Covid-19 Ro — 1,470 new SARS-CoV-2 infections have been registered in Romania in the last 24 hours, following the testing of 40,677 people – the Strategic Communication Group informed on Thursday afternoon. During the same period, 26 patients infected with the novel coronavirus have died. 2,642 COVID patients are hospitalized in specialized health units, of whom 322 in intensive care. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, 1,101,678 cases of people infected with the new coronavirus have been confirmed in Romania and 1,056,922 patients have recovered. The constant increase in the number of cases is not a good enough reason for Romanians to get vaccinated. Romania is at the bottom of the European Union ranking, with a share of only 26.4% people vaccinated with both doses, i.e. a little over 5.1 million people. In another development, 400 people are being investigated in almost 200 criminal cases in relation to false vaccination certificates.
Bucharest — On Thursday the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed the decree dismissing Stelian Ion, who represents the USR-PLUS Alliance, from the position of Justice Minister and appointed the interior minister, Liberal Lucian Bode, as interim justice minister. On Wednesday, the USR-PLUS Alliance, a junior partner in the governing coalition, announced that they withdrew their political support for the Liberal PM Florin Cîţu, after the latter announced that he had dismissed Stelian Ion, for refusing to endorse an extensive infrastructure program – the “Anghel Saligny” project. Stelian Ion claims that “many constitutionality and illegality issues have been identified in the draft program”. USR PLUS calls for negotiations to appoint a new prime minister and announces that if talks fail, they could support a motion of censure against the prime minister. The Deputy Prime Minister representing the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania – UDMR Kelemen Hunor says it is necessary for the “Anghel Saligny” project to be adopted before the budget rectification prepared by the government and he believes that the present deadlock facing the government can be overcome. From the opposition, Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of the Social Democratic Party – PSD called on the USR-PLUS representatives to either leave the government or sign the censure motion to be tabled by the Social Democrats.
Diplomacy – The Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, is participating, on Thursday and Friday, in the informal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the EU member states (in Gymnich format), which takes place in Kranj, Slovenia. High on the agenda of the meeting are the crisis in Afghanistan, the EUs approach to the Gulf region, the EU-China relations and the migration situation on the border with Belarus, from the perspective of its impact on Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. The Romanian official will express Romanias full solidarity with these states, showing that to instrumentalize migration against some EU member states is unacceptable. On the sidelines of the Gymnich meeting, Bogdan Aurescu participated, at the invitation of his Slovenian counterpart, in the Bled Strategic Forum. There, he met with the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Svetlana Tihanovskaia, at her request. Bogdan Aurescu reiterated the Romanian sides concern with the continuous deterioration of the internal situation in Belarus and the continuation of serious and systematic human rights violations in that country. For her part, Tihanovskaia expressed thanks especially for Bucharest’s support as well as for the concrete assistance provided, with special reference to the Comprehensive Plan Of Economic Support To Democratic Belarus presented by the European Commission following the initiative of Romania’s President and of his Polish and Lithuanian counterparts.
Enescu — The first concert scheduled for Thursday, the 6th day of the George Enescu International Festival, takes place at the Radio Hall in Bucharest. Under the auspices of the Royal Family of Romania, the Symphony Orchestra of the Brasov Philharmonic, under the baton of conductor Răzvan Apetrei, will give a “Royal Concert”, in the series “Music of the XXI century”. The Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne (Switzerland) will perform again on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada will conduct the Filarmonica della Scala (Italy) at the Palace Hall in Bucharest. “The Festival across the country” section also starts on Thursday. The artistic director of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Liebreich, conducts the Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra from Cluj-Napoca. 32 orchestras from 14 countries are participating in the 2021 anniversary edition of the festival “George Enescu” International Festival. (LS)
