August 11, 2021

A news roundup

Newsroom, 11.08.2021, 13:55

Rectification — The ruling coalition in Bucharest continues negotiations on the draft budget rectification law, which is to be approved next week. On Tuesday evening, after a meeting of the ruling parties’ leaders, the Liberal Prime Minister Florin Cîţu announced that additional funds would go to the ministries of Health, Transport, Education, Justice and Energy. Discussions are still open at the Ministry of Development, the PM added, after the line minister, Cseke Atilla, presented a project for the launch of a national investment program, of 50 billion lei (about 10 billion Euros), on several components – roads, water, sewerage and natural gas infrastructure. It is a state investment in local infrastructure projects, correlated with the period of investments from European funds. Today, the Liberal Party leader, Ludovic Orban, has stated that the participants in the governing coalition meeting decided to start the new investment program for the local communities.

Covid – 19 Romania — 326 news Covid-19 cases were reported in Romania on Wednesday out of more than 29 thousand tests. 8 people have died, and 710 are hospitalized, of whom 96 are in ICUs. The coordinator of the National Vaccination Campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, stated that, although the number of new Covid cases is growing slowly, growth is progressive and sustained, therefore, in a pessimistic scenario, more than 1,500 daily cases might be registered in the second half of September. On the other hand, the governing coalition has agreed to grant meal vouchers to people who get both doses of the vaccine, to give vaccination a boost.

Inflation — In Romania, the annual inflation rate went up to 5% in July as against 3.9% in June. Prices of non-foods have grown by 8%, of services by 2.74%, and of foods by 2.33%, the National Institute of Statistics- INS shows. Higher prices were reported for electricity, gas, fuels and edible oil. On Monday, Romania’s National Bank increased its inflation forecast to 5.6% for the end of this year, according to Governor Mugur Isărescu. Romania is no longer a country of those with low salaries — the PM Florin Cîțu replied, adding that more than 1% of employees have a net salary higher than the equivalent of 3,000 Euros, and the share of people who have net salaries of over 1,000 Euros is on the rise. According to the INS, the average net salary stands at 3,541 lei (about 700 Euros).

Football — Romania’s football champions, CFR Cluj (northwest), have failed to qualify to the Champions League play-offs, after losing 3-1, away from home, the match against the Swiss team Young Boys Bern, in the decisive leg of the third preliminary round. In Cluj, the score was equal, 1-1. CFR will play in the Europa League play-off with Red Star Belgrade. If they are eliminated, the CFR Cluj will still play in the Europa Conference League groups.

Fires – In Greece, the population affected by the fires of the past two weeks, accuses the authorities of not having acted efficiently in the fight against the fire. The causes of the unprecedented disaster are also being investigated by the general prosecutor, as there are suspicions of an organized criminal activity. As many as 600 outbreaks are active, and the situation does not seem to be improving despite the huge efforts of the Greek firefighters, who have also received international aid. The most dangerous situation is in Evia Island, where more than 100 Romanian firefighters are operating. The Romanian firefighters have received much appreciation from the press, the locals, and also from their Greek colleagues for their intervention manner and courage. The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has admitted that the government could have done more. He has promised that 500 million Euros worth of aid will be sent to the Peloponnese, in the Attica region near Athens and on the island of Evia, that new trees will be planted to replace the burned forests and that those who lost their properties will receive compensations. The damage is difficult to estimate, but the flames have already destroyed 65,000 hectares of vegetation. Fires have not yet been put out in Italy, northern Macedonia and Siberia, and in California 200,000 hectares of vegetation have burned in recent weeks. (LS)