COVID-19
IN ROMANIA – 2,019 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the
last 24 hours, according to the Group for Strategic Communication. Another 172
related fatalities have also been reported, while 1,336 patients are currently
in intensive care. Nearly 10,000 patients are being treated for COVID-19 in
hospitals across Romania. Since the start of the pandemic, over 1 million infections
have been confirmed in Romania, 95% of the people who got sick having
recovered. The third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down in Romania,
Prime Minister Florin Cîţu said, stressing the need to observe health
safety regulations – the mandatory wearing of face masks and physical
distancing, including during the Orthodox Easter holidays.
COVID-19 IN THE WORLD – Several aircraft carrying emergency
medical equipment are expected to arrive today in India, which is facing severe
difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical equipment, mechanical
ventilators, oxygen generators, liquefied oxygen tanks as well as equipment
required to produce COVID-19 vaccines have been sent to India by the EU, the
USA, France, the UK, Germany and other countries. India on Monday reported a
world record-high number of over 350 thousand new cases of COVID-19 over the
course of 24 hours, and a new record-high death toll of 2,800 people at
national level. The WHO says the
situation in this country is beyond heartbreaking and insists that
vaccination is key.
DEFENSE – The Country’s Supreme Defense
Council is today convening in a meeting chaired by president Klaus Iohannis.
The meeting’s agenda includes topics pertaining to the security of the Black
Sea region and their impact on Romania, and the completion of the NATO Resolute
Support mission in Afghanistan. Last week President Iohannis expressed concern
with the developments in the Black Sea region, referring to tension building up
in Eastern Ukraine, a situation Romania is carefully monitoring. According to
Western estimates, Russia has rallied around 100 thousand military on the
Ukrainian border, in occupied Crimea and in the Black Sea. On Thursday, Russian
Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu announced the withdrawal of all Russian troops
by May 1.
REACTION – Romania’s ambassador to Moscow,
Cristian Istrate, is familiar with the standard response to acts of hostility
against Russia, the Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in response
to Romania’s decision to declare Russia’s military attaché at the Russian
Embassy in Bucharest, Alexey Grishaev, persona non grata in Romania. Russia’s
ambassador to Romania, Valery Kuzmin, in turn told TASS news agency that the
Romanian authorities’ decision is undoubtedly inimical, one that won’t help
restore healthy relations between the two countries, and that Russia has a
right to respond in line with the Vienna Convention of 1961 regarding
diplomatic relations. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in turn said
Grishaev’s actions go against the provisions of the Convention. Dozens of
Russian diplomats have been expelled from European states recently after their
actions were labeled as incompatible with a diplomat’s activity, also against
the backdrop of the espionage scandal in the Czech Republic. Prague authorities
announced they have discovered new evidence that Russian spies, working as
diplomats, were behind the explosion of a weapons depot in 2014. In response,
Russia expelled a number of Czech diplomats.
MOLDOVA – The Moldovan Parliament’s vote on
removing the president of the Constitutional Court is a blatant attack on
democratic standards and constitutional order in the Republic of Moldova, a
declaration of the US State Department reads. Friday’s vote in Moldova followed
a ruling of the Constitutional Court in favor of president Maia Sandu’s request
to hold early elections, which risks further escalating the conflict between
Moldova’s pro-European president and the Moldovan Parliament, dominated by
supporters of the former pro-Russian president, Igor Dodon. The US State
Department urged Moldovan leaders and MPs to observe the rule of law, defend
democratic institutions and work together towards solving the challenges facing
this country, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Union too condemned
Friday’s vote as an attack on constitutional order in the Republic of Moldova.
BREXIT – The European Parliament today is
expected to vote on the post-Brexit agreement between the European Union and
the United Kingdom, which creates the new framework for cooperation between the
two parties. Additionally, MEPs will debate and vote a resolution on evaluating
the agreement, in which they insist on the full enactment of the agreement,
together with Britain’s withdrawal agreement, also underlining Parliament’s
monitoring role in the enactment of these documents. In December, the EU and UK
negotiators for Brexit agreed on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement setting the
rules for upcoming cooperation in terms of tariff-free trade and fair
competition standards in the fishing, energy, domestic security sectors. To
avoid any potential disruptions in two-way trade, both sides agree to enact the
agreement temporarily over January 1 – April 30, 2021. Parliament’s vote is
required for the agreement to take full effect. (V.P.)