February 10, 2021 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 10.02.2021, 20:00
BUDGET — The Romanian Government on Wednesday discussed the draft budget bill for 2021, which is to be put up for public debate. According to Prime Minister Florin Cîțu, the budget is based on a deficit of 7.1% of the GDP and on a 4.3% economic growth rate. Citu announced the Government is preparing an emergency order on a number of measures aimed at slashing expenditure. One such measure is to no longer grant students free train tickets but only tickets with a 50% discount. Child allowances and pensions will be kept at their current level throughout the year and the latter will be raised starting January 2022. The validity of holiday vouchers issued in 2019 and 2020 will be extended and new vouchers will be issued only in 2022. The PM also said that through the new budget he wanted to maintain the trust of the European Commission, investors and rating agencies in the Romanian economy. He also said that in 2021 most EU countries will have a deficit of almost 6% of the GDP, with Romania being the only country under the excessive deficit procedure.
PROTESTS — Protests of trade unions against the salary policies of the coalition government continue in Romania. On Wednesday Cartel Alfa trade unionists picketed the Liberal Party headquarters in Bucharest, after on Tuesday they protested in front of the Finance Ministry. Sanitas trade unionists also announced protests as of Thursday, dissatisfied with the planned decrease in public sector employees’ benefits, the suspension of holiday vouchers for 2021 and the reduction of the food allowance. In turn, the Publisind trade union federation, affiliated to the National Trade Union Bloc, staged protests on Wednesday at the Parliament Palace as and at Prefect’s Offices across the country. They have launched protests since December 31, 2020 and plan to continue the protest actions indefinitely. The National Federation of Pensioners in Romania is also protesting against the Governments decision not to increase pensions this year.
VACCINATION — The Bucharest Government decided on Wednesday to extend the state of alert in Romania by another 30 days, starting February 12, in order to prevent and combat the effects of the pandemic. Thus, the current restrictions will be kept in place and the Covid-19 hotbeds will be included in the reporting of the number of new infections. More than 3 thousand new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported in Romania on Wednesday in the past 24 hours. The total number of cases exceeded 752 thousand, with the death toll exceeding 19,100. Almost 1,000 patients are in ICUs. In another development, the first 14,000 doses of Moderna vaccine arrived in Romania. These will be distributed to regional and vaccination centers across the country. Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in Romania, on December 27, about 140 thousand people have been vaccinated with the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. The first doses of AstraZeneca vaccine have also been distributed to immunization centres in Romania, to be administered only to people aged 18 to 55.
FILM — The documentary film collective, directed by Alexander Nanau, has been shortlisted in the Documentary Feature and International Feature Film categories of the Academy Awards. The film, co-produced by Romania and Luxembourg, presents the efforts of doctors, government officials and investigative journalists, who fight corruption while discovering large-scale fraud in the healthcare system in Bucharest after the fire in the Colectiv club. The fire took place on October 30, 2015 and made 65 victims. The Oscar nominations will be made public on March 15, and the winners will be announced at the Academy Awards Gala on April 25.
MOTION — On Wednesday the Social Democrats, in the opposition, tabled a simple motion in the Chamber of Deputies against health minister Vlad Voiculescu, over the latter’s alleged inability to manage the medical crisis triggered by the pandemic. The motion will be debated on Monday, February 15 and voted on two days later, the Chamber of Deputies speaker, Ludovic Orban, has announced.
TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, no. 2 in the world on Wednesday defeated Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets, and made it to the third round of the Australian Open. Tomljanovic had every chance to end the match in her favor, after holding a 5-2 lead in the final set, but she faltered at the crucial moment, while Halep won five games in a row to advance to the third round. “I expected it was going to be a difficult match, but it was more than I thought,” Halep said in her post-match interview. Also in the second round, Romanian Sorana Cirstea (WTA 72) defeated the Czech Petra Kvitova (WTA 8) in three sets and advanced to the next round, while in the women’s doubles, in an all-Romanian match, the team Andreea Mitu/Raluca Olaru beat Monica Niculescu/Patricia Tig. (EE)
