November 15, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 15.11.2021, 19:55

COVID-19. The latest updates
released by the Romanian authorities point to a decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases, with some 2,100 recorded on Monday. The authorities also reported
195 fatalities, and more than 15,000 COVID patients are hospitalised, 1,720 of
them in intensive care. In the capital Bucharest, the infection rate dropped below
6 cases per one thousand inhabitants. The pace of vaccination, however, has dropped
steadily, having peaked at over 110,000 people vaccinated on 27th October. Almost
6.9 million Romanians are fully vaccinated to date.

EU. Romanian foreign minister Bogdan
Aurescu attended a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday in
Brussels. Talks focused on the Western Balkans and the Sahel region, as well as
the situation in Belarus, Cyprus, Ethiopia and Sudan and the relations with
Latin America. With respect to the Western Balkans, minister Aurescu
highlighted the need for a unified EU strategic approach in the current
regional context while reiterating support for starting accession talks with
North Macedonia and Albania this year. Speaking about Belarus, he expressed
solidarity with EU member states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, which are
confronted with the effects of the migrant crisis generated by Belarus. Aurescu
stood in favour of a new package of sanctions against the latter as soon as
possible. During a working breakfast attended by Ukraine’s foreign minister,
the Romanian official also reiterated support for this country’s territorial
integrity.

Cop 26. The goals agreed at the UN climate
change conference are below expectations, the president of the European
Commission Ursula von der Leyen told a press conference on Monday. She said she
was disappointed with the watering down of language related to coal use, with the final text of
the agreement referring to a coal phase-down instead of phase-out. She also
decried the insufficient financial help provided by major polluters to poor
countries.

Uprising. Romania marked the 34th
anniversary on Monday since the anticommunist uprising of workers from the Red
Flag factory in Braşov, in the centre, considered the first large-scale demonstration
against the Ceauşescu regime. A moment’s silence was held in the
Senate in memory of those killed in the uprising. On the night of 14th
November 1987, the workers took to the streets to protest against the dire
living standards and marched towards the headquarters of the County Committee
of the Romanian Communist Party. They were joined by other inhabitants of the
city, and together they chanted for the first time in Romania Down with the
dictatorship! and Down with Ceauşescu!. The Ceauşescu regime was eventually
toppled in December 1989, in an anti-communist revolution that began in Timișoara,
in the west.

Holocaust. The
Senate on Monday passed a bill to introduce a the study of Jewish history and
the Holocaust into the high school curriculum in Romania. The bill also
provides for the introduction of the Award of the Holocaust and Jewish History
Museum in Romania. MP Silviu Vexler, who
initiated the bill, said the past must be the basis for the future and that education is absolutely necessary in order to build a democratic
society.

Japan-Romania. The National Library of Romania is hosting an exhibition
entitled Built environment – An alternative guide to Japan, which opens on 16th
November and runs until the 27th of December. The Romanian public will
be able to find out more about landmark projects in the field of
architecture, civil engineering and urban planning from Japan starting with the
Meji era, at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th,
until present day. The exhibition features 80 different projects designed by leading
Japanese architects and from all regions of the country, to showcase how the Japanese
people have adapted to hostile environments or natural disasters in time. The exhibition
forms part of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of
diplomatic relations between Romania and Japan.

Football. Romania’s national
football team on Sunday defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 in Vaduz, but still failed
to qualify for the playoffs for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, as it finished the
preliminary phase 3rd in their group. Second in the group came North Macedonia,
which reached the playoffs after defeating Iceland 3-1. The group leaders
Germany go straight into the World Cup final tournament. Romania’s coach Mirel
Radoi announced he would leave the national team. Romania last took part in a
World Cup final tournament in 1998.

Tennis. The Romanian-German pair Horia Tecău and Kevin Krawietz on
Sunday lost to the all Croatian pair Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in their first
Green Group match at the ATP Finals under way in Turin, Italy. Mektic and Pavic
are seeded first. In the other group match, Marcel Granollers of Spain and
Horacio Zeballos of Argentina defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek
of Slovakia. This is Tecău’s 7th participation in the ATP Finals,
having won the trophy in 2015 together with Jean-Julien Rojer of the
Netherlands. (CM)