January 25, 2022
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 25.01.2022, 13:55
Covid – 19 Ro — 114,000 vaccine doses from Pfizer BioNTech Company for the vaccination of children between the ages of 5 and 11 arrive in Romania today. The vaccination of this age group will begin on January 26. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 incidence rate continues to rise in Romania. The most daily cases are confirmed in the Bucharest-Ilfov area, where the demand for testing is high. In order to respond to these requests as soon as possible, the Health Ministry decided to open 28 testing centers. A total of 19,685 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported in the last 24 hours along with 44 deaths. The pressure on hospitals is not as high as in the previous wave of the pandemic, but the number of hospitalized people is increasing by the day.
Transport — The employees of the Bucharest Transport Company have suspended the protest action and have resumed their activity, after five days in which the surface public transport in the Capital was blocked. We remind you that the strike was declared illegal by the court, but the trade unionists have so far ignored the courts decision. They are asking for salary increases and the resignation of the company’s manager, Adrian Crit. The latter told Agerpres news agency that, after five days of illegal protest that paralyzed the capital, the employees have eventually understood that they cannot ignore the law and the obligations they have towards the people of Bucharest. The general mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, has said that the talks will continue in order to improve the situation at the Bucharest Transport Company, depending on the available budgets. Previously Nicusor Dan had accused that the protest had been politicized.
Holocaust — Promoting the fundamental rights and freedoms, respecting the historical truth and understanding the causes of such atrocities give us assurances that such crimes against humanity will never happen again, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said today at the ceremony devoted to International Holocaust Remembrance Day. He underlined that the exacerbation of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, intolerance, racism and discrimination, the attempts to rehabilitate war criminals, as well as the relinquishing of the supreme values of humanity could bring back the tragic experiences of history. The Romanian president recalled that, in the streets of Bucharest, in January 1941, criminals vandalized and burned synagogues, shattered the destinies of thousands of innocent people through the most horrific tortures, all these horrors being part of a diabolical plan of mass extermination. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the virulence of anti-Semitic attacks and created a framework that led to the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation, president Iohannis said. (…) In turn, the PM Nicolae Ciuca, present at the ceremony, has said that the Holocaust is a dark chapter of history, pointing out that it must not be forgotten and minimized. He has paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and presented the contribution of the Jewish community to the development of Romania.
Ukraine – The leaders of the US and of several European countries expressed, on Monday, during a video conference, their full support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and promised that Russia would face very serious consequences in case of an aggression against Ukraine. The participants agreed that it was up to Moscow to take visible steps to de-escalate the conflict, said the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who attended the meeting with leaders from the US, France, Britain, Italy and Poland, among others. The Western leaders accuse Moscow of being the source of current tensions and say security and stability in Europe can be solved through negotiations. On Monday, the situation caused by Russias aggressive actions in the vicinity of Ukraine and the Black Sea region was included on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting held in Brussels. The Romania Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu proposed his counterparts to consider the possibility of holding a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Kiev, as an expression of the EUs solidarity with Ukraine. He reiterated the importance of supporting the strengthening of the resilience of Ukraine and other Eastern partners, as well as of increasing the EUs involvement in finding political solutions to the prolonged conflicts in the Black Sea region.
Corruption — The 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International shows that, despite official commitments, 131 of the 180 countries surveyed have made no significant progress in fighting corruption in the past 10 years. According to the report, Romania is no exception, and the perception of public sector corruption has been unchanged for a decade. With only 45 points out of 100, Romania remains among the most corrupt countries in the European Union, alongside Hungary (43 points) and Bulgaria (42 points). Transparency International’s analysis shows that the Covid-19 pandemic has given governments the opportunity to expand their executive power, hide public information and restrict citizens rights. In Romania, one of the most vulnerable areas was public procurement, with effects on the transparency of the public expenses during the pandemic. (LS)
