Radio România Internațional

Tag: emergency

February 9, 2025 UPDATE

VOTE Over 2 thousand Romanian eligible voters residing abroad have so far registered on the website of the Permanent Election Authority to cast their ballot by mail in the presidential election due in May this year. The registration deadline is March 20th and, according to official figures, most registrations came from Germany, Britain, Switzerland, France and Spain. Romania will be hosting presidential election on May 4 and 18. We recall the first presidential round was invalidated by the Constitutional Court in December last year due to interferences in the election process.

TALKS Romania’s Senate will next week be hosting talks with representatives of real estate agencies, notary public, and the National Agency for Cadastre. The MPs want to include in the legislation regulations for the better protection of those who want to buy houses from real estate developers. Three draft laws have already been submitted to Parliament in this respect. The move comes after hundreds of people affected by the Nordis fraudulent scheme have called for amendments to the legislation. The former PSD MP, Laura Vicol, her husband Vladimir Ciorba who is also the main shareholder in the Nordis Group, and other three persons have been placed in preventive detention in connection with the aforementioned file. The investigation is focusing on natural persons and companies accused of having raked in more than 195 million Euros from customers without giving them the apartments they paid for.

CUP Romania’s national fifteen has qualified for World Cup 2027 after a 31-14 win on Saturday against the Belgian side in Rugby Europe Championship. Romania has thus ensured its 10th participation in the World Cup. Only in 2019, Romania was not allowed to attend the competition because it used an ineligible player in the qualifiers. In its debut match in Rugby Europe Championship 2025, Romania secured a 48-10 home win against Germany. Our players will be having their last match at home against Portugal on February 15. Romania ranks first in the standings with nine points followed by Portugal, Germany and Belgium. The first two sides are qualified for World Cup 2027.

SPORTS CS Gloria 2018 Bistrita Nasaud, a women’s handball side from northern Romania, was outperformed by Slovenian side Krim Ljubljana 28-25 on Saturday in an away match counting towards group A of the Champions League. After that game, Gloria has few chances to qualify for the play-offs. In the same group on Sunday, CSM Bucharest defeated the Croatian side RK Podravka. In the competition’s group B, Rapid Bucharest was outperformed 24-30 by Ludwigsburg of Germany in an away game. In tennis competitions, the Romanian-Italian pair Jaqueline Cristian/Angelica Moratelli has conceded defeat to Magali Kempen of Belgium and Ana Siskova of the Czech Republic in the doubles finals of the tennis tournament Transylvania Open (WTA 250), a competition hosted by Cluj-Napoca, in north-western Romania, with more than 275 thousand dollars in prize money.

112 Over 100 head offices of public institutions and private companies in Romania will light up in red on Tuesday to mark the European Day of the Emergency Number 112. According to its initiator, the Special Telecommunication Service, the move is aimed at drawing people’s attention to the essential role played by the unique emergency number and encouraging citizens to use it responsibly. The abusive use of the number can hinder the rapid intervention of the specialized teams where they are actually needed. Last year through the combined efforts of intervention institutions such as the police, paramedics, firefighters and others, the number of non-urgent 112 calls dropped by one million as compared to the previous years. Emergency operators received 9.7 million calls out of which 60.45% accounted for emergencies.

(bill)

9 February 2025
July 22, 2022

RESOURCES
PM Nicolae Ciucă promised that Romania will have the necessary natural gas to
cover demand for the coming winter. The PM said more than 1.6 billion cubic
meters of gas is already stored, and the energy plan stipulates 80% of the
total capacity will be reached by November 1. Meanwhile, he said that in spite
of the drought, there is enough wheat to cover the domestic demand and export
commitments and that there are no reasons to worry about the maize and sunflower
crops.

HEAT WAVE The prime minister of Romania
Nicolae Ciucă has today asked prefects to conduct information and prevention
campaigns so that people are aware of the risks entailed by the high
temperatures and that activities to mitigate the effects of the heat wave may
be coordinated. He added that it was important for all localities to have cooling
shelters and medical teams providing assistance and free water. PM Ciucă also requested the
authorities to take steps to ensure navigability on the River Danube. The low
water flow has made it nearly impossible to navigate the Danube, with several
vessels stranded in sand and scores of cruise ships cancelling their stopovers
in the port of Giurgiu over the past month.

COVID-19 Nearly 7,400 new COVID cases
were reported over the past 24 hours, out of around 24,400 tests, the
authorities announced on Friday. Over 2,600 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised,
171 of them in intensive care. Seven COVID-related deaths have also been reported.
Hospitals are beginning to take measures, including increasing the number of
beds set aside for COVID patients, regular staff and patient testing, and
cancelling visiting hours in order to reduce the risk of infection.

REFUGEES The Romanian
Border Police announced today that 11,511 Ukrainian nationals entered Romania
on Thursday, 4.5% fewer than the
previous day.
According to a news release, border checks are conducted efficiently and in
line with the national and EU legislation, and border police units are working
at full capacity.

UKRAINE Turkey announced an agreement was reached,
which would enable Ukraine to export grains via Black Sea routes. The deal is
to be signed in Istanbul today by officials from Ukraine, Turkey, Russia and
the UN. Three main provisions in the agreement are already known. First, Russia
must guarantee ceasefire during the shipments. Secondly, Ukraine must guide grain
ships in and out through mined port waters. Finally, Turkey, supported by the
United Nations, is to inspect ships in order to dispel Russian fears of weapons
smuggling. This is the first major agreement reached by Russia and Ukraine
since the start of the invasion.

FOOTBALL Romanian football champions CFR Cluj won 3-0 against
Inter Club d’Escaldes, of Andorra, played on Thursday night on home turf in the
first leg of the second round of Europa Conference League’s qualifiers. In the
same competition, the winners of
Romania’s Cup, Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe defeated 3-1 at home the Slovenian
side Olimpija Ljubljana. Romania’s 2 other representatives in Europa
Conference League played away from home. Universitatea Craiova drew against the
Albanian side Vllaznia Shkoder, 1-1, and vice-champions FCSB were defeated by FC
Saburtalo Tbilisi, of Georgia. (AMP)

22 July 2022
March 29, 2022

ECONOMY PM Nicolae Ciucă has a meeting in Bucharest today with the EU
Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni. The Romanian official said the
topics approached will include the temporary emergency measures taken recently
by the European Commission and used by the Romanian authorities since the start
of the conflict in Ukraine. Yesterday Paolo Gentiloni discussed with the
finance minister Adrian Câciu the refugee issue as well as the economic
decisions to be made in the event of shocks in supply chains. The EU
Commissioner said the Union is discussing ways to curb inflation and address the
economic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine. There are currently no risks
to food safety in Europe, Paolo Gentiloni also said yesterday. On Monday he was
also received by president Klaus Iohannis, who pleaded for flexibility with
respect to the financial resources earmarked for 2014-2020 and not yet spent, allowing
the money to be used for handling the Ukrainian refugee situation.

UKRAINE A new round of peace talks takes place today and tomorrow in Istanbul,
after several rounds held in Belarus and online. Kyiv says its goals in the
negotiations include the pullout of Russian troops from Ukraine and security
guarantees. In turn, Moscow wants Ukraine to give up its NATO accession plan,
to recognise the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and the
incorporation of Crimea by Russia. In the field, Russian troops continue to
shell the areas around the capital Kyiv, but Ukrainian forces withstand the
attacks. The heaviest bombings were reported near Irpin, north-west of the
capital, where Ukrainians say they have full control. The port city of
Mariupol, in the south, is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster and must be
fully evacuated, said mayor Vadym Boychenko. According to him, nearly 160,000 civilians are stranded
in the city without water, food, medicines and electricity. The Red Cross has
already requested Russia and Ukraine to secure a
humanitarian corridor.

REFUGEES EU interior ministers Monday approved a plan for better coordination with respect to
Ukrainian war refugees. The EU Commissioner for home
affairs, Ylva Johansson, has announced that so far 3.8 million people,
especially women, children and elderly people, have fled Ukraine. Member states
requested additional funding from the Commission to manage the inflows, with
the Commission announcing additional aid is already being prepared. EU interior
ministers also agreed to launch a EU-wide platform for the registration of
refugees arriving in the Union and applying for temporary protection. They also
put together unified rules for receiving and supporting children, including
unaccompanied minors, and a plan against human trafficking. In this context,
Romania continues to support Ukrainian refugees and the authorities in that
country. Since the start of the war, over 570,000 Ukrainian nationals have
entered Romania. Most of them only transited the country, while around 4,300 applied for asylum in Romania.

COVID-19 Over 4,000 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed for
the past 24 hours in Romania, the authorities announced on Tuesday, almost
double the previous day’s figure. Little over 2,700 patients are being treated
in hospitals for Covid, of whom 400 in intensive care. The authorities also
announced 45 fatalities, one of which from a previous date. The health minister
Alexandru Rafila said COVID-19 hospitals will gradually resume their regular
operations by the end of September.

FOOTBALL
Romania’s national football team plays against Israel today, away from home, in
a friendly match. This is the second test match played by the national squad
under the management of Edward Iordanescu. In his first game as a coach, the
team lost against Greece, 1-0 in Bucharest on Friday. (A.M.P.)

29 March 2022
Human, too human…

They are a real treasure, for some…but for other
people, they are a real burden! A lot
of Romania’ s elderly is abandoned both by their families and society. To their
despondency and loneliness, their worrying condition is being added. In most of
the cases, their feeble condition marks their old age. Some of them need
medical care at home, but their very modest incomes turn specialized medical
into something beyond reach. For
the elderly, who become less visible by the day, dignity is something that
needs to be restored. That is exactly what the White-Yellow Foundation seeks to
do. So periodically, physicians, trained nurses, social workers, kinesiotherapy
specialists, psychologists or the sitters working for the Foundation come
knocking at doors that otherwise remain closed. Măriuca Ivan is the president
of the White Yellow Cross Romania. For us, she opened up the door of their
Foundation, which is something she created following a Belgian model.

Mariuca Ivan:

The Belgian
partners came to the country 25 years ago, back in the day I had a job with the
Healthcare Ministry, they spoke very nicely about the concept of home care. We
were trying to reshape the entire configuration of the system. In the first
years after the Revolution, debates evolved around hospital care, much had been
discussed about the ambulatory later, then the family medicine was also
tackled…yet there was a morsel missing, from the big Healthcare cake, the home
care. I did welcome the Belgian partners and I tried to give them my support,
as much as I could, for the development of that system in Romania. I gave up my
job at the Healthcare Ministry as I wanted to prove that was possible, despite
the fact that I did not succeed at the institution! The Cross is a provider of home
care services, it is accredited and licensed by the Romanian State, so it was
also us, the White-Yellow Cross, who succeeded to yet again implement, in the national
legislation, the concept of home care, a category of service which is financed
via the National Health Insurance Fund.

The White-Yellow Cross offers a wide range of
services, such as the administration of medicines, injections, perfusions,
applying a bandage, the measurement of physiological parameters, medical blood
sampling…to put it briefly, everything related to home care, as a desirable
alternative to being admitted to hospital…

Mariuca Ivan:

And that’s how it all began, for our
Foundation, by catering for the needs and the expectations of the people who
live on limited means, financially or socially, and who are unable to look
after themselves! Most of them were elderly people, with no family and
childless. As of late, mostly, the situation has been getting worse because of
migration, since there are parents who were left alone, with nobody to take
care of them. For that, we tried to identify the social projects, we tried to
get funding from the central and the local administrations, for the patients
with social problem, later on we tried to access European funds, but that kind
of money seems to be on the wane, gradually, the municipalities did not provide
that much help either and withdrew their funds, so the elderly sort of belonged
to nobody! That moment, we decided to continue developing paid medical services
for those who could afford that and who obviously were not social cases and we
kind of acted like outlaws, we took from those who could afford paying for the
services we had on offer, and helped the others as well, for whom we did not
have financing.

In other words, the White Yellow Cross, despite all
the hardships, did not abandon anyone, continuing the mission for which it was
created. For 25 years, since it has been set up, the Cross has been providing
home medical care services for more than 24 thousand people. Even during the
pandemic, so with an extra amount of effort, 40 representatives of the White
Yellow Cross have provided medical assistance for around 700-800 patients.

Mariuca Ivan:

Well, it’s been a
long time since some of them have been with us, they’ve been with us five, six or ten
years now. They live thanks to our help and
thanks to the fact that we opened up our doors for them. Actually, we’re the
only ones doing that, and what we find behind the open doors are sad stories
that impress us very much. I have just watched a recording with some of my
assistants speaking about some of our grannies who are no longer among us, we
knew they had nobody, and right after they were gone, on that very day, three
nephews popped up, God knows wherefrom. It is so sad such a story repeats, in
fact they have nobody, but after they are no longer among us, many people turn
up, who suddenly remembered they had to accompany them on their final journey.

For the support of the vulnerable elderly, the White
Yellow cross has developed the so-called Red Button. It is a project that
crowns the Foundation’s entire work so far. We’re speaking about remote
assistance, a system which is complementary to the emergency one, enabling the
elderly to ask for help when most needed. By means of a bracelet, which is very
similar to a wristwatch, provided with a red panic button and which is
wirelessly connected to a large-button cell phone, patients can signal an emergency
pushing that button. The signal is transmitted automatically to a
round-the-clock Dispatch centre. According to how serious the situation is,
the dispatcher initiates a medical protocol, indicating the action that needs
to be taken, that including calling an ambulance.

For the White Yellow Cross Romania Foundation team,
led by Măriuca Ivan, putting a lot of life into everything they do, that is
something crucial.

With no emotional investment, with no
soul, with no love, without determination, you cannot possibly offer quality
services. Instead, as of late, I could feel that, I am even disappointed that
we deteriorated in the fiber of our being, as humans, I can feel there is no sign
of goodwill, no empathy for the ailing ones. That is very sad for me, as a
former pedagogue in that area of training people clad in white dressing gowns. You
cannot speak about sacrifice, about involvement, if you do that, you’re almost
rated as obsolete… It is so sad! That is
exactly why my team is so very special. We’re short of cash, and yet we’re so
rich! The moment we feel we’re hitting the bottom of the abyss, a good angel
appears, saving us, helping us, getting us out of there, taking our message for
us, our vocation and our mission. We do not come to work, as they say, we have
a mission we carry through every day…The reward we get, that is in our souls, the
joy and the satisfaction people convey are the driving engine that helps us
keep going! We are as somebody used to say, the good angel for those who need
us very, very badly and who do not have anybody to help them.

According to Pope Francisc, the elderly need to be
treated with fondness, with gratitude and respect. The elderly people are an
essential part of society, they are the root and the memory of a nation. They
are an indispensable treasure, enabling us to look into the future, with hope
and responsibility.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)

29 September 2021
Forced landing in central Bucharest

A US Army Black Hawk helicopter was forced to land on Thursday in central Bucharest, in Charles de Gaulle Square, bringing down 2 lamp posts during the procedure.

The aircraft was part of a group of 6 helicopters training for the Romanian Air Forces Day on 20 July, and for a ceremony the following day to mark the end of Romanias nearly 20-year long military participation in the international mission in Afghanistan.

The images shot by eyewitnesses indicate that the helicopter, which had reported technical problems, suddenly lost altitude and flew over the vehicles moving on one of Bucharests main boulevards, before landing in a roundabout cleared by the police in time to avoid a possible tragedy. Two cars were damaged, but nobody has been injured.

Because of the incident, the military parade on Air Forces Day will not include aircraft flights, and Hercules and Spartan aircraft having taken part in the missions in Afghanistan will take part in the 21 July ceremonies. The decisions were made by the Romanian defence ministry, which cancelled the training flights scheduled for these days over Bucharest for the 2 events. “Citizen safety is very important to us, which is why measures have been taken to prevent such incidents in the future, the ministry said.

The military prosecutors office started a criminal investigation in this respect, according to spokesman Florin Bobin:

Florin Bobin: “A criminal case has been opened, to investigate the incident. Most likely we are talking about a violation of Art. 349 – 350 Criminal Code, failure to take and failure to observe workplace safety and security measures. We are complying with all the relevant regulations, including the Treaty regulating the presence of the US military forces on Romanian territory.

The US Embassy in Bucharest announced it was closely monitoring the incident involving the American helicopter, and said it was working with the Romanian authorities to address the situation.

Black Hawk is a 2-engine military helicopter produced by the US company Lokheed Martin. Romania plans to purchase 12 such helicopters for around 270 million euro, with the funding coming from the state budget and EU sources. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

16 July 2021
May 12, 2021

PLAN Romania’s Prime Minister Florin Citu is in
Brussels for talks with the EU officials over the projects the Romanian government
has included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Prime Minister
is today expected to have talks with the European Commissioner for Transport
and the European Commission vice-presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis
Dombrovskis. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Citu held talks with the president of
the Community Executive Ursula von der Leyen, which the two officials have
described as constructive.

COVID-19 The entire Romanian territory is presently
in the so-called green zone, as the infection rate has dropped below 1.5 per
thousand. However, the number of daily fatalities remains high, around 100, but
the number of patients in intensive care is also going down. The significant
drop in the infection rate has been influenced by the stepped-up vaccine
rollout, says its chief coordinator army physician Valeriu Gheorghita. Over
3,700,000 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine whereas about
2.5 million got the second jab. Romanians are now able to get the vaccine
without having to register beforehand. After Bucharest and Cluj, Craiova, in
the south-west, has become the third city to stage a vaccination marathon.
Other Romanian cities are expected to follow suit and host vaccination
marathons and drive throughs later this week.

DIRECTORS As of Tuesday night, Romania’s public radio
and TV stations have new interim directors. Parliament in Bucharest has
appointed journalist Liviu Popescu as head of the Romanian public radio while
Ramona Saseanu has become director of the national TV station. The two are to
occupy these positions for 6 months until the appointment of new boards of
directors for the two institutions. We recall that on Tuesday, the Legislature
rejected the activity reports submitted by the two institutions for the years
2017, 2018, 2019, which entailed the sacking of the present board of directors.

TENNIS The world’s third tennis player, Romanian
Simona Halep, is today taking on Angelique Kerber of Germany in the second
round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome with 1.6 million dollars in prize
money. Halep is leading 6-5 the head-to-head matches. The entitre champion in
Rome, Halep is Romania’s only representative in the Italian tournament at Foro
Italico.

MISSION Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has
briefed Parliament on the conclusion of Romanian army’s participation in NATO
Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan and the repatriation of the Romanian
troops according to the schedule agreed upon with its strategic allies and
partners. The Resolute Support mission kicked off on January 1st as a sequel of
the international mission Security Force Assistance ISAF. Its main objective
was the training and counseling of the Afghan security forces.

RIOT The Israeli government has
declared a state of emergency in the central city of Lod after rioting by
Israeli Arabs, as the conflict opposing Israeli forces to Palestinian militants
intensifies, the BBC reports. The city mayor has compared the situation to a
civil war. The fighting
came after weeks of rising tensions that were stoked by violent confrontations
between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters at a place in Jerusalem that
is holy to both Muslims and Jews. According to the Israeli press it has been
for the first time after many decades when the authorities need to resort to
the state of emergency to reinstate order. The international community has
urged the two sides to put an end to the escalation. At least 35 Palestinians,
including 10 children, and five Israelis have reportedly been killed in the
violence so far.

(bill)

12 May 2021
New state of alert extension

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought challenges to which the entire world is struggling to find solutions, and it is hard to estimate the exact duration of this difficult period which has changed everybodys lives. The virus has impacted the healthcare system, but also the economy, the labour market and interpersonal relations.

The high spread rate of the coronavirus and its unfortunate consequences prompted the Government of Romania to extend the state of alert by another 30 days as of Thursday, to help contain and mitigate the effects of the pandemic. The state of alert, which has already been extended 4 times so far, was introduced in mid-May, after a 2-month state of emergency starting on March 16.

The Government order passed on Wednesday stipulates that face masks must be worn outdoors as well, 50 metres from schools and in crowded areas wherever there are up to 3 cases per thousand capita, whereas in places with over 3 cases per thousand inhabitants, outdoor face covering is compulsory.

Bucharest authorities have also announced the conditions in which restaurants and performance venues may operate. Here is state secretary with the Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat:

Raed Arafat: “In cases of up to 1.5 infections per thousand capita, restaurants, cafes, cinema halls and the like will run at 50% of the overall capacity. Between 1.5 and 3 cases per thousand, they may operate at 30% of their capacity, and for rates of over 3 infections per thousand capita, sadly these venues will be closed down.

The ban on private events with large numbers of participants remains in place, Raed Arafat added, while for the upcoming election campaign indoor events with maximum 20 participants and outdoor events with maximum 50 participants are allowed. Raed Arafat also added that care centre personnel must be tested on a weekly basis by the relevant Public Health Directorate.

Meanwhile, citizens coming into Romania for up to 3 days must produce a negative COVID-19 test, and in case they intend to stay for longer periods they must self-isolate for 14 days. The list of high-risk countries includes the US, Spain, France, Netherlands, the UK and Belgium.

In recent days new negative records are reported in Romania, where daily infection numbers of over 4,000 have been reported already. Hundreds of patients are in intensive care, and scores of Romanians lose the battle against the virus every day. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

15 October 2020
September 10, 2020

COVID-19 Another 1,380 coronavirus infection cases were reported in Romania on Thursday, taking the total number up to 99,684, according to the Strategic Communication Group. Since the start of the pandemic, 41,002 patients have recovered. Also, 47 deaths have been reported, which takes the toll so far to 4,065. 459 patients are currently in intensive care. The Romanian health minister, Nelu Tătaru, announced on Thursday that he would propose a new 30-day extension of the state of alert, which was due to end on September 16. He added he had ordered the managers of COVID-19 support hospitals to review the situation and prepare a scenario for non-COVID patients. This can be done by either treating SARS-CoV-2 patients in separate buildings, or by transferring them to other hospitals, if possible, Nelu Tătaru explained.

SCHOOLS Today is the deadline for the authorities to decide and announce how classes are to be held in each school in Romania in the new academic year. School boards will present relevant scenarios to local emergency committees, public health directorates and school inspectorates. According to the National Public Health Inspectorate, over 2,700 localities have so far reported relatively low coronavirus infection figures—under 1 case in 1,000 people, meaning that they are in the so-called “green zone where all students may attend face-to-face classes. The “yellow zone comprises around 400 towns and villages, where pre-schoolers, elementary school and senior students are supposed to attend face-to-face classes and the others are included in blended, online and face-to-face programmes. Finally, over 40 localities are in the “red zone, with students exclusively attending online classes. Bucharest is in the yellow zone. In a press conference held last night, president Klaus Iohannis once again encouraged parents to send their children to school. He explained that if hygiene rules are observed, the problems can be overcome.

GUIDE The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu announced, on the last day of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomats, that a crisis response and management guide has been completed. The document will be sent to all Romanian diplomatic offices. “This guide showcases what we have learnt these past months, with the substantial consular activity conducted in safeguarding the rights and interests of Romanian citizens, Aurescu said. He emphasised that 12,500 Romanian citizens were repatriated since the start of the pandemic until July, when flights were resumed to most European countries. The foreign ministry also helped in the repatriation of over 1,100 foreign nationals, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

INFLATION In Romania, the year-on-year inflation rate dropped from 2.8% in July to 2.7% in August, although the prices of foods, non-foods and services went up, according to data released on Thursday by the National Statistics Institute. The annual inflation rates forecast for the end of this year and for 2021 are 2.7% and 2.5% respectively, according to the Inflation Report made public by the National Bank. According to Eurostat data, in July Romania had one of the highest inflation rates in the EU, alongside Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.

BREXIT An emergency meeting takes place in London today between the EU and the UK regarding Britains bill overriding some provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement, especially related to Northern Ireland. On Wednesday the British government made public this bill which proposes changes to the Brexit deal, which further complicates the already difficult negotiations between the EU and Britain. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said there would be no trade agreement between the UK and the USA if London jeopardises the Northern Ireland peace process. In order to protect free movement of goods in Ireland, the Brexit agreement stipulates that Northern Ireland will comply with elements of the EU customs code.

TENNIS The Romanian tennis player Patricia Ţig today takes on Japans Misaki Doi, seeded 8th, in the eighth-finals of the WTA tournament in Istanbul. In the doubles, Romanian Andreea Mitu and Belarusian Lidia Morozova, winners of the Prague tournament this weekend, were defeated by top seeds Alexa Guarachi (Chile) / Desirae Krawczyk (USA).

(translated by: A.M. Popescu)

10 September 2020
Flash floods hit Romania

News reports in Romania have been focusing on rainfalls, floods and flash floods, as the country is facing the rainiest month of June in 60 years. Rivers have overflown and killed people, destroying households, crops, bridges, and in some places disrupting road and railway transport.

Where the danger is over, people are taking stock of whats left behind, and trying to fix what they can. Teams from the Inspectorate for Emergencies have been deployed to the flooded areas, and the Romanian Water Administration authority continues to monitor the rivers that are under warnings.

The National Hydrology and Water Management Institute has lifted the code red alerts issued a few days ago for the rivers Prut, Timiş and Jiu, in the north and centre of the country, but they replaced them with code yellow or orange alerts.

Special attention is still paid to Prut River, as flash floods occurring upstream, in neighbouring Ukraine, are quickly advancing towards Romania. Considerable flow rate increases have also been reported in the centre of the country, in counties Harghita and Covasna, where heavy rainfalls are expected to cause flash floods and mudslides. The danger is even greater on Timiş river, in the west.

Meanwhile, military firefighters and gendarmes are carrying on assistance and support operations in the Jiu Valley area, where mining towns like Uricani and Aninoasa were badly hit. Hundreds of households were flooded and hundreds of people were evacuated.

The Lupeni coal mine was also flooded. Almost 400 workers were evacuated after water went into the underground galleries, reaching one and a half metres high. Coal production was suspended until the situation is addressed.

The heavy flooding reported in recent days in Romania is a consequence of chaotic exploitation of the forests and building materials along rivers, the Minister for the Environment, Waters and Forests Costel Alexe warned, after inspections on site. It is vital that we understand we need to take better care of the environment in the near future, so as to avoid situations like these, Costel Alexe said.

Also while on site, the Interior Minister Marcel Vela called on local authorities in all the counties affected by flooding to step up the damage assessment and to submit relevant documentation to prefect offices.

Weather experts warn that after this rainy spell, severe heat is expected to hit Romania.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

29 June 2020
May 14, 2020 UPDATE

COVID-19 We are at the end of 2 difficult months, the president of Romania said on Thursday night, hours before the end of the state of emergency introduced on March 16 in order to contain the coronavirus epidemic. He congratulated Romanians on managing to curb the quick spread of the COVID-19, through a national effort, and to keep the number of victims very low. The president also said that the National Emergency Committee will now declare a state of alert, which lifts some of the restrictions, but warned that if the situation worsens, he will not hesitate to reintroduce the state of emergency. According to the latest data, Romania has seen 1,046 COVID-19 related deaths and over 16,000 cases. More than 9,000 have recovered. Among the Romanians living abroad, over 2,855 have so far tested positive for the coronavirus, and 102 have died.

MEASURES The Government Thursday approved new measures to support the companies and citizens affected by the corona crisis. Furlough payments will be extended until June 1 for the sectors that remain closed down. Deputy PM Raluca Turcan also mentioned that until the school year is over, next month, parents who have to stay at home with their children will also benefit from paid leave. In turn, the economy minister Virgil Popescu said in the second half of the year the relevant authority may work to reduce electricity prices by 1-2%.

AID The Romanian Embassy in Chișinău announced the medical equipment, materials and medicines sent by Bucharest to support Moldova fight the SARS-CoV2 outbreak have started to be distributed to hospitals. Romanias donation amounts to 3.5 million euros and consists in materials covering Moldovan hospital needs for the next 2 or 3 months, Ambassador Daniel Ioniță says. Tens of doctors and nurses from Romania also assisted Moldovas healthcare staff during the pandemic. PM Ludovic Orban promised Romania would send further aid to the Republic of Moldova when required.

SAVINGS Two in 3 Romanian employees have managed to save money in the past 2 months and intend to continue to do so, fearing a prospective recession, according to a poll carried out by one of the countrys largest online recruitment platforms. On the other hand, the state of emergency caught the other interviewees without any savings and this has not changed. According to the same poll, nearly 35% of the respondents say the first thing they intend to do after normal activity is at least partly resumed is to look for another job, while 18% say they plan to ask for a pay raise or to start their own business. As many as 14% of the employees in Romania expect their salaries to be cut, and another 5% expect to lose their jobs as companies will struggle to recover after the corona crisis.

ENVIRONMENT The European Commission Thursday decided to send a letter to Romania giving it 4 months to take the necessary measures to solve air quality problems. This is the official beginning of an infringement procedure. Romania has failed to comply with the nitrogen dioxide threshold in the capital Bucharest and 4 other major cities—Braşov (centre), Iaşi (east), Cluj (north-west) and Timişoara (west), and to take adequate measures to reduce the periods when the threshold was breached, the EC explains. On April 30, the EU Court of Justice ruled against Romania for non-compliance with the Parliament and Council directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.

MARTYRS On May 14 Romania commemorated the people killed in communist prisons. On the night of May 14, 1948, the largest number of political arrests in the history of the country was reported. Tens of thousands of youth, many of them high school and university students, were arrested and sent to prison and labour camps then in a plan put together by the communist authorities. Historians say over 600,000 Romanians were victims of the communist prison system between 1944 and 1989.

PANDEMIC In Spain, one of the worst hit countries in Europe, only 5.3% of the population have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the preliminary findings of a survey aimed at establishing the percentage of the population that have developed coronavirus antibodies. Herd immunity is far from being reached, as it requires 60-70% of the population to be infected. Meanwhile, Spains authorities announced a 14-day quarantine will be compulsory for all travellers entering the country, as of Friday, May 15. In Rome, the government proposes that the state of emergency stay in place until January 31, 2021, in order to contain the disease, although the latest data point to a drop in new cases. In the US, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that hackers backed by the Chinese government are targeting American institutions working on new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and urged all these institutions to strengthen their cybersecurity. China denied the accusations. The total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide is 4.5 million, with the death toll standing at around 300,000. Over 1.6 million patients have recovered. In the USA, the worst hit country in the world, the number of deaths is over 84,000. In Europe, the most affected country is the UK, followed by Italy, Spain and France.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

14 May 2020
May 7, 2020

COVID-19 Another 12 people died in Romania from the novel coronavirus, taking the death toll to 876, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Thursday. One of the victims is a Bulgarian truck driver, the first foreign citizen to die from COVID-19 in Romania. The total number of confirmed cases is drawing close to 14,500, of whom over 6,100 have recovered. Another 2,419 Romanian citizens living abroad have tested positive for the virus, most of them in Italy and Spain. Since the start of the pandemic, 96 Romanians living abroad have died, many of them in the UK. Meanwhile, the Romanian interior minister Marcel Vela announced, in a video posted on social media, that after May 15, when the state of emergency ends, people will be allowed to travel outside their home locality or county. Prosecutor General Gabriela Scutea said the Romanian justice system will be facing a huge wave of complaints filed by the people who received fines for breaching the military orders issued in the context of the pandemic. On Wednesday the Constitutional Court ruled that the fines were unconstitutional. As many as 300,000 people received fines totalling around 120 million euros.

PANDEMIC We are running the risk of returning to lockdowns if restrictions are lifted too soon, warned the head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus, insisting that the lifting should be gradual, special attention should be paid to serious cases and that the healthcare system must be prepared. At present the total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is nearing 3.8 million, with the death toll exceeding 265,000, and with 1.3 million patients having recovered, according to Worldometer. The worst hit country in the world is the USA, where over 2,000 deaths were once again reported in 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths to 75,000. The US president Donald Trump said the coronavirus has been a worse attack on the US than Pearl Harbour and 9/11. In Europe, the UK reports over 30,000 deaths and is the worst hit country on the continent, followed by Italy, Spain and France. Spains parliament extended the state of emergency by another 2 weeks, starting on Sunday.

AID Today, a convoy of 20 trucks full of medical equipment as part of aid provided by Romania to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, to help it fight the Covid-19 epidemic, is reaching its destination. The convoy is accompanied by an official delegation including the health minister Nelu Tătaru, the head of the Emergency Situations Department Raed Arafat, and the secretary of state on relations with the Republic of Moldova Ana Guţu. Last week, the government in Bucharest decided to grant Moldova humanitarian aid worth 16.5 million lei in the form of medical equipment and medicines. Romania has also sent a team of 52 doctors and nurses who will be working in hospitals in Moldova treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus.

EU – Western Balkans The EU is experiencing a crisis, but it will not forsake its strategic goals and its closest partners, said the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis attending a video conference of EU and Western Balkans leaders. According to the Presidency, Iohannis welcomed the strategic decisions taken by the EU in March 2020 with respect to furthering the enlargement process, by initiating accession negotiations with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. The Romanian official also pleaded for a strengthened partnership with the Western Balkans, as the best response to the ongoing crisis, and as a means of consolidating fundamental values and democratic principles. Participants in the summit adopted the Zagreb Declaration, concerning, among others, an economic aid package granted by the EU to support Western Balkans states in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and in post-crisis recovery. This includes immediate aid in the healthcare sector, particularly through delivering medical equipment, as well as a 750 million euro package of Macro-Financial Assistance and a 1.7 billion euro package of assistance from the European Investment Bank.

SPORTS Romanian football celebrates today 34 years since the Bucharest club Steaua won the European Cup final. On May 7, 1986, in Seville, Spain, the team comprising Romanian footballers exclusively defeated the famous FC Barcelona in the final, in a penalty shoot-out. Steauas goalkeeper, Helmuth Duckadam, saved all the 4 spot-kicks by the Spanish opponents. In February 1987, in Monte Carlo, Steaua also won the European Super Cup, outplaying the Soviet side Dinamo Kyiv 1-0. Two of the participants in this unique performance in Romanian football, midfielder Lucian Bălan and defender Ilie Bărbulescu, died in recent years.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

7 May 2020
From a state of emergency to a state of alert

In mid-May there will be 2 months since the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis introduced a state of emergency to prevent the spread of the SARS CoV-2 virus. This entailed restrictions on fundamental citizen rights, such as the freedom of movement.

On Monday, the head of state made a new announcement: as of May 15, Romania will switch from a state of emergency to a state of alert. The latter is a prevention plan regarding the immediate implementation of prevention measures and actions, public warning and mitigation of the effects of the state of emergency.

The measures must be proportionate to the situations that have caused them, and will be enforced within the limits of the law.

The president warned that the situation has not yet improved. ‘We cannot say that the disease is over, but at some point we have to move on, and this takes the form of this switch to a state of alert, the president explained. He added that the state of emergency measures will be lifted step by step, at intervals of about 2 weeks.

As of May 15, life will gradually return to normal. In a first stage, hairdressers and barbers shops will be opened, along with dentist practices and museums, and people will be allowed to leave their homes within their home towns or villages without a sworn statement regarding the purposes of traveling. However, restrictions remain in place as regards travelling outside the home locality.

Klaus Iohannis: “As of May 15, beauty salons, dentist practices and museums will be opened, but all of them will apply special distancing and hygiene measures. We will all wear face masks when inside public areas and when using public transportation. Travel outside the home locality will be restricted. There are, however, a number of exceptions. One may leave ones home town or village, for instance, for work, for healthcare purposes, for individual sports activities, for biking.

Klaus Iohannis added that professional athletes will be able to begin training under special conditions, but competitions will only be allowed after a sufficient preparation period. He also emphasised that, under a state of alert, meetings of more than 3 people remain forbidden.

The president has once again called for responsibility. “There is no telling how long this epidemic will last, and it is up to us to keep it under control here in Romania. I would very much like for all of us, together, to manage to control it, and this means compliance with the instructions of the authorities, Iohannis concluded.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

5 May 2020
What are we going to do when the state of emergency is lifted?

Following an increase in the number of infections with the new coronavirus in Romania, on March 16th the head of state Klaus Iohannis issued the first decree declaring a state of emergency for 30 days, which was subsequently extended until mid-May. What is going to happen after May 15th? In a long press conference held on Tuesday, the president announced that a decision would be made next week, whether the state of emergency would continue or be replaced by another administrative measure allowing some of the current restrictions to be maintained.

So authorities will make a decision depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 epidemic in the country. Klaus Iohannis warned that the danger had not passed, the peak of infection had not been reached and a premature relaxation might endanger all the good results obtained so far.

The head of state talked about what would happen after May 15th, when restrictions would start to be gradually lifted, stressing that relaxation did not mean resuming life as it was before the pandemic and citizens must take more responsibility. President Klaus Iohannis:

“Many restrictions will stay in force, meetings will not be allowed for groups of more than three people, and for a while we will still not be ale to go out, to a restaurant or a shopping mall. We wont even be able to leave the city, town or village we live in, unless we have a very good reason to do that.”

Experts keep stressing that we will not get rid of the virus and we will have to find a way to live with it, the president also warned. The big festivals will probably be cancelled this year, and, in the case of sporting events, if they are to be resumed, it is very likely games will be played with no audience attending. Also, protective masks will have to be worn in closed public spaces and in the public means of transport. Those who enter commercial, economic or state institutions will be checked for temperature, to prevent any sick person from entering the said units.

On the other hand, the production of certain medical equipment will have to be resumed in Romania, and a selection would be useful to establish those sectors that are essential for the national or European production of medical equipment, the president also said. The president believes that economic and production chains will be rethought, in order to avoid the manufacturing of each piece in each country, but the EU must make sure the facilities are there where strategic manufacturing is taking place.

“I am sure that there will be enough Romanian entrepreneurs who will see this opportunity and start selling materials that have not been produced in our country, for various reasons, such as protective masks”, the head of state also stressed. (M.Ignatescu)

29 April 2020
The Week in Review (12-18 April 2020)

State of
emergency is extended by another month

Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday issued a decree to extend by another thirty
days the state of emergency declared as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, which
has caused the death of over 400 people in Romania so far. Current restrictions
remain in place, said the president, because this is not the time to let our
guard down. He said there was no sign the pandemic was slowing and that the danger
had not passed. The president listed the main measures contained in the decree:

Schools will stay closed and all teaching activities involving
a physical presence in schools are suspended, with as much teaching as possible
to take place online. The decree I have issued also stipulates that the
government will take all necessary measures to ensure food security for the
population by continuing to ensure supplies needed in the production,
processing, transport and distribution to the population of essential goods. The
price of medicines and medical equipment, essential goods and public utility
services such as electricity and thermal energy, gas, water supply, sanitation
and fuel supply may be capped during the state of emergency.

The presidential decree also explicitly states the
possibility that the management of public sanitary institutions may be taken
over by employees of defence and national security institutions. The decree was
debated and voted on by Parliament on Thursday in an online session, following the
approval of parliamentary specialist committees a day earlier. Under the Constitution,
the state of emergency may be extended as often as needed, but only with the approval
of Parliament, which must vote on any extension within five days of its
publication in the Official Gazette.

Government makes first budget adjustment this year

The government has made its first budget adjustment
this year, taking into account the new economic data in the context of the
crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, namely a deficit of 6.7% and a
reduction in the size of the economy of 1.9%. The largest amount of funds was channelled
to the labour ministry and the health ministry to cover medical leave, technical
unemployment in the private sector and other types of allowances. Other
beneficiaries of additional funds are the ministries of finance, home affairs,
transports, agriculture and public works.

The authorities say the technical unemployment scheme
will also cover some categories of self-employed persons. The budget adjustment
also aims to support small and medium sized businesses, severely hit by the
coronavirus crisis. A mechanism has also been put in place allowing these
businesses to contract state-guaranteed bank loans to finance working capital and
investments with 100% subsidised interest rates and no commission.

Romanian economy to shrink by 5% this year, according to International Monetary Fund forecast

The Romanian economy is projected to shrink by 5% this
year, according to the International Monetary Fund. This is a significant fall considering
that the Fund’s previous forecast estimated a growth rate of 3.5%. International
experts expect the Romanian economy to recover next year, when a growth rate of
3.9% is projected. The Fund’s latest forecast is much more pessimistic than that
of the World Bank, which last week estimated that Romania would see its economy
shrink by 0.3% this year.

The latest forecast by the International Monetary Fund
also points to a dramatic rise in unemployment in Romania, from 3.9% last year
to 10.1% this year, before decreasing to 6% next year. The Fund has also
revised its estimates for Romania’s current account deficit for this year to
5.5% of GDP, up from 5.2% last autumn. The International Monetary Fund also forecasts
that the world economy will shrink by 3% this year, indicating a much more
serious decline than that seen during the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

Transport ministry
regulates movement of seasonal workers

Romania has imposed
a series of conditions that must be respected by its citizens who travel abroad
for seasonal work, especially to Europe, which is severely hit by the coronavirus
outbreak. The new regulations are part of an order issued by the transport ministry
and stipulate that charter flights carrying Romanian seasonal workers must depart
at within a minimum of four hours of each other. The new order also obliges
recruitment agencies to provide workers with protective equipment, face masks
and gloves and to organise the workers’ transport only after receiving approval
from the departure airport. Moreover, recruitment agencies must assign a staff
member to airports to provide assistance to passengers, including in cases
where the flight is delayed or cancelled.

The new regulation
is intended to prevent the occurrence of irregularities such as those seen last
weekend at the airport in Cluj Napoca, in the north-western part of the country,
when almost 1,500 seasonal workers were crowded in front of the airport, in breach
of the physical distancing rules introduced by the military decrees issued in
the context of the coronavirus pandemic. (CM)

18 April 2020
State of Emergency Extended

Because the danger
is not over yet, and the risk of an escalation of the outbreak is still high, on
Tuesday, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis announced an extension of the state
of emergency by another month. In fact, specialists expect the peak of the
pandemic to be recorded sometime in the second half of April, after the Orthodox Easter.

Klaus Iohannis explained that it’s in the interest of the general public for
the state of emergency to be extended, to maintain the measures already adopted
and to adopt new ones, for the public authorities to be able to intervene
effectively and manage the crisis properly. Therefore, schools remain shut, the
Government continues to ensure citizen’s food safety, and the prices of medicines,
foodstuffs and public utilities can be frozen. Also, during the state of
emergency, organizing and holding meetings and any kind of gathering, including
cultural, scientific, religious and sporting events, is still banned.

President
Klaus Iohannis believes that a relaxation of the restrictions, in the coming
period, would trigger a steep increase in the number of infections, which would
put a huge pressure on the health-care system. That is why he called again on
the Romanian citizens to observe the measures taken by authorizes, in order to
avoid painful consequences.

Klaus Iohannis: I make
an appeal to those who believe that the situation is not that serious and keep
ignoring the measures taken by authorities. Don’t fool the state institutions because
you are only fooling yourselves, your loved ones, your parents and
grandparents, whom you put in danger by ignoring these measures which were
taken to protect your lives and the lives of those you care for. Don’t expose yourselves
and don’t expose the others. Any step taken beyond the boundaries set by these
regulations can translate into you becoming ill, and therefore your loved ones
too. Don’t expose yourselves and don’t expose the others. Be responsible and show
solidarity!

The presidential
decree extending the state of emergency has been published in the Official
Journal, and, on Thursday, the Romanian Parliament will vote, using an
electronic system.

Currently at
the helm of the Government, the National Liberal Party has announced it
supports the extension of the state of emergency, just like the Save Romania Union
and the People’s Movement Party. On the other hand, the opposition Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats and PRO Romania say they will vote against.

The Social
Democratic Party has stated it will stand for a responsible solution, to
protect citizens and support an economic relaunch. The interim president of the
Social Democratic party, Marcel Ciolacu, has drawn attention to the fact that
the current Government has ignored the proposals set forth by his party for the
mass testing of the population and also concrete measures aimed to restart the
economy.

If Parliament does not endorse the extension of the state of
emergency, the head of state will have to revoke the decree, and the measures
enforced under this normative act will cease. (M.Ignatescu)

15 April 2020