Radio România Internațional

Tag: Pence

  • January 8, 2021

    January 8, 2021

    VACCINE The EU has concluded a fresh
    agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech for the purchase of another 300 million doses of
    anti-Covid vaccine, besides the 300 million already purchased, the head of the
    European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen has been cited by DPA as saying.
    According to the EU official, 75 million doses would be delivered in the second
    quarter of the year. The EU immunization campaign with the vaccine produced by
    the German-US consortium Pfizer-BioNTec kicked off in December. The EU has also
    approved the Moderna vaccine and is waiting for the delivery of the first 160
    million doses. The European Commission has attracted a lot of heat for the slow
    pace of the immunization campaign addressing its 450 million citizens.










    EC The European Commission has again
    cautioned the centre-right coalition government in Bucharest that it has to
    keep budget deficit at bay, after expenditures soared in 2020 whereas incomes
    went down against the background of the health crisis. ‘We are expecting from
    Romania a robust 2021 budget’ the vice-president of the European Commission
    Valdis Dombrovskis said in a phone talk with the Romanian Finance Minister
    Alexandru Nazare. The Romanian official has pledged that promoting investment
    remains a priority and so does the use of EU funds. Minister Nazare has given
    assurances that Bucharest is considering a gradual reduction of the deficit,
    starting this year so that it may reach 3% of the GDP in 2024.










    COVID-19 Romania’s Health Ministry
    wants to simplify procedures for setting up and authorizing the anti-Covid
    vaccination centers across the country. According to Minister Vlad Voiculescu
    the government is working on amending legislation to set the regulations
    concerning the authorization and functioning of these centers. The minister
    went on to say that Romania must shortly have about one thousand suchlike points
    able to immunize 150 thousand citizens a day. 76 thousand people have been
    immunized in Romania so far and experts believe that immunization comes a week
    after getting the second dose of the vaccine produced by PfizerBioNTech, the
    only one used in Romania so far. Roughly 5 thousand fresh Covid infections were
    reported in Romania on Thursday after nearly 31 thousand tests had been
    conducted. Most of the cases, 940, were reported in Bucharest. 11 people died
    and 1106 are in intensive care. Out of the 658 thousand infected since the
    onset of the pandemic in Romania, nearly 90% have been cured.










    SCHOOLS Students might come back to schools
    starting February 8th, Romania’s Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu
    said at a meeting with representatives of trade unions in the field and of
    associations of students and teachers. However, the decision hinges on the
    evolution of the pandemics, and the opening of schools and kindergartens will
    be done differently depending upon the infection rate in every region. National
    exams are to be held face-to-face with the strict observance of the prevention
    measures in place.






    MEETING Romania’s
    president Klaus Iohannis is today holding talks with the Liberal Prime
    Minister, Florin Citu, and with the ministers nominated by the National Liberal
    Party in the executive, such as Defence minister Nicolae Ciuca, Foreign
    Minister Bogdan Aurescu, Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare and Interior
    Minister Lucian Bode. On Thursday the president held talks with the Prime
    Minister and the ministers nominated by the USR-PLUS alliance. The coalition
    cabinet in Bucharest, whose activity commenced on December 24th, also includes
    three UDMR ministers.

    US In a video message posted on
    Twitter, the outgoing US president, Republican Donald Trump, has declared
    himself ‘outraged by the lawlessness, violence and mayhem’ caused by his
    supporters who stormed the US Capitol. The new message was in stark contrast to
    the previous one in which he praised his supporters. Trump has also pledged a
    smooth transition for president-elect Joe Biden’s administration. Democrat
    leaders have called on Vice-president Mike Pence to invoke the 25th
    amendment and remove Trump from power in the wake of the violent events on
    January 6th, in which 5 people were killed. Some senior members of
    his administration have resigned in the wake of the US Capitol riot in order to
    protest the violence.








    (bill)

  • October 16, 2019 UPDATE

    October 16, 2019 UPDATE

    Turkey — The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Thursday with the American vice- president Mike Pence who is heading the US official delegation on a visit to Ankara, in an attempt to obtain a ceasefire in northern Syria, the Turkish presidential administration announced on Wednesday, according to France Press. Erdogan had previously announced that the American officials would only have talks with their Turkish counterparts. The Kremlin announced that the Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan about the Syrian conflict and invited him to visit Russia in the next few days. The two leaders underlined the need for preventing a conflict between the Turkish and Syrian units in northern Syria where Ankara started an offensive. The US announced the pullout of the 1,000 US soldiers still deployed in that area, but pointed out that it would keep the 150- strong Al-Tanf garrison at the border with Jordan. One week ago Ankara launched an offensive targeting the Kurdish militias People’s Protection Units YPG, an ally of the West in the anti-Jihadist fight.



    Strasbourg — The European Parliament on Wednesday postponed the vote for validating the future EC headed by Ursula von der Leyen. The vote had been scheduled initially for October 23 during next week’s plenary session of the EP in Strasbourg. The vote was postponed as the candidates for European Commissioner of Romania, Hungary and France were rejected during the validation process within the EP on grounds of conflict of interest or ethical problems. Ursula von der Leyen and her team were to start their mandate on November 1 but the rejection of the 3 candidates put it on hold.



    Exercise — The ‘Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu corvette is participating from October 15 to 17 in a drill in the Serpents’ Island area and in the Black Sea international waters together with the Pryluky missile carrier from Ukraine and the American destroyer USS ‘Porter’, the Romanian Navy Staff officials announced, adding that the 3- party exercise contributes to the consolidation of the partnership between Ukraine and the NATO member states in the naval forces domain. (update by L. Simion)