COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – The death toll for the COVID-19 pandemic in
\nRomania stands at 1.185. The number of confirmed cases exceeds 18.000, while
\nsome 11.400 people have recovered. The number of people in quarantine has
\ndropped by some 30% since the beginning of the week. The Bucharest City Hall
\nhas launched an online platform where 11,000 volunteers can sign up for free
\ntests for COVID-19. The City Hall next week will launch another testing project
\naddressing a sample population of 10,500 people from Bucharest. At the same
\ntime 15 experts with the Romanian Ministry of Defense, five physicians, five
\nnurses and five military specialized in dealing with chemical, biological,
\nradiological and nuclear threats will leave on Monday to the United States, to
\nhelp Alabama local authorities combat the pandemic. The team will provide
\nexpert support to US counterparts in medical units and will report on the
\nmethods the US is using the combat the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
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REPATRIATIONS
\n– 125 Romanian citizens working on cruise ships in Mexico and the Philippines
\nhave been brought home. An additional 277 Romanian citizens were repatriated
\nfrom France and Great Britain on Saturday, in a joint effort of the Foreign,
\nInterior and Transport Ministries. According to the Foreign Ministry, the 140
\nRomanians repatriated from France are Erasmus students, people whose labor
\ncontracts have been terminated, tourists transiting France from the United
\nStates and medical residents who completed their internships in France. The 137
\nRomanians from the UK are students, hospitalized people whom the British
\nauthorities helped repatriate, people without shelter and seasonal workers from
\nJersey Island. The Romanian authorities also helped four foreign citizens
\nreturn to Romania, two French, one Canadian and 1 British. The operation was
\ncarried out using two special flights operated by the national airliner TAROM
\nto Paris and London. The flight to Paris also helped 76 French citizens return
\nto their home country. Also on Saturday, 92 Romanian citizens, including seasonal
\nworkers, were repatriated from Germany via a special flight coordinated by the
\nMinistries of Transports and the Interior in cooperation with the relevant
\nGerman authorities. The flight was operated by a private airliner via Nurnberg
\n– Frankfurt – Cluj. The operations are part of the Government’s efforts to
\nrepatriate Romanian nationals with temporary stay permits abroad who have been
\naffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
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PENSIONS
\n– Public pensions will go up starting September 1, but the quantum will depend
\non the state of the economy, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban told a television
\nstation on Saturday. The Romanian official said the economy has been affected
\nby the coronavirus crisis, adding that a report on the state of the economy and
\nthe budget will be made public after the first half of the year. The Prime
\nMinister also said local elections might be organized in late September, while
\nlegislative elections could be scheduled for December 6, depending on the
\nevolution of the pandemic. <\/p>\n
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FLIGHTS
\n– The national passenger airliner TAROM will resume its flights operated to
\nItaly starting Tuesday, with return trips to Rome and Milan. The flights will
\nbe operated under special circumstances, observing regulations under the state
\nof alert. According to TAROM, Italian citizens, seasonal workers and people
\nworking in the field of transport will be able to travel to Italy. Returning to
\nRomania will be only Romanian nationals willing to come home. Flights to Rome
\nwill cost 208 Euro, while people travelling to Milan will have to pay 200 Euro.
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RENAULT
\n– The Government in Paris wants the Renault carmaker to stop exporting its
\nproduction capacity, in exchange for a 5 billion euros bailout package, French
\nEnvironment Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday. Previously, Economy
\nMinister Bruno Le Maire told Le Figaro
\nthat Renault is fighting for survival in the context of the coronavirus crisis.
\nThe media says the carmaker is planning on shutting down several manufacturing
\nplants in France, including the one in Flins, where the Zoe and Nissan Micra
\nmodels are being produced, but also the plant in Dieppe, as part of a large-scale
\nrestructuring plan soon to be announced. Renault owns the Dacia plant in
\nRomania. Rebranded in 2004 with the launch of the Logan model, Dacia has become
\na major presence in the European car industry. <\/p>\n
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ECONOMY
\n– The Romanian economy will shrink by 14.4% in the second quarter of the year,
\naccording to the 2020 Convergence Program published by the Ministry of Public
\nFinance, Agerpres reports. According to the Ministry, the budget deficit
\nestimated using the ESA European methodology will stand at 6.7% at the end of
\n2020, up by 2.4% compared to the level of 2019. This reflects a 39.5% increase
\nin spending and 32.7% in incomes. Gross investments will go down by 2.6% in
\n2020, considering private consumption will shrink by 0.7%, Government
\nconsumption will have a positive impact of 2.4% while exports and imports of
\ngoods and services will have negative dynamics. <\/p>\n
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(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[35374,29332,30168,31409,29797,35458,35541],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-economic-growth","tag-ludovic-orban","tag-public-pensions","tag-renault","tag-repatriations","tag-tarom-flights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n