26 May, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 26.05.2021, 20:00

Vaccination. 11 Covid vaccination centres in medical facilities run by the interior ministry
are from Wednesday also open to everyone over the age of 18 who wishes to get the
vaccine and who can do so without an appointment. According to official figures,
since the vaccine rollout kicked off in Romania in late December last year, more
than 4.2 million people, accounting for almost 26% of Romania’s eligible
population, received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, while over 3.3
million people are fully vaccinated. Prime minister Florin Citu said the
government is going to launch a public information campaign about vaccination
on Thursday. Romania recorded 379 new infections and 52 new fatalities on
Wednesday, with the death toll now passing 30 thousand. Almost 500 Covid
patients are in intensive care.

Certificate. Romania on Wednesday tested
successfully its interconnection with the European system for digital health certificates.
The operation was conducted by the Special Telecommunications Service together
with the EU technical working group. The EU digital certificates, which will
facilitate free movement across the Union during the pandemic, contain, among
others, essential identification data such as name and surname and date of
birth, the certificate issuer and medical information. The certificates will be
issued in digital format and can be stored on a mobile device, but can also be
printed on paper. They are to be introduced at the beginning of July, with
Romania saying it will also be ready to implement them by this date.

Summit. During a special
European Council meeting, the leaders of the 27 EU member states on Tuesday night endorsed
the green certificate to allow for the opening of borders and to ease travel
inside the bloc. According to the European Commission president Ursula von der
Leyen, the infrastructure for the implementation of the green certificate is to
be ready by June 1st and member states can connect into the system in mid-June.
Also attending the meeting, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis stood for the
rapid and unitary implementation of this certificate, while insisting it should
not affect citizens’ fundamental right to free movement.

Parliament. Romania’s
Parliament on Wednesday ratified the Euratom Treaty on the system of own
resources of the European Union. The Social Democratic Party in opposition also
voted in favour, having previously said that its MPs will not vote for the
treaty unless the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is presented in
Parliament. Senators and deputies debated the plan presented by prime minister
Citu, who said it has two important components, reforms and investments, and
that the whole country will benefit from the sums allocated to transports,
education, healthcare, green economy and digitisation. He again gave assurances
that this plan does not provide for any cuts in incomes or pensions. The leader
of the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu said this was not a reform, but
an austerity plan and that his party will file a no-confidence motion on 14th
June against the government’s failure with respect to the National Recovery and
Resilience Plan. Romania is entitled to access almost 30 billion euros worth of
European funding for development under the plan, which must be submitted to
Brussels by the end of the month.

EU. Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu is
attending an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers held in Lisbon as part of
Portugal’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. A statement from
the Romanian foreign ministry says talks are focusing on the protracted conflicts
in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood, the EU-Africa relations and the EU’s
strategic vision for the Indo-Pacific region. EU ministers will also have an
informal meeting with Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi. The debate on the
protracted conflicts in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood is held at Romania’s
proposal following a letter sent last November to the EU foreign policy chief by
minister Aurescu, with the support of his EU counterparts from Bulgaria, the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia,
Slovenia and Sweden. Minister Aurescu is expected to highlight that these
frozen conflicts pose a major threat to the stability and security of the EU’s
immediate vicinity as well as to the entire continent and to Euro-Atlantic
security in general, so the EU should play a more active and efficient role in
finding a sustainable solution to these conflicts, while considering the wider
objective of consolidating the resilience of its partners in the Eastern
Partnership.

Tennis. Romania’s Sorana Cirstea will be playing Shuai
Zhang of China on Thursday in the round of last 16 of the Strasbourg tennis
tournament. The match, which was initially scheduled for Wednesday, was
postponed because of unfavourable weather. The only match the two played was in
2008 in Cuneo, in Italy, which the Romanian won. Cirstea reached the round of last
16 after winning against Venus Williams in three sets, which is the first time
Cirstea ever defeated the American player. (CM)