October 20, 2021 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of local and world news

Newsroom, 20.10.2021, 20:00

COVID-19 The only way to
curb the Covid-19 epidemic is vaccination, the president of Romania Klaus
Iohannis said on Wednesday night, at the end of a meeting with those involved
in managing the healthcare crisis. Until a significant proportion of the
country’s population gets vaccinated, the authorities decided, among other
things, that face masks will be compulsory as of Monday in both outdoor and
indoor public areas. Night curfews will be in place for the unvaccinated, while
during the day access to an important number of activities will be conditional
on the digital COVID certificate. Iohannis also announced that as of Monday all
school children will have a 2-week holiday. Previously, the head of state had said
that preparations for the fourth wave of the epidemic in Romania had been
flawed, and the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 too slow. On Wednesday
the Strategic Communication Group Wednesday announced 17,158 new Covid-19 cases
in 24 hours, and 423 related deaths, of which 9 from before the reference
timeframe.

GOVERNMENT President Klaus Iohannis invited parliamentary parties to
talks on Thursday morning, to designate a new PM. The talks come after on
Wednesday the cabinet put together by the head of Save Romania Union, PM
designate Dacian Cioloş, failed to get a confidence vote from Parliament. Only 88
MPs voted in favour of the executive team presented by Cioloş, as compared to
184 votes against. The nominees in Cioloş’s team included former ministers in
ex-PM Florin Cîţu’s coalition government, such as Stelian Ion as justice
minister, Ioana Mihăilă as health minister, and Cătălin Drulă as transport
minister. Save Romania Union decided to come up with a proposed one-party,
minority cabinet list after negotiations with their former partners in the
ruling coalition failed. The National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of
Ethnic Hungarians say they are no longer willing to work with USR, which backed
a no-confidence motion against the Cîţu government. The Social Democrats and
the nationalist party AUR, in opposition, request early elections. In order for
this to happen, Parliament should reject a second prime minister designated by
president Klaus Iohannis.

VISIT President
Klaus Iohannis Wednesday received the US Secretary of Defence
Lloyd J. Austin III on an official visit to Romania. Iohannis appreciated the
remarkable bilateral cooperation between the two countries and reiterated the
importance given by Bucharest to strengthening the Strategic Partnership both
in terms of political dialogue, and in the defence, economic and energy
sectors. The Romanian president also emphasised that Romania will remain a
strategic partner and a reliable Ally, strongly committed to NATO’s political
and military consolidation, and to strengthening the Alliance’s defence and
deterrence posture in the Eastern Flank and at the Black Sea. In turn, the US
Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin highlighted the US’ interest in further
developing and diversifying cooperation with Romania. The US official also had
a meeting on Wednesday with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciucă. Romania
hosts US military bases and elements of NATO’s missile defence system.

AWARD Kremlin
critic and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was awarded the 2021 Sakharov
Prize for Freedom of Thought. The announcement was made in Strasbourg, where the head of the European
Parliament, David Sassoli, mentioned that Aleksei Navalny fought consistently against
the Putin regime’s corruption, helped unveil abuse and mobilised millions
across Russia. In
August 2020, Navalny was poisoned and spent several months recovering in Berlin.
Upon his return to Moscow in January 2021, he was imprisoned and he is still
behind bars at present. The Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thoughtis granted every year by the
European Parliament as a tribute to human rights defenders.

EU The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in
Strasbourg on Tuesday that the EU executive would act to defend the ‘common
values’ of the European Union, following the decision of the Polish
Constitutional Court challenging the primacy of European law. In reply, the Polish
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has stated that Poland rejects the European
Union’s blackmail’, and that to his country, the Constitution remains the ‘supreme
law’. Warsaw has been in open conflict with Brussels for several years now over
controversial judicial reforms implemented by the right-wing populist party Law
and Justice. (tr. A.M. Popescu)