The Commission has granted €2 billion to Italy, Spain, Luxembourg and Romania following the modification of two European Regional Development Fund, one European Social Fund (ESF) and one Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived Operational Programmes (OP) under the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories in Europe (REACT-EU). In Italy, the national OP ‘Governance and Institutional Capacity' will receive a total of €1.2 billion. Of this sum, €761 million will go towards buying 68 million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus. In the Southern regions, authorities will use €374 million to hire new public healthcare workers and cover the costs of extra hours worked by workers currently in the system. €108 million will help strengthen the administrative capacity of national and regional authorities, including in the healthcare system. In Spain, ‘Comunidad Valenciana' will receive additional resources of €690 million to provide, amongst others, working capital to the most affected Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and to reinforce health, social services and investments in basic infrastructure for citizens, including in the health and education sectors. Luxembourg will receive €69 million to support large-scale coronavirus testing and the acquisition of vaccines, and investments in sustainability such as the electrification of the national bus network. In Romania, €56 million will be invested to provide material support for disadvantaged groups, such as hot meals, assistance to disadvantaged children with school supplies and to disadvantaged mothers with essential kits for their newborn babies. REACT-EU is part of NextGenerationEU and provides €50.6 billion additional funding (in current prices) over the course of 2021 and 2022 to Cohesion Policy programmes.
On Monday, December 23, Romanian police brought Nica Robert Florin back to the country. The man convicted of possession of high-risk drugs, bodily harm, and driving under the influence of alcohol, is listed among Romania’s Most Wanted category and was also wanted internationally. Romanian authorities revealed at the beginning of October that they had indications […]
An investigation by the famous British newspaper Financial Times revealed that the campaign of former Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu was supported by a Russian network also used during the pandemic in France and Germany to instill fear of vaccines. The newspaper’s investigation began in continuation of those by Bulgarian and Romanian journalists at BG...
Bucharest’s District 3 City Hall will once again organize a special New Year’s Eve event in Titan Park, with a program of live concerts, multimedia shows, and even a simulation of the Northern Lights. The event, set to begin at 8:00 PM on December 31, will focus on the theme of infinity. “If you missed […]
Traffic on Lot 1 of the A7 Ploiești-Buzău highway, stretching 21 kilometers in southern Romania, was officially opened on Monday, December 23. With this opening, 102 kilometers of the total 320 kilometers of the highway are now usable. The Moldova Highway, as it has been called, is meant to connect Romania's economically underdeveloped eastern regions to […]
The Dutch technology investor Prosus NV, also the majority shareholder of Romania’s largest online retailer eMAG, is set to buy the online travel agency Despegar.com Corp, focused on Latin America, for approximately USD 1.7 billion. The purchase consideration will be funded from existing cash resources, the company said. Founded in Argentina in 1999, Despegar is one […]
The new Forestry Code, which passed the Parliament vote on December 17 and was signed into law by president Klaus Iohannis on December 20, includes provisions that protect all forests in Ilfov, the county surrounding Bucharest, making them the cornerstone of the future green belt around the capital city. Moreover, it legislates green belts nationwide, […]
