REVOLUTION Romania’s Parliament convened this morning in a solemn
\nmeeting devoted to the 32 years since the anti-communist revolution of December
\n1989. Originating in Timi\u0219oara (west), on 16th December, the uprising spread
\nacross the country, culminating with dictator Nicolae Ceau\u015fescu fleeing the
\ncapital city on 22nd December amid the protests of hundreds of thousands of
\nRomanians. Captured by the Army, Ceau\u015fescu and his wife Elena were subject to a
\nsummary trial and executed in the southern town of T\u00e2rgovi\u015fte. Romania was the
\nonly country behind the Iron Curtain where the change of regime was accompanied
\nby bloodshed. Over 1,000 people were killed and some 3,000 wounded. <\/p>\n
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BUDGET Romanian MPs are due to vote today on the draft state budget and
\nsocial security budget laws for 2022. The government
\npassed the bills on Monday and promised the budget ensures stability and
\npredictability. The Liberal leader and ex-PM Florin C\u00ee\u0163u criticised the fact
\nthat 6.7% of GDP was earmarked for investments, instead of 7% as agreed within
\nthe ruling coalition. The Social Democratic leader Marcel Ciolacu argued
\nhowever that the budget execution is more important than the exact breakdown of
\nexpenditure. The leader of USR party in opposition, Dacian Ciolo\u015f, says the
\ndraft budget relies on over-estimated revenues and said although public
\neducation is a priority for President Iohannis, not enough funding has been
\nearmarked for the sector.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 775 new SARS-CoV-2 infection cases were reported in the past 24 hours in Romania, along with 81 related
\nfatalities, 44 of them from a previous date. Since the start of the pandemic
\nRomania has had around 1.8 million COVID-19 cases,
\nand more than 58,000 patients died. Amid
\nanti-vaccine sentiments fuelled by some media, politicians and opinion leaders,
\nthe country has the 2nd lowest immunisation rate in the EU, after Bulgaria.<\/p>\n
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EU
\nFUNDING The government
\nof Romania passed an emergency order allowing for the accessing of a roughly
\n15-billion euro loan granted by the European Commission under the Recovery and
\nResilience Mechanism. The loan agreement between the European Commission and
\nRomania was signed in Bucharest on 26th November and in Brussels on 15th
\nDecember. Under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, Romania benefits
\nfrom some 29 billion euro, of which approx. 14 billion in non-reimbursable
\nfunds and some 15 billion in loans. The loan will be available until the end of
\n2026. <\/p>\n
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BASKETBALL The national men’s basketball champions, Universitatea-Banca
\nTransilvania Cluj-Napoca, qualified into the second stage of the Champions
\nLeague group matches, after defeating the Turkish side Daru\u015f\u015fafaka in a suspensefull
\nmatch away from home, 103-101. The Romanian team is thus the leader of Group G,
\nwith 5 wins and one defeat. Group leaders go straight into the second stage of
\nthe competition, scheduled for January-March 2022. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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