December 23, 2020

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 23.12.2020, 13:55

Investiture. The centre-right government proposed by the prime minister
designate, Liberal Florin Cîţu, is today seeking a vote of investiture in the
new Parliament following the recent elections. The coalition government formed
by the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and PLUS Alliance and the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania are promising to modernise the
country and work with the president to achieve reform. They have also presented
Parliament with the list of ministers and the programme for government. The new
cabinet is divided into 18 ministries, with two positions of deputy prime
minister without portfolio to be held by Dan Barna from the Save Romania Union
and PLUS Alliance and Kelemen Hunor from the Democratic Union of Ethnic
Hungarians. The Liberals are to hold nine ministries. Nicolae Ciucă and Bogdan
Aurescu will stay on as defence minister and foreign minister, respectively. Alexandru
Nazare will take on the finance ministry and Sorin Cîmpeanu the education
ministry. The Save Romania Union and PLUS Alliance are to hold six ministries,
with Cristian Ghinea in charge of European funds and Vlad Voiculescu becoming health minister. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians will be holding
three ministries. The Social Democratic Party will be in opposition. Despite
winning the largest number of votes in the 6th of December
elections, the Social Democrats were unable to form a ruling majority.

Vaccine. Almost 5,500 new coronavirus cases were reported in Romania
today, the total number of confirmed infections now passing 600,000. 130 new
deaths were also reported, taking the death toll to 14,766. Some 1,250 Covid patients are in
intensive care. The authorities have again called on the population to respect
the anti-Covid measures in place, warning that infection does not pause for
Christmas and New Year.

Covid Europe. Europe becomes the first region in the world to pass the
milestone of 500,000 coronavirus deaths, according to estimates made by
Reuters, while the new strain of the virus discovered in the UK risks obstructing
efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic. Italy, which has the highest
Covid death toll in Europe, has identified one patient infected with the new
variant, as have France and Denmark. According to Reuters, some 30% of world
Covid fatalities are in Europe, where the death rate has gone up in recent
months, doubling over the space of 60 days. EU countries are preparing for mass
vaccination, which will begin immediately after Christmas, given that the
European Medicines Agency approved the first Covid-19 vaccine on Monday.

School. Three million children begin their holiday today after more than
a month and a half of remote learning. Classes will be resumed on 11th
January but the authorities are yet to decide whether they will continue to be
held online beyond that date. The decision will be made by the Committee for
Emergency Situations depending on the epidemiological situation.

Commemoration. It’s 31 years today since the massacre at Otopeni
airport, near Bucharest. On 23rd December 1989, one day after the fleeing
communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu
was arrested, 40 gendarmes were shot at by the troops guarding the airport who
mistook them for terrorists. The gendarmes had in fact been deployed to
consolidate the defence of the airport. Stay tuned for more on the Romanian
anti-communist revolution after the news.

Republic of
Moldova. The left-wing government of the Republic of Moldova (an ex-Soviet
state with a majority Romanian-speaking population) is resigning today before a
no-confidence vote in Parliament. The announcement was made by prime minister Ion
Chicu at a press briefing hosted by the outgoing pro-Russian Socialist president
Igor Dodon on the last day of his term in office. Last month, Dodon lost the
presidential elections to the former pro-western prime minister Maia Sandu. (CM)