October 28, 2022 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 28.10.2022, 19:00
MEASURE — The Romanian Government has raised the number of schools where students receive a warm meal, from 350 to 450, through an emergency ordinance passed on Friday. According to Education Minister Ligia Deca, this will increase the number of students benefitting this measure by 38,000. In case a warm meal cannot be provided, a food package of 3 euro per student will be offered. Also on Friday the Executive passed an emergency ordinance setting up a new government agency tasked with promoting Romanian exports and foreign investment.
POPULATION – Romania lost over 100,000 residents from July 2021 to July 2022, according to data released Friday by the National Statistics Institute. From over 22 million people with permanent residence in Romania, the number dropped to 21.9 million. The urban and female population make up a majority, accounting for 56.2%, and 51.2% of the total, respectively. The average age was 42.1 years old, 0.1 years more than on July 1, 2021. Population ageing is also significant, as the proportion of old people has increased and the share of youth aged up to 14 has decreased slightly. The NSI data refers to individuals with Romanian citizenship and permanent residence in Romania, and it may include migrants as well. According to the Institute, in 2060 Romania may have between 16.3 million inhabitants, in an optimistic scenario, and 12.5 million, in a pessimistic scenario.
PENSIONS – Pensions in the Romanian public system may be raised as of January 1, 2023, with authorities planning the increase to be at least 10%. One of the obstacles, namely the pension expenditure ceiling stipulated under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, would be replaced by an indicator related to budget capacity and other financial discipline criteria, PM Nicolae Ciucă announced in Brussels. He had talks in this respect with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, with the technical details to be defined by experts.
SCHENGEN – PM Nicolae Ciucă was on an official visit to Brussels, where he was promised full support for Romanias Schengen accession. Positive signals were also received with respect to the lifting of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The Romanian PM discussed the topics with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, while Romanian justice minister Cătălin Predoiu, who accompanied him to Brussels, had talks with the EC vice-president Vera Jourova and with the EU commissioner for justice, Didier Reynders. Romanias and Bulgarias Schengen accession may be included on the agenda of the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting of December 8-9, 2022.
UKRAINE – The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to visit 2 Ukrainian sites “this week” at Kyivs request, as the Russian president Vladimir Putin accuses Ukraine of destroying evidence that it was preparing a dirty bomb. Previously, Putin had requested an IAEA mission “as soon as possible.” According to him, Ukraine is planning to use radioactive weapons and to claim subsequently that Russia had launched a nuclear attack. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is sending Ukraine a new military and aid package amounting to USD 275 mln, to help efforts to drive Russian forces away from key areas in the south of the country. On the other hand, the US defence secretary Lloyd Austin Thursday warned Vladimir Putin that a nuclear attack would prompt a “significant” response from the international community. The US official said Russia using this type of weapons or even speaking about it was “dangerous and irresponsible”. Meanwhile, clashes continue in Ukraine, with Russian forces launching over 30 drones in the past couple of days, and the Ukrainian Army destroying 23 of them, according to Kyiv. Since February, Russia has launched 4,500 missile attacks and over 8,000 air raids over Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. (EE)
