November 25, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.11.2022, 20:00

SUMMIT – Romania’s support
for Ukraine will continue, president Klaus Iohannis said on the sidelines of a
press briefing held jointly with counterparts from Lithuania, Latvia and
Poland. On Friday, Klaus Iohannis attended a summit devoted to strengthening
NATO’s Eastern Flank. We have to maintain Western unity and strategic
commitment towards Russia’s renewed efforts to divide us, including by
escalation attempts, food shortage, energy blackmail and disinformation, the
Romanian president said. Klaus Iohannis pointed out that Romania is ready to
contribute to the international effort to reconstruct Ukraine at the end of
Russia’s brutal, illegal and unjustified war. The four presidents also adopted
a joint declaration on regional security and European integration.

SALARIES – The Government has
announced it reached an accord with social partners as regards increasing the
gross minimum wage from approximately EUR 510 at present to nearly EUR 600 as
of January 1. A total of 2.2 million employees will benefit from this law.
Also, the minimum wage in constructions will be around EUR 800. People working
in this sector, considered of national importance, are exempted from paying the
10% tax and pay a smaller contribution to the insurance fund. Around 23% of
employees in Romania, that is over 2 million people, receive the minimum wage
at present.

ARREST – In Romania, the
Department for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT)
announced that it arrested one person in an advanced phase of self-radicalization,
who has systematically accessed and promoted, via the internet, propaganda
materials specific to a terrorist organization active in the Middle East. That
person is accused, among others, of instigating to and planning a terror
attack. Judicial sources announced that the person is a woman, Liliana
Florentina Gâdea,
who had already received a suspended sentence in Romania for similar deeds.

MOLDOVA – The Russian
ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, was summoned at the
Foreign Affairs Ministry in Chișinău, in protest to Russia bombing Ukrainian
civil infrastructure, which left most of the neighboring Moldova without
electricity for a few hours. According to Radio Chișinău, upon leaving the
Foreign Ministry headquarters, Vasnetsov told journalists that bilateral ties
have been discussed as well as the events in Ukraine. Previously, Moldovan
Minister Foreign Nicu Popescu wrote on Twitter that Russia’s brutal bombing of Ukraine
continues to have dramatic consequences for Moldova, such as massive power
outages across the country, including the capital Chișinău.

NATO – A meeting of the
North Atlantic Council at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs will be
held in Bucharest on November 29-30, 2022. The country will thus become the
European and Euro-Atlantic diplomatic capital, said the Romanian foreign
minister, Bogdan Aurescu. In a video message, released before the event, he
said that the NATO countries’ foreign ministers meeting will once again
demonstrate allied unity and solidarity and seek solutions to counter the
effects of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine. The conference will be hosted
by Bogdan Aurescu together with the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
Also in Bucharest, next week, the G7 foreign ministers will discuss how they
can help Ukraine secure its energy resources for the winter, the German foreign
minister, Annalena Baerbock announced.

RED CROSS – The Romanian Red
Cross, with support from the French Red Cross, on Friday opened in Bucharest
the Center for Healthcare Promotion, where Ukrainian refugees will benefit from
free-of-charge medical advice and services. The Center will provide basic
medical testing and consultations. Patients can get appointments by calling the
Center’s call center in Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian or English. After four
months, the center will be converted into a mobile health caravan that will
travel to several counties across Romania.

HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s
handball team, Dinamo Bucharest defeated on home turf the Polish side Orlen
Wisla Plock, 32-27, in a Group A match of the Champions League. This is the
third victory in Group A for the Romanians, whose coach is the Spanish Xavi
Pascual. Dinamo will play the away leg on December 1st. (EE & VP)