October 29, 2021 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 29.10.2021, 20:00
COVID-19 – Almost 120,000 people got the Covid jab in Romania in the last 24 hours, of whom over 82,000 were given their first dose. Over 6.2 million people are now fully vaccinated in this country. The pace of the vaccination campaign has picked up recently and the authorities are hoping to see a 70% immunisation rate among its population over the age of 12 by the end of the year if the current rate is maintained. Almost 12,500 new cases of COVID infection were reported on Friday, as well as 481 deaths. 1,875 people are in intensive care. In another move, Romania has updated its list of countries with high epidemiological risk, with the Netherlands and Russia moving to the red list. Malaysia, Cuba, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Jordan are now on the yellow list, while Palestine is on the green list.
GOVERNMENT – Prime Minister designate Nicolae Ciucă, on Friday announced the list of ministers in his new cabinet. Alina Gorghiu will head the Justice Ministry, Lucian Bode will pick up the Interior portfolio, Bogdan Aurescu will return to the Foreign Ministry, Raluca Turcan to the Labor Ministry whileCătălin Predoiu is the Liberals proposition for the Defense Ministry. The Liberals have also adopted the governing program. The Liberals have not given up on the idea of a minority government together with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which has nominated Attila Cseke as the new Minister for Development and Eduard Novak at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor will be deputy prime minister. The list of ministers will be submitted on Saturday in Parliament while the investiture vote is slated for Wednesday. “In theory, the government lacks the number of votes to pass. Still, parties will have until Wednesday to think it over”, the prime minister delegate said. The Liberals display confidence, despite not having secured support in Parliament, neither from the Social Democrats in opposition, nor from their former government partner, the Save Romania Union. We recall that the political situation deteriorated in Romania after the Save Romania Union left the coalition government and voted in favour of a no-confidence motion initiated by the Social Democrats.Nicolae Ciucă is the second prime minister designated to form a cabinet after earlier this month USR president Dacian Cioloș failed to rally support for his minority all-USR Cabinet.
DST – Romania will switch to winter time on Saturday night, when clocks will shift back one hour, 4 am becoming 3 am. October 31 is thus the longest day of the year, with 25 hours. In winter, there is a two-hour difference between Romanian time and GMT, with the winter time being considered standard time. European countries adopted the daylight saving time (DST) in the last century to save energy, especially during war and the oil crises of the 1970s. Doctors say the clock shift may affect the body negatively, especially in the case of children and the elderly, and that it takes up to two weeks for a person to adjust to the time shift.
RECOVERY – Romania may send its application for the disbursement of pre-financing under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which on Thursday received the green light by EU finance ministers. Romania is entitled to request 3.7 billion euros as advance payment out of the 29.2 billion it has been earmarked in the form of grants and loans and to be used by 2026 to stimulate the green and digital transition and build a more resilient economy.
ENERGY – Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Friday signed legislation on subsidizing energy consumption which ensures that Romanians wont pay more in electricity and gas bills than last December, despite the price hikes. The law provides for a support scheme for home users, hospitals, schools, city halls and NGOs. SMEs will also benefit from support in the form of the elimination of distribution and transport costs. The measures apply from 1st November until March next year.
TOUR – Romanian ambassador to the US, Andrei Muraru, begins a tour of Romanian communities in the US entitled “50 States, One Community”. The first state he will visit is Ohio, one of the first destinations of the earliest waves of the Romanian emigration. He will meet members of the Romanian community in this state and visit the St. Marys Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, the oldest Romanian Orthodox parish in the US, and the Romanian Cultural Garden, which opened in 1967 and forms part of Clevelands collection of public gardens, each commemorating a different ethnic group. The tour by the Romanian ambassador is aimed at encouraging the Romanian community in the US to help advance Romanias case with respect to the Visa Waiver program.
TENNIS – The WTA Transylvania Open tennis tournament continues in Cluj Napoca, in western Romania. Fridays all-Romanian match pitting Monica Niculescu and Gabriela Ruse against Irina Begu and Andreea Mitu in the doubles was won by the latter pair. In the singles quarterfinals, first seed Simona Halep defeated another Romanian player, Jaqueline Cristian. (CM & VP)
