August 25, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 25.08.2021, 20:00

LAW – The
Romanian Government on Wednesday passed a bill on curbing the impact of
plastics on the environment. The initiative transposes into national law a
European directive. Single-use plastic products, such as dishes, cotton buds,
plastic straws and other products made from expanded polystyrene will be
banned. Economic operators trading the said products will need to provide
consumers with the possibility of opting for alternative, plastic-free
recyclable products. The authorities will be performing inspections for both
producers and importers, Environment Minister Barna Tanczos told a press
conference. In the last 50 years, the production and consumption of plastics
has increased 20 times, and is bound to exceed 600 million tons in the next 20
years at global level. 30% of plastics in the EU, which totals 25 million tons
annually, is collected and recycled separately.

DEFENSE – The Country’s Supreme
Defense Council on Wednesday decided that the Romanian Army will deploy 200
military in the evacuation and relocation of Afghan citizens who worked for
NATO missions in Afghanistan. The Romanian military will take part in the
operations for a maximum of six months. The operation will mainly consist in
picking up Afghan citizens from temporary military bases in Kuwait and Qatar
and relocating them to stationary bases on the territory of allied states, with
the provision of key services. Council members also concluded that dealing with
the fallout of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan in the short, medium
and long term will be one of the major elements for improving cooperation
between NATO and the EU, and Romania will be contributing to this effort. Additionally, Council members highlighted the
need for an enhanced coordination in terms of strategic communication and combating
disinformation. A petition with more than 22 thousand signatures calling on the
Romanian authorities to grant visas to the Afghan citizens who cooperated with
Romania and NATO has been forwarded to the Council and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. The signatories say that Romania must grant visas to the Afghan
citizens exposed to Taliban violence, such as human rights activists,
journalists, magistrates, teachers and students.

COVID-19 The physician in charge
of Romania’s vaccine rollout, Valeriu Gheorghiţă has confirmed that
Romania is facing the fourth wave of the pandemic and the Delta variant is to
become dominant. According to Health Minister Ioana Mihăila, the intensity of
this fourth wave depends on the number of those vaccinated. Mihăila says her
Ministry has increased the number of beds in ICUs and the personnel trained to
intervene in difficult cases. The Health Ministry has announced that textile
masks will be banned in schools and universities where only medical masks will
be allowed. 849 new infections were reported in Romania on Wednesday in
addition to 14 fatalities. 212 people are currently in intensive care.
Authorities expect the number of infections to increase to 1,000 every day by
the end of the month. In another development, a TAROM humanitarian flight
transported 200 thousand shots of anti-COVID vaccine to Vietnam. Romania faces
a vaccine surplus due to high and unforeseen levels of vaccine hesitancy.

MOLDOVA – Romanian
president Klaus Iohannis on Friday will travel to neighboring Republic of
Moldova to participate in the celebration of 30 years of independence by this
ex-soviet Romanian-speaking country. The events will involve the participation
of the country’s president Maia Sandu and her counterparts from Ukraine, Volodymyr
Zelensky and Poland, Andrzej Duda. Created on a part of Romania’s eastern
territories, annexed by the Soviet Union through an ultimatum in 1940, the
Republic of Moldova won its independence after the abortive coup in Moscow
against the then Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Adopted on August 27th
1991 by Parliament in Chisinau, the declaration of independence was recognized
by Romania on the same day. The Republic of Moldova got international
recognition on March 2nd 1992 upon its accession to the United Nations
Organization. (DB & VP)