January 19, 2024 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 19.01.2024, 19:51

Measures – The Romanian government on Thursday approved the first measures requested by transporters and farmers who have been protesting in Romania for several days now. Its clear that all protests are justified and these decisions confirm the fact that many of these claims are absolutely legitimate, the Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has said. In spite of the measures endorsed by the Executive, protests are still going on around the country. The Bucharest city hall has authorized for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday a protest expected to bring together 5 thousand people, 200 tractors and truck heads. Family physicians and the personnel of the outpatient care units are also protesting the fund cuts for a series of medical services.

Trial – The Pfizer company has sued Romania in Brussels to force its government to pay for the anti-Covid vaccines they contracted during the pandemic. According to the countrys health minister, Alexandru Rafila, Romania has negotiated for 28 million doses in a contract of roughly 550 million Euros. However, Romania failed to place the order and implicitly to get the contracted doses. The minister explains that against the background of a diminished interest for vaccination, Romania lacked the facilities to stockpile and destroy such a large quantity of vaccines. The Romanian official said he expected Pfizers legal action as that was also the case with other two states, Hungary and Poland. Late last year, the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate launched a criminal investigation against the former Prime Minister, Florin Citu, former health ministers Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihaila as well as the former state secretary with the Health Ministry, Andrei Baciu. The have been accused of abuse of office for having contracted much larger quantities of vaccine than needed. Prosecutors have estimated a budget prejudice of over one billion Euros in this case.

Forum – Romanias Foreign Minister, Luminita Odobescu has again firmly condemned Russias aggression war and has reiterated Romanias unflinching support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the neighboring Ukraine. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Romanian official has underlined the risks the Russian attacks against the Ukrainian civilians and major infrastructure pose to the regional security.

Cereals – The European Commission is working on a set of measures to address the problems caused by the export of cheap Ukrainian cereals to the bordering member states: Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The announcement was made on Friday by the representatives of the EC, who confirmed that they received a letter from the five countries and that they would come up with a proposal that would be presented next week, to the Council of European Ministers of Agriculture. One of the requests is the introduction of import taxes for cereals from Ukraine, as they are cheaper and do not have to comply with quality standards like those produced in the European Union. The EU commissioner for agriculture showed that the volume of Ukrainian exports to the EU doubled after the start of Russias invasion of Ukraine, and the most affected are the agricultural markets of the five border states, which take the shock given by the price difference.

Statistics — The purchasing power of Romanians has increased, according to data from the European Statistical Office. At the level of 2022, Romania had the cheapest prices, of the European Union member states, for the group of food products and non-alcoholic beverages, followed by Poland. At the opposite pole were Denmark and Luxembourg. Romania and Bulgaria also had the lowest prices among the EU member countries for furniture, household and current home maintenance equipment, while Hungary remained the member state with the cheapest prices for transport. Regarding the gross domestic product per inhabitant, calculated on the basis of the purchasing power parity, Romania registers the same value as Hungary, with an average level at 76% of the European Union average, surpassing countries such as Croatia or Greece. On the last place is Bulgaria, with a level of 62% of the European average, and on the first place is Luxembourg, which exceeds the average by 156%.

Electric cars — In Romania there are over 42,000 electric cars, after over 16,000 vehicles were registered last year, according to a study carried out by one of the most important players in the field of electric mobility on the local level. According to them, the charging infrastructure has reached approximately 5,000 public chargers. The top of preferences for electric cars is led by Dacia Spring, with almost 7,000 cars registered in 2023. The 2nd and 3rd places are occupied by Tesla models, which became the second most popular model, with over 3,000 registrations for Model Y and Model 3.

Weather – Snow, rain and blizzard are expected this weekend in all of Romania. The weather is getting colder, including in the capital Bucharest, and a warning of high amounts of precipitation is in force until tomorrow afternoon. On Saturday, in the south, the sky will be more cloudy and it will snow. The maximum temperatures will range between -3° and 5° Celsius, with the highest values ​​in the west, and the minimum between -15° in depressions and -2° on the sea coast. (db, LS)