August 12, 2022

Rectification – The budget rectification bill published on the website of the Romanian Finance Ministry provides for increased revenues by over 21 billion lei (almost 4.3 billion Euros), and also for an increased budget deficit, by 2.64 billion lei (almost. 538 million Euros). The Ministries of Labor, Health, Energy, Agriculture and Transport will receive most of the money. The Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Special Telecommunications Service will have their budgets significantly reduced. The additional amounts allocated to the Labor Ministry are intended to provide social assistance and compensation for energy bills to families with low incomes. The positive budget rectification made by the Finance Ministry covers interest rate payments, securing the reserve fund available to the Government and state aid for some companies. As to the Energy Ministry, the extra money is intended for personnel expenses and the support scheme for compensating electricity and natural gas prices.

Fires – Romania is sending firefighters and specific equipment to France to help put out the forest fires affecting the southwestern region of Gironde. About 77 firefighters and 17 pieces of intervention equipment will be sent for a mission at the request of the French Government, through the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Two strategic transport aircraft have already left from Bucharest and Timişoara (west) with the first pieces of equipment, and today a third plane will transport the firefighters. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, thanked Romania and the other countries that are helping France to put out the fires, describing the gesture as a demonstration of European solidarity.

Festival – Famous bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Nothing but Thieves, Inhaler, Roosevelt, Self Esteem, Hayes & Y will perform at the 11th edition of the Summer Well Festival, which starts today, at the Ştirbey estate in Buftea, near Bucharest. The British rockers from Arctic Monkeys eagerly waited at the Summer Well festival, are coming to Romania as part of a European tour that also includes Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Today, Future Islands, Channel Tres, Sad Night Dynamite, Lea Porcelain, Dylan Fraser will take the main stage. At the same time, music lovers will enjoy the music of Şuie Paparude, Flight Facilities and Cătălina Cara. In 2021, Summer Well hosted a special edition called Limited Edition.

Football – Three Romanian football teams qualified, on Thursday, at home, for the play-offs of the Europa Conference League and have chances to reach the groups stage. FCSB defeated the Slovak team FC DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda 1-0 in the second leg of the third preliminary round, after winning in the first match 1-0. In the next stage, FCSB will meet Viking Stavanger (Norway). CFR Cluj defeated the Belarusian team Shahtior Soligorsk 1-0, after their first match ended in a draw, 0-0. The Romanian champions will play in the play-offs against NK Maribor from Slovenia. And Universitatea Craiova defeated the Ukrainian team Zaria Lugansk 3-0, after winning 1-0 in the first match. In the next stage, U Craiova will face Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC from Israel. The fourth Romanian team from the Europa Conference League, Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe, was eliminated by the Swedish team Djurgaardens IF.

Robor – The 3-month ROBOR index, based on which the cost of loans with variable interest is calculated, has returned to a value below the threshold of 8% per year. The National Bank of Romania announced that the index dropped to 7.98% on Friday, from 8.02% per year as reported in the previous day. At the beginning of 2022, the 3-month ROBOR index was 3.02% per year.

Magistrates – The plenum of Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) is to give an advisory opinion, today, on the bills amending the justice laws. The Justice Ministry reminds that the bills were drawn up, in a first version, in September 2020, publicly debated between September 2020 and April 2021 and subsequently modified, successively, following public debates. In January 2022, the Justice Ministry resumed the process of updating and completing the bills. In the spring of this year, the bills were discussed at technical and political levels with representatives of the European Commission, within the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The adoption of the bills is a double objective within the Mechanism and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). (LS)