December 17, 2020

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 17.12.2020, 13:55

Covid-19 RO. The
President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, is holding today a working meeting on the
management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Attending the meeting are the interim
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, the Minister of Health Nelu Tătaru, the Head of
the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, and the coordinator of
the national vaccination campaign against COVID-19, Dr. Valeriu Gheorghiță. The
list of the approximately 900 fixed vaccination centers, plus mobile caravans,
in which the immunization against the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be made, is to be
finalized today, and the distribution of the freezers necessary for storing the
doses will start across the country. The first symbolic tranche of 10,000 doses
of vaccine will arrive in Romania between Christmas and New Year and will be used
in the infectious disease departments, Health Minister Nelu Tataru has stated,
adding that the immunization of the
general population will begin in the spring. In the first three months of the
vaccination campaign, priority will be given to medical staff,
institutionalized persons and those in the risk groups, but also those who
ensure the functioning of society. Another 600,000 doses will arrive in Romania
in January, and the third tranche will be of almost one million doses. Almost
6,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday in Romania. The total number
of infections has exceeded 570,000, and the number of those who have died has exceeded
13,860. In intensive care the number of patients remains high: 1,267.

EU Budget. The
European Parliament has approved the EU’s multiannual budget, valid from 1
January for the next seven years and the recovery plan following the crisis triggered
by the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote in the EU legislature was made possible
after last week’s agreement in Brussels, when European leaders managed to
persuade Hungary and Poland not to block this massive € 1.8 trillion funding
plan. Romania will receive 46.3 billion Euros. Adding to this amount will be
another 30.5 from the pandemic recovery plan.

Pandemic. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has
confirmed that laws introduced to relax Christmas-related health regulations
remain unchanged, despite a sharp rise in SARS-CoV-2 infections. Restrictions
across the UK will be relaxed between the 23rd and 27th of December, so that
three families can get together in a so-called Christmas bubble,
both indoors and outdoors. The Netherlands has closed non-essential shops, gyms
and barbershops for five weeks, and home visits are restricted to two people
from outside the home. Germany has entered a tough lockdown, until January
10th, closing schools and non-essential businesses, but during Christmas there
will be a slight relaxation of restrictions, and a home will be able to
accommodate up to four close family members. On the other hand, France is
opening up certain areas, which means the French can move freely to meet their
families at Christmas. Pressured to speed up the process of evaluating vaccines
against COVID-19, the European Medicines Agency will take a decision on 21
December on the authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, eight days
earlier than planned. The first COVID-19 vaccine will be authorized for use in
the EU within a week and will be distributed on the same day, the President of
the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen has announced. The
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is already being administered in the United States, the
United Kingdom and Canada.

Negotiations. In Romania,
negotiations between the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union – PLUS
Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians on the formation of a
new, center-right, governing coalition could be resumed today, as the three
parties could not reach an agreement in the past two days. The National Liberal
Party has two proposals for prime minister: the current finance minister Florin
Citu, and the former head of the Executive, the party president Ludovic Orban.
According to the Liberals, this decision might render negotiations more
flexible, but the Save Romania Union – PLUS Alliance has already rejected the
idea of Orban reentering the race for prime-minister. On the other hand, the
Social Democratic Party wants professor Alexandru Rafila to head the new
government. President Klaus Iohannis has urged the parties to reach a
compromise and said he would appoint any person backed by a center-right
coalition.

Decision. The interim government in Bucharest, led by the
Minister of Defense, Nicolae Ciucă, wants to approve, in today’s meeting, a
draft decision on the reorganization of the National Institute for Research and
Development in Informatics. Thus, the Institute will be able to open, develop
and put into practice the latest technologies and discoveries in the field of
informatics and cyber security. The agenda also includes a draft decision on
the establishment, organization and operation of the Museum of the Horrors of
Communism in Romania. At the same time, two other projects will be approved
regarding the payment of contributions to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development.The executive will also analyze a memorandum
regarding the negotiation of the financing contract between Romania and the
European Investment Bank, worth 250 million Euros, for the support of the Iaşi
Regional Emergency Hospital (northeast).

Commemoration. It’s
a day of mourning today in Timişoara (western Romania), where, on December 17,
1989, the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu ordered the use of lethal ammunition
against people who challenged, in the street, the communist regime he led. The
protests in Timisoara, where almost 100 people died and about 350 were injured,
were the spark that led, a few days later, to the fall of the dictator,
following the bloodiest Revolution in Southeast Europe. In memory of the heroes
of Timisoara, religious services, wreaths, a pilgrimage to the monuments
erected in the city in the hottest places of the Revolution, an exhibition and
a special meeting of the Local Council were also scheduled for this year’s
commemoration.

Attack. The Foreign
Ministry in Bucharest strongly condemns any act of violence and any form of
xenophobia, racism and discrimination, after two Romanians were assaulted in
France. Romanian diplomacy reiterates the importance of continuing the efforts
made at the level of the European Union to combat xenophobia, discrimination of
any kind and hate speech. Three people, including two Romanians, were attacked
with a knife on December 12 in Antony, France. One of the injured Romanians was
discharged, and the other continues to receive medical care in hospital. French
authorities are investigating the attacker for the crime of attempted murder,
committed on racial, ethnic or religious grounds. (M. Ignatescu)