GOVERNMENT The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on Saturday decided
that the ministers proposed by Prime Minister designate, Liberal Nicolae Ciuca
be heard by the specialised committees on Tuesday and sworn in by Parliament a
day later. The Prime Minister designate, retired General Nicolae Ciuca, on
Saturday submitted to Parliament a list of his cabinet and ruling programme,
which includes, among other things emergency measures aimed at settling
Romania’s health crisis and offsetting the latest soaring prices in energy. The
National Liberal Party has opted for a minority government jointly with the
UDMR, which presently lacks the support it needs for the right number of votes
in the Legislature. The Prime Minister designate has voiced hope the cabinet proposed
by him will be endorsed by Parliament adding that the talks with the other
parties must continue until the last moment. Pundits believe though that a
rejection of the Ciuca cabinet would pave the way for snap election although
the Constitution allows president Iohannis to propose a third Prime
Minister.
COVID-19 Roughly 89 people have got the anti-Covid
vaccine in the past 24 hours in Romania, out of whom 57 thousand got the first
jab. The number of those fully vaccinated in Romania has exceeded 6.2 million
and the vaccine rollout has been given such a boost of late making the
authorities to predict that if this pace maintained until the end of the year
Romania could have a rate of 70% vaccinated. Over 12,100 new infections were
reported on Saturday as well as 413 fatalities. Roughly 20 thousand people are
currently being treated in hospitals, out of whom 1858 in ICUs. A medical team
from Germany has arrived in Romania to asses Covid-infected patients who can be
treated in hospitals in that country and an aircraft belonging to German air
forces has been made available for the transport of these patients. In another
development, Romania is to receive next week a batch of 10 thousand monoclonal
antibodies as part of the contract the European Commission has signed with the
producer, Romania’s Health Minister Andrei Baciu has announced. The country’s
National Committee for Emergency Situations has also updated the list of
countries and territories with a high-risk of infection with the Netherlands
and Russia in the red tier. In the yellow zone there are Malaysia, Cuba, Costa
Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein
and Jordan.
TENNIS Romanian Simona Halep on Saturday qualified for the finals of the
Transylvania Open underway in Cluj, north-western Romania. The competition’s
odds-on favourite, Halep has outperformed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-0, 6-1 and
will be up against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the finals. Also on Saturday,
the Romania-Georgian pair Irina Bara/Ekaterina Gorgodze qualified for the
finals after a 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 win against Romanian pair Irina Begu/Andreea
Mitu.
FIRE On Saturday Romania commemorated 6
years since the blaze that ripped through the Colectiv night club in Bucharest
killing 65. Another 150 wounded in the fire caused by fireworks during a rock
concert on October 30th 2015, are still being treated for the wounds
they suffered. Religious services and wreath laying ceremonies were held on
Saturday to the memory of those who lost their lives in the disaster. The
survivors, relatives of the victims together with representatives of the civil
society have called into attention the fact that little has changed in the
country’s healthcare system since then. Six years on from the tragedy, the
survivors who are still undergoing treatment, have pointed to the fact that the
infections in hospitals around Romania are still unreported and unmonitored.
Romania still lacks burn care facilities for the treatment and recovery of
those who suffered severe burns. The court trial opened shortly after the event
is still underway.
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