Travel alert for Hungary due to recent flooding
The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a travel alert for Romanian citizens who are in Hungary, are transiting or intend to travel to this country. In the context of recent floods, local authorities are expected to impose traffic restrictions in the immediate future. These will include the capital, Budapest, particularly the road and pedestrian access routes near the Danube riverbed, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The restrictions will be applied by Hungarian authorities due to concerns about the significant increase in the Danube’s water levels in the coming days. Romanian citizens can request consular assistance at the phone numbers of the Romanian diplomatic missions in Budapest, at the consulates in Szeged and Gyula, online at mae.ro, or other diplomatic addresses.
Romania should take measures to limit the increase in the budget deficit, financial rating agency Fitch Ratings warns
Romania should quickly take measures to limit the increase in the budget deficit, which is becoming the largest in the European Union, to avoid losing its investment-grade rating – recommended for investments – according to the financial rating agency Fitch Ratings. Romania, which gets this rating from all the major financial rating agencies, might need to freeze spending and increase revenues to reduce its deficit to the European limit of 3% of GDP by 2027. Romania, which has been in an excessive deficit procedure since 2020, has asked the European Commission to allow it a 7-year period, starting from 2024, to significantly reduce the deficit to the 3% of GDP limit, but has not yet presented a clear plan to achieve this goal. Faced with the risk of a higher-than-expected deficit this year, the ruling coalition in Bucharest has taken some measures to limit spending and granted an amnesty to citizens to pay overdue taxes, Bloomberg agency says.
Several Romanian city have entered the competition for the M100 project to achive climate neutrality
Sixteen cities in Romania aim to become climate neutral and have entered the competition for the M100 project. Only ten of these will be selected by an international jury to participate in the next phase of the program. Among the cities that have entered this project are: Alba Iulia, Barlad, Bucharest, Calarasi, Sfantu Gheorghe, and Targoviste. These are cities with over 50,000 inhabitants, from seven development regions of Romania, that seek support to become sustainable and less polluting by 2035. The 10 finalists will be announced at the end of October, during an event due to be held in Bucharest. The M100 project is a national platform created after a European model, that aims to help cities, especially small and medium-sized ones, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. The funds come from European and Norwegian loans through the Bilateral Relations Fund.
Mădălina Brotăcel, RADOR
