January 7, 2025 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news
Newsroom, 07.01.2025, 20:00
A roundup of local and international news
FRANCE – The founder and long-time leader of the French far-right National Front party Jean-Marie Le Pen, died on Tuesday at the age of 96. Firmly against immigration and having a virulent anti-Semitic speech, Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the National Front party in 1972. He constantly attacked the European Union, which he saw as a supranational project that usurped the powers of nation states. Le Pen shook the political elite in France when he reached the second round of the 2002 presidential election, which he lost, however, to Jacques Chirac, after obtaining only 18% of the vote. He was succeeded as head of the National Front by his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who also ran for president three times and transformed the party – now called the National Assembly (Rassemblement National) – into one of the main political forces in the country.
POVERTY – Romania continues to have the highest rate of poverty and social exclusion in the European Union, according to a recent World Bank report. In 2023, about a third of the population was in this situation, and the disparities between urban and rural areas were significant. The document also shows that incomes would have to almost double to reach the standard of 25 US dollars per day, considered a minimum of prosperity. In 2023, more than 13% of the country’s population faced difficulties in paying utility bills, with a rate of over 28% among those living in poverty. Increases in energy prices have worsened the phenomenon.
GAS – Romania has enough natural gas reserves to get through the winter, said Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja. The statement came in the context of information reported by the media, according to which gas storage facilities in the European Union are emptying at a rapid pace. Burduja said that, at present, Romanian stocks exceed what is needed for the cold season. He explained that there are still 2,000 million cubic meters of stored gas, given that consumption is on average 20 million/day. Thus, at the end of winter, 800 million cubic meters will remain in storage facilities. Burduja also said, in an online post, that Romania has become the largest natural gas producer in the European Union last year, and starting with 2027, when the exploitation of the Black Sea deposits within the “Neptun Deep” project begins, national production will double.
LABOR – 100,000 foreign workers could work in Romania this year, according to a project by the Romanian Ministry of Labor. Romanian companies will be allowed to bring in workers from outside the European Union to compensate for the labor shortage in areas such as construction, postal and courier activities, restaurants, hotels, retail trade in non-specialized stores or road freight transport. The labor crisis at the national level is a reality, the executive from Bucharest has acknowledged. Thus, legal immigration can be a solution to compensate for the labor shortage, but also to support economic growth. Such an approach, however, implies an efficient management of immigration, given that foreign workers replace Romanians who have chosen to go abroad on the labor market. Most foreign workers in Romania come from Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.
WORKS – Bulgarian authorities will resume, as of Wednesday, the extensive repair works of the Giurgiu-Ruse Bridge (south), the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a travel alert. Traffic will unfold on a single lane, based on a traffic light system. Repairs to the Friendship Bridge over the Danube River began in July 2024 and were temporarily seized during the winter holidays.
