September 23, 2020

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 23.09.2020, 13:55

Coronavirus
Romania. Romania sees 1,767 new daily coronavirus infections today and
47 new deaths, taking the death toll to 4,550. 498 people are
in intensive care. A total of 116,415 cases have been recorded in Romania since the
start of the outbreak. Almost 94,000 people have recovered. Because of infections among pupils, teachers and auxiliary
staff, 300 schools around the country have moved to remote teaching
exclusively. According to the education ministry, 4,400 schools use a
combination of online and conventional teaching. Among the Romanian nationals
living abroad, infections reached 6,612, while the death toll has
remained at 126. The highest numbers of cases among Romanians abroad are in
Germany, Italy and Spain.

Coronavirus world. 31.7 million coronavirus infections and
975,000 deaths have been confirmed globally, according to worldomters.info. The United States is the worst hit
country in the world,with more than 7 million infections and over 200,000
deaths. The UK, which has the highest death toll in Europe at 42,000, is seeing
a second wave of the pandemic, with fresh restrictions being announced on
Tuesday. In France, infections rose by 10,000 in a single day.

Brussels. The
European Commission is today putting forward a new pact on migration. During
her first state of the union address last week, the president of the European
Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the new plan would entail
both common structures for asylum and return and a strong solidarity mechanism.
Countries like Greece, Italy and Malta, who are on the frontline of migration
to Europe, are complaining that they are left to cope with a disproportionate
task. Attempts in recent years to relocate asylum seekers to other countries
have been met with the refusal of the Visegrad Group, namely Hungary, Poland,
the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to receive migrants.

Budget. The minority Liberal government in Bucharest says it
will use every available means to block the application of an amended budget
adjustment law pushed for by the Social Democratic opposition and which
provides for a 40% rise in pensions as of September 1st and an
increase in teachers’ salaries beginning this year. The finance minister Florin
Cîţu says this law would cause a deficit of some 5 billion
euros. The Social Democratic Party says, however, that the necessary money can
be found by taking measures such as creating new jobs and recovering
state-owned debts.

Statistics.
In 2018, EU member states allocated almost 51 billion euros of government
spending to leisure and sports. Bulgaria and Romania spend the least amounts of
money in this respect, with only 11 and 30 euros, respectively, per inhabitant,
while the European average is 113 euros. According to Eurostat, the EU’s
statistical office, Luxemburg, Sweden, Finland, France, The Netherlands and
Denmark spend the highest amounts in this field.

Handball. Two
Romanian men’s handball sides were in action on Tuesday night in the first leg
of the Europa League second qualifying round. HC Dobrogea Sud pulled off a draw
against Sporting Lisbon, 27-all, as did AHC Potaissa Turda against Fenix
Toulouse Handball, 35-all. The decisive leg is taking place next week.
Romania’s handball champions Dinamo Bucharest will be playing straight into the
Europa League group stage, which gets under way in October. In women’s
handball, Romania has two sides in the Champions League competition. CSM
Bucharest won both of their Group A matches, while SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea lost both
of theirs, in Group B.