COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – 128 thousand doses of Moderna are
scheduled to arrive today in Romania. Since December, 2020, over 4.3 million
people have taken the anti-COVID-19 vaccine, most of whom with both doses. The
number of infections remains low. On Friday, 225 new cases of infection were
reported, in addition to 113 fatalities. 341 people are still in intensive
care. The European green certificate will officially be launched starting July
1 at European level, and Romania is on schedule with implementation
proceedings, Andrei Baciu, Secretary of State with the Health Ministry, has
said. The certificate attests that a person is vaccinated with the anti-COVID
vaccine, that he/she had the disease, confirmed by a recent PCR test, or that
he/she does not have the virus, also confirmed by a PCR test.
VISIT – Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, on Tuesday will receive his
Israeli counterpart, Reuven Rivlin, who will pay an official visit to Romania.
According to a report made public on Friday by the presidency, the visit confirms
the high level of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The two
presidents last met on the sidelines of the 2020 World Holocaust Forum hosted
by Jerusalem in January last year and talked on the phone in March and June,
2020. The meeting’s agenda will focus on economic cooperation and efforts to
combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Holocaust education and other measures to combat
anti-Semitism in Romania, as well as cultural exchanges between the two states.
High on the agenda are also the developments in the Middle East.
PNRR – Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR),
submitted to Brussels this week, provides for an increase of low pensions and
the recalculation of all pensions, Minister for Investments and European
Projects, Cristian Ghinea has said. The Romanian official told the public radio
that pensions will not be slashed, whereas the retirement age and taxes will
not go up. According to Minister Ghinea, the EU will disburse funds to member
states provided national governments undertake reforms to correct imbalances.
Education, healthcare, transport and infrastructure, digitization and the
reform of public administration are the main fields in which Romania has
pledged to invest the nearly €30 billion earmarked by the European Commission. Under
the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, Romania plans to implement reforms of
its fiscal and pension systems. Romania’s plan provides measures in the fields
of sustainable transport, education, medical assistance, the renovation of
buildings and the digitization of public administration. All projects must be
finalized by 2026.
CANNES -
Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will be presiding the jury of the section Semaine de la Critique at the
International Film Festival in Cannes, to be held over July 6-17. In 2002,
Cristian Mungiu presented his debut feature in Cannes, West in the Quinzaine
de Realisateurs. In 2007 he scooped the Palme
d’Or for his feature, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days and grabbed the award for
best scenario for his feature Beyond the Hills in 2012. In 2016 he won the
award for best director for Baccalaureate. A screen writer and producer, he
was also jury president in the Cinefondation
and Short Films section in 2017. The feature film, La Civil, is a
Romanian-Belgian-Mexican co-production directed by Teodora Ana Mihai and
co-produced by Cristian Mungiu, and has been selected in the Un Certain Regard section. The film
tells the story of a mother whose daughter is kidnapped and who decides to take
action in order to save her, after the Mexican authorities refuse to help.
EXHIBITION – India’s Ambassador in Romania, Rahul Shrivastava, will attend the
opening of the Indian photo art exhibition, organized by the Euro Foto Art
International Association (AIEFA). Titled LensVision, the exhibition
comprises 72 black-and-white and color photos of high artistic value, taken
by the president of the Bengal Photography Institute in Calcutta, Sanjoy
Bhattacharya and 36 of his students. The event is held under the patronage of
the International Photo Art Federation and the Indian Embassy in Romania. The
official opening will be held at the Euro Foto Art Gallery in Oradea on Friday,
June 4, and can be visited until July 6.
EURO 2020
– Romanian Minister for Youth and Sports, Eduard Novak, said matches Bucharest
will host as part of EURO 2020 will be played with the physical attendance of
fans up to 25% of the capacity of National Arena Stadium in Bucharest. For the
match counting towards the round of 16, the capacity will be increased to 50%.
The decision falls in line with UEFA recommendations regarding security plans.
Bucharest will be hosting three matches in Group C: Austria vs. North
Macedonia, Ukraine vs. North Macedonia and Ukraine vs. Austria, as well as one
match in the round of 16. Originally scheduled for 2020, the competition was
postponed for 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. EURO 2020
celebrates 60 years since the organization of the first European Championship
and will take place over June 11 – July 11 in 11 European cities.
TENNIS -
Two Romanian tennis players are today competing in the women’s singles in the
third round at Roland Garros. Sorana Cîrstea will play Daria Kasatkina of Russia, while Ana Bogdan will take on
Paula Badosa Gibert of Spain. Also today, in the men’s doubles, Horia Tecău of Romania and Kevin Krawietz
of Germany are playing Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.
Yesterday, in the women’s doubles, Irina Begu of Romania and Nadia Podoroska of
Argentina qualified to the second round after defeating Estelle Cascino and
Jessika Ponchet of France, 6-3, 6-1. Also yesterday, Monica Niculescu of
Romania and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated 6-0, 6-3 the pair made up of
Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. (VP)