March 23, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 23.03.2021, 19:44

Vaccination. The coordinator of Romania’s
mass vaccination campaign Valeriu Gheorghiţă said on Tuesday
that 775,000 people are on the waiting list for vaccination. 1.7 million have
already been given the Covid jab, accounting for more than 9% of the country’s
population. The vaccines approved for use in Romania are Pfizer and BioNTech,
Moderna and AstraZeneca. The authorities are expecting the first deliveries of Johnson&Johnson vaccines in April. Romania
passed the mark of 900,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the outbreak first
began about a year ago. More than 6,100 new cases were reported on Tuesday.
1,367 Covid patients are in intensive care. 174 new fatalities were also
recorded, taking the death toll to 22,440.

Justice. Romanian justice
minister Stelian Ion had online talks with European Commission experts on the
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, which could be lifted depending on the
progress to be made in the upcoming period. According to a statement from the
Romanian Justice Ministry, the talks also tackled the draft law on the
dismantling of the Special Section for the investigation of magistrates, the amendment
of the justice laws and Romania’s new anti-corruption strategy. Prime Minister
Florin Citu also said in a Facebook post last week that the European Commission
supports the lifting of the mechanism by the end of the year. He made the
announcement after a meeting with European Commission vice-president Věra Jourová.

NATO. NATO foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday in Brussels reiterated their
countries’ commitment to collective defence and underlined that translatlantic
partnership remains the pillar of this defence. The declaration of the meeting
that comes to an end on Wednesday recalls that NATO is a defensive alliance,
which, in response to a more dangerous and more unpredictable security
environment, is significantly consolidating its defence and deterrence
capacities, its posture and flexibility. Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan
Aurescu who attended the meeting in Brussels, said Romania
supports the proposals of the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg as part of the reflection process on NATO’s future and
would like to see the Alliance boost its role, both political and military. In
Bucharest’s view, more emphasis should be placed on defence and deterrence,
while strengthening NATO’s posture especially on the eastern flank. Aurescu
also recalled Romania’s intention to set up a euro-Atlantic centre for
resilience in Bucharest. The meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels is
the first to be held in-person since November 2019.

Exercise. A Romanian ship is taking part in the Ariadne 21 multinational exercise for mine
countermeasure operations off the coast of Greece between 27th March
and 4th April. Taking part are ships and navy staff from Bulgaria,
France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The exercise is also meant to enhance
interoperability with other NATO forces specialised in this field. The Romanian
ship has a crew made up of army divers specialising in locating makeshift
devices and using equipment specific to hydrographic surveys.

Radio drama. Twin Souls, a production of Radio
Romania’s Radio Drama Department, written by Petre Barbu and directed by Attila
Vizauer has been shortlisted at the UK International Radio Drama Festival held
online between March 22 and 26. Over 100 productions from 21 countries are in
competition, of which 20 have been shortlisted for the Radio Drama category and
24 for the Short Forms category. The festival brings together work from
national broadcasters and independent producers from around the world. The
theme of this year’s festival is We shall everyone be mask’d, an allusion to
both the current health crisis and the mandatory wearing of facemasks and the
mask as a symbol of theatre and the stage.

Tennis. Romanian tennis player Mihaela
Buzărnescu (WTA 137) defeated Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, 6-4, 6-2 to
make it to the last qualifying round of the Miami Open. Buzărnescu will next be up against Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam
(WTA125). Three Romanian players, namely 3rd seed Simona Halep,
Sorana Cîrstea and Irina Begu are already
on the main draw in Miami. (CM)