Parliament Endorses State of Alert

Parliament has endorsed, by a large majority, the state of alert in Romania

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Leyla Cheamil, 21.05.2020, 14:00

After two months of state of emergency, decreed by
the head of state Klaus Iohannis against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic,
the Romanian Parliament, gathered in joint session on Wednesday, voted on
Government’s decision to declare a state of alert for 30 days, all across the
country. The measures provided for the new stage include the mandatory wearing
of protective masks at work, in public enclosed areas, shops and public means
of transport. Meetings and concerts are still not allowed, as well as gatherings
larger than three. Traveling outside localities is permitted on the basis of a
self-declaration.

Parliament has amended the draft Government
Decision. One of the amendments stipulates that the Executive must provide
public authorities with protective masks to be distributed to underprivileged
families and individuals. At the same time, under another amendment, local
public administrations are in charge of appointing, suspending and dismissing
people holding leadership positions in the health-care units subordinated to the
said authorities.

The leader of the Social Democratic deputies, Alfred
Simonis, has stated that Parliament does not trust the Government, and that is
why the Social Democratic Party amended the document on the state of alert in
Romania. He has warned that Romania is currently undergoing an economic crisis,
and the Liberal Government headed by Ludodvic Orban has taken no measure to
protect people and companies.

Alfred Simonis: Economic recovery cannot be achieved on the
basis of endless restrictions and fines, just for you to secure enough money to
the budget, in order to fill in the gaps. We will not allow any form of abuse;
we will not permit unreasonable restrictions and we will not allow this state
to continue forever. That is why, one good thing is that every time you intend
to declare such a state of alert, you will have to come before Parliament.

In turn, the Liberals criticized the amendments
imposed by the Social – Democrats and accused them of blocking Government’s
activity. Here is the leader of the Liberal deputies, Florin Roman:

Instead of instilling confidence and
telling Romanians: ‘it’s hard, but we will get over it together’, you systematically
destroy what the Government does, trying, every step of the way, to block its
activity. We trust the specialists, the epidemiologists. We believe that they
are those who should do the talking, not us.

The Save Romania Union, the People’s Movement
Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians have stressed the fact that
Romania needs concrete measures to overcome the crisis.

The only ones that did not endorse the document
on the state of alert were the members of the PRO Romania party and of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. (M.Ignatescu)