May 24, 2020

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 24.05.2020, 13:50

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – The death toll for the COVID-19 pandemic in
Romania stands at 1.179. The number of confirmed cases exceeds 18.000, while
some 11.400 people have recovered. The number of people in quarantine has
dropped by some 30% since the beginning of the week. The number of people in
isolation at home has gone up, however, after many Romanians returned to the
country after the lifting of the state of emergency. Two villages in the
northeast entered quarantine after 14 confirmed cases were reported in the last
week. The Bucharest City Hall has launched an online platform where 11,000
volunteers can sign up for free tests for COVID-19. The City Hall next week
will launch another testing project addressing a sample population of 10,500
people from Bucharest.

REPATRIATIONS
– 277 Romanian citizens were repatriated from France and Great Britain on
Saturday, in a joint effort of the Foreign, Interior and Transport Ministries.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the 140 Romanians repatriated from France are
Erasmus students, people whose labor contracts have been terminated, tourists transiting
France from the United States and medical residents who completed their
internships in France. The 137 Romanians from the UK are students, hospitalized
people whom the British authorities helped repatriate, people without shelter
and seasonal workers from Jersey Island. The Romanian authorities also helped
four foreign citizens return to Romania, two French, one Canadian and 1
British. The operation was carried out using two special flights operated by
the national airliner TAROM to Paris and London. The flight to Paris also
helped 76 French citizens return to their home country. Also on Saturday, 92
Romanian citizens, including seasonal workers, were repatriated from Germany
via a special flight coordinated by the Ministries of Transports and the
Interior in cooperation with the relevant German authorities. The flight was
operated by a private airliner via Nurnberg – Frankfurt – Cluj. The operations
are part of the Government’s efforts to repatriate Romanian nationals with
temporary stay permits abroad who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PENSIONS
– Public pensions will go up starting September 1, but the quantum will depend
on the state of the economy, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban told a television
station on Saturday. The Romanian official said the economy has been affected
by the coronavirus crisis, adding that a report on the state of the economy and
the budget will be made public after the first half of the year. The Prime
Minister also said local elections might be organized in late September, while
legislative elections could be scheduled for December 6, depending on the
evolution of the pandemic.

FLIGHTS
– The national passenger airliner TAROM will resume its flights operated to
Italy starting Tuesday, with return trips to Rome and Milan. The flights will
be operated under special circumstances, observing regulations under the state
of alert. According to TAROM, Italian citizens, seasonal workers and people
working in the field of transport will be able to travel to Italy. Returning to
Romania will be only Romanian nationals willing to come home. Flights to Rome
will cost 208 Euro, while people travelling to Milan will have to pay 200 Euro.

ECONOMY
– The Romanian economy will shrink by 14.4% in the second quarter of the year,
according to the 2020 Convergence Program published by the Ministry of Public
Finance, Agerpres reports. According to the Ministry, the budget deficit
estimated using the ESA European methodology will stand at 6.7% at the end of
2020, up by 2.4% compared to the level of 2019. This reflects a 39.5% increase
in spending and 32.7% in incomes. Gross investments will go down by 2.6% in
2020, considering private consumption will shrink by 0.7%, Government
consumption will have a positive impact of 2.4% while exports and imports of
goods and services will have negative dynamics.

(Translated by V. Palcu)