March 3, 2020

Ministers designate in Florin Citu's new cabinet to be interviewed by parliamentary committees

Newsroom, 03.03.2020, 14:00

HEARINGS The ministers nominated in PM designate Florin Cîţus cabinet are interviewed by the specialised parliamentary committees today, on Wednesday and Thursday, and the day of the investiture vote is to be chosen early next week. The only change compared to the Ludovic Orban Government is at the finance ministry, where former minister Cîţu has been replaced with Lucian Ovidiu Heiuş. The president of Save Romania Union, Dan Barna, says the Liberals have not asked explicitly for support for the new cabinet. The leader of the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, Kelemen Hunor, says that no decision has been made yet as to endorsing the new government or not. Pro Romania MPs will attend the parliamentary sitting, but will vote against the cabinet, party leader Victor Ponta announced. The Social Democrats and ALDE were the only parties with which the PM designate has not discussed. The Peoples Movement Party decided to vote in favour of the Cîţu Cabinet. The latters nomination by president Klaus Iohannis came after the Constitutional Court found it unconstitutional for the president to designate the interim PM Ludovic Orban to form a new cabinet after being dismissed by Parliament through a no-confidence vote.

COVID-19 In Romania, 42 people are in quarantine centres and over 9,400 are under home monitoring, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Tuesday. So far 3 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Romania, one of whom has recovered and the other 2 are hospitalised and in a good state. Meanwhile, the National Emergency Committee has introduced strict quarantine rules for the people returning home from risk areas. The new coronavirus is now spreading a lot more quickly outside China than in the source country. Around 91,000 cases have been confirmed in over 70 countries worldwide. Of these, 48,000 patients recovered and over 3,100 died. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank announced they are ready to provide help, including emergency funds, for member states to tackle the difficulties caused by the quickly spreading epidemic.

VACCINATION The healthcare committee in the Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted the introduction of an amendment making immunisation mandatory. The Chamber of Deputies is to cast the decisive vote on the bill. Representatives of the Parents Alliance, of Pro Consumers Association and of the “Informed Decisions Association protested the current form of the bill, opposing the idea of compulsory vaccination. They believe each citizen must have the right to decide as concerns their own body. On the other hand, an association called Mothers for Mothers warns that vaccination saves lives and the body of scientific evidence in this respect goes back over a century.

INTERIOR MINISTRY The interim interior minister Marcel Vela has today presented the institutions annual report, and said in 2019 the work load of interior ministry staff was higher than in the previous year. Marcel Vela explained that 27 counties and the capital city Bucharest reported over 4% rises in street crime and crimes against persons and property. “The presidential election was well organised, with 30% fewer incidents in the first round and 54.18% fewer incidents in the second round than in 2014, Marcel Vela added. The National Police Union organised a protest concurrently with the meeting at the ministry headquarters. They demand the implementation of current regulations regarding salaries, and the payment of overdue benefits for the last 3 years.

UNEMPLOYMENT The January unemployment rate in Romania was 3.9%, down 0.1% since December, the National Statistics Institute announced in Tuesday. According to the institution, the estimated number of unemployed people in January was 350,000, which is lower than both the previous month and the corresponding month of 2019. Statistics also indicate that in the first month of the year the unemployment rate among men was 1% higher than among women.

ISRAEL The Israeli PM Beniamin Netanyahu claimed victory in the 3rd election within a year, held on Monday. With 90% of the votes counted, Netanyahus right-wing party Likud secured 35 out of the 120 seats in Parliament, as against 32 for Kahol Lavan, led by his challenger Benny Gantz. None of them however has the required majority to form a government. Netanyahu tried to secure his re-election while facing a corruption trial. In his address, Netanyahu promised to put an end to the Iranian nuclear threat, to build peace with moderate Arab countries, economic reforms, a defence pact with the USA, and also spoke about his proposal to annex settlements in the West Bank.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)