January 7, 2025
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 07.01.2025, 13:55
A roundup of local and international news.
St. JOHN – Orthodox and Greek Catholic believers celebrate today Saint John the Baptist , the last prophet of the Old Testament. Almost 2 million Romanians celebrate their name day today. Also today, old-style Christians celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ. The Serbian and Lipovan communities in Romania, as well as the Orthodox in the Republic of Moldova, are marking the first day of Christmas. The difference from other Christians comes from the fact that they observe the Julian Calendar or the old calendar, which is 13 days behind. In Orthodox Christianity, the monastic community of Mount Athos, the Russian and Serbian churches, and the Orthodox in Israel follow the old-style calendar and celebrate the Nativity of the Lord today.
GAS – Romania has enough natural gas reserves to get through the winter, said Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja. The statement comes 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.
RESIGNATION – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, but said he would stay in office until the Liberal Party names a successor. He also said that the work of the Parliament in Ottawa, which was due to resume on January 27, would be suspended until March 24. News agencies report that Trudeau has been under intense pressure from Liberal lawmakers for weeks, amid polls predicting a clear defeat for the party in the upcoming election, scheduled for October. Justin Trudeau became prime minister in November 2015 and has been re-elected twice. However, his popularity began to decline two years ago, amid public anger caused by rising prices and a housing shortage.
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.
VISITORS – Over 2 million people visited the Craiova Christmas Fair, which ended on Monday. The city hall in south-western Romania said that this winter’s edition featured several firsts, including Santa’s flying sleigh, over 2 million lights, and the largest area for a Christmas fair in Europe – 280,000 square meters. The organizers of the Craiova Fair said that the event received the highest number of votes registered from other countries, over 91,000. Most of Romania’s holiday fairs have closed, many even before the end of last year. However, the one in Braşov, in the center of the country, and the one in the capital Bucharest are still open today.
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.
