October 29, 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 29.10.2022, 13:56

POPULATION – Romania lost over 100,000 residents from July 2021 to July 2022, according to data released Friday by the National Statistics Institute. From over 22 million people with permanent residence in Romania, the number dropped to 21.9 million. The urban and female population make up a majority, accounting for 56.2%, and 51.2% of the total, respectively. The average age was 42.1 years old, 0.1 years more than on July 1, 2021. Population ageing is also significant, as the proportion of old people has increased and the share of youth aged up to 14 has decreased slightly. The NSI data refers to individuals with Romanian citizenship and permanent residence in Romania, and it may include migrants as well. According to the Institute, in 2060 Romania may have between 16.3 million inhabitants, in an optimistic scenario, and 12.5 million, in a pessimistic scenario.

DEBATES — Debates on the ordinance capping the price of firewood will be resumed next week by the Government’s expert committees after the document issued by the Government has led to a crisis on the wood market. Talks held last week on this matter led to the conclusion that the objective of supporting vulnerable categories has not been reached in the two months since the ordinance had taken effect because firewood and derivate projects disappeared from the market. Consequently, the document could be modified in Monday’s meeting. In another development, the Chamber of Deputies will discuss the ordinance that has raised the level of property taxation by 50%, document which could be revised.

MEASURE — The Romanian Government has raised the number of schools where students receive a warm meal, from 350 to 450, through an emergency ordinance passed on Friday. According to Education Minister Ligia Deca, this will increase the number of students benefitting this measure by 38,000. In case a warm meal cannot be provided, a food package of 3 euro per student will be offered. Also on Friday the Executive passed an emergency ordinance setting up a new government agency tasked with promoting Romanian exports and foreign investment.

UKRAINE — Almost 4 million people are affected by power outages after recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, France Presse cited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as saying. The Ukrainian President also announced in his daily speech that electricity cut-offs were programmed in a number of cities and districts, in order to stabilize the situation. The capital Kyiv and the surrounding area will also be affected by unprecedented power outages due to the significant damage caused to the Ukrainian energy system by the Russian bombings. Russia has increased its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, destroying at least one third of it.

REFUGEES — The Romanian Border Police has announced that 103,287 people entered Romania on Friday of whom 8,000 Ukrainian citizens, up 3,68% as against the previous day. Some 2,700,000 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania since the start of the Russian invasion on February 10. Most of them headed for Western Europe and several thousands were granted asylum in Romania. Around 70,000 have obtained stay permits.

TIME – Romania will switch to winter time on Saturday night when 4 am will become 3 am. Sunday will have 25 hours instead of 24, being the longest day of the year. The time change has been intensely debated in recent years, and the European Union has asked member states to decide whether they will permanently stay on summer or winter time. No decision has been made yet.

HANDBALL — Romania will take part in the 2022 European Women’s Handball Championship to be held between November 4 and 20 in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro but will take part in two friendly matches before that. The first one, against Hungary, is taking place today, away from home and the second one, against Germany, will be held on November 2nd. In the preliminary group C of the European Championship, the Romanians will play against the Netherlands, France and North Macedonia. Romania took part in all editions of the European Championship, with the exception of the 2006 edition. Their best result was the bronze medal in 2010. At the previous edition held in 2020 Romania ranked 12. (EE)