February 2, 2020

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 02.02.2020, 13:55

VIRUS Authorities in the
Philippines have reported the first person killed by the cornoavirus outside
China. According to official reports the victim was a 44 year old Chinese
citizen coming from Wuhan, the place where the virus was initially detected.
Authorities in Beijing have today announced the virus death toll has exceeded
300 and the army will be deploying 14 hundred of its medical personnel to help
contain the spreading and treat patients in the newly built hospital in the
province of Hubei. The number of contaminated people has reached 14,400 most of
them living in the province where the virus emerged, which has now been
reported in over 20 other countries including European. South Korea, the United
States and Australia have announced they may ban the access of all people
coming from China irrespective of their nationality, a temporary measure aimed at
limiting its spreading. No victims have been reported in Romania so far but last
week, the new coronavirus was declared a global emergency by the World Health
Organisation who specified though that there was no reason to limit trade or travel
to China.

MEETING Romania’s Prime Minister Ludovic Orban attended the Friends of
Cohesion meeting in Portugal, an event that brought together heads of state
and government and ministers from its members as well as commissioners in
charge of budget issues and cohesion policy. In his address during the meeting,
the Romanian official highlighted the importance of adopting an ambitious
budget capable of offering the union the necessary resources for meeting the objectives
on its strategic agenda. The budget must also be realistic in terms of ensuring
a balance between the growth objectives it has to meet and the response to Europe’s
new challenges. Orban also reiterated Romania’s support for reaching as soon as
possible a political agreement on the future European budget, which must allow
for the commencement of the next EU-funded programmes and projects in due time.
The participants have signed a joint statement pledging to leave unaltered the
EU funds destined to Europe’s less developed regions.

MOTION The censure motion against the Liberal
government in Bucharest tabled by the opposition PSD will be presented to
Parliament on Monday. The Social Democrats’ move was decided after the
Executive led by Ludovic Orban had assumed responsibility for a project on
reintroducing the two-round election of mayors, almost half a year before the
event. According to the Social Democrats, the present government must step down
for its decision to amend the election law right before the event, which runs
against European standards and also for endorsing the new amendments
unilaterally without talks and debates over the project. According to the
president of the Chamber of Deputies and PSD interim leader Marcel Ciolacu, ‘we
are currently facing the severest crisis of abuse of power’. The Liberals,
however, argue that the new system of voting will increase the candidates’
representation and legitimacy. The Social Democrats say the motion could get
endorsed by 233 MPs standing chances to clear the threshold. Prime Minister
Orban says he is ready for any result and that his objectives are to ensure a
stable governance and win the future local and parliament election.

BREXIT EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is expected to make public on
Monday his negotiation plan for the future relations the bloc is going to have
with the UK. The Europeans have pledged fair but firm negotiations. None of the
73 British MEPs elected last year in May will be allowed to participate in Parliament
works beginning on Monday. 46 mandates have been reserved for the EU’s future
members, while 27 will be distributed among the other members. Nor will British
citizens be allowed to serve in other EU official jobs and some of them have
applied for double citizenship to keep their jobs. The UK left the European
Union on Friday night after 47 years of membership being the first member to leave
the bloc since its foundation. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has voiced
Romania’s regret over Britain’s decision to leave the bloc but he hopes the
country will remain a close partner and a trustworthy ally sharing the same
values. Bucharest has as its key priority the protection of legitimate rights and
interests of the Romanian citizens working or studying in the UK, Iohannis has
also added.

FILM Romanian director Radu Ciorniciuc’s film
‘Acasa, My Home’ reaped the Special Jury Award for Cinematography at the
Sundance Film Festival in the USA. According to the organizers, the prize went
to Mircea Topoleanu and Radu Ciorniciuc for their ‘fluid and tenacious
camerawork’. The film was one of the 12 titles selected out of 14 thousand
productions from the world over vying for a prize in the famous independent
film festival. Ciorniciuc’s film introduces viewers to the biggest urban delta
in Europe, the Vacaresti Nature Park in Romania’s capital Bucharest, through
the eyes of a gypsy family living in the middle of the wetlands.

(translated by bill)