December 19, 2021 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 19.12.2021, 20:32
Visit. Prime minister Nicolae Ciucă is travelling to Brussels on Monday and Tuesday for talks with top EU and NATO officials. He will have a working dinner on Monday with the president of the European Council Charles Michael and on Tuesday he will meet the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other Commission members. Prime minister Ciucă is also expected to meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO headquarters.
Travel. Border checkpoints for entering Romania by road are becoming even busier as the winter holidays are nearing, especially on the western border. The authorities say the infrastructure is used to the maximum and the number of staff has been beefed up. The country’s biggest airport near Bucharest is also getting busier, with new measures to manage passenger flow in place from Saturday. Passengers can only disembark in groups of 50, at an interval of 15 minutes. EU citizens holding Covid green certificates are in a special fast track lane, while the others have to undergo public health checks. To simplify procedures, a new document becomes mandatory from Monday, the so-called PLF, passenger locator form, which everyone entering the country must fill in. The form, which is also used in other European countries, helps to quickly identify persons who came into contact with someone infected with Covid.
Covid-19. Romania reported almost 500 new daily Covid cases on Sunday, as well as 53 new deaths, while the pace of vaccination is again slowing down. According to the coordinator of the mass vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, a 15-20% drop in the number of those who receive the first jab is seen from one week to the next. Over 7.7 million Romanians are fully vaccinated to date, but Romania has the second lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.
Restrictions. As the Omicron variant is spreading fast, governments around Europe are tightening measures, with borders closing, the introduction of tough curbs on public events and speeding up of vaccination rates. Producing a negative Covid test result is now mandatory for everyone entering Italy, Portugal, Greece and Ireland, while France and some German lands only allow essential travel to and from the UK, where record infection numbers have been reported over the last few days. Spain is also expecting Omicron to become dominant by Christmas and access to bars and restaurants is only permitted to those holding the Covid green certificate. The Netherlands and Denmark are in full lockdown. World Health Organisation experts say Omicron infection cases double within three days in areas with community transmission.
Budget. The 2022 budget and social security bills will be submitted to Parliament on Monday, to be debated and approved by Christmas, said the finance minister Adrian Câciu. Prime minister Nicolae Ciucă said earlier that his government is seeking to maintain the budget balance and to comply with the commitment made before the European Commission to keep the budget deficit level at 5.84% of GDP.
Enescu. A Paris square not far from the Paris Opera will be named after the great Romanian composer George Enescu, the city’s deputy mayor Laurence Patrice announced on Twitter. Romania’s ambassador to Paris Luca Niculescu welcome to the move, which forms part of the 140th anniversary this year of the composer’s birth. Enescu’s life and work is closely linked to Paris, where he lived for many years and where he also died. (CM)
