April 26, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 26.04.2021, 20:00

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Romania on Monday received the largest
batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, more than 725 thousand doses, the National
Committee for the Coordination of Vaccination Activities announced. Also on
Monday, about 41 thousand doses of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in Romania.
Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, on December 27, 2020, almost 5
million doses of vaccine have been administered to more than 3 million people.
Of these, about 1.8 million received both doses. On the other hand, Bucharest
still has 3.46 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection per thousand inhabitants. The
counties of Ilfov (southeast) and Cluj (northwest) have reported similar rates.
The Strategic Communication Group on Monday announced 1,256 new cases of
COVID-19. 1,350 people are hospitalized in Intensive Care and 117 people have
died from Covid-19 in the same period.

COVID-19 IN THE WORLD – Nearly 148 million people have been
infected with the new coronavirus in the world since the beginning of the
pandemic – according to worldometers.info. More than 125 million people have
recovered and 3.1 million have died from the infection. More and more European
countries are easing restrictions as vaccination programs begin to show
results. In Italy, 14 regions on Monday entered the yellow scenario, which
allows the reopening of restaurants, theaters and cinemas. Only Sardinia
remains in the red zone, with the most severe anti-COVID restrictions still in
place. In Belgium, beauty shops and stores are allowed to open. In France,
schools will be reopened as of next week. In Berlin, a so-called vaccination
summit is scheduled between the state leadership and the federal government, to
discuss the suspension or partial lifting of restrictions. Greece is today
lifting quarantine restrictions for tourists coming from several countries as
Greek authorities prepare for the official opening of the summer seasons on May
15.

PNRR – Romanian Minister for Investments and
European Funds, Cristian Ghinea, announced on Monday that Romania will be
submitting the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) on May 31. Ghinea
attended a working meeting on Monday convened by president Klaus Iohannis in
Bucharest. Attending were also Prime Minister Florin Cîţu, Chamber of Deputies
President Ludovic Orban and Deputy Prime Ministers Dan Barna and Kelemen Hunor.
The government is due to make some changes to the plan, before officially
presenting it to the European Commission, after the EU executive said that the
amounts provided for infrastructure were too high and that it would not agree
with the financing of irrigation systems. PNRR is designed to help the national
economy recover after the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent days, the
Social-Democratic Party in opposition has claimed the European Commission
rejected Romania’s proposed plan. Government officials have denied the
accusation, explaining the Commission has made some recommendations to the
variant submitted by the Government, which is something normal before a final
document can be submitted to Brussels. Social-Democrat leader Marcel Ciolacu,
insists that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan be debated transparently
in Parliament.

DIPLOMACY – The Romanian authorities have decided to
declare the deputy military attaché of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, Alexey
Grishaev, persona non grata on Romanian territory. According to a communiqué of
the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision was taken considering
that his activities and actions contravene the provisions of the 1961
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations . Also according to the
Romanian MFA, these elements were communicated to the Russian side, when the
Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bucharest Valery Kuzmin was summoned at
the ministry’s headquarters, at the request of the Romanian Foreign Minister
Bogdan Aurescu.

CAR SCRAPPING – The Rabla Clasic and Rabla Plus car
scrapping programs, for the renewal of the Romanian car fleet, can be accessed
starting Monday. Rabla Clasic has a budget of 440 million lei (about 88 million
euros), higher than last year, which will allow for the purchase of over 55,000
new, less polluting vehicles. At the same time, the Rabla Plus program,
intended for the purchase of electric cars, benefits from a budget of 400
million lei (approximately 80 million euros), through which premiums of 10,000
euros will be granted for ‘full electric’ and about 4,500 euro for plug-in
hybrid cars, but not more than half the value of the new vehicle. Based on the
budget allocated this year, Rabla Plus will facilitate the purchase of up to
6,600 electric cars and approximately 5,000 plug-in hybrid cars. (M.I. &
V.P.)