The Chamber of Deputies has adopted the draft Offshore Law on Wednesday.There were 248 votes "in favor" and 34 votes "against". The draft law regulates a set of measures regarding the stability of the fiscal regime and petroleum royalties. "Today we have voted in the Chamber of Deputies, alongside a wide majority, the Offshore Law. It is maybe a step - the most important - that we make towards energy independence. In fact we can say that once the investments starts in the Black Sea, Romania will become independent energy-wise, we'll produce more natural gas than we consume, and the natural gas surplus can be delivered abroad,"Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said at Parliament.According to the minister, Romania can become a supplier of regional energy security."The law brings stability and predictability, a friendly taxation environment and I am positive that it will help investors decide to invest. Moreover, it protects Romania's national interests - in case of energy crisis we can intervene and redirect gas to domestic consumption and, also, imposes a control over bilateral contracts. (...) I believe it is a law in which both the state and the investors have to win and we expect investment decision can be made," Virgil Popescu also added.He maintained that "no one ever sells under a cost price, starting from the good faith principle.""Romania gains from the royalty - which is somewhere at 13 percent - from the additional revenue tax, Romania gains from the profit tax of companies, from the number of jobs that will be created. The state budget gains from the labour force tax and I believe the most important thing - Romania becomes independent energy-wise, and we'll no longer have problems of natural gas supply," Virgil Popescu argued.
Romania was formally designated the 43rd country to join the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) on Friday, January 10. According to the Romanian ambassador to Washington, Andrei Muraru, Romanian citizens will be able to travel to the US without the need for a visa starting March 31, 2025. "Romania becomes the first country in the […]
Cluj-Napoca, the city in Romania with some of the highest rents and a fast-growing IT industry, is closer to banning smoking in playgrounds and parks after mayor Emil Boc expressed his support for the measure. The mayor cited the prioritization of public health as the reason behind such a ban. He mentioned that he has […]
Romania's Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital will receive a robotic system to prepare cytostatic drugs needed by cancer patients, along with other equipment, after the County Council obtained funds from the European Regional Development Fund. With an estimated value of EUR 1 million, the "Robotic Composition System for Sterile Preparations of Cytostatic Drugs" is among […]
Romania’s government adopted in its January 10 meeting a decision granting an extra day off to public sector employees at the beginning of May. Thus, Friday, May 2, will be an official day off for public sector workers, linking the legal holiday of May 1 (Labor Day) with the weekend (May 3-4). This...
The Ministry of Environment announced that 2024 was the hottest year in the history of Romania's meteorological records. Red alerts for heat waves began in June of 2024, with the longest consecutive periods of persistent and intense heat waves, six consecutive days, between July 13-18 and August 15-20. "The year 2024 is the hottest year...
Supporters of former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu gathered outside the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, which houses the Constitutional Court, on January 10, demanding a rerun of the second round of the presidential elections. The protest, dubbed "The Great Judicial Union," was initiated by Georgescu, who called on his supporters to challenge the election annulment, as […]
