May 24, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 24.05.2020, 19:11

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – The death toll for the COVID-19 pandemic in
Romania stands at 1.185. 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 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. At the same
time 15 experts with the Romanian Ministry of Defense, five physicians, five
nurses and five military specialized in dealing with chemical, biological,
radiological and nuclear threats will leave on Monday to the United States, to
help Alabama local authorities combat the pandemic. The team will provide
expert support to US counterparts in medical units and will report on the
methods the US is using the combat the coronavirus.

REPATRIATIONS
– 125 Romanian citizens working on cruise ships in Mexico and the Philippines
have been brought home. An additional 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.

RENAULT
– The Government in Paris wants the Renault carmaker to stop exporting its
production capacity, in exchange for a 5 billion euros bailout package, French
Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday. Previously, Economy
Minister Bruno Le Maire told Le Figaro
that Renault is fighting for survival in the context of the coronavirus crisis.
The media says the carmaker is planning on shutting down several manufacturing
plants in France, including the one in Flins, where the Zoe and Nissan Micra
models are being produced, but also the plant in Dieppe, as part of a large-scale
restructuring plan soon to be announced. Renault owns the Dacia plant in
Romania. Rebranded in 2004 with the launch of the Logan model, Dacia has become
a major presence in the European car industry.

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)