May 28, 2021

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 28.05.2021, 13:55

AGENDA Romania managed to introduce for the first time on the agenda of an EU
Foreign Ministers meeting, the one that ended in Lisbon on Thursday, the issue
of the frozen conflicts of the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. Romania’s Foreign Ministry
Bogdan Aurescu has told Radio Romania the measures proposed focus on setting up
the position of EU special envoy for frozen conflicts and resilience of the
states in the Eastern partnership, the idea of imposing sanctions in areas like
Transdniester, a breakaway region in the neighboring, ex-soviet
Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, as well as providing post-pandemic assistance.
The head of diplomacy in Bucharest has explained that the entire bloc is aware
of the danger posed by the frozen conflicts and of the fact that Russia is
behind all these conflicts. Also high on the agenda of the latest informal
Gymnich meeting in Lisbon was the enlarged Black Sea region, the EU-Africa
relations and the EU strategic vision for India-Pacific.

TENNIS Eighth seeded Magda Linette, a tennis player from Poland, is today up
against Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the semis of the WTA tournament in
Strasbourg, a competition with roughly 200 thousand euros in prize money. In
the round of 16, Cirstea clinched a two-set win against Shuai Zhang of China
and qualified for the semifinals after Canadian player of Romanian descent
Bianca Andreescu had withdrawn. Cirstea has a 2-1 head-to-head lead against
Linette.

COVID-19 The number of people infected with Sars-CoV-2 in Romania has been going
down for quite some time now. Authorities on Thursday announced 307 new cases
out of over 31 thousand tests conducted. Capital city Bucharest and all the
other regions are now in the so-called green zone. Since the vaccine rollout
kicked off in Romania in late December, 3.3 million have been fully vaccinated.
Over 1,000 physicians, nurses and administrative personnel have volunteered for
the second edition of the vaccination marathon due to last in Bucharest until
May 31st. New relaxation measures are to come into effect as of June
1st. The government has specified the conditions under which mask
wearing is no longer mandatory in indoor places, how many people can attend an
event and what entertainment facilities can be opened.

AID The government in Bucharest has endorsed a new humanitarian aid for the
neighboring Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova in an attempt to help the
authorities there to contain the coronavirus pandemic. According to a
communiqué issued by the Health Ministry, the aid consists of 100 thousand
doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In another development, state secretary with
the Romanian Foreign Ministry, Dan Neculaescu is presently on a working visit
in Cernauti with a view to providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On this
occasion Neculaescu will be meeting representatives of the Romanian community
in Ukraine and is expected to have talks with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vasyl
Bodnar and with officials from the Regional State Administration in
Cernauti.

PLAN Parliaments in Austria and Poland on Thursday approved Europe’s 672
billion euro recovery plan aimed at offsetting the economic impact of the
pandemic, which is a step forward towards ratifying the project at EU level.
The 672 billion euros in subsidies and loans are to fund investment in the
green and digital transition. The first installments are most likely expected
by the end of July. Every member state is to come up with an investment plan in
Brussels. 19 countries have already presented their plans and Ludovic Orban,
president of the National Liberal Party, the main ruling political party has
said in Bucharest that Romania will make public its plan on June 2nd,
shortly after its presentation in Brussels. The opposition PSD has said that
through the aforementioned plan the Executive has assumed a series of austerity
measures and the opposition is going to table a censure motion.

(bill)