December 4, 2020 UPDATE

A news roundup

Newsroom, 04.12.2020, 19:55

Elections – The campaign for Sundays parliamentary elections ended on Friday. All campaign events were subject to strict rules as part of the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. A number of localities are in lockdown, but Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said voters can travel freely to the polling stations within these localities. 136 senator and 329 deputy seats are up for election, including 4 deputies and 2 senators representing the Romanian community abroad. The foreign ministry has set up 748 polling stations abroad with an interactive map of all of them and a hotline for Romanian voters living abroad being also available. Voting is held over the course of two days abroad, on Saturday and Sunday. On Friday evening, president Klaus Iohannis urged the citizens to go to the polls in great numbers and make their voice heard, underlining that the stakes of the December 6 parliamentary elections were overwhelming. “Vote with responsibility, with your thoughts focused on the present and on what Romania is going to look like tomorrow’ said President Iohannis.

Covid-19 Romania – 8,062 new coronavirus cases have been reported in Romania in the past 24 hours following the testing of over 35 thousand people, according to the Strategic Communication Group. Since the onset of the pandemic, 500,273 cases of contamination have been reported across Romania, and more than 390 thousand people have recovered. 176 people have died in the past 24 hours from COVID-19, taking the death toll to 12,052. Romania’s anti-Covid-19 national vaccination strategy was made public on Friday in Bucharest after being approved on Thursday by the countrys Supreme Defense Council. The president of the National Committee for coordinating anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination activities Valeriu Gheorghita said that vaccination was voluntary not compulsory and people’s trust is essential for the success of the campaign. He added that more than 850 vaccination centers would be set up across Romania which will ensure the vaccination of an estimated number of almost 5 thousand people per center, per month.

Rugby — The former Romanian international player Octavian Morariu has been reelected president of Rugby Europe. He said the priorities of the organization remained safeguarding and promoting the values of rugby, promoting the rugby game for all countries, for all players irrespective of genre and age and in all formats (XV, X, VII, beach rugby, snow rugby and non-contact). Morariu has been at the helm of Rugby Europe since 2013, being at his 3rd term in office.

Protest — The President elect of the Republic of Moldova, pro-western Maia Sandu has urged the citizens to take to the streets for a new protest that will be organized in two days’ time. On Thursday she joined the several thousand people who protested in front of the Parliament building in Chisinau against the draft laws voted by the MPs, especially the one related to the subordination of the Intelligence and Security Service to the Parliament. The opposition considers the move an attempt to limit the powers of Mrs. Maia Sandu, who will be sworn in President later in December, thus replacing the pro-Russian former president Igor Dodon. Romania condemns the non-transparent move of the Moldovan Parliament which runs counter to democratic practices, the PSMR and the Platform for Moldova which also includes the Sor Party, blatantly ignoring the massive vote of the Moldovan citizens at the November 15 election, shows a Romanian Foreign Ministry communiqué. The document reiterates Romania’s support for the efforts of the Moldovan President elect to reinstate the legality of the governing process.

Ordinance — The Romanian government passed an emergency decree on Friday, providing for the compensation of losses incurred by the hospitality industry. The sum totals 20% of the difference between the companies’ turnover in 2020 and in 2019. The measure regarding furlough has been extended and the working program called Kurzarbeit has been rendered flexible until June 30, 2021. Also on Friday, the government approved a decision regarding the re-opening of enclosed agri-food markets whose closure, almost one month ago, generated controversy. Measures were also taken in the run up to the parliamentary elections.

Brussels — The Council of the EU and the European Parliament on Friday reached an agreement over the EU budget for 2021. Nevertheless, for the budget to become applicable, Poland and Hungary need to withdraw their veto on the EU multiannual budget for the period 2021-2027, which they blocked alongside the post-pandemic recovery fund as they rejected conditioning the granting of European funds on the observance of the rule of law. The German ambassador to the EU Michael Clauss explained that if the veto was not withdrawn, a provisional financing system would have to be implemented in 2021 which was last used in 1989. As to the ‘Next Generation’ plan, which involves a recovery fund of more than 750 billion Euros, more European officials have suggested launching the plan without involving Poland and Hungary. (translation by L. Simion)