COVID-19 – In its session
\ntoday the Government decided to extend the state of alert by another 30 days
\nstarting December 14. State Secretary Raed Arafat said all restrictions remain
\nin place, including the nighttime curfew. One new measure will be introduced,
\nregarding cable transport operators in ski resorts. Cable transport facilities
\nwill remain open, although the Government intends to avoid overcrowding in
\norder to limit the spread of the virus. Therefore aerial trams with 20 seats
\nwill only carry 10 people. Raed Arafat called on Romanians to limit their
\nvisits, avoid going caroling or to New Year’s Eve parties during the winter
\nholidays. 545 thousand Romanians got infected with COVID-19 since the start of
\nthe outbreak, of whom 80% have recovered. So far over 13,100 people have died
\nto the virus. 6,460 new infections were reported on Friday, most case being
\nsignaled in Bucharest. Some 1,300 patients are in intensive care. <\/p>\n
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TALKS – President Klaus
\nIohannis on Monday invited political parties to consultations with a view to
\ndesignating the new Prime Minister. Taking part in consultations will be the
\nSocial-Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union -
\nPLUS Alliance, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians and the Democratic Union
\nof Ethnic Hungarians. The Social-Democrats have nominated Prof. Alexandru
\nRafila, Romania’s representative at the WHO, whom they want to lead either a
\nSocial-Democratic Cabinet, or a technocratic government. The Liberals, in turn,
\nhave nominated Florin C\u00ee\u0163u, the current Finance Minister and say they will hold
\nofficial talks with a view to forming a majority in Parliament with the Save
\nRomania Union – PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
\nstarting Saturday.<\/p>\n
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INFLATION – The annual
\ninflation rate went down to 2.1% in November, from 2.2% in October, considering
\nfoodstuffs, non-essential products and services registered price hikes, the
\nNational Statistics Institute announced on Friday. In its inflation report, the
\nNational Bank of Romania has estimated a 2.1% inflation rate for the end of
\n2020, down by 0.6% compared to its previous forecast.<\/p>\n
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INTERNET USAGE – Over 5.3 billion
\nGigabytes of Internet were used in Romania in the first half of 2020, of which
\n90% in home connections. A report of the National Authority for Management and
\nRegulation in Communications in Romania (ANCOM) reveals that total broadband
\ntraffic registered a major increase in the first six months of the year as an
\neffect of the coronacrisis, and went up by 33% compared to the previous
\nsemester, the biggest increase since 2015. At the same, mobile data usage
\nreported a 12% increase, the lowest reported so far. During the state of
\nemergency, Internet traffic moved to broadband connections, with remote work
\nand online teaching becoming the norm. People staying at home also connected to
\nWI-FI home connections for accessing the Internet, the President of the
\nAuthority, Eduard Lovin, explained. <\/p>\n
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EUROPEAN COUNCIL – At the European
\nCouncil meeting in Brussels, EU leaders, including Romania’s President Klaus
\nIohannis, adopted the Union’s seven-year budget and the post-pandemic recovery
\npackage, worth \u20ac1.8 trillion, after Poland and Hungary initially refused to
\nvote in favor due to disbursements being tied to the observance of the rule of
\nlaw. From the upcoming EU budget, Romania will receive \u20ac46.7 billion for
\nvarious sectors, such as agriculture, cohesion, rural development,
\ninfrastructure or transports. From the recovery package, Romania will get \u20ac33.5
\nbillion in grants and loans. Another topic on the meeting’s agenda is the
\nreduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. The Romanian
\nPresident called for the creation of a flexible framework allowing all Member
\nStates, irrespective of their development, to effectively meet climate change
\ngoals. EU leaders also agreed to sanction Turkey for its aggressions in the
\nMediterranean Sea against Greece and Cyprus. <\/p>\n
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SPORTS – Romania’s women’s
\nhandball team lost 25-20 to Croatia on Thursday in its first game in the second
\nmain group at the European Handball Championship in Denmark. Romania is bottom
\nof the group tables with zero points and has lost all chances of qualifying to
\nthe semi-finals. Romania will play two more games, against Hungary and the
\ndefending world champions, the Netherlands. In news from football, Romania’s
\nchampions CFR Cluj failed to qualify to the Europa League knock-out phase after
\nlosing 2-1 away from home to Young Boys Berne of Switzerland. CFR Cluj ranked 3rd,
\nafter AS Rome, in top position, and Young Boys in runner-up position. (V.
\nPalcu)<\/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":[29479,35374,30366,29654,31311,35172,35913,31211,29000,35514],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-consultations","tag-covid-19","tag-europa-league","tag-european-council-meeting","tag-european-handball-championship","tag-inflation-forecast","tag-internet-usage","tag-parliamentary-election","tag-president-klaus-iohannis","tag-state-of-alert"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n