January 28, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 28.01.2022, 20:14

COVID — 19 — On Friday 31,724 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported in Romania in 24 hours alongside 60 deaths, two of which were from previous days. The highest number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic in Romania – 34,255 – was registered on Wednesday. The authorities expect the number of cases to rise to more than 40,000 a day next week. The number of hospitalized Covid patients has reached almost 8,000, and about 730 patients are in ICUs, of whom 85% are unvaccinated. On the other hand, a new drug intended for the treatment of those infected with SARS-CoV-2, who run the risk of developing serious forms of the disease, will reach the Public Health Directorates these days and then the hospitals and the assessment centers in Romania. The Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, expects this product, Molnupiravir, to have a favorable impact in the next ten days, by reducing the pressure on the intensive care units and the number of deaths.

OECD — The Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, said Friday that Romania had made progress in the last decade, but there are still areas where more work is needed. He came to Bucharest after the OECD decided to start accession negotiations with Romania and participated in the launch of a study on the countrys economic situation. According to this document, there are some short-term risks, such as the pandemic waves, which find Romania with a low vaccination rate, and, in the long run, the problems of better access to European funds, the aging population and the difficult access to education, especially of the disadvantaged categories. In his turn, the PM Nicolae Ciuca stated that Romanias accession to the OECD was as important as the admissions to NATO and the European Union and that it was a priority of the government. President Klaus Iohannis described the start of negotiations as an expected historic moment, which confirms Romanias commitment to democracy and a market economy. Made up of 32 countries, the OECD, through its member states, accounts for 70% of the world trade and production, and for 90% of the direct foreign investment.

AUR – The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), the nationalist opposition in Romania, climbed on the second position in the Romanians’ voting intentions – shows a new survey conducted by INSCOP Research and taken over by the media in Bucharest. Credited with 20.6% of the voting intentions, AUR is behind the Social Democratic Party, in the governing coalition, which would get 34.3% of the votes. The National Liberal Party, the Social Democrats partner in the coalition government led by Liberal Nicolae Ciuca, fell to 16.6%. After going in opposition at the end of last year, after having ruled alongside the Liberals, the Save Romania Union is credited with 12.5% of the votes. 3rd placed in the governing coalition, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania would get 4.2%, below the 5% electoral threshold, which it passed, however, each time in over three decades of post-communist democracy. The rest of the parties have less than 3% of the votes. The conflicts between the ruling coalition parties, against the background of the energy bill crisis, directly affect their popularity — says the director of the INSCOP Research Institute, the sociologist Remus Ştefureac. He also believes that after the catastrophic political crisis at the end of last year, people no longer want to hear about political quarrels and will have no patience and no tolerance for the parties that will provoke them. Domestic social and political issues will continue to fuel electoral adherence to the ultra-populist discourse – Remus Ştefureac concludes.

Budget — In Romania, the consolidated general budget ended last year with a deficit of 6.72% of the Gross Domestic Product, below initial estimates indicating a negative balance of 7.13%, shows the Budget Execution submitted by the Public Finance Ministry. The budget deficit increased significantly in the last month of last year, after the Finance Ministry reported a negative balance of 4.7% of GDP in November. On the other hand, compared to 2020, when it was 9.61% of GDP, the budget deficit recorded a significant decrease. The evolution of the budget deficit in 2021 was determined by the increase of revenues, mainly influenced by the dynamics of VAT and profit tax revenues and the reduction of expenditures, mainly due to the decrease of the share in GDP of the expenses with salaries and social assistance. At the same time, between January and December 2021, investment expenditures were higher than in the same period of the previous year.

UN – The US has called on the UN Security Council to convene a meeting on Monday to discuss the threat to international peace posed by the buildup of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border. More than 100,000 Russian troops are deployed on the border with the former Soviet republic, and Russia is engaged in other acts of destabilization targeting Ukraine, which poses a clear threat to international peace and security and the United Nations Charter, the US ambassador to the UN said in a statement. In another development, the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has announced that the Alliance is ready to increase its military presence in its eastern area in order to better defend its member states. He has explained that NATO is ready both for dialogue and to respond to Russian aggression. The French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone conversation on Friday that they needed to deescalate tensions and continue dialogue.

NATO — The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Thursday that he saw no problem with Russia’s or any other country’s visiting the military base in Deveselu (southern Romania) to see for themselves that there is no threat whatsoever to Moscow. However, he mentioned the principle of reciprocity, according to which the NATO members, including Romania, should be able to visit missile bases on the territory of the Russian Federation. Also on Thursday, Bogdan Aurescu had a conversation with his Bulgarian counterpart, Teodora Ghenciovska. The two expressed their firm support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity and discussed the possibility of a joint visit to Kiev in sign of solidarity. On the other hand, the Romanian Defense Minister, Vasile Dîncu, had a phone conversation with the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III. The topics on the agenda included developments in the security situation in the Black Sea region, NATOs posture on the eastern flank, as well as boosting the US presence in the region. Vasile Dîncu highlighted the need to strengthen the allied posture on NATO’s entire eastern flank, especially in the Black Sea region, as a defensive formula to ensure the security of allies and to discourage aggressive actions. At the same time, he reiterated Romanias determination to strengthen the Strategic Partnership between the two states. (LS)