3 June, 2020

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 03.06.2020, 13:55

Coronavirus
Romania. Coronavirus
infections pass 19,600 in Romania, while the death toll goes up to 1,288. More than 13,800 have recovered. The
authorities say the country is on a downward trend as far as new cases are
concerned, with increasingly fewer serious cases and a low community transmission
rate. Now is the time to start testing the population to establish the scale of
infection, said the health minister Nelu Tataru. He signed an order to approve
this survey, which is to be coordinated by the National Institute for Public
Health. The testing will be carried out from June to September and will involve
the harvesting of 29,000 samples, with the first results expected in autumn.
The health minister says this survey is necessary to be able to establish
future public health protection measures.

Coronavirus
world. Global coronavirus infections near 6.4 million, while the death toll
stands at 380,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
More than a quarter of confirmed cases, 1.8 million, were reported in the
United States, which also has the highest death toll, 106,000. Brazil saw a new
record number of deaths, with the total number passing 30,000. In Europe,
Russia has the highest number of cases, 423,000, while the UK has the highest death
toll, almost 40,000. To prevent a second wave, everyone arriving in the UK as
of 8th June will be asked to self-isolate. A series of restrictions
remain in place in Italy, which is today opening its borders with the Schengen
countries. 20 European states, including Germany, Denmark, Belgium Switzerland,
Poland, Romania, Russia and Hungary, have not yet resumed flights to Italy.

Repatriation. The
foreign ministry in Bucharest says that on 1st June it facilitated
the repatriation of 70 Romanian citizens from Turkey and another 190 from the
UK, as they were stranded abroad following travel restrictions to curb the
pandemic. The Romanian authorities also facilitated the return of two Turkish
citizens, two Greek citizens and an Iranian citizen who had their residence in
Romania. As part of the move, 124 foreign nationals were able to travel to the
UK and 58 Turkish nationals to Turkey.

Middle East. In a telephone conversation with
his Israeli counterpart Gabriel
Ashkenazi, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu conveyed
Romania’s full readiness to deepen and expand bilateral cooperation in all
areas of mutual interest. The two officials agreed to hold, most likely in the
first part of next year, a third joint meeting of their respective cabinets.
They also hailed the excellent level of Romanian-Israeli relations, which have
been consolidated over seven decades of uninterrupted diplomatic ties and
expressed their appreciation for Israel’s community of Romanian origin. The
Romanian foreign minister reiterated his country’s constant support for the
consolidation of the EU-Israel dialogue, including with respect to the peace
process in the Middle East. In this context, minister Aurescu reaffirmed
Romania’s support for a sustainable solution founded on the co-existence, in
peace and security, of two states, Israel and Palestine.

GRECO. Rule of law is one of the fundamental values of the
European Union, lying at its very foundation. Preserving it and holding
responsible those who abuse the confidence of the European citizens is
essential in maintaining the legitimacy of the Union, especially in a time of
crisis of confidence, warns the Chief European Public Prosecutor Laura Kovesi
in a feature article in the annual report of the Council of Europe’s
anticorruption body, the Group of States against Corruption or GRECO. Kovesi,
who formerly headed Romania’s Anticorruption Directorate, said the creation of
the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will become operational at the
end of the year, is an important step in this direction, with the potential to
completely change the paradigm in the field of criminal justice. She also said
she wanted the new body to be a flexible, result-oriented institution, whose
effectiveness of proceedings will be accompanied by strict compliance with the
fundamental guarantees of the persons who are subject to the investigations.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office will be an independent institution in
charge of investigating, prosecuting and
bringing to judgment crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or
cross-border VAT fraud involving more than 10 million euros.

US protests. Tens
of thousands of Americans again took to the streets on Tuesday for the 8th
day in a row to protest against the death of a black man, George Floyd, after a
white police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes. Demonstrations were held
in many cities across the US. In Washington, protesters defied an overnight
curfew, while New York saw violent clashes and looting. The former US president
George W. Bush said the protesters should be heard, while the Democratic
leaders continued to criticise Donald Trump, who stood for a tough response to
maintain order and who even threatened to call in the army. Anti-racism
protests were also held on Tuesday night in France, with clashes between
protesters and the security forces taking place in Paris. The French protesters
called for justice in the case of Adama Traoré, a 24-old man who died in police
custody four years ago.