August 13, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.08.2020, 20:19

COVID-19. The Strategic Communication Group in Bucharest announced on Thursday another 1,454 cases of infection with the new coronavirus. 66,631 cases have been confirmed in Romania since the beginning of the pandemic more than five months ago. Some 31,547 patients have been declared cured and discharged from hospital, whereas 478 patients are still in intensive care units. The death toll stands at 2,860. Romanias Health Minister Nelu Tataru has said that the current situation requires an extension of the state of alert. The Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has again made an appeal to responsibility, asking people to wear masks and observe social distancing. He has stated that local elections are possible on September 27th, as established by Parliament, provided all prevention measures are observed. According to him, Romania has already registered for 10 million doses of vaccine when this is ready and certified at the EU level.

Risk areas. Germany has added Bucharest and another 10 Romanian counties to its list of high risk areas during the Covid-19 pandemic. The new areas in Romania are the counties of Bacau, Braila, Brasov, Dambovita, Galati, Gorj, Ilfov, Prahova, Vaslui and Vrancea. According to the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest 7 counties were already part of the aforementioned list, which now includes 17 Romanian counties as well as the capital city. Under the new regulations, all people coming to Germany from one of the aforementioned regions in Romania, irrespective of their citizenship, must show a negative Covid-19 test taken 48 hours before their arrival, which has to be translated in German or English or take a free test 72 hours upon their arrival. Those who do not comply with the rules could be subject to fines up to 25 thousand Euros. If the test is done in Germany, subjects are requested to go into self isolation until the result is known. Travelers transiting Germany do not have to comply with the aforementioned rules.

Budget. Health, transport and education will receive extra money at the next budget adjustment, the Romanian Minister of Finance, Florin Cîțu announced in a press conference on Thursday. He said that for health-care, a priority area this year, the amounts allocated increased by about 45%. Câţu also announced that the budget deficit would increase from 6.7% to 8.6%. He also said the government will increase the level of investments, and pensions. This will be the second budget adjustment in 2020.

Poll. Almost one quarter of the Romanian employees say they need to take steps towards a new career as the companies they are presently working for have been seriously affected by the current economic situation. A poll conducted by an online recruitment platform shows that more than 20% of those interviewed are ready to start from scratch in their new careers. Most of the Romanian employees, (70%) are looking for a secure job from the context of the present Covid pandemic. A quarter of the interviewees have completely ruled out jobs in the Horeca industry while 22% believes the best jobs are those in companies or fields tightly connected to the online environment. The poll was carried out between July 1st and the 10th on almost 13 hundred people.

FDI. Foreign direct investments in Romania decreased in the first six months of this year, to 352 million euros, from 2.7 billion euros in the similar period of 2019 – the National Bank announced on Thursday. On June 30, Italy had the largest number – 49,000 – of companies established in Romania, but the Netherlands occupies the first position in terms of total investment value, with 12.8 billion euros. There are currently about 230,000 foreign companies in Romania, which have invested almost 64 billion euros.

Diplomacy. The head of the Romanian diplomacy, Bogdan Aurescu, had a telephone conversation, on Thursday, with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavuşoglu, at the request of the Turkish side. The two ministers discussed the development of bilateral relations, with a focus on common topics of interest, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two officials also examined the recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, a topic that will be on the agenda of the Extraordinary Meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on Friday, in which the Romanian Minister will also participate.. With regard to this subject, Bogdan Aurescu underlined Bucharests willingness to support, including from within the EU, the de-escalation of the situation, given both Romanias ability to understand the particularities and interests of the region and its expertise in maritime delimitation and in resolving this type of dispute by applying international law and using its specific instruments. Turkey and Greece, which are NATO allies, are embroiled in a dispute over the exploration of oil fields in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece claims that Turkeys exploration in the area is illegal, but Ankara claims that it is done in its exclusive economic area.

Agreement. Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed, under the auspices of the United States, a “historic peace agreement” and will establish diplomatic relations, US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Thursday. The deal is part of a broader agreement under which the Israeli authorities will end the annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is a “historic day,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded. The agreement was also confirmed by the Emirati authorities. The UAE will thus be the third Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan.

Anonimul. The Independent International Film Festival Anonimul is underway in Sfantu Gheorghe, in the Danube Delta. The multi-award winning Colectiv was screened on Thursday. This documentary, produced and directed by Alexander Nanau, depicts events taking place in the first year after a devastating blaze that killed 64 in a night-club in Bucharest five years ago. The plot chiefly follows the relationship between the authorities and journalists in their attempt to find out the truth about the event. The 17th edition of the Anonimul festival is being held outdoors, with a maximum of 400 participants in every screening, in compliance with the measures in place, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tennis. Romanian tennis player Simona Halep on Thursday qualified for the quarter finals of the WTA tournament in Prague, a competition with over 200 thousand dollars in prize money. She defeated Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. Next she will take on Magdalena French of Poland. Ana Bogdan of Romania has already qualified for the quarters after the withdrawal of her opponent, Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, and will be up against Kristyna Pliscova of the Czech Republic. In the doubles contest, Monica Niculescu and Raluca Olaru have defeated Lidia Morozova of Belarus and Yana Sizikova of Russia and have qualified for the semifinals.