{"id":104850,"date":"2021-01-13T19:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devrri.freshlemon.ro\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-13-2021-update-104850.html"},"modified":"2024-02-15T20:49:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T18:49:33","slug":"january-13-2021-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-13-2021-update-id104850.html","title":{"rendered":"January 13, 2021 UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

State of alert. <\/strong>On Wednesday Romania extended its
\nstate of alert over the COVID-19 pandemic by another 30 days. Among other
\nthings, wearing a face mask remains mandatory in all indoor and outdoor public spaces.
\nAfter a first stage of the national vaccination programme that targeted
\nhealthcare workers, registration begins on Friday for the beneficiaries of
\nphase two, namely people over 65, chronic patients and employees in key
\nsectors. President Klaus Iohannis said in a press conference that the success
\nof the vaccine rollout is a prerequisite for a return to normal and relaunching
\nthe economy. More than 4,400 new COVID-19 cases and 88 related deaths were reported
\non Wednesday in Romania. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Minimum wage.<\/strong> The government decided to increase
\nthe gross minimum wage from the equivalent in lei of some 455 euros to 470
\neuros. The minimum wage for persons in positions that require a university
\ndegree remains at 480 euros. The government also discussed the state budget
\nbill for this year, which is to be submitted for debate in Parliament next
\nmonth. Prime minister Florin C\u00ee\u0163u asked his ministers to come up with a list of
\npriority projects and urged them to take into account the budget deficit, which
\nis estimated at 7% of GDP this year. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Protests. <\/strong>Trade
\nunions in the police, public administration, social assistance and the prisons
\nsystem staged a rally on Wednesday outside the Labour Ministry in Bucharest and
\nin front of prefecture offices elsewhere in the country. PUBLISIND trade union
\nfederation initiated the protests on December 31, 2020, after the government
\ndecided to freeze salaries in the public sector. Sanitas Federation also
\nstarted employee support actions on Tuesday, picketing the government
\nheadquarters and prefecture offices. They say the government’s unwillingness to
\nobserve the law and give healthcare personnel their due salaries is an insult
\nto the efforts they make every day at the work place. President Klaus Iohannis
\nsaid freezing salaries is a fair measure given the current economic crisis.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Poll.<\/strong> Romanians are pessimistic about the general
\nsituation in their country, according to an opinion poll conducted by the
\nRomanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES). Seven in ten people
\nsurveyed believe the country is heading in the wrong direction and eight in ten
\nsay 2020 was a bad year for Romania, but almost three quarters are more
\noptimistic about this year. Half of respondents believe life will probably
\nreturn to normal in Romania in 2021 after the coronavirus pandemic, but two
\nthirds are sceptical about a full economic recovery. Only one in ten
\nrespondents believes incomes will grow this year. The poll was conducted among
\n1,030 respondents on 7th and 8th January over the
\ntelephone and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Corruption. <\/strong>President Klaus Iohannis gave the green
\nlight on Wednesday to the start of prosecution against former prime minister
\nand Senate speaker C\u0103lin Popescu T\u0103riceanu, who is accused by the National
\nAnticorruption Directorate of bribe taking. In 2007 and 2008, he allegedly
\nreceived material benefits worth 800,000 dollars from representatives of an
\nAustrian company. Also on Wednesday, former MEP Marian
\nZlotea was sentenced to 8 years and a half in prison for aggravated bribe
\ntaking. As head of the National Sanitary and Veterinary Authority, he forced
\nhis employees to pay monthly contributions to the now defunct Liberal
\nDemocratic Party. In another case, the court upheld a 4-year sentence from 2019
\nagainst the former head of the organised crime body Alina Bica. She fled Romania
\nbefore the court issued its ruling, first to Costa Rica and now to Italy, from
\nwhere she asks not to be extradited. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Decoration.<\/strong> President Klaus Iohannis
\non Wednesday signed a decree to award US ambassador to Bucharest Adrian
\nZuckerman the Star of Romania national order for his entire activity during his
\nterm in Romania and his substantial involvement in developing and deepening the
\nstrategic partnership between Romania and the US. The son of Romanian
\nemigrants, Zuckerman began his term on 14th December 2019. He is not
\na career diplomat, but a political appointee of president Donald Trump and will
\nresign his post based on a common practice according to which the term of
\npolitically appointed ambassadors ends when a new administration takes office. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Investment.<\/strong> According to the National Bank, foreign direct
\ninvestment in Romania dropped in the first 11 months of last year by more than
\n60% compared with the same period in 2019, from 4.7 billion euros to less than
\n1.9 billion. Romania’s foreign debt grew between January and November 2020 by almost
\n10.2 billion euros, with the country’s long-term debt amounting to almost 86
\nbillion euros at the end of November. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Tennis.<\/strong> Mihaela Buz\u0103rnescu of Romania lost to Whitney Osuigwe of the US in
\nstraight sets in Dubai on Wednesday in the last qualifying round for the
\nAustralian Open. All six Romanian players in qualifiers were eliminated, but
\nthere are still five Romanians on the main draw: world no. 2 Simona Halep, Patricia
\n\u0162ig (56 WTA), Sorana C\u00eerstea (71 WTA), Irina Begu (78 WTA) and Ana Bogdan (92
\nWTA). The Australian Open will be held between 8th and 21st
\nFebruary in Melbourne. (CM)<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.<\/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":[29547,28950,28939,31797],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-budget","tag-corruption","tag-tennis","tag-vaccination"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJanuary 13, 2021 UPDATE - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/january-13-2021-update-id104850.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"January 13, 2021 UPDATE - 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