September 4, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of the main stories Romania today.

Newsroom, 04.09.2020, 20:00

Covid-19. Almost 1,400 new
daily coronavirus cases were reported on Friday in Romania, taking the total
number of cases to almost 92,600, while the death toll passed 3,800. Some 485 people are in intensive care. The
number of Romanians living abroad confirmed with the new coronavirus nears 6,600,
most of them in Germany, Italy and Spain. Also, 126 Romanian nationals living abroad
have died from Covid-19.

Elections. The
parliamentary elections will be held in Romania on December 6, prime minister Ludovic
Orban announced on Friday. He explained that the government is obliged both by
the Constitution and the parliamentary election law to set this particular date.
The decision was published in the Official Gazette on Friday. At the end of
July, Parliament passed a bill stipulating that the next parliamentary
elections cannot be held later than 15th March next year and earlier
than 6th December this year and that the date of the elections is to be set by Parliament through a special law. The bill is yet to be signed into law by president Klaus Iohannis, who has
referred it to the Constitutional Court.

NATO. The
Commander of US European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander
Europe General Tod D. Wolters was received on Friday by Romanian
President Klaus Iohannis, who reiterated his country’s commitment to take part
in NATO operations and missions and continue to spend 2% of its GDP on defence.
The US general hailed Romania’s participation in NATO’s initiatives, operations
and missions and noted the high level of professionalism of Romanian military
in the theatres of operation in Afghanistan and the Western Balkans and within
NATO command structures. President Iohannis decorated general Wolters with the
Order of the Star of Romania in appreciation for his support for Romania. Wolters
also met the Romanian defence minister Nicolae Ciuca and the chief of defence
staff, lieutenant general Daniel Petrescu, using the opportunity to thank
Romania for its contribution to the consolidation of the entire alliance and to
reiterate that NATO would defend Romania and all its allies.

Drug use. Romania still has one of the lowest
levels of drug use in Europe, according to a report by the National Antidrug
Agency. The most commonly used drugs in this country are the new psychoactive
substances, cannabis, crack cocaine, over-the-counter drugs and ecstasy. Heroin,
LSD, amphetamines and solvents and inhalants are the least used. According to
the report, experimental use among the general population in Romania stands
at 10.7%. Prevalence of drug use in the previous year is 6%, while that for the previous month is 3.9%. Also, prevalence is highest among people aged between 15 and
34, with levels three times lower in the 35 to 44 age group. The survey was conducted
in the October-November period last year.

Transport.
Navigable inland waterways accounted for 6% of goods transport in the European
Union, with highest figures being reported in The Netherlands, at around 43%
and Romania, at some 27%, according to data published by Eurostat on Friday. Road
transport is by far the most common way of shipping goods inside the Union,
accounting for some 75% of internal EU transport, followed by railways, with
18.7%. Road transport accounts for more than 70% of domestic transport in 16
countries, with Ireland, Greece and Spain being in the top three. Latvia and
Lithuania are the only EU member states to use railway transport more than road
transport.