Radio România Internațional

Tag: rollout

November 21, 2021

GOVERNMENT The president of Romania
Klaus Iohannis invited parliamentary parties to consultations on Monday to
appoint a new PM designate. The Social
Democrats and the Liberals, which have the largest number of seats in
Parliament, carry on negotiations today to form a new cabinet jointly with the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The 3 parties have a
political agreement and a governing programme in place. According to the
National Liberal Party, no tax raises are planned, but the special department
investigating offences in the judiciary will be dismantled by March 31. Public
pensions, salaries and child allowances will be increased. One decision yet to
be made is which party will appoint the prime minister in the new PM rotation
system. The Liberals nominated the interim defence minister Nicolae Ciucă for
the post, while the Social Democrats want the position to go to their president
Marcel Ciolacu. The 3 parties are still considering 2 scenarios for
distributing cabinet seats. The first option is with a Social Democratic PM and
the Liberals and Social Democrats heading an equal number of ministries, while
in the second scenario a Liberal will be PM and the Liberal Party will have
fewer cabinet members. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians says in both
scenarios they will keep the development, environment and sports ministries.

COVID-19 Over 1,930 new COVID-19 cases
have been reported in Romania today, along with 121 related fatalities, 16 of
them from an earlier date. As many as 1,573 patients are in intensive care, but
the number of patients is on the decrease. The National Committee on Emergency
Situations agreed that in places with infection
rates below 3 per thousand schools may resume on-site teaching regardless of
the vaccination rate among teaching staff. Several
activities subject to restrictions in recent weeks may now be resumed, but a
final decision is to be made by the government. Such activities include sports
events, concerts, performances and outdoor festivals, conferences and training
sessions. Only holders of the digital Covid certificate will be permitted to
take part. Should the situation continue to improve, the winter holidays might
take place without many restrictions, the head of the Emergency Committee Raed
Arafat said. As for the vaccine rollout, over 7.1 million people are
fully vaccinated in Romania so far.

TRAVEL The
National Committee on Emergency Situations updated the list of countries and
territories by COVID-19 incidence rates. Germany, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and the UK
are now red-list countries, while France, Portugal, Monaco, Chile, Lebanon and
Guyana were included in the medium-risk category.

PANDEMIC Meanwhile in Europe the new pandemic wave has prompted states to
reintroduce restrictions, which in turn led to large-scale protests. In Austria
and Netherlands people took to the streets to protest the ‘corona dictatorship’.
In Austria, where a full lockdown takes effect on Monday, tensions deepen
between citizens and the authorities that try to step up the vaccine rollout so
as to help hospitals cope with the record-large number of cases. Some 40,000 people
rallied in Vienna on Saturday. The Netherlands saw the most violent clashes in
Europe, with 3 people hospitalised in Rotterdam and over 50 arrested during the
clashes with police. The country has a partial lockdown and further
restrictions are being considered, such as prohibiting access to restaurants
and events for the unvaccinated. Anti-Covid restriction protests also took
place in Belgium and Denmark. Infection rates are surging in Eastern Europe as
well, including in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

MOLDOVA The president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu
will be on an official visit to Romania on Tuesday, at the invitation of her
Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis. This is Sandu’s first visit to Romania
since July’s early election won by her party Action and Solidarity (PAS), and
it takes place in the context of the celebration of 30 years of diplomatic
relations, after in 1991, the ex-Soviet republic proclaimed its independence
from Moscow. According to the Romanian presidency, this is an opportunity to
reconfirm the special, privileged Strategic Partnership between the 2 countries,
based on common linguistic, cultural and historical elements. The talks between
Iohannis and Sandu will encourage the development of joint projects in the
fields of energy, transport, healthcare, education and information society, with
a focus on projects designed to help connect the Republic of Moldova with the
EU to the benefit of all its citizens. (tr.
A.M. Popescu)

21 November 2021
Six million vaccinated people in Romania

On Tuesday Romania went over 6 million citizens fully
vaccinated against Covid 19, with the immunisation pace rising spectacularly of
late.

The reasons
seem to be, on the one hand, the new restrictions affecting the unvaccinated, and
on the other hand fear of the complications entailed by the disease, in a
country with a healthcare system overwhelmed by the pandemic.

Romania
remains one but last in the EU in terms of the vaccination rate, and below the
world average. The total number of doses administered since the 27 December
2020 is now over 12 million, most of them Pfizer, followed by
Johnson&Johnson, AstraZeneca and Moderna.

The head
of the vaccination programme, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, reiterated that should the
current vaccination pace remain steady, more than 70% of the Romanians over 12
years of age could be immunised by the end of the year.

At the
moment, the national vaccine coverage rate is 33% of the total population,
including people with just one vaccine dose. The highest rate is reported in
the capital Bucharest – nearly 60%, Cluj (north-west) is over 52%, whereas
Suceava County (north-east) only has a vaccination rate of 24%.

Valeriu
Gheorghiţă also announced that over 40% of those vaccinated in the first stage
have also received a booster dose after at least 6 months. More than 61% of
them are vulnerable people, patients with chronic conditions and aged over 65. Also,
some 19% of them are employed in the healthcare and social assistance fields.

Gheorghiţă
also said that over the past few weeks new vaccination centres have been
opened, and some of those temporarily suspended have been reactivated. Wherever
the situation required it, their working hours have been extended. Consequently,
across the country 706 vaccination centres are now operating, with over 1,000
lanes.

Valeriu
Gheorghiţă said solutions are being searched to step up vaccination in rural
communities. The authorities consider activating family physician practices, where
available, or deploying mobile teams to roll out the vaccine in locations
provided by the local community. Another option is to transport people to the
nearest vaccination centre.

Meanwhile,
every weekend until the end of the year Bucharest will hold so-called vaccination
marathons in every sector. The manager of the University Emergency Hospital in
the capital city, Cătălin Cîrstoiu, recently warned that Romania is losing a
community as large as a village to COVID-19 every day, as the number of
COVID-related deaths is 400-500 a day. And vaccination is the solution, Cîrstoiu
emphasised. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

27 October 2021
A first survey over vaccine effectiveness in Romania

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to
create problems worldwide. According to WHO, the world runs the risk of losing its
fight against the Coronavirus. Due to the new variants and other factors, many
countries are in for new outbreaks. The virus continues to spread against the
background of eased travel and gathering restrictions of not complying with
safety measures and the unfair access to vaccines. Authorities say that
vaccination remains the best solution to containing the virus in Romania.

Physician Valeriu Gheorghita, coordinator of the country’s vaccine rollout, has
presented a first preliminary survey on the effectiveness of anti-Covid-19
vaccination. According to data released, vaccinated people benefit from
increased protection and their chances to develop a severe form of the disease
are considerably lower. Furthermore, a single dose proves to have an
effectiveness of 67%, which may increase to 92% in the case of those fully
vaccinated, enabling them to avoid hospitalization.

The aforementioned survey
shows that the risk for fully vaccinated individuals to be admitted to
hospitals is 12 times lower. Besides, immunization reduces 14 times the risk of
being killed by the virus, with an effectiveness of 93% in the case of fully
vaccinated people. The survey was carried on four months, from February until
the end of May. And data released by other countries shows a vaccine
effectiveness over 90% even in the case of the Delta variant when it comes to
preventing hospitalization, severe cases and fatalities, Valeriu Gheorghita
went on to say.

According to France Press, half of the EU population had been fully
vaccinated against Covid-19 by early August. Out of the 27 member states, 13
had already exceeded the 50% threshold, after the model of the four most
populous countries in the bloc: Spain (58%), Italy (54%), France (53%) and
Germany (52%). The countries with the largest number of fully vaccinated people
were Malta (74%) and Belgium (59%). At the other end of the ranking is Bulgaria
with 14%, which is surpassed only by Romania where only a little over 5 million
of its people have been fully vaccinated.

Only four types of anti-Covid vaccine
have so far been approved by the European Union: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna,
AstraZeneca-Oxford and Johnson&Johnson. Hungary and Slovakia have been
using vaccines made in Russia and China, which aren’t approved by the European
Medicines Agency though.

(bill)

18 August 2021
Authorities in Romania are bracing up for the Delta-driven fourth wave

Romania has exceeded 300 daily
infections with the novel coronavirus. In spite of the low number of infections
and the fact that the Delta variant hasn’t yet spread as expected, there are still
reasons for concern in Romania. Medical authorities here are expecting
infections with the Delta variant to be on the rise as the number of those
fully vaccinated has barely reached five million.

The latest data points to a rising
number of infections with the novel coronavirus among people below 40, while
the average age of those killed by the virus has also gone down, from 71 to 69.
Physician Valeriu Gheorghita, who coordinates Romania’s vaccine rollout, has
cautioned that although the number of cases remains low, the infection rate is
steady and progressive. Under a worst-case scenario, in the second half of
September, Romania could have over 15 hundred daily infections.

Valeriu Gheorghita: Pessimistic scenarios point to a potential
increase in the number of infections next month, when we are going to see a
higher number of daily cases, 15 hundred, 16 hundred in the second half of
September. Now we are having 9.3 infections per thousand in 14 days but we
expect this number to double in the next two weeks.

Valeriu Gheorghita has reiterated that
the only solution for the containment of this pandemic is vaccination, which can
protect citizens from severe forms of illnesses.

In another development, the ruling
coalition convened on Tuesday to find ways to step up the vaccine rollout in
this country, which may even include meal vouchers for those fully vaccinated. According
to Health Minister Ioana Mihaila, these vouchers will be somewhere around 20
euros.

Stronger immunity allows citizens
to better cope with the upcoming Delta-driven fourth wave, but it is the
responsibility of every Romanian to get the jab in order to minimize the risk
of being admitted to hospital, the Health Minister went on to say. According to
her, people must be responsible not only for their health but also for those
around. ‘It is important to avoid hospital treatment, which may lead to
overcrowded hospitals and for this we must get the vaccine’, Minister Mihaila
also added.

(bill)

11 August 2021
July 17, 2021 UPDATE

WARNING Meteorologists have issued yellow warnings for extremely hot weather
in 25 counties in southern and western Romania where the discomfort index will
remain high. Showers are expected in the mountains while in the rest of the
territory highs will be ranging between 29 and 37 degrees. Floods have caused damage
in Alba County, central-western Romania, where hundreds have been evacuated.
Roads have been blocked and cars swept away while a series of events scheduled
for this weekend have been cancelled.

HOMAGE Seven years on from the MH-17 aviation disaster, the Romanian Foreign
Ministry paid homage to the 298 people on board, including a Romanian citizen,
who lost their lives in the incident. Romania believes the culprits must be
brought to court and hails the criminal procedures underway in the Netherlands,
under the Dutch legislation. We recall the MH-17 aircraft belonging to Malaysia
Airlines, was shot down over eastern Ukraine while flying from Amsterdam to
Kuala Lumpur. Dutch prosecutors launched criminal proceedings against four
suspects in June 2020 and started to investigate evidence a year later.

EXTREME WEATHER The death toll from devastating floods across parts of Western Germany rose
to 130 on Saturday, while more than one thousand people are still unaccounted
for. Germany and Belgium have for several days been affected by unprecedented
torrential rains, which damaged several towns and villages. The most affected
region is Rhineland-Palatinate where the police believe the death toll could
get higher. About 700 residents were evacuated on Friday after a dam burst near
Cologne. Water levels remain high in many localities sweeping away cars and
making houses to collapse in the worst natural disaster to have struck Germany
in the past 50 years. Entire communities have been stranded and left without
electricity and communications. A death toll over 20 has prompted the Belgian government
to declare a day of national mourning. Torrential rains have also affected the
Netherlands and Luxembourg.

TENNIS Romanian-German pair Horia Tecau/Kevin Krawietz on Saturday qualified
for the finals of the doubles contest in the tennis tournament in Hamburg with
over one million Euros in prize money after a straight 6-3, 6-4 win against US
challenger Jamie Cerretani and Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico. Top seeds Tecau and
Krawietz are to take on Tim Puetz of Germany and Michael Venus of New Zealand.
This would be Krawietz and Tecau’s fourth finals together and their second on a
clay court. They obtained their first title in Halle last month after finals
played in Rotterdam and Barcelona.

FILM
La Civil, a Romanian-Belgian-Mexican production directed by Romanian Teodora
Ana Mihai on Friday was awarded Prix de L’Audace of the Un certain regard section
of the 74th edition of the Film festival in Cannes. Among its
producers are the famous Romanian director Cristian Mungiu and the Belgian
brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. The film tells the story of Cielo, a
Mexican mother searching for her daughter who has been abducted by members of a
drug cartel. As the local authorities fail to help her, Cielo takes things into
her own hands and gradually turns from housewife into an avenging activist.
Russian filmmaker Kira Kovalenko has got the top prize in ‘Un certain regard’
for her movie ‘Unclenching the Fists’.

COVID-19 Romania has a ‘window of opportunity’ of at least 6 weeks to get ready
for the moment in which the highly-contagious Delta variant is going to rise
significantly and create problems, says Andrei Baciu, secretary of state with
the Health Ministry in Bucharest. Authorities in Romania are presently targeting
the country’s rural areas to step up the vaccine rollout. According to Baciu,
no significant vaccination initiatives have been carried out in 25-30 % of
Romania’s communes and villages. The number of infections with the novel
coronavirus remains low in Romania amid fears of the highly-contagious Delta
variant, which the authorities believe will become dominant this autumn. In
spite of the sustained pro-vaccination campaigns, the threshold of 5 million
fully-vaccinated Romanians has not been reached yet, a month and a half after
the term initially set by the authorities. 49 new infections were reported on
Saturday as well as two Covid-related fatalities.

(bill)

17 July 2021
July 17, 2021

COVID-19 Romania has a ‘window of opportunity’ of at least 6 weeks to get ready
for the moment in which the highly-contagious Delta variant is going to rise
significantly and create problems, says Andrei Baciu, secretary of state with
the Health Ministry in Bucharest. Authorities in Romania are presently targeting
the country’s rural areas to step up the vaccine rollout. According to Baciu,
no significant vaccination initiatives have been carried out in 25-30 % of
Romania’s communes and villages. The number of infections with the novel
coronavirus remains low in Romania amid fears of the highly-contagious Delta
variant, which the authorities believe will become dominant this autumn. In
spite of the sustained pro-vaccination campaigns, the threshold of 5 million
fully-vaccinated Romanians has not been reached yet, a month and a half after
the term initially set by the authorities.

FILM
La Civil, a Romanian-Belgian-Mexican production directed by Romanian Teodora
Ana Mihai last night was awarded Prix de L’Audace of the Un certain regard section
of the 74th edition of the Film festival in Cannes. Among its
producers are the famous Romanian director Cristian Mungiu and the Belgian
brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. The film tells the story of Cielo, a
Mexican mother searching for her daughter who has been abducted by members of a
drug cartel. As the local authorities fail to help her, Cielo takes things into
her own hands and gradually turns from housewife into an avenging activist.
Russian filmmaker Kira Kovalenko has got the top prize in ‘Un certain regard’
for her movie ‘Unclenching the Fists’.

FLOODS The death toll from devastating floods across parts of Western Germany have
today risen to 130, while more than one thousand people are still unaccounted
for. Germany and Belgium have for several days been affected by unprecedented
torrential rains, which damaged several towns and villages. The most affected
region is Rhineland-Palatinate where the police believe the death toll could
get higher. About 700 residents were evacuated last night after a dam burst
near Cologne. Water levels remain high in many localities sweeping away cars
and making houses to collapse in the worst natural disaster to have struck Germany
in the past 50 years. Entire communities have been stranded and left without
electricity and communications. A death toll of 20 has prompted the Belgian government
to declare a day of national mourning. Torrential rains have also affected the
Netherlands and Luxembourg.

HOMAGE Seven years on from the MH-17 aviation disaster, the Romanian Foreign
Ministry is paying homage to the 298 people on board, including a Romanian
citizen, who lost their lives in the incident. Romania believes the culprits
must be brought to court and hails the criminal procedures underway in the
Netherlands, under the Dutch legislation. We recall the MH-17 aircraft
belonging to Malaysia Airlines, was shot down over eastern Ukraine while flying
from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Dutch prosecutors launched criminal proceedings
against four suspects in June 2020 and started to investigate evidence a year
later.

(bill)

17 July 2021
JUNE 29, 2021

MESSAGE Romanian Parliament is to convene in a solemn session on Tuesday to
commemorate the victims of the pogrom on June 28th-30th
1941, in Iasi, north-eastern Romania where over 13 thousand Romanian Jews were tortured
and killed by the pro-Nazi regime of that time. In a message conveyed on this
occasion, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said that sheer hatred, violence
and contempt for human dignity were some of the instruments used by the
pro-Nazis authorities of that time to implement their diabolical plan, namely
to clean the city of Jews. According to Iohannis, the pogrom in Iasi is not
only a tragedy of the Jewish population killed by the far-right nationalists
but also a drama and a responsibility for the Romanian nation. On this occasion,
the head of the Romanian state has said that recollecting the suffering of
those days represents the main moral restitution the present generation and the
next ones must pay to the victims of those events. According to the Romanian
president, against the rising denialism, hate speech, the attempts to distort
the historical records, populism and anti-Semitism, the democratic principles and
values as well as the rule of law must be defended.

VOTE The Chamber of Deputies and Senate in Bucharest are
today debating upon and voting on the first censure motion against the
centre-to-right coalition government led by Florin Citu tabled by the main
opposition party PSD. The Social-Democrats have been criticizing the measures
taken by the Executive in key-areas and the way in which the ruling coalition
has drawn up the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience. The ruling parties
are to attend the debates but refrain from voting, Liberal Prime Minister
Florin Citu has announced. If the censure motion has been endorsed by 234 MPs, the
government can be sacked. The opposition PSD and AUR together with the
independent MPs can currently rely on 205 votes.

CERTIFICATE Authorities in Romania are making the last preparations for the
introduction on July 1st of the Green COVID-19 Certificate, which is
to facilitate travel among the EU countries. Technical details have been
finalized but interior laws are still to be put in line with the EU
legislation. Those willing to travel to the EU countries can download this
document in the first day of the next month, while authorities are looking for
new ways to step up the vaccine rollout. A possible solution would be a mobile
team to bring the vaccine to Romania’s rural areas. Since the vaccine rollout
kicked off in late December 4.7 million people have been vaccinated in Romania.
73 new infections were announced on Tuesday. 500 infected patients are being
treated in hospitals around Romania, out of which 80 in intensive care.

FOOTBALL The football sides of Spain and Switzerland will be meeting in the
quarter finals of the EURO 2020. Spain secured a dramatic 5-3 win against
Croatia in Copenhagen, while in Bucharest, Switzerland clinched a 5-4 victory against
the world champions France. Also in the quarters Belgium will be up against
Italy and the Czech side will be playing Denmark. England will be taking on
Germany in London tonight in an attempt to secure a place in the quarterfinals,
while Sweden will be up against Ukraine in Glasgow. Romania hosted four games
in the group C of the prestigious European competition: Austria versus North
Macedonia on June 13, Ukraine versus North Macedonia on June 17th,
Ukraine versus Austria on June 21st as well as the eight finals game
pitching France to Switzerland.

(bill)

29 June 2021
JUNE 28, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 Romania announced only 37 new COVID infections on Monday after
over 10,700 tests had been carried out. Only one person died and 86 patients
are being treated in intensive care. No new cases have been reported in the
past 24 hours in 17 out of Romania’s 41 counties. Authorities say this positive
development became possible due to the stepped out vaccine rollout, which is
the only solution to overcoming the crisis. Only 17 thousand people have been
vaccinated in the past 24 hours and since the rollout kicked off in late
December 4.7 million Romanians have been vaccinated, which accounts for roughly
25 % of the eligible population. Others have got immunity after having suffered
from the disease. Seven hospitals in Romania are to receive robots donated by
the European Commission used in the disinfection of hospital wards. These
machines use ultraviolet light and can disinfect over 18 wards on a single
charge. The government in Bucharest has approved new relaxation measures, due
to come into effect on July 1st. The EU Digital COVID Certificate is to become
available online on the same date.

DRILL Over 300 servicemen of the Romanian Navy
are participating until July 10th in the multinational drill ‘Sea
Breeze 21’. The drill has been staged jointly by the US Navy and Ukraine in the
international Black Sea waters and in the ground training facilities near Odessa.
Romanian corvette, ‘Rear Admiral Horia Macelariu’ is already in the port of
Odessa together with other foreign war vessels. Romania’s frigate Queen Marie,
which has a Navy Puma helicopter on board is also to join the exercise. Two
cadets of the Admiral Ion Murgescu Navy School will be on board of a US
destroyer during the exercise to undergo training under the guidance of the US
sailors.

ELECTION Local
by-elections took place on Sunday in six cities and 30 villages around Romania,
where the voter turnout was over 50%. Some of the mayor seats remained vacant
after the winners of last September’s elections passed away, gave up their
mayor seats to stand for Parliament or had problems with the law. The Social
Democratic Party in opposition won the largest number of mayor seats, namely
18, another 14 went to the ruling coalition formed by the National Liberal
Party, the Save Romania Union-PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic
Hungarians in Romania, 3 went to independent candidates and one to the People’s
Movement Party. The interior ministry said 10 persons are currently investigated
for possible criminal acts, including voter corruption, electoral fraud, voter
suppression and breach of voting secrecy.

VOTE The two-chamber
Parliament in Bucharest will vote on Tuesday on the first no-confidence motion
filed by the Social Democratic opposition against the coalition government. The
initiators of the motion accuse the government led by Liberal Florin Cîţu of
inefficiency, of taking the country into the wrong direction, and of pushing
the country’s economy to the brink of disaster and blame it for the drop in
living standards. The failure of the vaccination campaign and of the National
Recovery and Resilience Plan are also on the list of complaints. The prime
minister described the accusations as unfounded, while the leader of the
National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban said the coalition decided that its MPs
would attend the debates but would not vote on the motion.

(bill)

28 June 2021
The Week in Review 21 – 27 June

New
Relaxation Measures starting July 1st

Against the latest significant drop in the infection
rate with the novel coronavirus (under 100 in the past 24 hours) the government
in Bucharest has endorsed a new series of relaxation measures. So, private
events will be attended by a larger number of people, restaurants, cafes and
clubs will remain open for more hours, while sporting facilities are allowed to
function at 50% of their capacity. Hotels and guest houses as well as other
accommodation facilities are allowed to function at their full capacity.
Outdoor fairs and similar events will also be allowed. In another development,
a quarter of the Romanians above 12 years old have been vaccinated, while
others are presently immune after having suffered from the disease in the past.
Experts believe that herd immunity will be obtained after 2 out of 3 Romanians
have got the jab and authorities are presently targeting the young people, urging
parents to vaccinate their kids. They also want to step up the vaccine rollout
in the countryside as only 4.7 Romanians have fully vaccinated and authorities
aren’t satisfied with the figures.

Valeriu Gheorghita, the physician in charge of
Romania’s vaccine rollout, says that authorities expect a higher number of
infections in the colder season but a significant increase could be avoided if
people got the vaccine in larger numbers in the next couple of months.
According to the Romanian official, vaccination is a prevention measure and
Romanians shouldn’t get the vaccine only when the number of infections is high.
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has also admitted that the people’s interest
in vaccination has diminished.

Klaus Iohannis: The vaccine rollout has been a success and
we have practically stopped the pandemic in its tracks. Now that we are having
a smaller number of cases, the interest in getting the vaccine has diminished.
So, our success somehow can be seen in this low interest, but I still believe
that vaccination is vital.

The
government led by Florin Cîțu faces its first no-confidence vote

Six months after its inauguration,
the Florin Cîțu Government faces the first motion of no confidence filed by the
main opposition party in Romania on Wednesday. The Social Democrats accuse the
government of implementing measures that have led to the impoverishment of the
population and a free fall of the economy. They recall the freezing of
pensions, salaries and child allowances and criticize the way in which the
executive drafted the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, under which, they
say, the population will pay more to benefit from European funds. The Social
Democratic Party also accuses the lack of effective measures for the economic,
health-care and education sectors. According to PSD First Vice-president, Sorin
Grindeanu, the Romanians have become poorer in the past six months.

Sorin
Grindeanu: The Romanians have become poorer in the
past months and it’s only in the mind of Prime Minister Citu that they are
faring any better. Prices in electricity and gas have almost doubled while 70%
of the Romanians believe the country goes in the wrong direction.

The leadership of the Social
Democratic Party considers that the move has chances of success and says that,
currently, they are negotiating with parliamentarians from other parties to
support the motion. In response to the statements made by the Social Democrat
leader Marcel Ciolacu, according to which negotiations are underway, including
with several parliamentarians from the governing coalition, the USR-PLUS
co-president Dan Barna says that no senator or deputy of his party will support
the motion.

Dan
Barna: We
have not been contacted and I doubt that Mr. Ciolacu has any hope, other than
as a joke, that any USR-PLUS parliamentarian would support this motion that
they have announced. This is the role of the PSD, to remain in opposition,
always ready, and I agree with this line.

The
no-confidence motion is to be voted and debated upon on Tuesday.

New
Facilities in the Public Pension System

A
law on purchasing seniority in work was promulgated by Romanian President Klaus
Iohannis on Tuesday. The law establishes the legal framework for completing, by
the persons who do not have the quality of pensioner yet, the contribution period
in the public pension system necessary for granting an old-age pension, an
early retirement pension or a partial early retirement pension. Among the potential beneficiaries are
the millions of Romanian expatriates, looking for a better life, usually in
Western Europe, and who have incomplete contributions to the Romanian pension
fund. There are also people in the country with incomplete work seniority
either because, at some point, they remained unemployed or because they chose
to free-lance, found various undeclared jobs and no longer paid contributions
to the pension system. Those interested can
buy a maximum of six years of seniority prior to reaching the standard
retirement age. The payment of this social security contribution can be
made in a single instalment or monthly, until August 31, 2023.

Flooding
and Extremely Hot Weather in Romania

Romania
was in for a-typical summer weather this week, which kicked off with a series
of yellow and orange flood warnings, torrential rain and thunderstorms mainly
in the country’s eastern regions. Even red flood warnings have been issued for
several rivers there. Heavy rainfalls have caused damage to households and numerous
hectares of farmland while road traffic has been disrupted. The week ends with
a first red warning for hot weather and high discomfort indexes in several
counties in western Romania where temperatures soared to all-time highs of
38-40 degrees centigrade. Orange alerts for extremely hot temperatures have
been issued for the country’s western and central regions and yellow alerts for
the rest. The Health Ministry has called on public health authorities in
various counties across Romania to take all the necessary measures to reduce
health risks caused by the hot weather. First-aid centers fitted with
air-conditioning and trained personnel have been opened in many areas.

(bill)

26 June 2021
June 13, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 The number of Covid-19 infections remains low in Romania with
only 69 new cases reported on Sunday. 30 Covid-related fatalities have been
reported in the past 24 hours while 229 patients are in intensive care. The
infection rate is going down in Bucharest as well where 0.14 cases per thousand
have been reported. At present all the Romanian territory is in the green tier.
On the other hand, the vaccine rollout is moving at a lower pace with only 39
thousand doses administered in the past 24 hours. Since the vaccine rollout
commenced in late December 2020, over 4.1 million people have been vaccinated
in Romania. In another development, the European digital certificate is due to
become operational in Romania on July 1st. The aforementioned
document proves that a person has been vaccinated, tested negative or had the
disease in the past.

PANDEMIC The mayor of Moscow has reintroduced
restrictions for both people and businesses after the Covid infection rate has
reached the figures registered in winter. The number of Covid cases in Russia
has increased and most of the new cases are in the capital city. On Saturday
Moscow reported 67 thousand new cases, the highest number since December.
Employers have been requested to allow at least 30% of the employees to work
from home. Employees over 65 years old and with chronic diseases have been sent
to work from home with the exception of those vaccinated. According to the
authorities, the latest surge in the number of infections is due to people’s
ignoring prevention and protection rules and to the sluggish vaccine rollout.
In another development, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the
government must be cautious as it decides whether to end all Covid restrictions
in England on 21st June. Cases are rising as the Delta variant
spreads. Over 176 million infections have been reported worldwide since the
beginning of the pandemic with 3.8 million fatalities, according to data
released by worldmeters.info. Most of the fatalities have been reported in the
USA, India and Brazil.

G7 At
the endof their latest summit in
Cornwall, England, leaders of the G7 countries on Sunday pledged to carry on
post-Covid economic recovery plans ‘as long as it is necessary’ avoiding past mistakes
when stimulus measures had been abruptly cut. G7 leaders are also backing a
minimum global corporate tax and have called for a transparent, evidence-based
and expert-led WHO investigation into the Covid-19 origins. The G7 members have
agreed to step up their production and delivery of anti-Covid vaccines around
the world, European Union Council President Charles Michel said on Sunday. The
group is to provide one billion doses of the Covid vaccine in the next year and
will cooperate with the private sector, G20 and other countries to step up
contribution in the following months.

SUMMIT Romanian president Klaus Iohannis goes to Brussels on Monday to
attend the NATO summit where he is expected to back the alliance’s adjusting to
the present security context so that the organization may become politically
and militarily stronger. Iohannis is going to reiterate Romania’s commitment to
contributing to NATO’s operational, conceptual and financial efforts by
carrying on its 2% GDP contribution to the defence industry. According to a
communiqué issued by the presidential administration, allied leaders are going
to choose the guidelines upon which the alliance is going to strengthen its political
and military role as well as its role as an international player thanks to the
strategic reflection process NATO 2030.

(bill)

13 June 2021
June 13, 2021

G7 The latest G7 three-day summit is due to
end today in southwestern England with talks over climate change. The second
day was devoted to ways of fighting pandemics and also to cooperation against
the threats posed by China and Russia. However, according to Radio Romania
correspondent in London, the tensions caused by Brexit in Northern Ireland are
making headlines in the UK. The EU is threatening with legal and economic
sanctions unless the government in London, which negotiated and signed the
Brexit agreement several months ago, implements it in Northern Ireland where products
coming from the UK must be checked. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the EU
doesn’t understand the situation in Northern Ireland though. Also during the G7
summit, US president Joe Biden has emphasized the need for an alliance to
offset the power and influence of China mainly in the developing countries
where Beijing’s investment is significant.

FOOTBALL Austria takes on North Macedonia in Bucharest today while
the Netherlands plays Ukraine in Amsterdam in group C of the European Football
Championship 2020. Also today, Croatia is up against England in London in group
D. Belgium secured a 3-0 against Russia in Sankt Petersburg while Finland
surprisingly defeated Denmark 1-0 in Copenhagen. In the second half of the game
the Danes’ play was impacted by the dramatic moment when their teammate Christian
Eriksen went into sudden cardiac arrest on the pitch. In group A on Saturday
Wales vs Switzerland ended in a one-all draw in Baku, Azerbaijan, after on
Friday Italy had clinched a 3-0 win against Turkey in Rome. For the first time
in its history, Romania’s capital Bucharest is hosting four games. Besides the
match today, the National Arena will see the matches pitching Ukraine against
North Macedonia on 17th June, Ukraine versus Austria on 21st
of June as well as a game from the round of 16 due on 28th of June.
Also as a first Romania will have two teams of referees at EURO 2020.

COVID-19 The number of Covid-19 infections remains low in Romania with
only 127 new cases reported on Saturday. Five Covid-related fatalities have
been reported in the past 24 hours while 236 patients are in intensive care.
The infection rate is going down in Bucharest as well where 0.14 cases per
thousand have been reported. At present all the Romanian territory is in the
green tier. On the other hand, the vaccine rollout is moving at a lower pace
with only 39 thousand doses administered in the past 24 hours. Since the
vaccine rollout commenced in late December 2020, 4.1 million people have been
vaccinated in Romania. In another development, the European digital certificate
is due to become operational in Romania on July 1st. The
aforementioned document proves that a person has been vaccinated, tested
negative or had the disease in the past.

PANDEMIC The mayor of Moscow has reintroduced
restrictions for both people and businesses after the Covid infection rate has
reached the figures registered in winter. The number of Covid cases in Russia
has increased and most of the new cases are in the capital city. On Saturday
Moscow reported 67 thousand new cases, the highest number since December.
Employers have been requested to allow at least 30% of the employees to work
from home. Employees over 65 years old and with chronic diseases have been sent
to work from home with the exception of those vaccinated. According to the authorities,
the latest surge in the number of infections is due to people’s ignoring prevention
and protection rules and to the sluggish vaccine rollout. In another
development, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the government must
be cautious as it decides whether to end all Covid restrictions in England on
21st June. Cases are rising as the Delta variant spreads. Over 176
million infections have been reported worldwide since the beginning of the
pandemic with 3.8 million fatalities, according to data released by
worldmeters.info. Most of the fatalities have been reported in the USA, India
and Brazil.

(bill)

13 June 2021
June 11, 2021 UPDATE

EPPO The European Public Prosecutor’s
Office is not an external institution but one in the service of the EU
citizens, the European chief-prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, said in Sofia on
Friday during her first visit since the EPPO’s kicked off its public activity.
We are at home in all the member states (participating in EPPO). We are here
for you and we want to earn your trust through our work, the EU official went
on to say in the last day of her visit to Bulgaria. According to Kovesi, all people
are equal when it comes to applying the law and the EPPO is not going to make any
differences whatsoever between those it is investigating. Kovesi’s visit to
Sofia comes after the Bulgarian authorities’ failure to nominate the 10
prosecutor delegates the country has a right to.

COVID-19 Romania’s infection rate with the novel coronavirus continues to
go down, the entire country being in the green tier at present. 103 new cases
were reported on Friday and the authorities have announced 150 new fatalities,
20 of them in the past 24 hours. 1300 patients are being treated in hospitals,
255 of them in intensive care. Since the vaccine rollout kicked off in December
2020, 4.1 million people in Romania have been fully vaccinated. Andrei Baciu,
state secretary with the Health Ministry has announced that the European
digital certificate for Covid-19 is to become operational in Romania on July 1st.
The digital certificate is a proof of the fact that a person has been
vaccinated, tested negative or had the disease in the past and is now cured.

TENNIS The Romanian-Argentinean pair Irina Begu /
Nadia Podoroska lost in the semifinals of the Roland Garros tennis tournament
to Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA and Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-3, 6-4. This
has been Begu’s second Grand Slam semifinals after that in the Australian Open in
2018 when he played together with her Romanian counterpart Monica Niculescu.

FESTIVAL The George Enescu classical music festival will
be held in Bucharest between 28th August and 26th
September under strict epidemiological conditions, organisers have announced.
This year’s edition, the festival’s 25th, will last four weeks
instead of three, and will take place at three different concert venues across
the capital city, the Palace Hall, which will seat half of its usual number of
spectators, and two other smaller venues, which will open at 70% capacity and
where spectators must present a Covid vaccination certificate or a negative test
result, apart from their tickets, to be able to attend the performances. The
festival’s line-up features 67 different performances and brings together 3,500
musicians, including leading international names and orchestras. The event is
named after Romania’s greatest composer, George Enescu, who was born 140 years
ago.

(bill)

11 June 2021
June 7, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 The latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic indicate this is the best situation Romania has seen in the past year. Authorities on Monday announced 89 new cases and 63 related fatalities. 17 hundred patients are presently being treated in hospitals out of which 315 are in intensive care. 96% out of those infected since the beginning of the pandemic have been cured. The capital city Bucharest and all the counties are in the so-called green zone with less than 1 per thousand infections. Most of the cases have been reported in Bucharest, 15. No infection has been reported in 14 other Romanian counties. The vaccine rollout continues all over the country and since its onset in late December 2020, 4.4 million people have been vaccinated.

FILM Romanian director Andrei Epures short reel, Intercom 15, has been shortlisted for the 60th edition of the Semaine de la Critique (the International Critics Week) of the French Film Festival in Cannes in July, the organizers of the event announced on Monday. The film tells the story of several residents who discover an unconscious woman lying in front of a block of flats. Even though the woman lives on the third floor, nobody knows her name. While waiting for paramedics, the neighbours are reflecting on the womans life and their own. This year the jury of Semaine de la Critique is to be presided by another Romanian director, Cristian Mungiu, who in 2007 got the Palme dOr award for his film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, in 2012 he was awarded for best screenplay with his film Beyond the hills and in 2016 with Graduation got the best director award. La Civil, a Romanian-Belgian-Mexican production directed by Teodora Ana Mihai has been shortlisted for the Un Certain Regard section of the aforementioned festival. The film tells the story of a mother who decides to take action after her daughter has been kidnapped in Mexico.

SURVEY The monthly average total income per household in Romania stood at some 1,000 euros in 2020, with 83% going to expenses, shows a report from the National Institute for Statistics published on Monday. Salaries and associated incomes accounted for the most important source of household income last year, at 68.2%, down 0.4% compared with the previous year. A household spent on average 888 euros a month, down 1.6% compared with the previous year. The report shows that household spending mainly covered food and non-food products, services, transfers to the public and private administration and social security contributions in the form of tax and other duties, as well as needs related to household production.

EU The EU Justice and Home Affairs Council is meeting for two days, Monday and Tuesday, in Luxembourg. On the first day, EU justice ministers were discussing ways to combat illegal online content, e-justice and the protection of vulnerable adults. On Tuesday, talks are expected to focus on ways to combat crime and terrorism, migration and asylum. A special subject on the agenda will be the strategy for the Schengen free movement area, with a plan to reform it being presented last week in Brussels. The EU commissioner for home affairs Ylva Johansson stood for the entry of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia to Schengen as soon as possible. The European Commission recalls in its strategy that Romania and Bulgaria, and recently also Croatia, received positive evaluations with respect to their Schengen accession. 22 EU member states are currently in the Schengen area, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

5G The decision-making Senate in Bucharest on Monday endorsed a draft law initiated by the government on measures referring to IT&C structures of national interest and the conditions of implementing 5G networks. The law is aimed at passing a series of measures referring to authorizing the producers of technologies, equipment and software programmes used within the IT&C infrastructure of national interest as well as in the electronic communication networks providing electronic communication services of 5G type with a view to preventing, combating and eliminating risks, threats and vulnerabilities to national defence and security. Under an amendment by the legal, economic and defence committees within the Senate, the users, which have had their permits withdrawn, are allowed to use the network equipment for 7 more years only. At the same time, communication providers are allowed to use in 5G networks only technologies, equipment and software programmes from authorized producers only by means of a permit issued by the countrys Higher Defence Council. The new 5G network is able to transfer a much bigger volume of data at a much higher speed.

(bill)

7 June 2021
June 1, 2021 UPDATE

NATO The head of the Romanian diplomacy
Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday attended the online special meeting of the foreign
ministers in the NATO member countries. High on the meeting’s agenda were
preparations for the upcoming NATO summit on June 14th. Minister Aurescu
referred to the NATO 2030 reflection process and the decision on a new
strategic concept that might be taken at the upcoming summit, adding that these
processes would offer the Alliance the strategic vision it needs for an
increased role as a political-military alliance. The Romanian official has
underlined the need for boosting the political dimension of the alliance and
its consolidation from a military viewpoint. He pleaded for strengthening
NATO’s deterrence and defence posture, pointing out to the need for an increased
NATO presence in the Black Sea area, the Eastern flank and for stepped up
support for its partners. In another development the Romanian Defence Minister
Nicolae Ciuca on Tuesday attended the online meeting of his NATO counterparts
coordinated from the NATO headquarters in Brussels by the alliance’s Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg. The meeting’s agenda focused on the coordinated of
NATO 2030 process with emphasis on deterrence, defence, resilience, innovation
for NATO partners.

TENNIS
Romanian-German pair Horia Tecau/Kevin Krawietzon Tuesday qualified for the
second round of the men’s doubles contest of the Roland Garros tournament after
a victory against Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador. In the
singles contest, Romanian Ana Bogdan has qualified for the third round after
the world’s number two player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the competition. The
other Romanians in the competition are Mihaela Buzarnescu who will be up
against Serena Williams on Wednesday and Sorana Cirstea who will be playing
Italian Martina Trevisan. Injuries have prevented the world’s number three
tennis player Simona Halep, who reaped the trophy in 2018, to participate in
this year’s edition of the famous French tournament.

COVID-19 The number of COVID-19 infections remains
very low in Romania with an infection rate below one per thousand in all its
counties. 241 new cases were reported on Tuesday out of 28 thousand tests
conducted. The vaccination rollout is carried on in Romania with a new stage
due to begin on Wednesday targeting children with ages between 12 and 15 after
the European Medicines Agency has authorized the vaccine for this age bracket.
Since the vaccine rollout kicked off in late December, more than 3 million
Romanians have been fully vaccinated.

MEASURES New relaxation measures against
the background of a contained Covid-19 pandemic came into effect in Romania on
June 1st. Private parties can be attended by a limited number of
individuals and fans are allowed to attend indoor sporting events. Clubs and
discos have opened as well as indoor swimming pools and playgrounds. The number
of people attending these events is limited but could be higher if all are
vaccinated. Outdoor cultural events can be attended by 1000 people at the most.
All these events are allowed if the infection rate in their area stays under
three per thousand. Indoor mask mandates have been lifted for those vaccinated
in offices with five workers at the most.

DAY Theatre performances, concerts,
creative workshops and guided tours were staged on the International Children’s
Day Romania celebrates on June 1st. Several public institutions in Bucharest hosted
a series of events for the little ones. At the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis inaugurated an exhibition entitled ‘Fantastic
Childhood’, created by several artists around the country to celebrate the
purity and sincerity of childhood and art. Children were able to visit the palace,
the halls where Parliament stages its sessions, the presidential office, the
press room and the hall of fame. Theatre performances, concerts and various work
shops were also being staged for the children of asylum seekers in Romania,
most of them coming from countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and Iraq.

EPPO The EU Public Prosecutor’s Office EPPO
headed by Laura Codruta Kovesi the former chief of Romania’s Anticorruption
Directorate, started its activity on Tuesday. The new body is to deal with community
fund frauds and recover money from fraudsters. EPPO prosecutors are expected to
investigate roughly three thousand files a year. According to estimates by the
European Chief Prosecutor, corruption, embezzlement and various types of fraud
are causing annual losses to the EU budget of 500 million euros. The new
European institution has an annual budget of 45 million euros. Five EU members
aren’t participating in the EPPO.

(bill)

1 June 2021
Two candidates for the presidency of the National Liberal Party

Romanian Liberals convened in
Bucharest on Sunday in a National Council with a view to electing their new
president during the Congress they are going to stage on September 25th.
Two candidates are vying for this position, the incumbent leader Ludovic Orban
and the country’s present Prime Minister Florin Citu. Whether Orban’s intention
to run for the PNL presidency had been known for quite some time, Citu made
public his intention during the aforementioned Council.

However, the two politicians’
intentions were predictable as they had increased their public appearance of
late. The incumbent president has paid a series of visits to the party branches
in an attempt to gather support and had some media appearances in the company
of several PNL mayors. In turn the Prime Minister has focused on the vaccine
rollout and his latest efforts have been largely covered by the media.

According to Prime Minister Citu, the
PNL, the main political group of the centre-to-right government in Bucharest
needs a fresh impetus. He has also mentioned his intention to keep the party in
power for at least 8 years. Romania is changing. Europe is changing. The world
is changing and there is a need for another kind of politicians, the Prime
Minister went on to say.

Ludovic Orban, who was Romania’s
Prime Minister last year, has hailed Citu’s decision to run for the party’s
presidency adding that this situation is not going to affect either the party’s
activity or its ruling abilities. He has given assurances that there is going
to be no rift between him and his opponent caused by intestine fights as they
have a series of common objectives such as the ruling programme, the anti-Covid
vaccine rollout and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

‘Even if there is competition, which
is only natural because every four years we stage elections in our party, we
are making all decisions together and are all attending the party sessions’
says Ludovic Orban, who is currently the president of the Chamber of Deputies.

The Prime Minister has also mentioned
the team work and common goals, but newspapers in Bucharest have pointed out
the two leaders have not been seen together for quite some time now, not even
at the 146th anniversary of their political party.

The party is going to elect its local
leaders over 1st June and 15th July, while elections for county
leaders are due between 1st July and 10th August. After
these first rounds, the two presidential candidates must submit a motion to the
local branches, which must decide what candidate they are going to support.

However, if a local branch makes a
decision to support a certain candidate, it doesn’t mean that all its members must
endorse that candidate. And in order to win the election a candidate must be
supported by 10 county branches.

(bill)

31 May 2021