November 25, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 25.11.2021, 13:55
Government – The Romanian Parliament on Thursday gave the vote of confidence to the Government made up of the PNL – PSD – UDMR proposed by the PM designate, the Liberal Nicolae Ciucă. There were 318 votes for and 126 votes against. In order to be invested, the Executive needed at least 234. Nicoale Ciucă thanked both those who vote for the government and those who didn’t. ‘We assumed a great responsibility, we also understood the recommendations of the opposition’, he said, adding that the executive will do everything possible to focus on the Romanian citizen and to overcome the problems caused by to the COVID crisis. Prior to the vote, Marcel Ciolacu, the leader of PSD, so far in opposition, said that his party decided to enter the government with the partys front line, to stand by Romanians’ side, to stop the collapse of living standards and to stabilize the country. Instead, MP Dan Barna representing USR, a former governing partner of the Liberals, pointed out that President Klaus Iohannis is allegedly the godfather of the collaboration between PSD and PNL, the one who handed over the government to his former Social Democrat opponents. All 20 ministers were heard in parliamentary committees on Wednesday and received a favorable opinion. In the new government, PNL, in power since 2019, keeps the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Education and Energy and has, in addition, four more ministries. Nine portfolios go to the Social Democrats, in opposition after the legislative elections of two years ago, including the ministries of Finance, Defense and Economy. PSD also receives the General Secretariat of the Government. UDMR, former governing partner of PNL, keeps the Ministries of Development, Environment and Sports. The governing program of the new Coalition Government is based on the principles of resilience, stability, transparency, equity and efficiency, according to the prime minister designate, who also gives assurances that pensions, the minimum social allowance, the minimum gross salary and allowances for Romanians will increase. After investiture, the new ministers need to be sworn in before the President.
COVID — 2,104 new cases of Covid-19 — a sharp drop as against the previous day – were reported in Romania on Thursday. At the same time, 212 deaths were announced, of which 35 registered prior to the reference period. The National Public Health Institute announced that over 70% of the cases registered in the last week were in unvaccinated people. Since the onset of the vaccination campaign, nearly 7.7 million people have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.
Visit – Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, and her husband, Prince Radu, are paying a public visit to the UK as of Wednesday. The royal couple was received at Windsor Castle by Queen Elizabeth II. At the same time, they visited the Royal Defense College, where they talked with students on topics related to European and Euro-Atlantic current affairs. The Custodian of the Crown of Romania and Prince Radu also met with the Lord Mayor of London, Vincent Thomas Keaveny, at his residence. The first visit of the Royal Family of Romania to London took place in 1874, when the Sovereign Prince Carol I and Princess Elisabeth met with the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). The first British royal visit to Romania took place at Peles Castle in Sinaia (central Romania), in 1888, when the future King Edward VII was the guest of King Carol I.
EPP — The Group of the European Peoples Party (EPP) in the European Parliament has nominated Roberta Metsola as a candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament, after she obtained more than 64% of the votes of her party colleagues. Roberta Metsola (42 years old) is an MEP from Malta. She promised that one of her priorities would be to build alliances and bridges with pro-European constructive forces in the EP. The vote for the presidency of the European Parliament, held by the Italian Socialist David Sassoli since the summer of 2019 following an agreement of the three main groups in the European Parliament – EPP, S&D and Renew Europe, will be held in January next year in the middle of the EP legislature.
Gazprom — The Russian consortium Gazprom will continue to deliver gas to the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet country with a majority Romanian-speaking population), after the Moldovan government on Friday committed to paying an outstanding debt. Gazprom had threatened to cut off gas supplies if it did not receive its money. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov, quoted by Radio Romanias correspondent in Moscow, said that the deferment of payment was an exception and an expression of the Russian consortium goodwill. He underlined, however, that Gazprom strongly hoped that, in the future, the Republic of Moldova would fully comply with its contractual commitments and make payments in due time. Gazprom recalled that the signing, last month, of a new gas contract with the Republic of Moldova was conditioned by the full and timely payment of current bills. The contract provides for a price of about 450 dollars per one thousand cubic meters of gas, deferred payment, a five-year rescheduling of the 700 million dollar debt and its independent audit. (LS)
