February 20, 2024 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Bogdan Matei, 20.02.2024, 19:48

HERITAGE – Three prehistoric gold bracelets, from Romanian archaeological sites, were brought to the country on Tuesday by Romanian prosecutors and police. The objects were taken over from a museum in Antwerp, Belgium. The jewelry, protected by law as movable cultural assets of great value, had been stolen by unknown persons. The Belgian judicial authorities signaled the appearance of the three bracelets in an auction’s catalogue in Monte Carlo, and the Romanian police officers with the Service for the Protection of the National Cultural Heritage initiated procedures to retrieve them. The bracelets are now in the custody of Romania’s National History Museum.

ELECTIONS – The leaders of the Social Democratic Party and National Liberal Party in Romania’s ruling coalition are meeting again on Wednesday to decide on whether to merge this year’s elections, after the talks so far have failed. The Liberals want the local elections to take place this summer concurrently with the elections for the European Parliament, while the Social Democrats want the parliamentary elections due this autumn to be held jointly with the second round of the presidential election. Save Romania Union, in opposition, threatened to take any legislation merging the elections to the Constitutional Court. This year all 4 types of elections are scheduled in Romania (local, parliamentary, and presidential ballots, and elections for the EP).

POLL – 50% of Romanians would agree with merging the elections, while a third consider it a bad idea, according to the results of a CURS survey made public on Tuesday. As regards the voting intention, if the European Parliament elections were held next Sunday, the PSD (the main party of the ruling coalition) would get 31%, followed by the PNL (also in power) and AUR (the nationalist opposition) – with 20% each. Also for the opposition, the United Right Alliance, formed by USR, PMP and the Force of the Right would get 13%. The populist party SOS Romania and UDMR would be below the electoral threshold, with 4% each. If PSD and PNL had joint lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections, they would get 50% of the votes, according to the recent survey.

HEALTH – Some 3.3 million sick leaves were given in Romania last year, which is significantly below the over 4 million reported in 2022. Most sick leaves were taken by cancer patients and pregnant women. The head of the National Health Insurance Agency, Valeria Herdea, says this is not about the number of sick leave days taken by people, but about the fact that many citizens have health problems. Recently, the government has issued an order introducing a 10% tax on sick leave allowances. The authorities argued this was to discourage the practice of taking sick leaves for minor health problems. But the order triggered discontent especially among cancer patients. The Senate withdrew the provision, and the order is to be discussed next in the Chamber of Deputies.

AUTOMOTIVE – The Romanian automotive market will likely see a moderate 5% growth this year, the Romanian Automobile Producers and Importers Association (APIA) announced. The Association expects electric vehicle sales to continue to increase, and sales of diesel vehicles to drop in 2024.

MISSION – The European Union has launched its own naval mission to protect commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Romania may also take part in the mission. Greece will provide a commander for its operational headquarters, while Italy will provide the force commander. According to the Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani, since November Houthi rebels have been attacking commercial vessels on this route, allegedly in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza.

MIGRANTS – Five citizens from Turkey, who attempted to illegally cross the border from Serbia into Romania, with the intention of reaching Western Europe, were caught by the Romanian border police. The migrants, aged 26 to 50, said they were heading for Italy.

TABLE TENNIS – The Romanian men’s team have qualified to the round of 32 of the world table tennis championships in Busan, South Korea, after defeating Iran, 3-1 on Tuesday. On Monday, the Romanian women’s team went straight into the eighth-finals. Taking part in the men’s and women’s competition in South Korea are 40 teams. The top 8 teams at the World Championships are qualified in this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. (EE)