, 70% – the Church, and 67% – the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Romanian Academy. Over 40% of respondents consider corruption and the incompetence of the political class as the main threats to Romania.

Visit — The President of the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet republic with a majority Romanian-speaking), pro-Western Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to neighboring Romania on Tuesday, at the invitation of her counterpart, Klaus Iohannis. It is the first visit to Romania since the early parliamentary elections of July 11, won by the presidential party Action and Solidarity (PAS) by a landslide. The visit takes place in the context of the celebration, in 2021, of 30 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, after in 1991, Chisinau proclaimed its independence from Moscow. The visit, states the Presidential Administration in Bucharest, is a very good opportunity to reconfirm the special, privileged relationship established under the Strategic Partnership for the Republic of Moldova’s European integration, based on a common language, culture and history. The political consultations of the two presidents will strengthen the excellent and substantial bilateral cooperation at the political, economic and sectoral levels and will stimulate the advancement of joint projects of strategic interest in the fields of energy, transport, health, education and IT. The focus will be on those projects aimed at connecting the Republic of Moldova to the European Union space, through Romania, and at bringing real and concrete benefits to all its citizens – the abovementioned source also shows.

Tennis – Romania has five representatives in the WTA top 100, the world ranking of professional tennis players, published on Monday. The former world leader Simona Halep holds the best position, 20th, but this is her weakest ranking at the end of the season over the last nine years. If in 2013 she finished on 11th position, Halep was then in the Top 10 every time except this year, when she started in 2nd position. Sorana Cîrstea remains on 38th position, Irina Begu on 60th place, Jaqueline Cristian on 71st position, and Gabriela Ruse on 85th. In doubles, Romania has six players in the top 100: Raluca Olaru is still on 36th place, Monica Niculescu maintains the 39th place, Irina Begu dropped one place on 64th position, while Irina Bara managed a jump of 12 places and now being on 84th position, after the title she won this weekend in Montevideo. The other two Romanians in the doubles top 100 are Andreea Mitu (98) and Gabriela Ruse (99). (LS)

22 November 2021