Political class reacts to state of emergency

The political class in Bucharest reacted to the decisions adopted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic

Bogdan Matei, 17.03.2020, 13:50

President Klaus Iohannis on Monday declared a state of emergency
on Monday. Shortly afterwards, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ionel
Danca, said the measure helps take the best decisions to deal with the effects
of the coronovarius. The Romanian official pointed out the rights and liberties
of citizens will not be affected, and the Government will be able to adopt
swift measures to ensure the necessary supply of sanitary and medical
equipment. The decree is to be voted on Thursday in Parliament.

Interim
Social-Democrat leader and Chamber of Deputies Speaker, Marcel Ciolacu, has
called on the Liberal Government to take action to provide financial support to
companies that have already sustained losses due to the coronavirus epidemic,
as well as to the population. Ciolacu said one option is to suspend the payment
of bank installments as well as capping the prices for utilities, gas, energy,
telephone services, television and Internet services over a period of three up
to six months. The Social-Democratic Party wants the Government to pay up to
75% of technical unemployment for companies over an indefinite period of time,
refunding VAT costs and paying any outstanding medical leave benefits.

The
President’s decision to call a state of emergency is good, but more
clarifications are needed, because for the time being people are panicking and
don’t know what to expect, the leader of PLUS, MEP Dacian Ciolos said, adding
that the measures taken by the European Commission, including the COVID-19
response investment initiative, is one such measure. The initiative employs
unused cohesion funds, and Romania can thus benefit from the over 3 billion
euros put at its disposal, Dacian Ciolos went on to say. Pundits say that the
number of recommendations and notifications submitted to the Government will
increase over the coming days. Ludovic Orban’s Cabinet was sworn in on Saturday
after being voted by senators and deputies on all sides of the political
spectrum, despite holding only 20% of seats in Parliament.

(Translated by V. Palcu)