Radio România Internațional

Tag: summertime

  • March 25, 2023

    March 25, 2023

    Rating. Fitch Ratings has reconfirmed Romania’s Long-Term
    Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB-‘ and changed the outlook
    from negative to stable. the Ministry of
    Finance announced on Saturday. This is the first positive change in Romania’s
    rating outlook operated by the agency since April 2020. Fitch’s decision
    represents a signal of confidence in the prospects for economic growth, based
    on the continuation of government programs and the support of Romania’s development
    opportunities, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said. According to the Ministry of Finance, the
    decision is supported by the
    stabilization of the public debt and the implementation of policies aimed at
    ensuring a gradual fiscal consolidation. Fitch mentions both the economic
    resilience demonstrated by Romania in 2022, and the political stability that
    made it possible to address the crisis generated by the war in Ukraine and the
    energy crisis, says the Ministry of Finance. According to Fitch, Romania’s
    economy will register an increase of 2.3% in 2023 and 3% in 2024, given that
    the country will benefit from important European funds both from the
    Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 and from the Recovery and Resilience
    Mechanism. The main factors that could lead to the improvement of the country
    rating or the outlook are the firm stabilization of the share of public debt in
    the GDP in the medium term and the reduction of the fiscal deficit, the
    Ministry of Finance has also said.






    Earth Hour. Millions of people, institutions and companies will turn
    off their lights for one hour, today, the last Saturday in March, on the
    occasion of the biggest environmental event in history – Earth Hour. According
    to the Romanian Ministry of the Environment, this year the World Wildlife Fund
    (#WWF) is launching the challenge for everybody to give Earth one hour every
    month. The Ministry of the Environment warns that biodiversity is being lost at
    an unprecedented rate, and the world economy is dependent on nature. The Earth
    Hour event was organized for the first time on March 31, 2007 in Sydney, when 2
    million people and more than 2,100 companies turned off their lights for an
    hour, thus demonstrating concern for one of the biggest current issues: the extremely
    rapid climate change. The Ministry of the Environment in Bucharest joins
    institutions from more than 8,000 cities in 195 countries that participate, on
    Saturday, from 20:30, in Romania, in the 17th edition of Earth Hour. To mark
    this event, the interior, exterior and festive lighting of the Palace of Parliament
    in Bucharest will be turned off between 20:30 and 21:30.




    Summer time. On Sunday
    morning, clocks are set forward by one hour in Romania to mark the beginning of
    summer time. Thus, 3 a.m. becomes 4 a.m., making this Sunday the shortest in
    the year. During the daylight saving time, the difference between Romania’s
    official time and GMT will be of 3 hours. According to the National Railway
    Company, the change will not affect the trains’ timetables.




    Protest. Policemen and military pensioners in Romania have
    protested today at the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior. Their main claims
    concern the urgent and full application of the Framework Law on wages, decent
    wages and the application of the Law on state military pensions, in the form
    originally voted, to ensure the stability and predictability of this pension
    system that exists in all the NATO and EU member states. The trade unionists
    also demand increases in the amount of salaries in payment, higher additional
    allocations for food and equipment, as well
    as a higher bonus for neuropsychic overload. On Friday, the unions in the field organized a
    protest meeting and a march to signal the existing problems in the public
    defense and national security system.






    Football. Today, the Romanian national football team meets Andorra
    away from home, in the debut match of the EURO 2024
    preliminaries, a tournament hosted by Germany. In group I, of which Romania is
    a part, the matches Belarus – Switzerland and Israel – Kosovo are still being
    played today. On March 28, the national team will face Belarus in Bucharest.
    The top two finishers in each of the 10 preliminary groups qualify, with the
    final three places to be decided in March 2024, following the Nations League
    play-offs. (MI)



  • 25 March, 2017

    25 March, 2017

    EU anniversary. The EU heads of state and government today signed a
    solemn declaration renewing their European commitments against the backdrop of
    UK’s leaving the Union. They came together in Rome to celebrate the 60th
    anniversary of the signing of the treaty that established the European Economic
    Community, which later became the European Union. Romania is represented at the
    summit by its president, Klaus Iohannis. According to a document Romanian
    officials sent to EU member states before the summit, Romania is in favour of a
    stronger Union and believes that one of the basic principles of the Rome
    declaration should be about unity, cohesion and endurance. On Friday at the
    Vatican, Pope Frances received all states of head and government attending the
    summit and urged for greater European solidarity at a time when, in his
    opinion, the European Union is faced with a vacuum of values and was losing its sense
    of direction.


    Protests. Thousands of police employees are staging
    protests today in front of the interior ministry and government headquarters,
    on the anniversary of Romanian Police Day. They are unhappy with their salaries
    compared with those of other public sector employees. They demand, among
    others, bigger pay and the calculation of their benefits based on the increased
    wage. Protesters blow vuvuzela horns and carry placards saying that more than
    60% of the interior ministry’s employees earn the minimum wage and requesting
    the modernisation of police stations and a fairer pay law.

    Earth Hour. Millions of people from across the globe will take part today in Earth Hour, the biggest environmental movement in history. The event encourages everybody to turn off their lights in a symbolic gesture meant to help fight the effects of climate change. It is for the 9th year in a row that Romania also takes part in Earth Hour. The external lighting of the Cotroceni presidential palace and of the Parliament building will be turned off. The government will also turn the lights off for one hour, thus expressing concern for the environment and the desire to promote non-polluting technology and encourage energy efficient programmes.




    Summertime. Romania switches to summertime tonight. Like
    every year on the last Sunday in March, 3 am will become 4 am. Clocks will be
    turned forward in more than 100 states across the world, including the entire
    European Union. Daylight saving time was introduced in Romania before World War
    II, but was given up in 1943 before being reintroduced in 1979. The purpose of
    the practice is to make the most of natural light provided by the sun as a
    means of saving electricity.




    Church. Orthodox Christians, who are the majority in
    Romania, as well as Greek-Catholics, today celebrate the Feast of the
    Annunciation, which commemorates the moment when the Virgin Mary received the
    news that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ. Also today, the 7th
    March for Life is taking place in 300 localities in Romania and the majority
    Orthodox Republic of Moldova, with participants calling for a ban on abortions
    and for support for women and families. The purpose of the march, which is
    organised with the help of the Romanian Patriarchate, is to warn about the high
    number of legal abortions carried out in pubic hospitals in Romania, namely 23
    million between 1958 and 2016. The organisers of the march even say the figure
    could be twice as high, given that it does not reflect the illegal abortions
    carried out during the former communist regime and those performed in public
    hospitals today.




    Football World Cup. Romania face Denmark on Sunday night in Cluj
    Napoca in a Group E match as part of the qualifiers for Football World Cup
    hosted by Russia next year. Other Group E fixtures will see Armenia play
    Kazakhstan and Montenegro play Poland. After a categorical 5-nil win against
    Armenia, a 1-all draw at home against Montenegro, and another, goalless draw,
    against Kazakhstan in an away match, as well as a painful nil-3 defeat by
    Poland at home, Romania now rank 4th in their group with only 5
    points.




    Miami tennis. World no. 5 Simona Halep of Romania on Friday reached the
    third round of the WTA tennis tournament in Miami, worth 6.8 million dollars in
    prize money. In the second round, she defeated the Japanese player Naomi Osaka
    in three sets. Another Romanian player, Patricia Maria Tig pulled off a
    spectacular straight-set win against France’s Kristina Mladenovici to reach the
    third round. Sorana Cirstea also reached the third round after she defeated
    Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in three sets. Irina Begu, however, seeded 28 in
    Miami, failed to qualify, suffering an unexpected defeat at the hands of
    Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena.