July 10, 2020 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 10.07.2020, 20:00
BILL A bill on quarantine and self-isolation initiated by the government in Bucharest is currently being debated upon in the Senate. The document, which includes a large number of amendments, was endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday. It regulates a number of necessary temporary measures in the field of public safety in situations of high epidemiological and biological hazard with a view to preventing and limiting contagion on the national territory. The government has resorted to the move after the Constitutional Court decided that self-isolation, quarantine and hospitalization cannot be imposed through a ministry order even in the case of infected persons. Judges believe that the aforementioned procedures are infringing upon individual rights and liberties and that restrictive measures must be imposed only under a law clearly regulating these restrictions. On Friday Romania reported 592 new infections, which brings the total number up to 31,400. About 22,800 people have recovered whereas 1,847 died. The number of Romanians infected abroad exceeds 5,100, with a death toll of 122.
RESTRICTIONS With the number of COVID-19 cases in Romania on the rise, some countries, like Malta, Finland and Norway have banned the access of travellers from Romania, while others introduced quarantine or isolation requirements. The Netherlands firmly recommends Romanian nationals should self-isolate for 14 days upon entry. As of Thursday, Austria also requires that Romanians present a certificate in English or German, confirming a negative SARS-COV-2 test no older than 4 days, otherwise travellers must self-isolate for 14 days. The UK has put together a list of safe countries, which does not include Romania, which means that travelers from Romania must self-isolate for 2 weeks. Hungary also announced it would revise the rules of access from neighbouring countries that report growing numbers of infection. In turn, Greece wants Romanian tourists coming into the country through the Kulata-Promachonas check point, the only one opened at present, to have negative COVID-19 tests issued in the last 72 hours. Tourists must also fill in an online form at least 24 hours prior to entering Greece.
JUDICIARY Romania is one of the lowest-ranking countries in an EU list based on the perceived independence of judges and courts, according to a poll made public on Friday, together with the 2020 EU Justice Scoreboard. An even more worrying situation is reported for Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Slovakia and Croatia. As many as 45% of the Romanians have a bad opinion on the independence of judges and courts. For UE-28, which includes the UK, the figure is 33%. At the opposite end, only 37% of Romanians have a good opinion on the independence of judges and courts, which is lower than last year, whereas at EU level the rate is 56%. Denmark ranks first on this list, with 86% of its population sharing a positive view on the topic.
EUROSTAT Nine out of the 27 EU member countries, Romania included, reported population decline last year, while in 18 countries the population increased, according to a report released on Friday by the European Statistics Institute (Eurostat). The highest increase was reported in Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Ireland and Sweden, with the most significat drop rates reported in Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Croatia and Italy. In Romania, the National Statistics Institute announced on Friday that the negative rate was 1.5 times higher in May 2020 than in May 2019.
INFLATION In Romania, the year-on-year inflation rate reached 2.6% this June, from 2.3% in May, as the prices of foodstuffs, services and non-foods went up, the National Statistics Institute announced on Friday. The National Bank of Romania lowered its inflation forecast for this year from 3% to 2.8%. Early this week, the Finance Minister Florin Cîţu announced that an inflation rate lower than in previous years means smaller interest rates in the economy, and smaller interest costs mean access to cheaper loans to all Romanians. According to the National Statistics Institute, last year the annual inflation rate was 3.8%, and in 2018 it was 4.6%.
PANDEMIC The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide is over 12.4 million, with the death toll standing at 558,000. In the USA, the worst hit country in the world, the number of cases passes 3.2 million, and 136,000 people died. News agencies say the record-high COVID-19 figures in most American states reduce the hope for economic recovery. The second worst affected country remains Brazil, with over 1.7 million cases and nearly 70,000 deaths. In Europe, Italy has closed its borders to 13 non-EU countries, including the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia. The restrictions include the travellers who only transit those countries. Only Italian nationals are allowed to re-enter the country coming from those regions, subject to compulsory 2-week self-isolation.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu, Daniel Bilt)
