Romanian Government Amends Energy And Natural Gas Law
The Romanian government has adopted an emergency ordinance, in its Wednesday meeting, which regulates suppliers’ obligation to acquire the natural gas delivered to household consumers „based on procedures meant to ensure the transparency of the natural gas acquisition process.”
The normative act adopted Wednesday maintains the current system for allocating natural gas quantities to household consumers and to electricity producers, but only for natural gas quantities needed to produce thermal power meant for household consumption until March 31, 2017.
„For the period between December 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017, it is regulated the obligation of producers and the obligation of each natural gas supplier, which is not a producer as well, to conclude contracts on centralized markets in Romania, in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner, in accordance with the regulations issued by energy market regulator ANRE,” the government said in a statement. (Evenimentul Zilei)
Romania Boosts Guarantee Ceiling For First Home Program By RON500M
Romanian Government on Wednesday supplemented the guarantee ceiling for the government-guaranteed mortgage lending First Home program by RON500 million.
The measure aims to support potential beneficiaries of the program and those who closed pre-sale contracts under the program, while the files already approved will have precedence over other files.
A total 23,515 guarantees worth RON2.16 billion were granted from the beginning of 2016 until July 31. Overall, a total 195,905 guarantees worth RON16.7 billion were granted from the start of the program, in 2009, until the end of July 2016. (Puterea)
Romania Falls 9 Spots To 62 In WEF Global Competitiveness Ranking
Romania dropped 9 spots, to 62 among 138 states, in the Global Competitiveness ranking released annually by the World Economic Forum, due to poor infrastructure, education, healthcare and administration.
Romania is outranked by Bulgaria (50), Poland (36), the Czech Republic (31) and the Baltic States, but outranks Hungary (69) or Slovakia (65).
Moreover, Romania lags behind countries like Azerbaijan (37), Kuwait (38), India (39), Indonesia (41), Russia (43), Rwanda (52), Kazakhstan (53), Turkey (55), Georgia (59) or Vietnam (60). (Adevarul)
PNL Co-chair Vasile Blaga Resigns
Placed under judicial control in an influence peddling case, PNL co-chair Vasile Blaga announced he resigned from the party’s leadership and from the position of campaign coordinator for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
At the end of the week, the leadership of the National Liberal Party will have a meeting to decide what they do next. The “archi-liberal” half of the party wants a “monocephalic” leadership, namely Alina Gorghiu, or maybe someone like Ilie Bolojan, while the “neo-liberal” half of the party (former PDL members) want a replacer for Blaga, someone like Catalin Predoiu, Gheorghe Falca, Adriana Saftoiu or Emil Boc. (Puterea)
Tenth Edition Of White Night of Galleries Takes Place On September 30
The tenth edition of the White Night of Galleries will take place on Friday, September 30, between 21:00-4:00 hours local time, in ten Romanian cities.
Over 150 galleries, alternative spaces and creative hubs will be opened for one night to the public, presenting the latest trends in the Romanian and international contemporary art. For the first time, the event, which started initially in capital Bucharest, will also take place in another nine cities: Arad, Baia Mare, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Craiova, Sibiu, Targu Mures and Timisoara. (Evenimentul Zilei)