March 6, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 06.03.2020, 20:14

VIRUS 9 people have been infected with
the new coronavirus in Romania so far; out of these 3 have already been cured.
22 people have been quarantined in Romania so far, while 12 thousand others
have been isolated at home. 3 Romanians have tested positive for the virus in the
Italian regions of Lombardy, Treviso and Emilia-Romagna. Romanian interim Prime
Minister Ludovic Orban on Friday resumed his appeal for the Romanians who are
living in countries affected by the virus to avoid any unnecessary trips. These
people will not be banned from entering the country during the Easter holidays
but they are going to be quarantined either at home or in hospitals, the
minister has also said. Health ministers from the EU countries on Friday
underlined in Brussels the importance of cooperation and information exchange
between the bloc countries to limit the spread of this epidemic. Attending the
meeting, the Romanian health minister Victor Costache said the authorities in
Bucharest remain vigilant on a possible escalation of the outbreak in Europe by
keeping in touch with the other member states, as well as with European and
international institutions. The coronavirus has so far made it to over 80
countries around the world; 100 thousand people have been infected world wide, and
the death toll stands at more than 34 hundred.

CAMPAIGN A large-scale afforestation campaign entitled ‘A Forest as
Big as a Country’ kicked off in southern Romania on Friday. 13 thousand
afforestation sites have been opened all over Romania. ‘We need to
significantly increase Romania’s forest surface and this campaign is a very
good start, the country’s president Klaus Iohannis has said. The president has
added that all the surveys conducted recently proved that the most efficient
measure against global warming is afforestation. In a letter on 12th
of February the European Commission urged Romania to apply the EU regulation,
which bans the sale of products obtained from illegal logging. Last year, three
environmental NGOs filed complaints with the European Commission related to the
destruction of tens of thousand of hectares of forests in Romania. According to
the Silva Trade Union, six forest rangers have been killed and 650 others have
been attacked by illegal loggers in the past years.

GOVERNMENT Next
week, the leadership of the Romanian Parliament will set the date for the
investiture of the cabinet proposed by the Liberal Prime Minister Designate
Florin Citu. The joint session can be scheduled for next Friday at the latest.
The proposed ministers have been heard this week, and nine of them have
received positive opinions. 233 votes are needed for the new government to be
endorsed,. We recall that the first Liberal Government, headed by the leader of
the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban, was dismissed by means of a
no-confidence motion.

DEFENCE Romania’s
Defense Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca attended in Zagreb, on Wednesday and
Thursday, the informal meeting of the EU defense ministers. The participants
analyzed the security situation in Europe’s neighborhood, with focus on Syria,
and held an exchange of opinions on the EU’s security and defense priorities.
Also, they discussed the development and implementation of the Strategic
Compass and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO). Minister Ciuca
reconfirmed Romania’s support for the EU commitments in the Balkans, in the
south-central region of the Mediterranean but also on the African continent,
with regard to efforts of maintaining security and stability. Also, he signed
together with his counterparts from Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands
and Poland, a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation under PESCO, for the
setting up of rapid response and mutual assistance teams in case of cyber
attacks.

(translated
by bill)