March 9, 2022
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 09.03.2022, 13:55
Pandemic ▪ Since March 8, at midnight, Romania has lifted all sanitary restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. After more than two years of state of emergency or alert and at the end of five pandemic waves, the Romanian authorities have decided, among other things, that the sanitary mask is no longer mandatory in both outdoor and indoor spaces, and access to various public spaces is no longer conditioned on the Covid certificate. Hospitals will continue to operate in a combined system, so that all hospitalized Covid-19 patients can be treated. At the same time, upon entering Romania, the passenger location form is no longer required. The heath minister, Alexandru Rafila, pointed out that individuals should be cautious and responsible in the next period, given that the Sars-CoV-2 virus has not disappeared.
Visit ▪ Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, will receive, on Friday, in Bucharest, the US Vice President, Kamala Harris. According to a presidential administration communiqué, Allied measures to strengthen NATOs deterrence and defense posture on the Eastern Flank will be discussed, including the prospect of further increasing the US and allied military presence in Romania. They will also address the coordination of the transatlantic community in relation to adopting new sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The presence of Vice President Kamala Harris in Romania reconfirms the solidity of the bilateral Strategic Partnership, the communiqué also shows.
Ukraine ▪ Ukraine must withstand Russias attacks for the next 7-10 days so that Moscow cannot claim any victory, a senior Ukrainian government official said. According to Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, the most likely targets are the city of Mariupol and the capital Kyiv. ‘They need at least one victory before they are forced to enter the final negotiations’ Denisenko wrote on Facebook. The statement comes in the context in which more than two million Ukrainians have fled the country to avoid the biggest assault on a European country since World War II, Reuters reports. On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund is to approve today 1.4 billion dollars worth of emergency funding for Ukraine to help the country respond to Russias invasion, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the organizations director general. More and more Western companies are leaving the Russian market under international sanctions. On Tuesday, the American chain McDonalds announced that it was temporarily closing its 850 restaurants in Russia and suspending all operations in that country. In Russia, the sale of foreign currency will be suspended until September 9, the Central Bank announced, as it was hit by unprecedented Western sanctions. Withdrawal of cash from foreign currency accounts opened in Russian banks will be limited to 10,000 dollars, and the rest can be withdrawn only in rubles at the current exchange rate. The ruble has broken new historic depreciation records against Western currencies in recent days. Russias economy suffered another blow on Tuesday after US President Joe Biden announced an embargo on oil and gas imports from the country.
Refugees – Nearly 320,000 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania since the onset of the Russian invasion until Tuesday, at midnight, the General Inspectorate of the Border Police informed. Of these, about 235,000 have already left Romania. On Tuesday, the inflow of Ukrainian refugees declined slightly. Both the Romanian authorities and the civil society have mobilized quickly and efficiently to provide accommodation, food, clothing and medicines to those fleeing the Russian invasion. The Romanians efforts were appreciated by international political figures and the Western press.
EU directive ▪ Romania is to transpose into national legislation a European directive on whistle-blowing protection. The whistleblower is a person who reports certain illegal, incorrect or unethical practices within the public or private company he or she works in. Today’s government agenda includes a bill in this regard. Another law aims at paying Romania’s contributions to the European Organ Exchange Association and to a program run by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Another decision will set the maximum limit of the reimbursable funding that the administrative-territorial units can make for a period of three years.
Pensions ▪ In Romania, the contribution to the Pension Pillar II will be increased by 1%, to 4.75%, starting with January 2024, according to a draft emergency ordinance put up for debate on the website of the Labor Ministry. The provision is included in the National Resilience and Recovery Plan and in the governing program. An employee currently transfers 25% of the gross salary to the pensions fund in the form of a social insurance contribution, of which 21.25% goes to the public pension system, and the rest to the private Pension Pillar II. (LS)
