November 3, 2022
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Newsroom, 03.11.2022, 13:55
EARTHQUAKE A 5.4
magnitude earthquake hit Romania on Thursday morning in the Buzău area in the
south-east of the country. The earthquake was felt in several cities, including
the capital Bucharest, but no emergency calls were received and no damages or
victims were reported. This was the strongest earthquake in the last 2 and a
half years. A 5.2 quake occurred on January 31, 2020 in Vrancea, Romania’s main
seismic area. A bigger, 5.8 magnitude tremor was also reported in October 2018,
in Buzău County.
MILITARY
The
French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecornu, is on
an official visit to Romania today, the Romanian Defence Ministry announced. Lecornuwill have meetings with the Romanian Defence Minister, Angel Tîlvăr, with
President Klaus Iohannis and PM Nicolae Ciucă. The French delegation’s agenda
also includes a visit to the ‘Getica’ Joint National Training Centre in Cincu,
central Romania, and a wreath-laying ceremony at the French Heroes Monument in
Bucharest. France has been leading the NATO battle group in Romania set up in
May. The battle groups created in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary are
part of the borader set of measures taken by NATO to bolster its medium and
long-term deterrence and defence posture, following the war initiated by the
Russian Federation in Ukraine.
VISIT
The president of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis postponed his official
visit to Romania scheduled for Thursday, for unforeseen and unavoidable
reasons, the Swiss Embassy in Bucharest announced. President Cassis and
president Klaus Iohannis will try to find an alternative date for the meetings
scheduled as part of the visit. According to the Swiss Embassy, the two parties
will sign in the near future the Romanian-Swiss framework agreement concerning
the implementation of a second financial instalment aimed at reducing economic
and social disparities within the EU. Under the agreement, Switzerland will
provide 221.5 million Swiss francs for projects to be implemented in Romania
until 2029.
PENSIONS Government spokesman Dan Cărbunaru announced that a
task force has been set up within the Labour Ministry in Bucharest, to analyse
the issue of the so-called special pensions, which are not based on
contributions during employment. The beneficiaries of such pensions include
magistrates, among other categories, and scores of them applied for retirement
after the World Bank requested the Romanian authorities to reform the system. This
was also a requirement in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, agreed on
by Romania with the European Commission.
AUTOMOTIVE The number
of new automobiles registered in Romania in the first 10 months of the year
went up over 8% compared to the corresponding period of last year, to nearly 106,000
units. Car registration numbers also increased by 10% this October compared to
October 2021. Most of the new automobiles registered during this period, i.e.
31,000, were local brand Dacia. As for
second hand car registrations in the first 10 months of the year, the number
dropped 20% compared to 2021, to 270,000.
HANDBALL
Romania’s women’s handball team drew against Germany, 29-29, last night in
Tatabanya (Hungary), in the last test match ahead of the European
Championships. In the first test match, Romania lost to Hungary, 28-33. The European Championships (EHF EURO 2022) will
take place between November 4th and 20th, in Slovenia, North Macedonia and
Montenegro. Romania plays in Group C, together with France, the Netherlands and
North Macedonia, and its first game is scheduled for Saturday, November 5th,
against the Netherlands. Romania has taken part in all the European
Championships editions except for 2006, and its best performance was a bronze
medal in 2010. In the last edition, held in 2020, Romania came out 12th. (AMP)
