April 1, 2022

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 01.04.2022, 14:45

COMMISSIONER Romania has seen a
massive inflow of refugees from Ukraine and the way it handled the situation is
remarkable, the EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit,
said during a news conference in Bucharest. The EU official has also given
assurances that Romania and the countries dealing with the Ukrainian refugees’
crisis are going to get assistance from the European Commission.

REFUGEES Over 8,200 Ukrainian nationals entered Romania on Thursday, 4% less than
on the previous day – the General Border Police Inspectorate has announced.
Since the beginning of the crisis roughly 600 thousand Ukrainians have arrived
in Romania. The border checkpoints at Romania’s border with Ukraine are
functioning at full capacity with additional personnel and equipment in
accordance with the international legislation. Border police units are
operating jointly with other structures in the field for a proper handling of
the situation.

WAR The Russian troops aren’t withdrawing but repositioning in
Ukraine and NATO is expecting more attacks, says the alliance’s Secretary
General, Jens Stoltenberg. Russia is regrouping, resupplying and reinforcing its
offensive in the Donbas region, Stoltenberg told a news conference after Russia
had pledged that following ‘substantial negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul’
it would reduce its military activities around the capital Kyiv and Chernigov
in the north. According to Stoltenberg, Russia maintains its pressure on Kyiv
and other cities so we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even
more suffering. The alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia was
negotiating in good faith because Moscow’s military objective since launching
its invasion has not changed. NATO official says the alliance will continue to
provide weapons to Ukraine for as long as necessary. A previous statement by
the Russian Defence Ministry says that its troops are regrouping close to Kyiv
and Chernigov in order to focus on other essential areas and completely free
Donbas, the pro-Russia eastern region of Ukraine. In another development, the
president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, on Thursday night
announced on Twitter that she was on her way to Kyiv without giving details
about this planned visit. News agencies say that she will be the first leader
of a European institution to visit the capital of Ukraine since the beginning
of the invasion.

COVID-19 The Romanian Health Ministry on Friday announced roughly three thousand
new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours as well as 27 related fatalities.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Romania two years ago, over 2.85 million
infections have been reported in Romania and 65 thousand patients have died.
Over 8 million people have been fully vaccinated in this country, whose Health
Minister, Alexandru Rafila said the activity in the hospitals treating
Covid-infected patients would gradually normalize and the number of infections
decrease. No prevention rules have been applied in Romania since March 9th.

PSD The president of the co-ruling Social Democratic Party,
Marcel Ciolacu, has announced he will propose the exclusion of MP Dumitru
Coarna from the party. Ciolacu says that Coarna’s actions are completely
running against the PSD’s vision on democracy, freedom and fundamental rights.
A former policeman and trade union activist, Coarna has been received by the
ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bucharest Valeri Kuzmin. Together with
three other MPs from the nationalist opposition they presented Kuzmin with a
proposal regarding Romania’s so-called neutrality in the war Russia is waging
on Ukraine. According to Ciolacu, PSD is a pro-European Party which played a
major role in Romania’s EU and NATO accession and has firmly condemned Russia’s
military aggression in Ukraine.

(bill)