December 13, 2020 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 13.12.2020, 19:17
ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT. The procedure for assigning parliamentary mandates is due to start next week in Romania, after the redistribution of the unused votes from the parties that failed to go above the electoral threshold of 5%. After resolving the appeals, the Central Electoral Bureau announced the official final results and only five parties entered the new parliament. No party has a majority to form its own government. The Social Democratic Party ranks first, both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, as it got 29% of the over 5.9 million votes cast in the December 6th elections. It is followed by the National Liberal Party, with 25% and the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance with 15%. The Alliance for the Unity of Romanians and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians also got enough votes to be represented in parliament, with 9% and 6% respectively.
CONSULTATIONS. On Monday, President Klaus Iohannis will have consultations with the representatives of the political parties that will form the future legislature in Bucharest, in order to appoint a prime minister. Negotiations will start with the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which obtained the largest number of votes, but does not have a majority. The Social Democrats have not negotiated with any other party to form a parliamentary majority and are going to consultations with the proposal that Dr. Alexandru Rafila, Romanias representative to the WHO, lead a PSD minority government or a national union government. The National Liberal Party (PNL), the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance (USR PLUS) and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians (UDMR) negotiated for two days but did not agree on the division of government and parliamentary positions. Thus, PNL and USR PLUS will go to consultations with the president with separate proposals for Prime-Minister, and UDMR announced that it will take a decision on Monday morning. The Liberals proposal for the position of Prime Minister is Florin Cîţu, who currently manages the Finance portfolio, while USR PLUS advanced the name of Dacian Ciolos, who has previously been Prime Minister and European Commissioner for Agriculture. The future legislature will also include members of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians and those of national minorities, other than the Hungarian one
COVID-19 ROMANIA. In Romania, the state of alert declared because of the Covid-19 pandemic, in force since mid-May, will be maintained for at least another month, starting December 14. During this period, the current restrictions will remain in force, including quarantine at night. The authorities have called on the Romanians to limit interactions during the winter holidays, to avoid caroling and the New Years Eve parties. Some 13,400 deaths associated with COVID-19 have been recorded in Romania since the beginning of the pandemic. The latest reports indicate at least 4,400 new cases in 24 hours, mostly in Bucharest. Romania has exceeded 556,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Almost 1300 patients are currently in intensive care.
PANDEMIC. The total number of cases of Covid-19 has exceeded 72 million worldwide, the number of deaths has gone past 1.6 million, and the number of people cured is over 50 million, according to Worldometers.info. In the United States, the worlds most affected country by the pandemic, there are over 16.5 million cases and 305 thousand deaths. US authorities have begun delivering the authorized COFID-Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use, and General Gus Perna, responsible for the campaign, has announced that vaccination will start on Monday. The serum, which provides up to 95% protection, is already being administered in the UK. The United States thus becomes the sixth country to approve the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, after the United Kingdom, Canada, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The European Medicines Agency should issue an opinion by the end of December. Italy and Great Britain are the countries with the biggest number of deaths associated with Covid-19.
BREXIT. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, following a conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that EU and UK negotiators were mandated to continue the talks and to see whether a post-Brexit trade agreement can be reached, even at this late stage. Mrs von der Leyen described the talks with Boris Johnson as “useful”, saying that they had decided that the next responsible move was make special efforts at this time, and extend the negotiations beyond the December 13th initial deadline. The major points of disagreement are the rules of competition and the fishing rights.
FILM AWARDS. Collective, directed by Alexander Nanau – a Romanian born German director – was designated the best documentary at the European Film Academy Awards on Saturday night, at a ceremony held online in Berlin, without audience. Collective tells the story of the first year after the fire at the Colectiv club in Bucharest, which took place on October 30, 2015. Among the other five documentaries nominated was another Romanian film – Acasă (At Home), Radu Ciorniciucs feature film debut. It describes the story of a family that lived for 20 years in the wilderness of the Văcăreşti Delta in Bucharest, until the place acquired the status of a protected area. The best European film of 2020 was the Danish production Another Round, directed by Thomas Vinterberg, a drama in which four good friends, high school teachers, want to test the theory that you live and work better if you manage to maintain a constant blood alcohol level. Winner of many awards, Collective is Romanias proposal for the 2021 Oscars, in the Best International Feature Film section, previously called The Best Foreign Film. It is the first time that a documentary is Romanias proposal in the race for the American Film Academy awards. (M. Ignatescu)
