Radio România Internațional

Tag: Alexe

  • January 7, 2021 UPDATE

    January 7, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The European Commission on Wednesday authorised
    the sale of a second anti-COVI-19 vaccine, the one developed by the US company
    Moderna, and previously greenlighted by the European Medicines Agency. The EC
    president Ursula von der Leyen said EU citizens will have another 160 million
    doses of vaccine available. Over 658 thousand people have been infected with
    the novel coronavirus in Romania since the onset of the pandemic, the Strategic
    Communication Group has announced. The death toll stands at 16,400. 76,400
    people have been immunized so far and a third batch of 15 thousand doses of
    vaccine arrived in Romania on Wednesday. The immunization campaign, which is
    first addressing medical employees kicked off in late December and its second
    stage is due to begin at the end of next week and is addressing the vulnerable
    categories of people such as the elderly, those with chronic conditions as well
    as the employees of Romania’s key sectors. Authorities estimate the campaign’s
    third stage aimed at immunizing the entire population will kick off in April.










    EDUCATION Romania’s education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu on Thursday held
    talks with trade unions and students and teachers associations, to look at the
    measures required in order to reopen schools, and to mitigate losses incurred
    by the education system during the health crisis. Cîmpeanu pledged to consider all the proposals made so that the
    process of education may be carried out in good conditions starting the second
    semester of the year. He added that national exams will be done face-to-face. Romanian students are to resume online classes on January
    11th, and could return to face-to-face classes only on February 8th,
    when the second half of the academic year begins, should the situation allow it. The Social Democrats and AUR party in opposition,
    and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, in the ruling coalition
    are favouring the reopening of schools.










    US Congress in the USA on Thursday
    affirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election of November 3rd.
    This was the last step prior to Biden’s inauguration scheduled for January 20th.
    The validation came after a long and troublesome day, marred by an assault on
    the Capitol by angry Trump supporters. Trump admitted the end of his term in
    office and promised an orderly transition. At least 4 people died and 52 were
    arrested during the storming of the Capitol, police sources said. Leaders of
    democratic countries around the world voiced perplexity and concern, condemning
    the violence in Washington.








    DNA
    The National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) on Thursday announced that
    Romania’s former Environment Minister Costel Alexe is being prosecuted for
    bribery and inciting embezzlement. The prosecutors are accusing the former
    minister, who is currently chairing the County Council in Iasi, north-eastern
    Romania, of having received steel products worth over 20 thousand Euros in
    exchange for granting CO2 certificates to the Galati Steel Plant in
    south-eastern Romania. According to prosecutors the products had been taken out
    of the plant by means of fictitious sponsoring contracts. In the same file, the
    plant’s representative has been placed under investigation also for bribery and
    embezzlement. Last week Alexe said that he had never received undue benefits during
    his entire term in office.






    (bill)

  • January 5, 2021 UPDATE

    January 5, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 The second stage of vaccination, during
    which workers in Romania’s key sectors and vulnerable citizens will get
    immunized, is due to kick off next week and the third stage aimed at immunizing
    the whole population is due to begin in April. The statement was made by
    Valeriu Gheorghita, coordinator of the country’s national vaccination campaign.
    Prime Minister Florin Citu has called on the local authorities to back the
    measures related to the good functioning of the over 900 vaccination points
    outside hospitals so that people may benefit from the vaccine as soon as
    possible. About 47 hundred fresh infection cases have been registered in
    Romania in the past 24 hours, the Strategic Communication Group announced on
    Tuesday. 121 Covid-related fatalities have also been registered lately bringing
    the death toll to 16,200. Since the onset of the pandemic, roughly 650 thousand
    people have been infected in Romania, while 131 Romanians died abroad.










    CORRUPTION Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has submitted to Justice
    Minister Stelian Ion, a request for the criminal prosecution of former
    Environment Minister Costel Alexe in a file opened by the National
    Anti-corruption Directorate, known as DNA in Romania. The DNA prosecutors have
    been accusing Costel Alexe of bribery as well as aiding and abetting fraud.
    According to them, between March 2020 and April 2020, Alexe would have
    allegedly asked for 22 tons of iron sheet in exchange for CO2 certificates from
    the manager of a steel plant. The former minister has rejected all allegations adding
    that he trusts Romania’s justice system.










    HOUSING In the 27 EU
    member countries, 17.2% of the people were living in overcrowded households
    last year, i.e. the number of rooms was insufficient for the number of family
    members, according to data released on Tuesday by the European Statistics
    Office (Eurostat). First by overcrowding rate was Romania, with nearly half of
    its population (45.8%). Other EU member states with similar problems in 2019
    included Latvia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Poland. The countries with the lowest
    overcrowding rates were Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and the Netherlands.










    PANDEMIC Several countries introduce new
    restrictions to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Italy introduced a
    2-day lockdown on Tuesday, and is to return on January 7 to the measures prior
    to the winter holidays, including a night curfew and mandatory 2-week
    quarantine for all citizens who enter the country. In Britain, PM Boris Johnson
    announced a new lockdown, comparable to the one in spring 2020, as the
    healthcare system is overwhelmed. Similar measures came into force at midnight
    in Scotland, whereas the local governments in Wales and Northern Ireland
    announced schools would stay closed. Austria, in turn, is extending the
    lockdown at least until January 24th, and so is Germany, which
    according to Deutsche Welle is extending tough containment measures for another
    3 weeks.








    DRILL A detachment made up of unmanned aerial
    vehicles MQ-9 Reaper and almost 90 US Air Force servicemen have been deployed
    to Base 71 in north-western Romania for the next couple of months. The US
    troops are to carry out surveillance and research missions in support of NATO
    operations. Their Romanian counterparts are expected to provide technical,
    operational and logistic support during their activity. According to a Defence
    Ministry communiqué, the US-Romanian cooperation contributes to strengthening
    the collective defence capability and increasing regional security.






    (bill)

  • Prospects for the Romanian village

    Prospects for the Romanian village

    ‘Rural areas cannot be doomed to poverty and underdevelopment ad infinitum. Almost half of Romania’s population is not connected to the sewerage system and only one in three Romanians living in the rural area is supplied with water from the public water system’ — said Monday the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the General Assembly of the Association of Communes from Romania. Moreover, statistics show that two thirds of the rural population is not connected to the natural gas network. According to the Romanian president, future projects should focus on extending the gas network and accessing European funds.



    Klaus Iohannis: “The Romanian village has a huge potential for development. Rural communities don’t lack either ideas or force. What we do lack is a long term plan, a clear-cut strategy and concrete action for the rural potential to be better and more efficiently capitalized on. And this plan should become a priority: let’s put an end to those practices that perpetuate and deepen the inequalities between the rural and urban areas.”



    Children from rural areas should also benefit from the same conditions as those in urban areas. Village depopulation, school dropout, access to early education, the lack of safe learning spaces are some of Romania’s biggest concerns. In order to find adequate solutions to these serious problems, both the central and local authorities needs to come up with an integrated, long-term approach, says the Romanian President.



    According to president Klaus Iohannis it is essential that transparency, integrity, professionalism, fairness and meritocracy should be the principles that should govern the central and local public administration, so as to improve Romanians’ living standards and to bring the services provided by public institutions to the highest level.



    ‘Normal Romania is not that country where some citizens have fewer chances and opportunities simply because they live in the countryside. Each and every Romanian, irrespective of where he or she is living, must have access to quality public services and find in the local administration an honest partner’ President Klaus Iohannis concluded.



    Attending the General Assembly of the Association of Communes from Romania, the environment minister Costel Alexe admitted, in his turn, that the main problem currently facing Romanian villages is the lack of a natural gas network, given that 3.5 million households still use wood for heating, and one in two felled trees turns into ashes.



    Minister Alexe concluded that each and every one of us should think of ways to increase the rate of connection to the natural gas network, so as to reduce the pressure that each of us – mayors, citizens or beneficiaries – is putting on Romania’s forests. (translation by L. Simion)