March 6, 2018
For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here
Newsroom, 06.03.2018, 13:31
CRISIS — Romanian authorities have asked EU countries for support in ensuring the necessary amount of immunoglobulin for treating the population, after Bucharest authorities have activated the European Mechanism of Civil Protection. Health Minister Sorina Pintea said there is a severe immunoglobulin shortage on the market. State Secretary with the Interior Ministry Raed Arafat said Romania has also asked NATO for help. Discontinuities in supplying hospitals with immunoglobulin were generated after certain producers who accounted for over 80% of domestic demand chose to withdraw from the market.
ANTICORRUPTION — The Romanian state should retrieve €1 billion in assets seized as part of cases handled by the National Anticorruption Directorate, anticorruption chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi said earlier today. The chief prosecutor said that seizing assets refers only to those assets that are currently on Romania’s territory. Kovesi added however that criminals have worked a away around that, opening off-shore accounts. Romania’s fiscal authorities must quickly enforce these decisions, Prosecutor Kovesi added. In 2017 anticorruption prosecutors seized over €200 million worth of assets.
COOPERATION — Bucharest General Mayor Gabriela Firea on Tuesday told a press conference in Chisinau, held jointly with Moldovan Interim Mayor Silvia Radu, that the two parties agreed on a cooperation agreement to outsource certain public services, which is expected to improve public spending. Firea went on to say that the two municipalities want to cooperate in the field of urban regeneration. The Romanian official said her Moldovan counterpart expressed an interest to consolidate heritage buildings and wants to use the experience of Bucharest City Hall. In turn, Mayor Radu said Gabriela Firea’s visit to Chisinau is a step forward towards “developing the good relations” established in Bucharest on February 14, when the two sides signed a cooperation program between the two capital cities.
FLU — The number of people who died to the flu virus this season has reached 80, reads the latest update of the National Center for the Supervision and Control of Communicable Diseases. An 80-year-old man died in Bucharest. He had not taken a flu vaccine and was suffering from a number of conditions. Over 1,700 flu cases were reported over the last week alone, as compared to 85 cases in the same period last year.
TALKS — Romania’s Transport Minister Lucian Sova today held talks with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto with a view to building a high-speed railway linking the two countries’ capital cities. According to a Transport Ministry release, talks were held on the sidelines of a Transport Summit at EU level hosted by Budapest. The two officials also approached topics of mutual interest in the field of road transport and transport infrastructure.
RUSSIAN SPY — The man who was recently admitted in critical condition at Salisbury hospital in southern England after being exposed to an unknown substance together with a woman is a former Russian spy working for the UK, the British media has revealed. The two were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury shopping center. The man is Sergey Skripal, 66, a former Russian army colonel working for the Russian intelligence. In 2006 Skripal was sentenced to 13 years in prison, accused of spying for Great Britain. He was granted refugee status in 2010 following a high-profile spy swap between Moscow, London and Washington. Moscow authorities claim Sergey Skripal was paid $100,000 for supplying the British intelligence service, MI6, with the names of Russian spies in Great Britain. 12 years ago, another Russian spy, Aleksander Litivenko, was poisoned in London. On his deathbed, Litivenko said Putin ordered his death, although the Kremlin denied any involvement.
ELECTION IN ROME — The political context in Rome remains unsettled after none of the political factions set up before the vote managed to grab enough votes in Sunday’s election that should allow them for form a Parliament majority. The Populist and Eurosceptic Five Stars Movement grabbed the largest share of the vote, 32%. The far-right North League won 17.7% of the vote. The center-right Attilio Fontana was elected governor of Lombardy region, while Nicola Zingaretti, representing the center-left, was elected governor of Lazio region. Parliament will convene on March 23 to elect the speakers of the two chambers. President Sergio Matarella will then start consultations to form a new Government.
TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu, 71 WTA, is today playing Roberta Vinci of Italy, 147 WTA, in the last preliminary round in the women’s singles at Indian Wells, the US, a Premier Mandatory tournament totaling $8.6 million in prize money. Four Romanians have already qualified to the main draw. The world’s no. 1 player Simona Halep is seeded first and will play in the second round against the winner of the match pitting WTA 5th ranked Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic against a player performing in the preliminary phase. Irina Begu, 36 WTA, is playing Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia, 47 WTA, while Sorana Cirstea, 35 WTA, will also take on a player from the preliminary phase. Mihaela Buzarnescu, 38 WTA, will be playing Jennifer Brady of the United States, 86 WTA. Simona Halep won the Indian Wells trophy in 2015. (Translated by V. Palcu)
