TVRI — broadcast
20260806 000000 UTC
212 transcript segments
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive.
Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:00:42] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main news edition of the
[00:00:45] day. Parliament voted to postpone the closure of
[00:00:48] coal-fired power plants despite warnings that Romania risks losing
[00:00:51] billions of euros from PNR funds. President Nicușor Dan announced
[00:00:55] that he will return the law.
[00:00:58] President Mirabela Grădinaru's partner published it amidst a parliamentary scandal
[00:01:01] over the integrity law adopted with the votes of PSD and AUR, USR
[00:01:05] threatens to attack the Constitutional Court.
[00:01:09] The authorities will only try tomorrow to sink the four barges in the Bala branch area
[00:01:12] to continue the dredging of the old Danube until then, meanwhile the river's flow at
[00:01:16] the entrance to the country will decrease to 1400 cubic meters per second, a historic
[00:01:19] minimum.
[00:01:22] The Russians devastatingly hit Kyiv, where they killed 17 people and injured
[00:01:25] 44 in the deadliest attack in recent months. Donald Trump refuses
[00:01:29] to send more Patriot missiles
[00:01:31] to the Ukrainians.
[00:01:39] Coal-fired power plants can no longer be closed, even at the cost of blocking
[00:01:43] billions of non-reimbursable euros allocated through the PNR. In the
[00:01:46] final vote, deputies maintained the Social Democrats' amendment
[00:01:50] in the decarbonization law, which yesterday generated sharp disputes in the Senate,
[00:01:53] maintaining the operation of coal-fired power plants, while
[00:01:57] PSD and AUR insist that the current energy crisis forces Romania to
[00:02:00] keep production capacities functional. The Minister of European
[00:02:04] Funds warns that we will lose money, and President
[00:02:07] Nicușor Dan is considering not promulgating
[00:02:09] the law. The decarbonization law with the
[00:02:13] PSD amendment passed with 180 votes for, nine against, and
[00:02:16] 27 abstentions. 80 deputies from PNL and
[00:02:20] USR did not vote. The amendment stipulates that the law of 2022
[00:02:24] 108, Ordinance 108,
[00:02:26] cm and will 2022, which actually provided the money for payment
[00:02:29] request 2, milestone 114, at this moment we are already
[00:02:32] at imminent risk that payment requests five and six will be blocked
[00:02:36] until the reversibility is resolved, and
[00:02:39] the stake now is that we are addressing the
[00:02:43] president of the country, the penalties. We then had the milestone of about 600
[00:02:46] million, it can be a sum of a few hundred million.
[00:02:50] Supported by AUR, PSD invokes the current energy crisis. As yesterday in
[00:02:54] the Senate, discussions flared up. The PSD
[00:02:57] amendments, which I ask you
[00:03:01] to vote for today, state a common sense
[00:03:04] thing: you cannot close until
[00:03:08] you put something in its place, and in the current
[00:03:11] energy crisis it is normal to use
[00:03:15] all available energy
[00:03:17] capacities. We are not closing anything, no
[00:03:20] energy capacity, until we put something in
[00:03:24] its place.
[00:03:26] It's useless to swear that he doesn't steal.
[00:03:30] Pîslaru says he's not closing anything, because they have closed
[00:03:33] repeatedly. On the other hand, PNL and USR join
[00:03:36] the government and denounce a competition of populism between PSD and AUR,
[00:03:40] which can cause significant damage to Romania.
[00:03:43] We risk losing billions of euros
[00:03:47] from the PNR. The National Liberal Party
[00:03:50] did not vote for this bill, and
[00:03:54] not because they didn't want to vote for it, but because it
[00:03:57] was substantially modified by
[00:04:01] some amendments that
[00:04:04] practically change what Romania has
[00:04:07] committed to before the European Commission. And they ruined the energy
[00:04:11] system in Romania because there were years of indifference,
[00:04:15] of corruption, years in which they mistreated Romanian
[00:04:19] citizens, and today we are in a crisis that the Social Democratic Party comes with some
[00:04:22] amendments that it wants to solve,
[00:04:25] endangering billions of euros. Only
[00:04:29] the president can still turn the law back. Nicu Șordean announced that he will not
[00:04:32] promulgate the law in a form that would endanger PNR funds, and
[00:04:36] the government warns that this is about to happen. Romania committed
[00:04:40] in 2022 to introduce the decarbonization law
[00:04:43] of the energy system, which adopts the calendar for the gradual
[00:04:47] elimination of coal. With a final deadline of 2032.
[00:04:51] Last year, former minister Bogdan Ivan negotiated with the European Commission and
[00:04:55] obtained the maintenance of coal-fired power plants that can be activated in times of
[00:04:59] crisis. The current amendment, argues Dragoș Pâslaru, revisits
[00:05:02] a reform already finalized and violates
[00:05:05] the agreement with the European Commission and can lead to
[00:05:08] very high penalties and the blocking of payment requests five
[00:05:13] and six, a total of 5 billion euros, non-reimbursable funds, according to
[00:05:16] the estimates of the Minister of European Investments.
[00:05:20] Romania's capital enters an energy saving regime.
[00:05:24] The Bucharest City Hall announces measures to reduce electricity
[00:05:27] consumption after the government declared a national state of alert due
[00:05:31] to the decrease in power production. Throughout the month of
[00:05:34] August, the intensity of public street lighting in Bucharest will be
[00:05:38] reduced by 30%. I think
[00:05:40] everyone should be responsible
[00:05:43] and consider these measures, because it is for the good of all. The
[00:05:47] best measures are being taken, I have no idea which are the best,
[00:05:51] but if we have to do this, we do it. Electricity
[00:05:54] will also be saved at the company that manages
[00:05:58] public transport in Bucharest. Electric
[00:06:00] buses will no longer be charged during the critical interval
[00:06:04] of 19:30 to 23:30. Maintenance
[00:06:08] and servicing activities will be limited during the same
[00:06:11] critical interval. And as for the lighting on
[00:06:14] platforms, as well as in the STB depots, it will be reduced to
[00:06:18] a minimum. Passengers will not be affected by these
[00:06:21] measures. The Termoenergetica company will turn off
[00:06:23] non-essential lighting and will limit the operation of hot water pressure
[00:06:27] boosting pumps, and the Capital City Hall will turn off
[00:06:31] the decorative lighting on the building's facade at night, as well as in the institution's
[00:06:34] courtyard. In the offices, air conditioners will
[00:06:38] operate at a minimum. Similarly, theaters and museums under
[00:06:42] the city hall's jurisdiction will follow suit. I think we all need to
[00:06:45] take measures to get out of this impasse. Currently, in Bucharest,
[00:06:49] daily consumption is around 1000 MW. The proposed reductions and
[00:06:52] measures are good, I can't say they don't
[00:06:56] help, but they don't have a significant impact, it's more of an
[00:06:59] example than with evident
[00:07:03] effects that would truly
[00:07:06] help. And operators of illuminated advertising panels
[00:07:09] who have contracts with the city hall say they will apply these
[00:07:12] measures. Authorities are once again appealing to
[00:07:16] the population to try to consume less electricity, especially
[00:07:19] in the evening when at peak hours production decreases and
[00:07:22] imports increase. Even if they managed to save, people will feel the energy
[00:07:26] crisis in their bills, as the prices set by the ongoing
[00:07:29] contracts expire, experts warn.
[00:07:32] I also save, but in the evening I can't,
[00:07:36] I have to turn on the air conditioning, I can't
[00:07:39] breathe and I turn it on for half an
[00:07:42] hour, that's it, the rest of the time I have energy-saving bulbs, I have
[00:07:45] reduced - the bulbs as much
[00:07:49] as possible, we sit on the terrace a little more,
[00:07:53] I turned off the TVs, but not everyone is as willing to
[00:07:57] save as the executive requested. I won't
[00:08:00] save electricity, no way, I
[00:08:03] can't, I don't know how, I need electricity for the washing machine,
[00:08:07] for the dishwasher, for the gas stove,
[00:08:10] for ironing, I can't. "If someone wants to save,
[00:08:13] let them do it from above. I haven't reduced anything, I've always consumed
[00:08:17] little, because of the money. Even if I
[00:08:21] save, the energy crisis will still be felt in people's pockets, because
[00:08:24] the bills they will pay when renewing their electricity
[00:08:27] contracts will be higher, experts warn. And it's
[00:08:30] already happening, as contracts expire. Already
[00:08:34] offers for new contracts or for renewing old contracts are
[00:08:37] higher than they were in the past. 1.5, 1.6
[00:08:41] RON per kilowatt. Do you expect bills to be higher? Well, I know
[00:08:44] they are higher, I'm sure, consumption is higher and
[00:08:48] the bill will be higher. We have some contracts
[00:08:51] signed with electricity suppliers, I expect
[00:08:55] them not to increase. The risk that homes will run out of power as a result of this
[00:08:58] energy crisis is, however, excluded, energy experts say, even if
[00:09:02] it will be more difficult for the Romanian state to import the amount of energy it needs for
[00:09:05] daily consumption. It's possible that we may not be able to import anymore, and we'll run out of
[00:09:09] electricity. I don't see this as
[00:09:13] possible, because industrial consumers were almost
[00:09:16] 7400 MW, according to
[00:09:19] Electrica's data, which is a slightly lower consumption than the official
[00:09:23] estimates of 7600 MW, and this may mean that many
[00:09:26] Romanians have already heeded the authorities' calls to reduce
[00:09:30] consumption. However, a primary problem is that domestic production does not cover
[00:09:34] consumption as it did before the drought. If we look again at yesterday's
[00:09:38] data, we see a production of about 5300
[00:09:41] MW, so that at peak hours we had to
[00:09:45] import 2000 MW, approximately 2000 MW,
[00:09:49] and today at this hour we see how
[00:09:52] the data from Transelelectrica looks, real-time
[00:09:56] data, at 18:30, so a little while
[00:09:59] ago, we see a consumption of 7200 MW,
[00:10:03] we see a production of 5500, almost 5600
[00:10:06] MW, but also this means that we are already importing
[00:10:09] 1600 MW, anyway, consumption
[00:10:13] will clearly increase in the critical interval after 8 PM and will probably reach
[00:10:16] the usual values of 2000- 2500 MW, which
[00:10:20] represents, pay attention, a quarter of domestic production. Here appears another
[00:10:23] major problem, energy.
[00:10:25] The important imported energy in the evening is several times more expensive than what Romania
[00:10:29] sells during the day, when we have an energy surplus due to
[00:10:33] solar panels, but we don't have enough storage
[00:10:36] capacity. All these problems have a clear impact on the price
[00:10:39] of energy in Romania, the highest in the European Union, reported to
[00:10:43] purchasing power.
[00:10:46] Meanwhile, efforts to maintain reactor 2 at
[00:10:50] Cernavodă continue, but authorities have postponed the sinking of the
[00:10:53] four barges loaded with stone in the Bala arm of the Danube until tomorrow,
[00:10:57] which would divert more water to the nuclear power plant. The decision was
[00:11:01] announced a short while ago. The plant director stated that there will be no
[00:11:05] problems in the next seven days, but the forecast for the Danube's
[00:11:09] flow is grim. A few more days could be gained if the
[00:11:12] barges are sunk, an operation unprecedented for
[00:11:15] Romania.
[00:11:19] The four barges were filled with hundreds of tons of stone, but their sinking did
[00:11:22] not happen. The postponement was decided after a... prolonged meeting, the unprecedented
[00:11:26] operation in Romania is risky and the authorities say that the safety
[00:11:30] of those participating in the mission is a priority. Following
[00:11:33] the analysis we carried out in this operational
[00:11:36] meeting, the decision was made that the operation to sink
[00:11:40] the four barges will continue starting tomorrow. It is by no means
[00:11:43] an easy operation. They will be placed in that
[00:11:47] area near the shore, supported by the shore.
[00:11:50] They will be pushed by
[00:11:54] the captain towards the shore, these will be anchored both to the shore
[00:11:58] and to the anchors, the dredging depths will be continued
[00:12:01] with larger quantities than initially estimated. Reactor 2 of
[00:12:04] the Cernavodă power plant is operating and the plant director says that the detonation of the rock at
[00:12:08] the springs was helpful, it led to an increase of 2 cm in the level in the central
[00:12:12] basin area. A few more days of operation could be gained after the sinking of
[00:12:15] the barges, which would divert more water to the branch that leads to
[00:12:19] Cernavodă. The reasons that were unfolded on the Bala
[00:12:22] river brought a respite
[00:12:26] so that the level that was scheduled to drop that
[00:12:29] much dropped much less, which led to a few extra days of
[00:12:33] operation, we currently have a forecast
[00:12:36] based on the prognosis that we will still operate for a period of seven
[00:12:39] days. The Danube will reach a new historic minimum flow of 1400 cubic meters
[00:12:43] per second at its entry into the country tomorrow. The
[00:12:46] level of the Danube at Cernavodă is
[00:12:48] 214
[00:12:51] reach 231 cm on Monday. This.