November 21, 2021

Click here for a roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 21.11.2021, 13:55

GOVERNMENT The president of Romania
Klaus Iohannis invited parliamentary parties to consultations on Monday to
appoint a new PM designate. The Social
Democrats and the Liberals, which have the largest number of seats in
Parliament, carry on negotiations today to form a new cabinet jointly with the
Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The 3 parties have a
political agreement and a governing programme in place. According to the
National Liberal Party, no tax raises are planned, but the special department
investigating offences in the judiciary will be dismantled by March 31. Public
pensions, salaries and child allowances will be increased. One decision yet to
be made is which party will appoint the prime minister in the new PM rotation
system. The Liberals nominated the interim defence minister Nicolae Ciucă for
the post, while the Social Democrats want the position to go to their president
Marcel Ciolacu. The 3 parties are still considering 2 scenarios for
distributing cabinet seats. The first option is with a Social Democratic PM and
the Liberals and Social Democrats heading an equal number of ministries, while
in the second scenario a Liberal will be PM and the Liberal Party will have
fewer cabinet members. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians says in both
scenarios they will keep the development, environment and sports ministries.

COVID-19 Over 1,930 new COVID-19 cases
have been reported in Romania today, along with 121 related fatalities, 16 of
them from an earlier date. As many as 1,573 patients are in intensive care, but
the number of patients is on the decrease. The National Committee on Emergency
Situations agreed that in places with infection
rates below 3 per thousand schools may resume on-site teaching regardless of
the vaccination rate among teaching staff. Several
activities subject to restrictions in recent weeks may now be resumed, but a
final decision is to be made by the government. Such activities include sports
events, concerts, performances and outdoor festivals, conferences and training
sessions. Only holders of the digital Covid certificate will be permitted to
take part. Should the situation continue to improve, the winter holidays might
take place without many restrictions, the head of the Emergency Committee Raed
Arafat said. As for the vaccine rollout, over 7.1 million people are
fully vaccinated in Romania so far.

TRAVEL The
National Committee on Emergency Situations updated the list of countries and
territories by COVID-19 incidence rates. Germany, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and the UK
are now red-list countries, while France, Portugal, Monaco, Chile, Lebanon and
Guyana were included in the medium-risk category.

PANDEMIC Meanwhile in Europe the new pandemic wave has prompted states to
reintroduce restrictions, which in turn led to large-scale protests. In Austria
and Netherlands people took to the streets to protest the ‘corona dictatorship’.
In Austria, where a full lockdown takes effect on Monday, tensions deepen
between citizens and the authorities that try to step up the vaccine rollout so
as to help hospitals cope with the record-large number of cases. Some 40,000 people
rallied in Vienna on Saturday. The Netherlands saw the most violent clashes in
Europe, with 3 people hospitalised in Rotterdam and over 50 arrested during the
clashes with police. The country has a partial lockdown and further
restrictions are being considered, such as prohibiting access to restaurants
and events for the unvaccinated. Anti-Covid restriction protests also took
place in Belgium and Denmark. Infection rates are surging in Eastern Europe as
well, including in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

MOLDOVA The president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu
will be on an official visit to Romania on Tuesday, at the invitation of her
Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis. This is Sandu’s first visit to Romania
since July’s early election won by her party Action and Solidarity (PAS), and
it takes place in the context of the celebration of 30 years of diplomatic
relations, after in 1991, the ex-Soviet republic proclaimed its independence
from Moscow. According to the Romanian presidency, this is an opportunity to
reconfirm the special, privileged Strategic Partnership between the 2 countries,
based on common linguistic, cultural and historical elements. The talks between
Iohannis and Sandu will encourage the development of joint projects in the
fields of energy, transport, healthcare, education and information society, with
a focus on projects designed to help connect the Republic of Moldova with the
EU to the benefit of all its citizens. (tr.
A.M. Popescu)