WAR IN UKRAINE – A mission of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is today inspecting the Zaporizhzhia
Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southern Ukraine, currently under the control of
Russian forces. IAEA Director, Rafael Grossi, said the visit is a technical
mission designed to prevent a nuclear accident. The IAEA mission represents a
step towards disoccupation and demilitarization, the Ukrainian Energy
Minister, Herman Haluschenko told Reuters. The Zaporizhzhia NPP is the biggest
nuclear power plant in Europe. The plant was taken over by Russian forces in
March, although it is still operated by Ukrainian personnel under the
surveillance of Russian forces. The plant premises have been repeatedly bombed
in the last month, Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the attacks.
INTOLERANCE – President Klaus Iohannis
said that implementing the National Strategy on preventing and combating
anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech proves once again
Romania’s commitment to promoting tolerate and peace in society. In his
message, the president said that, in the current context marked by numerous
crises, intolerance and acts of violence against certain categories of people
are intensifying, and such manifestations must not be tolerated.
PARLIAMENT – A new parliament session
started today. MPs are mainly concerned with debating and amending the justice
and education laws. Today, a special Parliament committee is expected to be
created with a view to debating the justice laws. Also today, the Senate is
expected to vote on the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers. The
document was sent back for re-examination by president Klaus Iohannis, and the
Senate’s judicial committee issued a report including a number of amendments.
USR in opposition has criticized the activity of Energy Minister Virgil
Popescu, saying they will file a simple motion against him.
UNEMPLOYMENT – The unemployment rate
dropped by 0.2% in Romania compared to 5.2% last month. The rate is by 1.5%
higher among unemployed men, the National Statistics Institute reports.
According to data, unemployment stands at 23% among young people under 24 years
of age. The rate of unemployment was estimated at 4.1% in July among adults
aged 25-74.
GOVERNMENT – The Government is today
expected to pass an emergency decree setting the reference energy price, which
will serve as a threshold for calculating the tax on profit for
across-the-chain activities in the field. The Government thus wants to overtax
large profits obtained as a result of the energy price hikes. The government’s
energy bill capping and subsidizing schemes remain in place. The Government
will also examine another draft law titled The Winter Plan which is expected to
be adopted next week. The Plan includes a number of elements, including the
amount of natural gas reserves. At present, Romania’s gas reserves total 2.2
billion cubic meters, accounting for nearly 73% of the country’s total storage.
SWIMMING – Romanian swimmer David
Popovici won gold in the 200m freestyle event at the World Swimming
Championships in Lima, Peru. Popovici won all the four medals in 200m freestyle
events this summer, namely in European and World junior and senior
competitions. This is Popovici’s second gold medal in Lima, after our athlete
won gold with Romania’s 4x100m relay team. In the same competition, Vladu
Stancu won silver in the 400m freestyle event.
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Sorana
Cîrstea is today playing Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, seeded 13th
at the US Open. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu, will also compete in the
second round against Yue Yuan of China. Cîrstea and Begu are the only Romanian
players left in the women’s singles at Flushing Meadows. (VP)