The Week in Review (6-12.12.2021)

Click here for the highlights of the past week in Romania

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România Internațional, 11.12.2021, 14:00

The state of alert has been extended in Romania, but sanitary measures have been eased for the winter holidays period

The state of alert instated in Romania in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has been extended for another 30 days as of December 9th, but the government has eliminated several restrictions against the backdrop of a lower number of contaminations. Therefore, protective masks are no longer mandatory in open, uncrowded spaces, and access to enclosed premises will be also allowed to unvaccinated people who present a negative Covid test result. Also the ban on people’s movement at night after 11 p.m. has been lifted. On Christmas and New Year’s Eve, restaurants will be open at half of their capacity but only for the vaccinated people, those who have had the disease or who have a negative test result. In another development, the vaccination rate remains low. Since the onset of the vaccination campaign on December 27, 2020, more than 7.8 million people have been vaccinated, of whom 7.6 million are fully vaccinated.

New rules on entering Romania to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron

The Romanian authorities have adopted stricter measures for those who enter Romania, to prevent the spread of the new virus strain, Omicron. As of December 10, people coming to Romania from outside the EU will have to provide a negative PCR test result not older than 48 hours. The unvaccinated people and those who have not had the disease but do provide a negative test result will be quarantined for 10 days. If they fail to provide the test, the quarantine period will be 14 days. Rules are different for people coming from EU countries. Just as before, they need to present the green certificate attesting that they are vaccinated, have had the disease in the past 180 days or have a negative PCR test result obtained 72 hours before the trip at the most. These rules apply to both Romanian and foreign citizens. The measures will be applied until January 8, at midnight.

Authorities are drafting Romania’s 2022 budget

Romania’s state budget for 2022 will be drafted without introducing new taxes and any changes to the taxation system will be made in a predictable way following dialogue with the private business environment, said the finance minister Adrian Cârciu. In turn, the labor minister Marius Budăi announced that he signed and sent for approval two emergency decrees which are to be approved soon by the governing coalition made up of the PNL-PSD-UDMR. The first decree provides for an increase in child allowances and the second for an increase in the pension point and the minimum pension, which will thus go up from 800 lei to 1,000 lei (about 200 Euros). The governing coalition intends to forward the 2022 draft budget to Parliament by December 24.

NATO and the eastern flank

NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called on the Allies, at the Aspen forum in Bucharest, to invest in critical infrastructure and diminish dependance on the resources coming from states that are potential adversaries. Jens Stoltenberg has labelled Russia and China the main global actors that undermine the world order which is based on rules, and that are both acting in areas that have become essential for the security of the democratic space. The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has spoken in favor of boosting the NATO military presence on the eastern flank and of fully equipping the Alliance to be able to face challenges coming from Russia. Klaus Iohannis and the other European leaders that are part of the B9 format have had consultations with the American President Joe Biden who has shared the results of his recent talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Klaus Iohannis considers it necessary to boost the NATO and US military presence in Romania and the Black Sea region. In turn, the White House leader promised additional military capabilities to the NATO members in Central Europe and clearly highlighted his commitment to Article 5 in the Alliance Treaty, which stipulates that an attack against an ally is considered an attack against everybody.

The Moldovan PM Natalia Gavriliţa visits Romania

The PM of Moldova, an ex-Soviet country with a majority Romanian-speaking population) Natalia Gavriliţă on Thursday paid a visit to Bucharest where she was received by President Klaus Iohannis. He reiterated Bucharest’s commitment to granting its full support to the Republic of Moldova in the processes of transformation, modernization and implementation of reforms in such domains as energy, transports, information society, green transition, justice and education, in the spirit of the Strategic Partnership for European integration. Previously, the Moldovan PM had met her Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciucă, who announced that the two parties wanted to conclude, as soon as possible, a new agreement on granting non-reimbursable financial assistance to Moldova, after the expiry of the former agreement this year. Natalia Gavriliţă believes that a better economic, commercial and infrastructure integration of Romania and Moldova is the guarantee to an accelerated integration of Moldova into the EU.

Ana-Maria Popescu, the Romanian fencer with the biggest number of titles announced her retirement

The Romanian fencer Ana-Maria Popescu, Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo, has announced her retirement after a career of 20 years. Aged 37, Ana-Maria Popescu was chosen by the International Fencing Federation, at the end of November, the best woman fencer of the world for the fifth time, which is a record. She received this title in the seasons 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2012-2013, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Ana-Maria Popescu has three Olympic medals (one gold and two silver), seven world medals (2-2-3) and 13 European medals (7-4-2), alongside numerous World Cups, being the Romanian fencer with the biggest number of titles. (LS)