September 25, 2021 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 25.09.2021, 20:00

COVID-19 The number of COVID
cases continues to rise in Romania, with more than 7,000 daily new cases
reported for several days in a row. Nearly 10,000 SARS-CoV-2 patients are in
hospitals, 264 of them children, while 1,195 patients are in intensive care. Nationwide,
hundreds towns and villages are on the red list of places with infection rates
of over 3 per thousand. The capital Bucharest is also on the list, and as of
today additional restrictions are in place in the city. The digital COVID
certificate is required for participation in certain events, and even so indoor
weddings and similar events are to be attended by 200 people at most, while
restaurants, performance halls, pools and the like operate at half their
capacity and only accept COVID certificate holders. As the number of infections
grows, Romanians get more open to immunisation, with over 14,000 people having
received a shot in the last 24 hours.

LIBERALS
The Liberals’s president for the next 4 years is PM Florin Cîţu, who won the
race against the former party chief Ludovic Orban. The winner got some 60% of
the votes of the around 5,000 delegates
from all party branches in the country attending the Congress held Saturday in
Bucharest. The National Liberal Party is a united party as of today, Florin
Cîţu said after the results were made official. I promise I will be the
president of all Liberals, regardless of your vote today, he added. Ludovic
Orban congratulated Florin Cîţu for his victory, and said on Monday he would
step down as speaker of the Chamber of Deputies. President Klaus Iohannis was also present at the
congress. The two ran harsh campaigns, with unprecedented
attacks against each other. At stake is more than the party presidency, and Saturday’s
battle will also decide the governing formula and the parliamentary majority.

FRIGATE The Romanian frigate
Queen Marie has concluded its participation in the NATO Operation Sea
Guardian, in the Mediterranean. During the 3 weeks of commanding the NATO
vessel unit, Queen Marie inspected over 800 ships in the
Mediterranean. The IAR Puma Naval helicopter on board of the frigate
contributed to the early identification of suspicious vessels. Also taking part
in Operation Sea Guardian were vessels, aircraft and submarines from
Romania, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain and Germany, and the missions contributed
to strengthening security in Europe’s southern flank.

SALARY Romanians last year
earned gross salaries of roughly 1,030 euros, the National Statistics Institute
announced, up 7.4% since the previous year. Net salaries, averaging at 650
euros per month, also increased by 7.7%. The best paying sectors are IT&C, finances
and insurance, public administration and the energy sector. At the opposite
pole are the hospitality industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and the
real estate market.

AIRCRAFT The Canadian military aircraft sent to Romania in
early September have carried out their first intercept in an air policing mission,
NATO announced. The pilots of the 188 Hornets, jointly with Romanian Air Forces
units, intercepted on September 23 two Russian Sukhoi 24 Fencers over the Black
Sea near Romanian air space. The Russian aircraft were monitored by the Allied
pilots once the visual identification was confirmed, the Allied Air Command
also announced.

DIASPORA A Romanian Foreign
Ministry official discussed with members of the Romanian community in Italy
about improving consular services, as many diaspora members are unhappy with
the difficult and often unfriendly procedures required by the Romanian
authorities. The head of the ministry’s Consular Department Valentin Muntean
presented the reforms planned by the authorities, in a hybrid meeting attended
by all the general consuls in Italy and around 40 representatives of Romanian
associations in that country. The participants tackled means to modernise and
broaden the consular network, to simplify procedures, to upgrade and optimise
the digital platforms and systems used by the Romanian authorities, and to
reduce red-tape. (tr. A.M. Popescu)