March 6, 2018 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 06.03.2018, 19:45
IMMUNOGLOBULIN CRISIS – Austria is the first country to respond to Romanias call for immunoglobulin, after Bucharest activated the European Mechanism for Civil Protection. The Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea has stated that there is no single dose left in the country, and that is why international help is needed. The Secretary of State with the Interior Ministry Raed Arafat has announced that Romania has also resorted to the NATO Mechanism regarding the provision of immunoglobulins. The Health Ministry has explained that the discontinuity in the supply of immunoglobulin was generated by the withdrawal from the market of producers that were covering more than 80% of the immunoglobulin needs. Romania needs 956 kilograms of immunoglobulins every year.
COOPERATION – Romanias Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Tuesday had a phone conversation with her Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov, focusing on the organisation of a joint government session. According to a press release issued by the Romanian Government, Mrs. Dancila stressed the close partnership between the two neighbours and the importance of further developing it. The two officials discussed the organisation of a new Romania – Bulgaria – Greece – Serbia top-level meeting. Prime Minister Dancila also congratulated Bulgaria for its presidency of the EU Council.
EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY – The Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu stated on Tuesday that preparations for Romanias taking over the presidency of the EU Council were on schedule. According to the Minister, there are several institutions involved in the preparations, including Parliament, the Cabinet and the Presidential Administration. Negrescu made the statements at a conference he attended in the town of Pitesti, in the south, titled : “Romanias EU Council Presidency: Expectations, Challenges, Responsibilities”. Romania is due to hold the rotating presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019.
MOLDOVA – At a press conference in Chisinau on Tuesday, held together with the interim Mayor of the Moldovan capital Silvia Radu, the Mayor of Bucharest Gabriela Firea announced that the two parties agreed to cooperate on outsourcing public services, with the aim of helping ensure an effective use of public money. She added that the two municipalities also intended to collaborate in urban regeneration projects. Firea said that Silvia Radu was very much interested in consolidating heritage buildings and wanted to learn from the Bucharest municipalitys expertise in the field. In turn, mayor Radu said that Gabriela Fireas visit to Chisinau was a step forward towards developing the good relations established in Bucharest on February 14th, when the two municipalities signed a cooperation agreement. Also, Firea announced that the Metropolitan Library in Bucharest will donate 20,000 volumes to the “B.P.Hasdeu” Library in Chisinau.
ANTICORRUPTION – The Romanian state has one billion Euros to collect from asset seizures decided in cases prosecuted by the National Anticorruption Directorate, the chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi announced on Tuesday. The head of the Directorate stated that when talking about asset freezing, reference is made only to those assets that are on Romanian soil, and its interesting how criminals have found ways of hiding their assets abroad. Its the obligation of the Romanian tax authorities now to enforce the decisions as soon as possible, Kovesi added. In 2017, anticorruption prosecutors froze assets worth more than 200 billion Euros.
FLU – 82 people have died from flu in Romania, according to the National Centre for Supervision and Control of Communicable Diseases. The last case reported is that of an 80-year old man from Bucharest, who had not been vaccinated against the flu and who was suffering from several diseases. According to official statistics, 1700 cases of flu were reported in the past week alone, as compared to only 85 in the same period last year.
RUSSIAN SPY – The British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has stated that London will “respond appropriately and robustly” if the Russian state is found to have been involved in poisoning a Russian spy and his daughter. The two were hospitalised in Salisbury, in the south of England, after being found unconscious on a bench in a shopping center. The former spy is Sergei Skripal, aged 66, a former colonel of the Russian military intelligence service. Accused of espionage for the benefit of the United Kingdom, in 2006, Skripal was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but he got the status of refugee in England thanks to an exchange of prisoners between Moscow, London and Washington. Moscow claims that Sergei Skripal was paid 100,000 US dollars in exchange for providing the British intelligence service MI6 with the names of the Russian spies in Great Britain. 12 years ago, another Russian former spy, Aleksandr Litvinenko, was poisoned in London. Before dying, he said his assassination had been ordered by president Putin himself, but the Kremlin denied any involvement. (translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)
